Center ILB,and kicker worry me

burningmetal · 07-13-2014, 05:54 AM

Originally Posted by blackangold

Lofton and Hawthorne are average at best. They are still better suited playing the MLB spot in a 43. Fact is neither of them are fast enough to be a ILB. I personally think Humber out-performs both of them, but unless they get injured Humber won't start. Humber won't start because paying Lofton or Hawthorne to sit on the bench won't look good (let's call this the Shanle situation). Fort is a development project, but maybe he'll come along fast enough.

We aren't in trouble at ILB, but out of every other position on D, I think it's our weakest link.

I don't agree that they aren't fast enough to be inside linebackers. How many fast inside linebackers are there? Lofton is one of the quicker linebackers in the league, and I value quickness more than speed in an inside backer. There's a reason Lofton is always near the top of the league in tackles. He's pretty good at getting to the ball. The problem I have with him is that he doesn't wrap up consistently in the open field. I think he would lead the league in tackles every year if he finished a little more consistently. But overall, he's solid. Hawthorne is what he is. He's not bad, and he's not that great, but he holds his own reasonably well.

You can't buy all of the best players in the world. You have to choose where you want your strengths to be and invest in those areas, and then do what you can to make the other parts competitive. In our case, we've invested a lot in the secondary. You really have to get lucky to come up with pro bowlers at other positions. We got lucky already with Galette, even though he didn't make the pro bowl, it's pretty obvious that getting 12 sacks out of him was a big deal. There are some young guys at linebacker who will hopefully surprise us this year, but if not, I really don't think our linebackers are that much of a weakness. I do agree that they are the weakest of the unit's, though.

07-13-2014, 05:54 AM	#7
burningmetal 1000 Posts + Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 3,923 Blog Entries: 3	Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me Originally Posted by blackangold Lofton and Hawthorne are average at best. They are still better suited playing the MLB spot in a 43. Fact is neither of them are fast enough to be a ILB. I personally think Humber out-performs both of them, but unless they get injured Humber won't start. Humber won't start because paying Lofton or Hawthorne to sit on the bench won't look good (let's call this the Shanle situation). Fort is a development project, but maybe he'll come along fast enough. We aren't in trouble at ILB, but out of every other position on D, I think it's our weakest link. I don't agree that they aren't fast enough to be inside linebackers. How many fast inside linebackers are there? Lofton is one of the quicker linebackers in the league, and I value quickness more than speed in an inside backer. There's a reason Lofton is always near the top of the league in tackles. He's pretty good at getting to the ball. The problem I have with him is that he doesn't wrap up consistently in the open field. I think he would lead the league in tackles every year if he finished a little more consistently. But overall, he's solid. Hawthorne is what he is. He's not bad, and he's not that great, but he holds his own reasonably well. You can't buy all of the best players in the world. You have to choose where you want your strengths to be and invest in those areas, and then do what you can to make the other parts competitive. In our case, we've invested a lot in the secondary. You really have to get lucky to come up with pro bowlers at other positions. We got lucky already with Galette, even though he didn't make the pro bowl, it's pretty obvious that getting 12 sacks out of him was a big deal. There are some young guys at linebacker who will hopefully surprise us this year, but if not, I really don't think our linebackers are that much of a weakness. I do agree that they are the weakest of the unit's, though.
	If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, the NFL would fine and suspend me.

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