He's going to be a key player next season. He will have a major responsibility of setting the edge. Contain the outside. Calvin Pace will be gone.
I agree defense is more important, but you still require balance. Rather than focus on one, let's address the holes we have. We need a pass rushing OLB, we need massive improvement on special teams (PR/KR/K) and we need to look to the future with our O-line. A decent special teams would go a long way to helping this team.
The Broncos have spent nearly all their premium picks on CBs and Pass Rushers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Except we also need more speed and playmaking at ILB and some depth at S since after Pryor went out we sucked. Cromartie is as good as gone and can Williams perform at a high level for a full season? Behind him at the moment is simply Milliner and Mcdougle as Walls is a FA. OLB, ILB, KR/PR and Oline should be priority but we need to add depth at S and CB.
I'll be surprised if Antonio Allen isn't re-signed. That will help depth at S. Jaiquawn Jarrett might be back as well, althought I doubt it. He's not very fast and is a bit streaky.
Agreed but will Gilchrist be with us after this season? He was good at the start but struggled a bit later on I thought. No guarantee Allen will be the same player or better after an Achilles injury. We'll see what Mac thinks soon enough lol
Talib has admitted the face mask was intentional. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...tional-facemask-may-face-suspension-from-nfl/ The officiating was not the only reason but it was just as bad as it was when Pittsburg beat Seattle. Two aging HOF's Bettis and Manning winning their last game. The NFL likes a storybook ending. I had no preference at all because my SB was when the pats got knocked out. I feel bad for Cotchery though. That blown call changed the momentum of the entire game.
Agreed, but Bowles seemed to like him and think he was underrated. It will be interesting to see what happens in that regard.
I don't agree. I don't see anything that occurred that the officiating seemed to have a hand in. The call wasn't a great one, but if the thought is that call lost the Panthers the SB that's flatly an excuse.
Gilchrist is the first half-way decent FS we've had in a long, long time. Does Sherry Rhoads, Jim Leonard and Scott Frost ring a bell? FS is a very demanding position to play. You have to be half DB and half LB and fast as hell with good hands and good tackling skills. You need the entire package to play FS successfully. Sherry had 2/4 of these, but that's as close as we've come. Other than pass rushing OLB, FS is probably the hardest position to fill. Troy Polamalu was probably the last true FS drafted, and that was 300 years ago. In 4-5 years I can see Pryor growing into a really good FS (unlike his rookie season). We can only hope.
I don't think strong safeties really grow into free safeties. It's the other way around. You don't get faster and better at turning your hips to run with receivers, you get worse at it. Gilchrist isn't a huge play making safety but he's good at what he does and good for this defense. Don't let anyone behind you, don't give up big plays. It's the most important attribute a free safety can have. Look at McCourty's impact on the Patriots and the contract he received demonstratint his worth to the defense. He's also a solid open field tackler. Safety is the last position we need to worry about.
You could be right about Pryor. But he's young, fast, a great hitter/tackler, and has good hands. His rookie year he was taking terrible angles towards the WR and flat out missed on several occasions. I was hoping that with experience in the league and getting used to the shear speed of these WRs, he could get really good a covering deep. Maybe not though.
Fitz would have fallen on and grabbed that fumble...Not that crybaby pouty boy Cam: ...er well it is only the SB so what ?gotta use my arm to dab a little later fellas
Actually we can save a big amount of cap space by cutting Gilchrist.... Not sure of the exact numbers but I think if it's post June 1st he's completely off the books. His contract wasn't what it was made out to be. But in order to cut him we would have to find a replacement at cheaper price, which is unlikely unless we draft one. Also Bowles loves his leadership and he quarterbacks the secondary so he's probably not going anywhere.
His entire salary for 2016 is guaranteed for injury. If he is on the roster on March 16th it is fully guaranteed. He also received a $2.5 mil signing bonus which has $1.875 mil of dead money remaining if we did cut him this year.
