We’re not the only or first defense to run a wide 9 scheme with penetrating defensive tackles. It’s an inexcusable oversight to try to play every other series with backups.
FYI, we now have the 14th ranked passing offense in the league. Pretty impressive turnaround by Lafleur
Well the most successful version that I know of was San Francisco from 2019, and I’m trying to remember another that had any other level of sustainability? They had a very deep rotation of: -Arik Armstead -DeForest Buckner -DJ Jones -Nick Bosa -Dee Ford -Solomon Thomas As well as an offense that consistently held long drives. Maybe you’re right, because I think even then Buckner played a higher percentage than Quinnen. TBH without checking snap percentages I’d just be making stuff up but from memory I they had a heavy DL rotation.
Buckner played below 73% of the snaps twice that season and was in the 80s and 90s in most games. Bos - four games below that mark but two were his first two games in the league. I didn’t look at the rest but I’d imagine Armstead and Ford were similar. Between Fatukasi, Rankins, Quinnen Williams, JFM, Bryce Huff and Shaq Lawson - JFM has been at or eclipsed 73% twice and Lawson once. Defensive lineman definitely get more breathers than every other position group for the most part. But we’re babying Quinnen, Rankins and JFM. They need to be playing 80-85% of the snaps.
Another issue right now is JFM is playing a 5T most of his snaps because Huff has been out. JFM is okay at the 5T, but teams have started to just attack him because he isn't fast enough or quick enough to be an every down edge. They need to get him back to 3T ASAP which can't happen until Huff comes back.
Snap Percentage can be deceiving, because if the offense is efficient and maintains decent time of possession the defensive players snap percentage will look high because they play the same total snaps but there is a lower total of defensive snaps. For example let’s take a look at the 2019 SF D-Line and their 2021 NYJ counterparts over the first 8 games of the season: Primary 3 Tech DT -Quinnen Williams-346 Snaps, 8 Gm (43.25/Gm) -DeForest Buckner-348 Snaps, 8 Gm (43.5/Gm) Primary NT -Folorunso Fatukasi-315 Snaps, 8 Gm (39.38/Gm) -DJ Jones-193 Snaps, 7 Gm (27.57/Gm) Primary LDE/3rd Down Interior -John Franklin-Myers-364 Snaps, 8 Gm (45.5/Gm) -Arik Armstead-313 Snaps, 8 Gm (39.13/Gm) Primary RDE -Bryce Huff-254 Snaps, 6 Gm (42.33/Gm) -Nick Bosa-307 Snaps, 8 Gm ( 38.38/Gm) The Jets Defense has been on the field more, so the Jets primary DL are almost all outpacing the 2019 49ers primary DL in snaps per game. Their % looks lower but the actual snap count is higher per game, so they need those rotations. I don’t think they’re babying those players at all. It just took 7 games for the 2021 Jets to finally sustain drives and actually give the defense a break.
I think he’s played too much 5T even when Huff was in because to move him in, you end up replacing Fatukasi or Rankins which means you bring Shaq Lawson in at DE, and he sucks as a pass rusher. Would be so different with Carl Lawson.
The thing is that they invested a LOT of 1st round picks and cap space to that DL, and I personally don't think that wise or like that philosophy. I can see it with the edges, but not the DTs so much. Be less aggressive and contain the run. I'd rather have premium talent at the skill positions and better depth there than have 8-9 great DL.
Good research. I still don’t like the concept of literally rotating entire series with different groups. Find more snaps to give guys a break on the same series, then putting the entire B-squad in and separating Rankins and Q on two different units. They seem to feed off each other.
I don’t think it has to be one or the other, if you draft well. I’m just asking for a 1st round talent at DE, an extension for Fatukasi, and another modest vet free agent this off-season. That still leaves plenty of picks and cap for other positions.
That's exactly what I said. Spread the wealth around, don't try to emulate SF and use a bunch of high draft picks to get 8 studs on the DL.
Well to be fair, Solomon Thomas was a miss of a pick. Also you have to remember that Buckner and Armstead were picks from the previous regime. When Shanahan went there they inherited: 1st: Armstead (2015) 1st: Buckner (2016) Shanahan and Lynch added: 1st: Thomas (2017) 5th: Jones (2017) 3rd: Ford (2019 Trade and Sign) 1st: Bosa (2019) To compare, Douglas inherited: 1st: Williams (2015) 3rd: Shepherd (2018) 6th: Fatukasi (2018) 1st: Williams (2019) And has added: 6th: Marshall (2021) None of Rankins, Franklin-Myers, C. Lawson, or Huff have cost a draft pick. I think drafting DL high is important, but it doesn’t need to be the only way you get quality players there.
The point is that there were already two 1st round picks on the DL when the new regime took over, and they used their 1st on a DL, then two years later used another 1st round pick on a DL. That's 4 out of 5 years. That's excessive. You're right, one can get quality DL without using all the #1 picks. I love what Douglas has done. I think re-signing Fatukasi is a must, and then he can add a DL in FA to replace Shepherd.
