Here is my problem with Cominsky and Buggs, i love both of their personalities and fight.
That said, this defense got gashed up the middle and outside as well. Hutch, Houston, Romeo and hopefully Pascal are all capable outside → inside players and will get better with experience.
It seems like we need a game changer DT more than another DE (unless we trade/cut Romeo). If DT is what we need, that means that Cominsky and Buggs are really only depth players and shouldn’t be our starters.
Yes…but is one available?
Grrrr…
Cominsky seems the most flexible and would be my priority. He’s active and can play inside or out. That makes him an awesome depth player. Buggs is only inside and inconsistent from what I can tell.
And if you meant in the draft, hard to say. The top 2 DEs may be gone by 6. There are a LOT of good DTs in this draft so waiting until 2nd round may be ok.
Cominsky and Buggs are role players not depth guys. They are important peace’s that make certain packages work. They are also two of our better run stuffers. Without them our run defense is considerably worse.
You are correct that we do need a quality starting level DT.
The Lions were 9-3 when Cominsky played.
Yeah he did get a little better after 1080 snaps. I didn’t see enough improvement to keep him. The Lions would have been better off allowing the younger players Rodrigo and Barnes get more snaps/ experience. Anzalone out snapped Barnes by more than 700 snaps. That is a lot of experience loss he will never get back, the same is true for last year 1100 snaps over the two years combine.I don’t understand why you draft a guy and then limit his snaps.
The drop off for the defense was telling when cominsky was out. I’d definitely bring him back. Bugs also really stepped up his game the last quarter of the season. I’d bring both back. They are solid players and won’t break the bank.
I think I was Barnes’ single biggest fan on here redraft. Anzalone though was quite good down the stretch IMO. He’s one of the team leaders. He’s indicated being open to a discount.
I think I was Fox’s biggest fan on here pre draft, post draft, & all times in-between.
This would be huge if true. How reputable do we think this is?
I think Air nailed it. They are great role players for certain packages but we need a game changer up front still
Because he has to earn them maybe 
You mean like Anzalone earned them, he was the worse tackler last year and this year was not much better.
Barnes had two very good games 1 last year against the Bengals,( 9 tackles and a red zone break up), and 1 this year against the Packers,( 12 tackle and a sack), neither game earned him more snaps. In fact his snap count diminished both times, from 32 to 20 following the Bengals game and from 50 to 36 following the Greenbay game.
So your theory about earning snaps don’t pan out with the Lion’s coaching staff, your last name has to be Anzalone to earn snaps.
I been preaching this since DC was hired…
Men want to play here… period. And those with the right mentality of team first will stay for happiness over bank!
Dude you still don’t get the fact that Anzalone calls the defense. It much more then tackles Barnes has got better and getting more playing time. They were winning games they were not gonna just put him in there to get experience at the cost of the team or a shot at the playoffs.
And Anzalone has a 125 tackles this year. So your whole missed tackles thing is a little miss leading, he also has 6 PD and Int. And made some good plays on our win streak. Anzalone is the better player right now. Barnes has a lot of ability but still out of position at times. When playing for a wildcard spot Couldn’t afford to have ball go left and him go right. 
[quote=“Tcmouse, post:21, topic:21062”]
1). Dude you still don’t get the fact that Anzalone calls the defense. It much more then tackles Barnes has got better and getting more playing time.
1). Ans. In the Chicago game the snap count was 38 Anzalone, 27 Barnes, and 26 Rodrigo. There was a series for the first time that Rodrigo and Barnes were on the field together. Guess what, the team didn’t fall apart while Anzalone was out. Sounds like you believe the hype that Anzalone has to be on the field to call the plays, Barnes wore the green dot during the series when he and Rodrigo played together and did fine, I was at the game 16 rows from the field. This did not cause a loss as you seem to think would be the case.
2).They were winning games they were not gonna just put him in there to get experience at the cost of the team or a shot at the playoffs.
2). They can win with Anzalone having less snaps, and not on the field, the Chicago game proved that.
3).And Anzalone has a 125 tackles this year. So your whole missed tackles thing is a little miss leading
3). 125 tackles seems like a lot, but it has nothing to do with his missed tackles. He was able to achieve that number of tackles due to opportunity, 1080 snaps. Barnes had 47 tackles on just 349 snaps, and Rodrigo had 71 on just 614 snaps. If Barnes continued to tackle at the same rate with the additional 731 snaps he could have achieved in the neighborhood of 150 tackles and remember he is a better tackler than Anzalone, he has proven that both years they have been in Detroit. So what is truly miss leading is the 125 tackles that Anzalone has.
4). Anzalone is the better player right now. Barnes has a lot of ability but still out of position at times.
