Quote:I'm afraid I have to differ with you a bit on this one, EC85. 

 

I think you should consider that the secondary is the one component of Bradley's defensive scheme that most requires personnel well-suited to a particular style of play.   It's what sets his scheme apart from others the most.  It makes perfect sense that they would go out of their way to fill it with young players that fit the Bradley mold, IMO. Sure they had tons of other positions to address - but making the secondary a priority will have this defense looking a lot more like it's intended to look sooner rather than later.  

(not to mention that draft class was rich in DBs) 

 

Sure, Ball is no all-pro, but he's performing better than his salary would indicate and certainly better than Cox has been in SD.   Cox strikes me as a really talented kid who lacks self-motivation.  Remember when he was benched for a few games in his second or third year?  It wasn't because he just wasn't playing well. It was because he was phoning it in.  That personality trait may have removed him from consideration by the new regime with their competition mantra.   

 

Who knows how they will approach next season, but I think we've got a very good corner in Gratz, and a very good nickel in Blackmon.  (Harris has played well at nickel too and he obviously survived the gutting.)   Obviously the rookie safeties have to grow into their new shoes a bit - but I'm staring to see a little bit of progress there. I think they'll be ready by next season if not by the end of this one.  If that pans out - you are left with one corner spot to fill. They could have a slightly above average stop-gap with Ball - elevate McCray from special teams if he's ready or sign a better FA.  

 

I agree that it's hard to watch the interior O-line struggle and other positions continue to suffer - but they upgraded the secondary with more promising, younger players and they saved money doing it.  Keeping Mathis or Ross would have been madness IMO. They both played very, very poorly last year.  

 

I think the other positions you listed were not addressed partly due to lack of the right price and/or age of the free agent, or wrong value at their draft position.  Sorry for the long post - but I guess I like what's happening with the secondary even though it's a work in progress.  I hope we see other areas overhauled in similar fashion. 

 

Don't apologize great post man,

 

as for the scheme I've heard that before, and I understand in the long run it might work out, maybe this was the way to go. I agree there was no way we'd be ok with Mathis/Ross for another year, and Blackmon has been a huge surprise.

 

I'm just looking at the big picture, some would argue I'm missing the big picture, but my concern has been and still remains the same; Spending the first offseason of the rebuild on the secondary left us with some major areas of concern all across the roster. I'm giving them a chance to do their thing, I think with a solid offseason of training, some FA, and a good draft we can address most of these concerns. Heck 10 draft picks can quickly change a teams roster, if we find just 4 starters out of that class we're in good shape.

 

Obviously we've got to find the QB of the future, but in addition to that we have to do something about the RT (maybe Pasturz can be that guy), OG and C. At minimum we have to find someone to play next to Marks (DT can be had in the later rounds of the draft), and we have to find that pass rusher to give this secondary a chance.

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