AlexGreen#20

People are very quick to make these statements about athletes. I've been reading about LeBron James turning into a role player soon since 2011.

3 punts were blocked last year. This conversation is moronic.

Coaches are super active in scouting players. Once the season ends and they wrap up their self scout, most of the attention turns to college scouting. One of the reasons you tend to have huge swings in projections after the super bowl is that the coaches have gotten involved in the process. LaFleur, Stenovich, Butkus, and Gordon all looked at Morgan long before the draft and concluded he was LT material. All of the coaches, including the ST guys, weighed in on Williams and Oladapo. NFL GMs don't just drop a group of players onto the laps of coaches and say "Surprise, check out who I think you guys wanted." Obviously in some organizations coaches have more power than others, but your theory is pretty much nonsense.

Did you even read what I wrote? If he ends up at Guard this year because a more experienced Walker is better than him, fine, **** happens. But that was not the intention coming into the draft.

Sure, but in the vast majority of instances, the **** ends up in a scrum with everybody pushed together and the scrum gets moved back pretty quickly, but not near fast enough to really bother the punter.

If we intentionally drafted a Guard without elite drive skills in the first round, I would be upset at the strategy utilized. Yes.

I feel like you're ******* with me here.

Yes, not as a matter of results, but as a matter of internal strategy.

