Under the Radar Free Agents (1 Viewer)

[Eman5805]

Potential 3-4 outside linebackers Devin Taylor and Margus Hunt.

Two really great athletes.

Devin Taylor.

Haven't heard that name in ages.

Remember him as the other athletic freak no one heard of behind Clowney at South Carolina.

Doesn't he have a ridiculous wingspan? Like 8 feet or something?

 

[ndcc]

Good "dead time" thread by the OP. Good food for thought.

Thx.

The more quality players we get leading up to the draft, the more likely we'll be able to draft BPA, instead of reaching for someone to fill a gap in the roster.

 

[GameBreaker]

CB Kayvon Webster from Denver

Webster is another guy I am keeping an eye on however I think his injury may scare teams away, especially our front office who had to deal with multiple injuries at CB last season.

 

[Joodas Avila]

DE John Simon, Houston Texans

Highly athletic player who is stuck behind Clowney and Mercilus on the depth chart. Could be exactly what we need as a 3rd down pass rusher.

NICE!!! Dude, I didnt even know John Simon was on the market. I think he'd an awesome base DE for us. Plus he can stand up, be a rush LB, play the ILB, and drop into coverage. He's got versatility, and fits the mold of the pressure player-types that Sean Payton's been talking all off season about. I'd love to see us resign Kruger, and give him a full off season in our D. But signing Simon could make Kruger expendable. Platoon Simon with a Takk McKinley, Tim Williams, Basham, or one of the speed rushers from the draft, and we're on our way!

 

[Le_fleur_fan_78]

You'd have to bubble wrap Morris Claiborne the entire training camp. Injury prone ... Folks down in Dallas can't wait to see him gone. The last thing we need is another injury riddled corner back.

Pass.

Yep, this^

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[Pdlc]

Kayvon Webster, John Simon and C Patterson

 

[NOFALCONS10]

Martellius Bennett and Julius Peppers too.


Hunt is very similar to Peppers as in size and speed but is much younger.


Bennett is the best blocking te in football.

 

[Joodas Avila]

Martellius Bennett and Julius Peppers too.


Hunt is very similar to Peppers as in size and speed but is much younger.


Bennett is the best blocking te in football.

Yup, Bennett would be absolutely awesome! Its just that we have so much loot invested in that softy Fleener. Unicorn would be a star in NO! I hope against hope that we make that move, but i seriously doubt it.

Margus Hunt, though, is a straight up buster. Ya, he's body beautiful & a super athlete, but thats pretty much it. The Bengals are just as weak as we are in pass rushers, & Hunt was still warming their bench. He's not a football player. Hunt is the living definition & the poster child for term JAG.

As for Peppers, he's been a shell of his former self the last few seasons. He's just a name at this point. If we go w/an older vet i'd rather see us go after Elvis Dumervil.

 

[Joodas Avila]

These two are both players i liked as olbs coming out of college who never got a chance to play there and there is nothing big and lumbering about them. Hunt is arguably one of the top 5 atheletes in the league.

I remember posting at length about them a few years ago

http://saintsreport.com/forums/f2/3-4-olb-devin-taylor-post-combine-player-comparisons-results-%5Bmerged%5D-288142/


I hate when talents like this get used wrong.

Devin Taylor compares athletically to Aldon Smith as a linebacker and Hunt is athletic enough to be a 6'8 linebacker like Ted Hendricks. They also arent big names and can be had for less than guys like Nick Perry.

Imagine Rob Ninkovich at 4-3 DE or Paul Kruger. I think the results have been the same for these two playing in a 4-3.

I would sign both up as 3-4 olbs and draft a guy like Malik McDowell to play starting end/NT with Jordan and Rankins.

Devin Taylor comped to Aldon Smith? Yikes! I dont know, man. Aldon Smith is ultra explosive, has clear cut edge bend, is relentless, powerful, and his athleticism actually translates on the field. Aside from being big, long, and straight line fast, Taylor hasnt ever shown any of those qualities, not even at S.CAR.

