Ranking the D Front 7

[Formula 21]

from PFF

https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-ranking-all-32-defensive-front-sevens-this-season/

It all starts up front. 14th isn't pathetic, and it was probably one of our better performing units, but we need an upgrade.

Congrats to Bosa and Ingram, Ingram needs to be resigned. We are really bad without him.

What happened to Luiget? Or has he always been a never was? An upgrade at DE is in order.

[Steve]

Liuget was always a guy with the tools to be great. He can really fire off the ball and get penetration, but the best that seems to get us is him running himself out of plays faster. He also doesn't shed blocks well.

In some ways, he was better this year than most, because he showed up and played his assignment, and didn't get caught out of position nearly as much. But he is still getting paid a lot of money to play the attacking DE/DT spot (similar to a 3 technique in the 43) in our D. We have tied up a lot of money in him, and have very little production to show for it. Prior to this year, there were a lot of mistakes too.

I liked the way that Squares, Palepoi, and Philon did. Not tremendously productive, but good effort and some production (more than Liguet) on limited snaps. A top DT would be nice, but if Mebane comes back I think we are OK. Caraun Reid was very productive before he got hurt, and he is still fairly young.

We are still thin on the edge. Bosa is a stud, and Ingram is good, but if either went down the other gets doubled to death, and neither can come off the field or the pass rush tanks. I still think Attaochu has the tools, but hasn't put it together. Williams is a good ST guy, but can't be counted on to keep contain vs the run and has never played enough to develop as a pass rusher. Emannuel is stickly a run down player, and not a terribly good one at that. I think he sticks because he can play inside, outside and on ST, but really is just a marginal depth guy at this point. I liked what little I saw out of Landrum, but he didn't play much so jury is still out.

In a conventional 43
SAM - Ingram/Emmanuel
LDE - Bosa/?????
NT - Mebane/Square
3 tech DT - Reid/Palepoi/Philon
RDE-?????? - On passing downs Ingram would slide inside
Mike - Perryman/Toomer/Emmanuel
Will-Toomer/Brown/Perry

Seahawks 43
SDE- Bosa/?????
SDT - Mebane
NT -Square
Leo/Elephant - Ingram/Emmauel
SAM -Toomer
MIKE-Perryman
WILL- Brown

[RTPbolt]

Agreed....We have some good tools there but Liuget was really not very impactful. Ingram is a must to resign/tag...he's been injury prone but put in a nice year and we can't afford to have to draft yet another pass rush guy when we have other needs.

I really liked Reid...he came out of nowhere for me. He might be a surprise starter especially if Liuget isn't kept around.

I think we need to consider another DT in the draft if the value is there in the top 4 rounds. Might have a real find at top of round 2 but given our multiple needs (OT, Safety, possibly WR with our injury history) I think DT might fall to 4th for me. The 2 top safeties in the draft are intriguing to me to shore up the secondaries biggest weakness.

We've been in worse shape. Having Bosa, Mebane, Ingram as a base is pretty good. If Reid continues to develop and we have Pelepoi and Philon as subs we are ok. Still another stud DT could make an impact to help this D that struggled to impact better OL's. Could there be another elder FA that might fit our scheme like Mebane?

[blueman]

Scary to think how good this team is with even one third fewer injuries. Half as many as we had and we'd be in the playoffs. Zero injuries...? Jeez.

[Formula 21]

I'm curious if Lynn/Bradley goes to the 4-3 and moves Liuget back to 3 tech. He's not much of a 5 tech, maybe he'll excel at the 3.

Bring in Soloman Thomas as DE, and that's a potentially a dominant DL.

[Steve]

I don't think there is any question we will switch to the same 43 D that Seattle ran. Mostly because it is very similar to the D we have been running.

The flavor of 34 we have played has used 1 DE as a 5 tech and one as a 3 tech. That is pretty much the same as the Seahags.

The other thing they do is sub off one or both DT for situational guys, often moving the SAM (sometimes called the OTTO) LB down to rush the QB, and the base DE moving inside, just like we have. In terms of raw assignment, I don't see that the D will be changing much.