I've been pondering about this entire scenario and have finally reached some conclusions. This isn't particularly ordered, so just bear with me on this. There's an old saying in the NFL that "You build your football team to win your division." The Packers seem to have rejected that notion in favor of chasing down a different target. A decade and a half of losing in the playoffs has set the Packers with the predominant intention of finally exorcising the demon that is their futile playoff record against the San Francisco 49ers. Combatting the 49ers has been problematic for the last decade (and truthfully most of Packers history) for several reasons, but the first and most obvious one has been that the defense simply hasn't been built for it. The Packers have shuffled through a handful of Defensive Coordinators in recent years who have built defenses to combat the modern NFL passing offense by playing a light box with 2 high Safeties. The 49ers offense was built to exploit that with heavy emphasis on the run game, and lots of misdirection to pull LBs out and away. In fairness to those Defensive Coordinators, some success has been had by turning the 2 high defense into a 1 high defense for a single week, but that's not what the players are being drafted to do, and it hasn't been enough to cover up for a Packer offense that is often stymied by a 49ers defense that remains elite year after year. That appears to have been acknowledged, and a new brand of defensive architect has been brought in. Joe Barry's 3-4, Cover-2 heavy scheme is out. Jeff Hafley's 4-3, Cover-3 heavy scheme is in. What the hell does that mean? Well, the usual disclaimers still apply: * The NFL is a nickel defense league, and the difference between a 2-4 and a 4-2 don't look that different at pre-snap. * Every team runs all kinds of coverage. Barry ran some single high stuff. Hafley will run some 2-deep looks. The identity comes down to the percentages. * The NFL is a zone coverage league. Obviously there will be man coverage played, but it isn't the base. * The NFL is a bend but don't break league. Offenses have gotten too good and the field is too large for defenses to play like the 85 Bears. The goal is no longer to give up 0 yards. It's to keep the ball in front of you and try to get to 3rd down where your pressure packages can take off. People expecting Hafley to turn this defense into a blitz heavy, man coverage focused defense are going to be disappointed. +++ So with that out of the way, let's talk about this thing. Hafley is predominantly a Cover-3 coach, and in that Cover-3 field he tends to run a VERY basic Cover-3. There are Cover-6 lineups at times, and there's less zone matching than I've seen from a high level DC before, but It's pretty damn simple, right out of high school. That means on a typical play you're going to divide the deep half of the field into 1/3s, played by your High Safety (in the middle) and your Perimeter Corners (on the boundary). That zone starts typically from 12-15 yards off the ball all the way back to the back of the endzone. From 5 yards to 12-15 yards off the ball, you have your 4 2nd level defenders in buzz and hook zones. The buzz zone is typically manned by your low safety and your nickel corner, though if you're playing in your base defense, one of the Buzz zones will be handled by an Outside Linebacker, typically the SAM. Those buzz zones typically start from the hash marks and go to the boundary. The hook zone is typically manned by your inside linebackers. They extend from the hashmark to the middle of the field (either the nose of the center or the geometric middle of the field). The advantages of the Cover-3 are: 1. It's simple. Not only is it simple conceptually, but everybody on the team has been running it since they were 10. Even at an NFL level, it's simple, there isn't a whole bunch of match coverage **** you're trying to memorize. In an ideal world, your ILBs aren't trying to think pre-snap "if the TE goes vertically, do I stay hook, or work up the seam?". In theory it lets you play fast. 2. Praise the Lord! We're going to have a Safety in the box again. This will tremendously help the run defense, and it means you can get more creative with your blitz looks due to the additional body. The disadvantages of the Cover-3 are: 1. No more hiding your Corners. They're going to have to play vertically 1v1. 2. You're going to need athletes at ILB. 3. 4 Verticals. When you look at the Cover-3, there's only 3 deep players, teams will try and murder the seams. You need to have some kind of plan in place to deal with that. Typically that comes in the form of a nickel/SAM/Safety who is a good read and react guy with wheels. Play action separates men and boys. +++ Which brings us to the offseason. I'm actually surprised and proud at the lack of freaking out that happened. AJJ being the best Safety on the roster during the offseason was stressing me the hell out. The depth chart says it all. The front group is set. No issues. There isn't a single body in the front group that doesn't work as well or better in an even front. The changes come at Safety and Inside Linebacker. +++++Inside Linebacker+++++ De'Vondre Campbell was released in the offseason. Injuries seemed to hobble Campbell the last two years and in both instances he found himself missing a portion of the year and on a limited snap count towards the end of the season. With Quay Walker stepping into the role of 3rd down LB, his increasing injuries and salary, and decreasing production turned his contract into a pain point. Campbell's backup was Isaiah McDuffie who has been a consummate professional and an excellent Special Teams contributor in his time in Green Bay, while at the same time not being anywhere near productive enough to earn himself a regular spot in the defense. One full time starter was needed just to meet the minimum requirements for playing a nickel, much less to have depth at the position. To fill that role was the Packers second pick, Edgerrin Cooper, the best off ball LB in the draft and a guy who made a startling number of high impact plays for Texas A&M. Between Cooper and Quay Walker, it becomes hard to argue that the Packers do not have the most athletic Inside Linebacker pairing in the NFL. Cooper will need to show he can play, but if the goal was to be athletic inside, consider the box checked. But that wasn't where the acquisition ended. The most surprising pick in the Packers draft from both a position and a "reach" perspective, came a round later when they selected Ty'Ron Hopper, an Inside Linebacker from Missouri with their second 3rd round pick. This did not make people happy. Not only was it a non-premium position, it appeared to be a position that didn't have an immediate need, and it was a player who wasn't rated particularly highly. But, there was a method to the madness, and it starts with the 49ers. The 49ers averaged 2.44 WRs per play in the playoff matchup that ended the Packers season. They utilized a second TE on 15% of plays, and a FB on 41%. That's a really heavy offensive personnel set for 2023, but it isn't particularly heavy for the 49ers in general. To counter, the Packers averaged 1.56 ILBs per play, 4.38 Front line players per play, and, 5.06 DBs per play. If that doesn't strike you as odd, I would draw your attention to the 2.44 WRs vs 5.06 DBs per play number. The implication is that on over half of defensive plays, the Packers were playing with a light personnel grouping, trying to match a Safety with a TE. When you combine this number with Barry's propensity for playing 2 deep Safeties, it points to a scenario where the Packers were often trying to stop 21 Personnel with only 6 box defenders, one of whom was a Safety. That's not an ideal personnel match to stop the run, and Christian McCaffrey's rushing stats highlight the issue. 17 carries for 98 yards, at 5.7 yards a run let the 49ers hold steady with their run game to give Purdy enough time to eventually turn in some kind of passing production. In order to stop the run, the first step is to have enough bodies in the front. That begins with not being afraid to play your base defense. For Hafley, that's a 4-3, which means you're going to need THREE linebackers who can play, before you even begin to worry about depth. Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson are still on the roster, but those aren't the players you want playing significant reps outside of injury. But the need doesn't end there, you can't just have good Inside Linebackers in a Cover-3 4-3. You also need to have Inside Linebackers who can run. One of the predominant ways to stress a 4-3 is with 4 verticals, targeting the seams. No matter how good your Free Safety is, he can only cover one seam. Your inside players need to be smart enough to recognize this, and get that they will occasionally have to bail out of their zone and go vertical with a TE or slot receiver. That's often the Low Safety if you line him up over the TE, but at times it's going to have to be an Inside Linebacker. The 49ers have utilized Kittle to tremendous effectiveness as a seam player, so somebody needs to be able to play that game. The Packers now have 3 ILBs with both the straight line speed and the hip flexibility to turn and run vertically. It was a necessary add. +++++Safety++++ The Packers Free Agency splurge came in the form of Xavier McKinney. I'm sure you've heard some variation of "We don't consider them Free Safety/Strong Safety or High Safety/Low Safety. They're all Safeties and are expected to know every role." Which, is probably technically correct, but I guarantee you McKinney is going to spend double the snaps in the box that Bullard is going to. One of the advantages of knowing you're going to spend a bunch of time with one safety in the box is it lets you plan for it and find guys who fit that skillset. McKinney is such a player. He's quite excellent at that role. McKinney's running mate will be Javon Bullard from the jump. Nobody else at the position has any real notable NFL experience. Anthony Johnson Jr played a shocking number of snaps last year (303) due to injuries, but it's unlikely to give him an edge over Bullard's raw ability. Rudy Ford is still available in Free Agency, which is rather odd. Obviously there are going to be growing pains with Bullard, as there is with any young Safety, but you've now got your High and Low Safety of the future under contract for a long time. In addition, the draft added a pair of non-premium-pick Safeties in Evan Williams and Kitan Oladapo. At this point they're just bodies. I don't believe there's really a plan for them other than letting them be depth and ST guys, if they grow into something in the future, that's excellent, but it isn't expected. Williams may have the skills to function in coverage as a 3rd safety, but a lack of high end physical skills across the board and rather poor tackling will likely prevent him from ever being a full time starter. Kitan Oladapo can hit, but doesn't offer a ton in coverage.

