How many RB we have under contract next year?
I think Smith is an edge all day. You just don’t take someone with that sort of get off (1.52 ten yard split! Faster than Von Miller and Parsons who were 1.59) and tell him not to use it. Maybe periodically, but not on a regular basis.
Our DL needs more rotation. An even three-man rotation of Smith, Houston and Hutch would see them play 66% of the snaps. Obviously Paschal and Cominsky will be mixed in as well, but we’ll also have plays where any three of Smith, Hutch or Houston drop into coverage. There’s plenty of snaps to go around.
On the Eagles line that led the league in sacks by like 20 sacks, these were the snap counts at edge: Brandon Graham 43%, Josh Sweat 53%, Haasan Redick 73% (some as off-ball LB), Robert Quinn, 37%.
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How much more does Tyree bring that a guy like Paschal or Cominsky doesn’t. We already have three edge rushers who can play the closed end side (Pascal, Cominsky, and Hutch). There is way to much redundency to adding Tyree, IMO.
While I love Houston, he did not play any snaps at LB’er last year. He struggled at LB’er at Miami and in the off-season. He is strictly an edge.
Nolan Smith is a LB’er who has elite pass rushing traits. Very similar to the profile that Micah Parsons had coming out. We have a hole at LB’er on this defense. Nolan can be an early down LB’er and pass rush specialist. Makes this pass rush one of the most dangerous in the league, especially if we can get a DT like Carter or even Adebawore as well.
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And certainly we’ll bring another one in… with much less valuable capital.
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I agree regarding Wilson/Paschal/Cominsky. Which is why I don’t really want Wilson. But he still fills a role the Lions value (as shown by the fact that we already have Cominsky and Paschal), and is in theory an upgrade over those guys. I don’t think Smith really fills a role the Lions are looking for. I don’t think the Lions really care about a LB that can serve as a pass rush specialist. Also I question how much of a true LB Smith is when his highlights are 99% him blitzing/playing DE.
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I could definitely see it. He could play a Micah Parsons type role. Edge and some stack LB too. blitz.
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I’m not saying he would be a true LB’er here. I think he plays that SAM LB’er roll that we tried Barnes at originally. Then we had Julian, Houston and Pittman there last year and nobody really took the bull by the horns so to speak. Nolan can fill that role for us and also rotate in as the edge rusher. You watch that interview of Nolan and he just oozes everything this staff is about. I would be shocked if this staff didn’t love him as a prospect.
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look at the resouces we used to try and fill that position though? It’s not a high priority and is rarely on the field.
I understand the point you are making, but we have already invested in the high priority positions. We have invested a ton in the DLine, O-Line, and WR positions. We will be drafting the best player available when we pick, and if that guy is Nolan, he will be the pick.
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Yeah that’s my problem is there’s redundancy there with Cominsky and Paschal on the roster as far as role. He definitely fits Seattle better since they don’t have that kind of player on their roster.
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Exactly, which is why drafting another one makes sense.
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If I were calling the shots, I’d go Tyree Wilson. He will continue to get bigger and stronger, and can be moved up and down the front to create mismatches for Hutch and himself. He is a super high “traits” guy; 6-foot-6, 275 pounds, wingspan of 86 inches- just outrageous. The tape flashed moments of total dominance and considerable additional upside with seasoning.
Zeirlein’s take: “Long-limbed defender who figures to turn into a full-blown nightmare for opponents if he continues to grow into both his frame and his game. Wilson’s combination of traits and athleticism should yield flashes of dominant play in both phases as he continues to get bigger and stronger. His length and lateral quickness are ingredients for chaos as a back-side run game disruptor.”
Then there’s the core beliefs of the staff and front office. They go BIG and they love elite traits. “It’s just my own personal belief that you always build a defense with defensive linemen and corners,” defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “So we’ll always look for that. It’s just what I believe in, because you can never have enough of those guys.”
So it’s Wilson for me. If not Wilson, one other player fits there and that’s Christian Gonzalez. He plays Glenn’s other “most important position” on defense and tested through the roof with a 9.95 RAS. There’s a lot we’re not privy to like medical or interviews or long range salary cap machinations, but these two guys are the ones I’d put my money on if I had to wager everything on what Brad will do.