Liuget has basically has been playing the 3 technique spot since he was drafted. We line him up outside as a true 5 technique some time but really haven't done much of that in the past few years. Frankly, I don't see much hope of him playing better. Maybe when they simplify the reads (see below), but that is about it.

Bosa has been in the 5 technique spot, only we don't sub him out, and if anything left him align a little wider (wide 5) alignment. On passing downs he will slide out to be a 7 technique at times.

The Seahags D
1). Uses 2 gap techniques in addition to 1 gapping by the DL. Our D dating back to when Wade was hired has been almost exclusively a 1 gap defense. Now, some of our DL will be asked to stand up and control their man at the line, not just try to get into the gap.

2). Seahags simplify the reads of the DL. They knew that DL pass rush is hurt by 2 gapping (you have to shed the block before your pass rush), so they don't worry about using the best possible technique to defeat any given block. They want the DL to hit the hole, make a quick read and then get upfield if it is pass. So, while it might be a bit more effective to take on a power block to the outside with one move, and the reach block in a outside zone with another, the new staff will use the same moves for both, and let our DL get upfield sooner.

3). Becaus eof the coverage responsibilities, with so much man coverage by the LB and CB, the S need to do a lot of man coverage too. You can't have both S doing thier own thing while every other player does something else. So, we need to get some help at S who can be the new Cam Chancellor and Earl Thomas. They don't necessarily have to be that good, but they have to bring the versatility that those players have. THey will need to play deep, come up to stop the run, play man to man. In some ways that matches what our D did, our S were asked to do a lot, but that didn't go so well last year. Lowry and Addai are really the only two returning S (if they return, Addai is a FA), that have any chance of making it. And I don't see them as being true starters. I think we probbaly need 2 S (Stuckey will make the squad as a ST guy, but he is only a depth guy).

[Formula 21]

Not a 5, not a 3? Why is he even here? For his money, he needs to be productive. Maybe it's time to let Liuget go.

[Steve]

We have a fair amount of cap space, so we don't have to get rid of him.

But my point is that he just doesn't even seem to flash anything anymore. Sometimes it takes a player a while to put it all together before he finally gets it. Liuget doesn't seem like that kind of player. He used to flash, but it has been a couple of years.

The other troubling thing is that while he seemed to play with a lot more effort and technique this season, he still had awful production.

I just don't see any reason to keep Liuget.

Flowers name keeps coming up as a guy who can free up a lot of money, and I am OK if they want to cut him. But Franklin and Liuget are both getting paid money in the same neighborhood, and Flowers is still a good player, when he is healthy, so I can't see cutting Flowers first. Cut all 3 if we want, but make it clear Liuget and Franklin are going because they did not play that well.

FWIW, I don't think that there are a lot of FA to go after, just send the message and get some more productive players on the field. In the case of Liuget and Franklin even our current backups are an improvement, not to mention draft picks or middle tier FA.

[Formula 21]

NFL baby, not for long. Big contract, small production guys need to be scared. And from what I've seen ,teams get along just fine without them.

[CTrout]

He wasn't used much last year but I'm wondering what they might do with McCoil. With his size and speed you'd think they'd find a way to get him on the field more.

[Steve]

I think he was originally brought in the be a nickle LB type of guy. But then Brown and Toomer showed they could run with any TE and RB, and our real need was at S, so that is where he was tried. He played LB when he was in Canada.

When he was used, the results were not necessarily all that good. He doesn't take the best angles when tackling and his tackling wasn't very good. I cannot recall him being used in man coverage, but maybe I missed it.

Tall rangy guys like McCoil can be really good FS types. They are hard to throw over and they can cover a lot of range as a single high or 2 deep S. But the knock coming out of college was that he couldn't be used in man to man coverage because he builds his speed slowly, and doesn't change direction well, so he would have a chance to change direction and stay with a guy in man coverage.

Maybe he can fit the Earl Thomas role as a FS, but I don't see him fitting in the Cam Chancellor, in the box as a matchup SS.

[Formula 21]

Toomer is the guy I think the Bolts scored with. He has athletic skill and makes plays. I look forward to seeing what they do with him next year.