4). Anzalone is a better player based on What, it sure ain’t the stats:
Barnes 40 time 4.58
Anzalone 40 time 4.63
Barnes bench press bench press 29 reps
Anzalone bench press 16 reps
Barnes college career tackles 226
Anzalone college career tackles 75
I am not a fan of PFF however even they have Barnes rated higher as a NFL linebacker Anzalone 56th out of 84 Barnes 48th out of 84. So where are you getting your info???
5). When playing for a wildcard spot Couldn’t afford to have ball go left and him go right.
5). In every game that Barnes was given any significant snaps he played well and the Lions won. No Linebacker on the team had a better single game than Barnes had against Greenbay 12 tackles 1 sack and 1 pass deflection. Interestingly that coincided with the most snaps he had all year, 50 and the Lions won.
Anzalone had his best game came against the Vikings 11 tackles 1 pass deflection, but on 71 snaps 21 more snaps than Barnes when he had his best performance and THE LIONS LOST. NEED I SAY MORE???
So Barnes would have made them win , wow ok.
You probably gonna see more Barnes next year because Anzalone probably won’t be back , he said he would like to be back but he has his family to consider, he had a good year (even if you can’t see it) and is looking to get paid it’s probably his last chance. So I hope your right and Barnes is as good as you say.
That was one of the games Barnes was benched for some unknown reason, he did not log a snap in the 2nd and 3rd games, and the Lions lost both games. You implied that the Lions can’t win without Anzalone calling the plays. There was a stretch were the lions went 1 and 6 and Anzalone was on the field for at least 90% of the snaps. You and Phunnypharm lost your voices during that stretch. Anzalone put together a few decent games near the end of the season and recorded 125 tackles on 1080 snap now you are bragging he is a better player than Barnes. I am correcting your mis conception.
I hope either Anzalone is gone or Barnes finds another team.
Dude I’ve never lost my voice and you seemed to disappear alittle when Anzalone was playing well. And not sure what the hell your talking about being part of 1-6 he was also part of the 8-2 stretch. If you think Barnes is all that that on you. I say he not as good as Anzalone at this time and Anzalone play was good during our run. So now I’m correcting your misconception that Barnes is this great player everyone is holding back.
And bro that’s not what I implied at all , I implied that him calling the plays on defense is why he gets them snaps that you keep complaining about. Are you implying that we lost them games because Anzalone was on the field and Barnes wasn’t
This could speak volumes of where they think the team is headed. If you’ve been in the league for some time, being on a team where winning is the rule rather than the exception (barely at 9-8), taking less money to win and possibly play in one or more playoff games mean something.
Not everyone is purely in it for the money.
Barnes is a better linebacker than Anzalone hands down, he just needs opportunity some of those 700 additional snaps Anzalone gets.
When Barnes does get his opportunity to start the commentary will be he wasn’t ready or we’ve coached him into what he is. The truth is Barnes is ready now, just like Houston was ready and was just being held back.
Barnes can have games like the Greenbay game at any given time. The problem is and has been he plays on a short leash ie sitting the second and third game. The coaches have no problem benching him but when he plays well it does not benefit him. Who could play under those conditions. Anzalone is allowed to play freely, no matter how he plays, and he is still not an NFL caliber linebacker.
I will say again no linebacker had a better single game than Barnes had against Greenbay. Barnes played 50 snaps only because Rodrigo was hurt, they were forced to play him. They won that game and that set off a 6 game winning streak. Barnes was a very significant factor in that win and to that point Anzalone was still playing terrible. Two games later against the Giants Anzalone was recorded as having 5 missed tackles the most in the NFL, yet there are no repercussions for his inefficiencies.
This is the commentary about Barnes in the game after Greenbay against the Bears:
Barnes, surprisingly, didn’t actually see a higher percentage of snaps than last week.
You say Anzalone played well down the stretch, this is the commentary on Anzalone after the Carolina game week 16:
– Derrick Barnes was back in the lineup, drawing 17 reps in his return. Malcolm Rodriguez was up to 42 plays, the most snaps the sixth-round rookie has seen since Week 8. Rodriguez logged five tackles in the loss. Alex Anzalone was out there for every play, logging five tackles and a handful of whiffs. The analytics site had Barnes as the second-highest-graded defender in his limited role. On the flip side, Anzalone slotted as the worst player on the defense with enough snaps to qualify. It’s a tough look for Anzalone, who had stacked three of his better games since landing in Detroit.
It is easy for Anzalone to finally put together a couple good games when you know you are not coming off the field no matter what. On the flip side Barnes can not get any significant increase in snaps unless there is an injury, that has to be very disappointing for him.
So whose misconception needs correcting???