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yeah those are the two guys i’m leaning towards right now. I’m not as big on Skoronski as some people seem to be, I think OL is a need but would rather find one later in the draft. Possibly at 18.
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Right on. A lot depends on how the board falls. If Carter is there, certainly that presents a massive opportunity to add the top 1,2 talents in the class at the Lions’ #1 position of need. As we all know, that’ll come down to the internal homework on Carter’s character risk and work ethic assessments. The wonderful thing right now is that the past two drafts and free agency have been so masterfully handled that we can go BPA all the way through. HUGE advancement in the evolution of this franchise.
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Happy you made this thread. Nolan Smith SCREAMS MCDC Lions blood. I’m sensing he goes closer to 6 than 18.
He’s a tweener but with elite traits and tangibles, the right coaching can leverage the best of him. Plus he’s a rock for the locker room and just continues to entrench the culture that Holmes and Campbell have been building.
Any resident scouts able to dissect his off-ball game? Is he great sideline to sideline? Can he sift through traffic? How’s his man to man and zine coverage abilities? Does he play up to his timed speed? Is he comparable to Julian Peterson before he came to quit on the Lions?
From what I’ve read and watched on highlights, he’s very stout at the POA. Great run defender and flashes as a rusher sometimes.
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He doesn’t get a lot of opportunity, that’s for sure. As you say he’s so strong at the POA despite his size Georgia didn’t see much reason not to play him there. I think I remember some off-ball plays from his freshman year, but of late I’d say he’s mostly operating on the ball.
That said his sideline-to-sideline speed is still evident, and you have to suspect he’d have no problems holding up against pulling linemen, etc… It’s just we haven’t seen a lot of it.
And we haven’t seen the way he plays run fits from off the ball either, which would be my larger concern. LB’s an instinctive position, the best just have a knack for flowing to the ball and when you haven’t done it a lot, it isn’t easy to pick up (this is one of my chief concerns with Barnes, though he finally started to show some improvement over the last half of the season). We also don’t have much idea about his coverage chops, but the athleticism’s still there.
I agree that I think we’re gonna love him, but for my money’s he’s an edge. An edge with big upside, he wasn’t every really allowed to attack the QB all-out at Georgia, he was always two-gapping. Even when attacking on 3rd and long he had responsibilities he had to check on first (from the mouth of the man himself, I heard him talk about it during an interview at the combine).
I want to put that insane get-off to use (1.52 ten-yard-split, almost a full tenth of a second faster than Micah Parsons and Von Miller). Sure, we can drop him into coverage from time to time, but I’d still do it from an edge alignment. Maybe as a strong side LB. But to me the way to get the best out of him is to keep him on the edge.
I know that makes his usage a little narrower for us, but I think there’s still plenty of snaps to go around. The best DLs rotate, and I’m pretty sure we don’t want Hutch coming anywhere near the 90+% of snaps he played this year. Rotate he and Houston and Smith, bring Paschal in and drop Smith or Houston, rush all four of them in nascar packages, or five with Cominsky, on and on and on. Smith allows us to be very creative with our attack.
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If Sewell wasn’t there at 7 that year Micah parsons was gonna be our pick. And our LB room hasn’t changed that much since.
I don’t expect our LB room to change much over the next 3 yrs either. It looks like were stuck with AA and Rodrigo. I don’t see a Micah Parsons falling into our lap anytime soon.
We are literally talking about him right now. His name is Nolan Smith!
I was going to start a thread stating that I have reached a point where I am all in on Nolan Smith. I will piggyback into this one instead. I have my issues with Will Anderson and how he is portrayed. I feel like there is a disconnect between who he is and who people think he is. Nolan Smith is closer to being the player that people think Will Anderson is, IMO. Von Miller comparisons don’t make sense with Anderson. With Nolan Smith they do.
Another thing people need to wrap their mind around is that Nolan is super athletic for his size but plays even bigger when he needs to. So you have to allow your brain to picture a guy that moves like a 230 lbs LB but also plays like a 270 lbs DE when its needed. I can see why the guy was the #1 overall player coming out of high school. I consider Will Anderson to be reduntant to what we have in James Houston. Nolan Smith is a different player entirely.
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Different how?
How are they both not Edge rushers?