Taylor's been in a base 4-3 DE his entire career, college and in the pros. Plus Taylor, is lumbering, poor acceleration and closing speed. He has weak, lazy hand use, and seriously lacks the agility and flexibility you want as a pass rusher, regardless of the front he's playing in. Taylor is like a Frankenstien on the field, when we need werewolves running around on D.

And I wouldnt say that either guy is being used wrong. They just dont have that skill set to do so. I mean cool, theyre both super athletes, give them gold medals. But as we've seen many time over, athletes arent always the best football players. Neither Taylor, nor Hunt, has ever lined up at OLB. Theyre both barely doing anything at their current positions, and OLB would put even more responsibilities on their shoulders. If theyre already slow off the snap in a 3pt, then they'd be even worse standing up w/runaway in front of them. Plus, I dont think Taylor, or Hunt, are better than our back ups. I think they'd both be rotational back ups, to our back ups, and would be ST players at best.

And as for the 3-4, 4-3 stuff. I'll say it again, in this day and age, multiple fronts have taken over and have become the norm league wide. Teams run both, and what's more, is that we run a 3 Safety look. That means neither of those conventional fronts fully apply to us, the Saints.

I mean, look at the college level, guys are being cross trained and literally have an A and a B position. Theyre DE/OLBs, DT/DEs, S/LBs, CB/S, WR/RB, TE/WR, I can on, and on. These are the players who are coming out. The future is now, and to be successful in the modern day NFL, I think you have to let go of a lot those old philosophies.

I guess we're at another impasse in terms of view. I would pass on both guys. Neither one fits the bill of a pressure players. Here's some of Devin Taylor's S.CAR film. I just dont see a guy who can play OLB or consistently bring the kind of pressure we need to to make a diff on D.

On a side note, look at Rex Burkhead! That's a guy we should take a long look at.

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a0WATmSQR3A" allowfullscreen="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe>

 

[Slaw]

Devin Taylor comped to Aldon Smith? Yikes! I dont know, man. Aldon Smith is ultra explosive, has clear cut edge bend, is relentless, powerful, and his athleticism actually translates on the field. Aside from being big, long, and straight line fast, Taylor hasnt ever shown any of those qualities, not even at S.CAR.

Taylor's been in a base 4-3 DE his entire career, college and in the pros. Plus Taylor, is lumbering, poor acceleration and closing speed. He has weak, lazy hand use, and seriously lacks the agility and flexibility you want as a pass rusher, regardless of the front he's playing in. Taylor is like a Frankenstien on the field, when we need werewolves running around on D.

And I wouldnt say that either guy is being used wrong. They just dont have that skill set to do so. Neither Taylor, nor Hunt, has ever lined up at OLB. Theyre both barely doing anything at their current positions, and OLB would put even more responsibilities on their shoulders. If theyre already slow off the snap in a 3pt, then they'd be even worse standing up w/runaway in front of them. Plus, I dont think Taylor, or Hunt, are better than our back ups. I think they'd both be rotational back ups, to our back ups, and would be ST players at best.

And as for the 3-4, 4-3 stuff. I'll say it again, in this day and age, multiple fronts have taken over and have become the norm league wide. Teams run both, and what's more, is that we run a 3 Safety look. That means neither of those conventional fronts fully apply to us, the Saints.

I mean, look at the college level, guys are being cross trained and literally have an A and a B position. Theyre DE/OLBs, DT/DEs, S/LBs, CB/S, WR/RB, TE/WR, I can on, and on. These are the players who are coming out. The future is now, and to be successful in the modern day NFL, I think you have to let go of a lot those old philosophies.

I guess we're at another impasse in terms of view. I would pass on both guys. Neither one fits the bill of a pressure players. Here's some of Devin Taylor's S.CAR film. I just dont see a guy who can play OLB or consistently bring the kind of pressure we need to to make a diff on D.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a0WATmSQR3A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Awesome post. Frankenstein vs werewolves. Most players coming out of college playing multiple positions. Very good points.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

One of the main issues we've had is our inability to scout inside out on defense because we keep changing schemes and then trying to bring in guys to fit the scheme (Hello Byrd) We just had a successful stint and improved our Run Defense to 15th and our passing yard output by nearly 50 extra yards. Outside of injuries the 4-2-5 3 Safety Defense worked.

