General Tso Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 They took Campbell in the 1st round. Best you can do is expect natural improvement from him in year 2. The rest of the LBs are under contract. I expect little to no turnover in the LB group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detfan782004 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 1 hour ago, General Tso said: They took Campbell in the 1st round. Best you can do is expect natural improvement from him in year 2. The rest of the LBs are under contract. I expect little to no turnover in the LB group. That would make me sick. If this front office doesn't fix LB group it will once again doom this defense. Just because a team has subpar talent under contract doesn't mean they should add better talent at position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Tso Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 9 hours ago, detfan782004 said: That would make me sick. If this front office doesn't fix LB group it will once again doom this defense. Just because a team has subpar talent under contract doesn't mean they should add better talent at position. I really do not see what you don't see in the LB room. They were a top 5 team against the run. Anzalone is a good coverage LB. Linebackers are the least important position on the defense. They aren't what doomed this defense. Lack of a pass rush and high school corners is what doomed it. You only have so much money to use. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 11 minutes ago, General Tso said: I really do not see what you don't see in the LB room. They were a top 5 team against the run. Anzalone is a good coverage LB. Linebackers are the least important position on the defense. They aren't what doomed this defense. Lack of a pass rush and high school corners is what doomed it. You only have so much money to use. Jack Campbell in year 2 should be better. Derrick Barnes had become a solid LB. Alex Anzalone had a good year but will be a year older. Jalen Reeves-Mabin is still a valuable rotational LB and a heck of a special teams player. I think they could stand to add some younger players with true sideline-to-sideline speed. I think the loss of Trevor Nowaske left a small hole in the roster. Free agent LBs are usually relatively inexpensive. Solid LB prospects can be found in Rounds 3 and 4. The LB position needs some attention but it isn't in a horrible spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) 9 hours ago, detfan782004 said: That would make me sick. If this front office doesn't fix LB group it will once again doom this defense. Just because a team has subpar talent under contract doesn't mean they should add better talent at position. The LBs doomed the defense? It didn't look that way to me. As a group they were a lot better in 2023 than they were in 2022. They could use additional talent but they were solid for most of the year. Edited February 7 by Just Want A Title 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 One interesting Senior Bowl Prospect that might help solve that problem was LB James Williams. He is converting from SS to LB. He has everything you could want in terms of measurables. Checking in At 6'4", 230 Lbs and 33-inch arm length, he would be a nice addition to our LB room. Much like a number of prospects that are perfect for the Lions, he will probably go off the board in Rd 2 or Rd 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detfan782004 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) 4 hours ago, General Tso said: I really do not see what you don't see in the LB room. They were a top 5 team against the run. Anzalone is a good coverage LB. Linebackers are the least important position on the defense. They aren't what doomed this defense. Lack of a pass rush and high school corners is what doomed it. You only have so much money to use. Good teams generate pressure from all over. Our LBs did nothing. LBs were part of the doom. Edited February 7 by detfan782004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detfan782004 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 4 hours ago, Just Want A Title said: Jack Campbell in year 2 should be better. Derrick Barnes had become a solid LB. Alex Anzalone had a good year but will be a year older. Jalen Reeves-Mabin is still a valuable rotational LB and a heck of a special teams player. I think they could stand to add some younger players with true sideline-to-sideline speed. I think the loss of Trevor Nowaske left a small hole in the roster. Free agent LBs are usually relatively inexpensive. Solid LB prospects can be found in Rounds 3 and 4. The LB position needs some attention but it isn't in a horrible spot. Sideline to sideline speed would be a blessing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Tso Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 11 minutes ago, detfan782004 said: Good teams generate pressure from all over. Our LBs did nothing. LBs were part of the doom. Campbell got 2 sacks in a limited role and Anzalone got 3. I don't know what else you want, you basically are asking for Pro Bowlers at LB at that point and like I said, it's just not high on the shopping list. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 1 hour ago, General Tso said: Campbell got 2 sacks in a limited role and Anzalone got 3. I don't know what else you want, you basically are asking for Pro Bowlers at LB at that point and like I said, it's just not high on the shopping list. Even though Anzalone wasn't good at disguising his blitzes, he did manage to create additional pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sllim Pickens Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 2 hours ago, detfan782004 said: Good teams generate pressure from all over. Our LBs did nothing. LBs were part of the doom. Our LBs were 3rd and 5th on the team in sacks with Iffy being number 4. You have to blitz more to get more sacks out of LBs which would be nice but also you need to get pressure from the line. Our highest sack total on the line after McNeil and Hutch was 2 from a couple of guys. Thats not good enough. If they cause pressure in 1v1 it will be harder to stop a blitz from the LBs. I think the talent at LB is quite good actually, just needs further development. I still have high hopes for Campbell and Barnes had a great year and further development should be expected from both of them. Rodrigo is our 5th LB now after being our 2nd in 2022. Thats a pretty solid improvement. JRM was one of the highest rated LBs against the pass. We don't have that one dominant LB but as a group they are pretty solid and not a spot I would spend resources, especially because that would mean one of them has to go. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detfan782004 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 1 hour ago, Sllim Pickens said: Our LBs were 3rd and 5th on the team in sacks with Iffy being number 4. You have to blitz more to get more sacks out of LBs which would be nice but also you need to get pressure from the line. Our highest sack total on the line after McNeil and Hutch was 2 from a couple of guys. Thats not good enough. If they cause pressure in 1v1 it will be harder to stop a blitz from the LBs. I think the talent at LB is quite good actually, just needs further development. I still have high hopes for Campbell and Barnes had a great year and further development should be expected from both of them. Rodrigo is our 5th LB now after being our 2nd in 2022. Thats a pretty solid improvement. JRM was one of the highest rated LBs against the pass. We don't have that one dominant LB but as a group they are pretty solid and not a spot I would spend resources, especially because that would mean one of them has to go. The fact they were 3rd and 5th says far more about the inability of DL to get to QB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_shadows Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 1 hour ago, detfan782004 said: The fact they were 3rd and 5th says far more about the inability of DL to get to QB Also says a lot about why d line is a higher priority than LB. CB, DE, and DT should be the teams biggest priorities this off-season. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detfan782004 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 1 hour ago, rob_shadows said: Also says a lot about why d line is a higher priority than LB. CB, DE, and DT should be the teams biggest priorities this off-season. Concur. Don't disagree. But improving the crap LBs is also needed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sllim Pickens Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 11 hours ago, detfan782004 said: Concur. Don't disagree. But improving the crap LBs is also needed Except they aren't crap LBs, they just aren't elite LBs. If you want an elite LB you have to spend a lot of resources, either draft capital or free agent dollars, that could be better utilized elsewhere. LB is the furthest thing from a need right now IMO with the resources we spent the last three drafts and adding Anzalone. If Campbell and Barnes continue to progress, we should be more than fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.