What do we think about Mauldin heading into year 2? He had four sacks in limited playing time as a rookie at a position that's one of the hardest transitions to make from college to the pros. A very promising start, and if he builds on it, we might have finally found our answer at edge rusher that we've lacked since John Abraham. Then you look at our defense as a whole... Defensive Line - arguably the best in the league, still above average even if Wilkerson leaves/gets traded. Leonard Williams is a huge x-factor in his second year as well. Linebackers - was a huge weak point last year -- now we've cut the dead weight in Pace and DeMario and added promising Darron Lee and Jordan Jenkins. Harris is solid as always. Quality depth with Carter and Henderson. And finally, Mauldin assuming a full time role on the outside. For me, Maccagnan not taking a pass rusher in this draft speaks volumes about what they project Lorenzo to be, and to me that's a ~12 sack guy in year two. And now we have speed on the inside and will be able to cover running backs out of the backfield. Secondary - Gilchrist is solid and Calvin Pryor is a rising star and our Gronk stopper. Revis is in decline but still very effective. Behind Revis we're a bit iffy at CB, but it'll be exciting to see what Williams, Burris, and Skrine can do with a revamped front 7. Long story short, I'm expecting Mauldin to make the leap into Pro Bowl player, which takes our defense into top 3 territory and covers up our secondary youth/weaknesses. Every time I get depressed about our QB situation, I think of the defense and get excited. If we get anything remotely resembling competent QB play, this team will compete for the AFC East and have potential for a deep playoff run. Do you agree?
Mauldin going from 4 sacks and a part-time player into a defensive leader and Pro Bowl player? Not likely
Mauldin will need to become a more complete player first. If he can stay on the field all 3 downs, I can see his productivity taking a leap for sure. 8 to 10 sacks, could be on the cusp of a pro bowl.
Im expecting solid production. Maybe 6-7 sacks , but Im not expecting stardom from him. A player with a better skill set could produce 12-15 sacks behind our front. Thats not Mauldin
Mauldin might get us 4-6 sacks in year 2, I'm not expecting much from him or the rookies. I like Macc's strategy of vets being in place while the rookies sit for a year.
Lets pray he can execute that with Hack as well. I really like Mauldin's fit in our D but him and Jenkins have similar projections in my opinion. Great motor guys who will always set the edge and be in the right place but not guys that are gonna break the sack record.
I'm not entirely over that "concussion" he suffered on his first play last year--still holding my breath but if he stays healthy, I expect a good season from him.
I think people don't realize how good the defense was last year because the preseason hype set unrealistic expectations. There were people talking '85 Bears, 2000 Ravens, just dumb stuff. At the end of the day we wound up #4 in yards allowed, 3rd in takeaways and 9th in points allowed. That's impressive considering how frequently the defense was put in compromising spots. We had 4 special teams touchdowns surrendered and many other times opponents started drives in plus territory. Every game it felt like there was something that stopped the stat sheet from showing how dominant the unit truly was. Now it's arguably more complete with a revamped LB corps and it won't have to deal with a horrible first half of the season from Cro. I think it can be a top 5 unit that consistently keeps us in games. That's critical because I foresee the offense taking a major, major step back in 2016. Just like tons of things broke wrong for the defense, tons of things broke right for the offense. They played 9 games against bottom 10 defenses and only 3 against ones in the top 10. This year, 5 of the first 7 games are against 2015 top 10 defenses and another is against a Bills team that shut us down twice. We got a career year from a journeyman QB who, as much as you hate the argument, benefitted from a lot of turnover-worthy plays that opponents didn't capitalize on. The Giants, Titans, Jaguars, etc. don't make those plays. The Seahawks, Bengals, Chiefs and Cardinals do. They're all opportunistic. Then you factor in that we're depending very heavily on tons of post-prime veterans (Marshall, Decker, Mangold and Forte) to not only stay healthy, but also to prevent age-related declines. What are the odds that Marshall and Decker combine to play 31 games again? Low, especially at the rate they're targeted (comined for 305 this year). Let's not even talk about the offensive line. This won't be a top 10 offense again. I think this defense will be elite, and it'll need to be to keep us in games.
Strength of the defense remains the Dline and Revis. They have the most impact on what we can do, and how teams will gameplan for us. That will free up the rest of the D, and provide opportunities for other players to step up. maybe Mauldin will take another step, but i'd pump the brakes on pro bowl..
I hope Maudlin continues to improve but if we had a good draft this year he is the last guy that teams are going to worry about.
I am also excited to see what Mauldin can do in this defense as he will probably see very few double teams with our Dline. However to expect him to jump to a 12 sack guy in year two may be lofty expectations. If he can prove he can handle the position full-time and get some pressure I will be very impressed. If Mauldin is showing he's not up to snuff through offseason workouts Dwight Freeney or a veteran should be an option. Our secondary looks mostly good except I'd like to see a veteran like Leon Hall added to the mix incase Marcus Williams isn't up to par. But before counting him out lets see how he does in the early offseason and if we need to add one of these guys we can do it down the road. Of course adding a veteran may be impossible with our cap situation, and may even prevent our young guys from developing but if you could add one of the two it may put this defense over the top.
I don't know about the Pro Bowl or anything either, but if they can get him to target his tackles a little better. I can see him easily putting up 6+ sacks. There were quite a few plays last season where he was literally flying pass the guy with the ball. Never thought I'd say that a guy might be just a little "too" fast.
I think this defense is going to be crazy good....With the additions of Lee and Jenkins, Mauldin and Leonard Williams likely improvement, and just everyone being comfortable with the system a year later No reason why it can't be thought of as elite and a do it all type defense....We really don't need one elite edge rusher as we now have like 7-8 guys that can all provide positives in that department I'd be scared to play us on D now
Oh don't get me wrong I think he can double his sack total from last year but idk about his play alone propelling our defense to an elite one.
Could be very exciting. I'll take improvement with Mauldin. I'm not counting on Mauldin being an elite player. If Jenkins turned out the better player it wouldn't surprise me. Get Fitz back and we'll be a tough out no matter who we play.
12 sacks is very reach-able. That's less than 1 sack per game, playing full time. Figure there are 40 defensive snaps per game, with about 15 of those on 3rd down. Of those 15, figure 8 per game will be 3rd and long, clear passing downs. That's 8 good shots per game in long passing situations to register a sack. Even if he's successful only 5% of the time, that's 8+ sacks on the season, just on 3rd and long plays. Then there's other plays where he just beats his man for a quick free-bie sack. Yup, 10-12 sacks is very do-able. Anything less, I'd cut him. We've lived with the likes of Pace / Coples for so long we think dbl digit sacks is a huge thing.
You'd cut a promising 2nd year linebacker who the team has 2 more years of control over at a very cheap, fully guaranteed salary if he can't get to a sack total that only 7 players in the league got to last year? Tough crowd.
I'm expecting both to eventually be solid starters and maybe more....High on both, just pure football players with relentless motors We'll be a tough out with or without Fitz