Is the ball striking the holder where his fingers meet his palm on his right hand? Is the ball getting back to the holder in 0.65 seconds or less? Is it rotating 2.5 times in that .65 seconds? +++ That's literally all that matters.

Like 95 percent of them. Just dumb meat head jocks. An inner monologue of a baked potato in a microwave The best Inside Linebacker I've ever met got an 11 on his ACT the first time he took it. "He" had to take it again to get him into school. Utterly incapable of second order reasoning. Had a memory that leaked like a broken fish tank. Regularly got lost on campus. He only did like 5 activities total: Workout, eat, play Halo, play football, **** Black chicks (White dude). When they gave him his preseason concussion test when he was a freshman, they got pissed at him because they thought he was sandbagging it and made him take it 3 times. To this day, he probably doesn't know why he had to take it 3 times when everybody else only took it once. He missed a game because of a drug test, he didn't fail the drug test because he was on drugs, he failed it because he kept getting confused about the instructions, (go into the stall, pee in the cup, the instructor is going to watch you pee), and he kept turning away from the instructor, peeing in the toilet, etc. until he ran out of pee, so the drug tester had to come back next week. I think it actually helped him in a way. Just completely "See ball. Get ball." The thought process of "Am I sure this isn't play action?" never occurred to him. Nor, "If I throw my body with no regard for my own well being, into this pulling Guard, it's going to hurt." He had phenomenal football instincts and genuine retard strength.

It wasn't his responsibility. You typically block inside to outside. He had to respect the threat of the blitzing linebacker. Just because the ILB doesn't blitz, doesn't mean you can ignore him. If Morgan had immediately fanned out, the ILB likely comes and has a shorter trip to the QB than the edge rusher. There was no screw up there. QB knew he had to get it out hot, and he got it out hot.

If we intentionally drafted a Guard with non elite drive skills in the top 25, I'm going to need a couple of you to judge the form on my swan dive off of a tall building.

The Cowboys LS is 240lbs The Eagles LS is 249lbs The Giants LS is 250lbs The Commands LS is 252lbs The incumbent Packers LS is 243lbs The Lions LS is 245lbs The Vikings LS is 229lbs The Bears have 2 LSs rostered at 225 and 226lbs. A 239lb LS is perfectly fine.

Maybe if it was 405. Blake Corum and Joe Alt had the same 225 reps at 27 each. It's a work ethic test.