Why not just build off that.

Why switch to a 3-4 and sign OLB's and draft DT/DE's when you can just add a rush end or two and some CB's and f you can a Coverage LB and just build off what you have?
y

FWIW I ask BClemms what he thought about Taylor as a FA and he didn't have much knowledge of him due to him playing for the Lions. His size/agility profile fit the body type of what we'd be looking for If not bigger. He also seemed to play better in place of Ansah than he did opposite of him which maybe makes me think that scheme is geared towards making the RDE's job easier while the LDE does the dirty work. He'd be a good pickup IMHO

 

[Slaw]

One of the main issues we've had is our inability to scout inside out on defense because we keep changing schemes and then trying to bring in guys to fit the scheme (Hello Byrd) We just had a successful stint and improved our Run Defense to 15th and our passing yard output by nearly 50 extra yards. Outside of injuries the 4-2-5 3 Safety Defense worked.

Why not just build off that.

Why switch to a 3-4 and sign OLB's and draft DT/DE's when you can just add a rush end or two and some CB's and f you can a Coverage LB and just build off what you have?

Yeah I thought it was pretty much a given. 4-2-5 3 Safety D is what we run. I don't think injuries had anything to do with it. Only why we weren't more successful.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Yeah I thought it was pretty much a given. 4-2-5 3 Safety D is what we run. I don't think injuries had anything to do with it. Only why we weren't more successful.

When you are a passing team, naturally you will be picked on thru the air by other teams having to play catch up. If your secondary isn't on par with your receiving corps/offense then you will give up a ton of points against teams. Injuries at CB directly lead to the defense not ever performing up to par.

We lost Keenan Lewis, Delvin Breaux, PJ Williams, Kyle Wilson, and Damian Swann by the time Week 2 of the season had gotten here. Thats 5 CB's. Its a miracle we were able to do what we did with what we had for the remainder of the season. Let it sink in that we lost the average teams entire DB depth chart by week2. We were playing with guys who probably wont be in the league in 2-3 years much less another teams 1, 2, and 3 CB.

 

[NOFALCONS10]

Devin Taylor.

Haven't heard that name in ages.

Remember him as the other athletic freak no one heard of behind Clowney at South Carolina.

Doesn't he have a ridiculous wingspan? Like 8 feet or something?

87 inches. great length to swallow up ball carriers.

With great footwork to play in space for a linebacker.

I think that he's a quality addition.

Irrc he set the tackle for loss record at S.C. and even had two pick 6's

 

[NOFALCONS10]

Yup, Bennett would be absolutely awesome! Its just that we have so much loot invested in that softy Fleener. Unicorn would be a star in NO! I hope against hope that we make that move, but i seriously doubt it.

Margus Hunt, though, is a straight up buster. Ya, he's body beautiful & a super athlete, but thats pretty much it. The Bengals are just as weak as we are in pass rushers, & Hunt was still warming their bench. He's not a football player. Hunt is the living definition & the poster child for term JAG.

As for Peppers, he's been a shell of his former self the last few seasons. He's just a name at this point. If we go w/an older vet i'd rather see us go after Elvis Dumervil.

Bennett alone is almost that 6rh offensive tackle that Payton was looking for.

As far as Hunt goes. He's a space player. You cant just line him up at 4-3 end with bad leverage and expect him to win but if you let him move around good things happen. It's nearly impossible to argue projections for a position that he's never played except to say that he has the requisite skill set. He has the closing speed (4.53) to get pressure but had shortish arms for his height at 33", iirc.

6-5 270 4.6 40 is the ideal Justin Houston/Lamarr Woodley/Julius Peppers body type and athleticism that you look for at a 3-4 Strongside linebacker.

He even had a 3 sack game playing mostly wide in preseason a few years ago.

I didn't know Dumervil was a free agent.