Donte Whitner aka Hitner

We beat every passing team on our schedule last season aside from the Giants. We got beat up by running teams so yeah you've convinced me. Lets cut Whitner because he can't cover. Its only run support we're losing. Also lets just put all our trust in and start two rookies back there. We'll just make sure they're both ball hawks. The blown coverage and missed open field tackles wont be a big deal because we saved 4 million in cap space.

And I'm not talking about cutting him right now before we have a replacement.. Have someone in place before you cut him

Originally posted by NinerG94:
We beat every passing team on our schedule last season aside from the Giants. We got beat up by running teams so yeah you've convinced me. Lets cut Whitner because he can't cover. Its only run support we're losing. Also lets just put all our trust in and start two rookies back there. We'll just make sure they're both ball hawks. The blown coverage and missed open field tackles wont be a big deal because we saved 4 million in cap space.

Yeah cause there's no such thing as free agency... Did you even watch the superbowl?

Originally posted by Cooper22:
And I'm not talking about cutting him right now before we have a replacement.. Have someone in place before you cut him

If we sign another vet and draft a couple of prospects . . . and it looks like we can win without him come September, then sure. In the grand scheme Whitner isn't making much $$.

Originally posted by Cooper22:
And I'm not talking about cutting him right now before we have a replacement.. Have someone in place before you cut him

Maybe you should edit your title then before you get de-railed.

You talked me into it ...CUT HIM !!!!!!

Donte aint going NOWHERE ....He would be dead money on our books

Our big weakness, IMO, wasn't the secondary.

It IS the DLine rotation. The secondary needs an upgrade for sure. BUT the reason they got exposed was Justin going down in the Pats game. Just look at it - a perfect example.

First Half - we owned them and a substantial lead. Justin goes out in 2nd half and we almost lose. Reason - Zero EFFECTIVE DLine rotation. The next game Seattle, our DLine were gassed from playing 90% of all the snaps most of the season.

Whittner is doing a good job against the run. Pass coverage - he's terrible. Can we get a better coverage S - YES, Kerry Rhoades.

Will we, I guess we'll find out soon.

Originally posted by NeeJ49er:
You talked me into it ...CUT HIM !!!!!!

Donte aint going NOWHERE ....He would be dead money on our books

There's just so many better options this year.. Everyone knows he sucks in coverage, but aside from the hard hits, he misses a lot of tackles.. Doesn't wrap up and bounces off other players.. Elam and Cyprien are both rookies that are already better tacklers and better in pass coverage.. Mikell and Pollard are both better as well.. People on here get too attached to players and fail to notice their blatant weaknesses

LOL. I'm surprised by this outcry for Whitner. This poster is merely trying to think like a GM. We WILL have to think about the salary cap. We have already seen big-time players cut, released b/c their production no longer matches their salary. In this case, we could see quite a few surprise cuts b/c of younger, cheaper players being developed behind them who may have more upside. Whitner is one of these guys. The reality is he gave up 14 TD's last year (all year long - had nothing to do with the pass rush) including 2 in the Superbowl...worst in the NFL. Can a rookie do worse?

Nobody in their right mind would say Goldson is worth 8.25M a year, hence, we let him walk even though we offered him a fair salary to play for a Superbowl team.

That said, Whitner has the dot on his helmet and makes the calls re: alignments, something Willis used to do. Losing both safeties would be hard at first. Then again, we play a very basic, vanilla defense and tend to play our S's VERY deep anyhow (keep everything in front) so if the coaches bring in a couple more S's via FA (already nabbed one) and top picks in the draft, the ownership may be willing to take a few lumps in the beginning to save money and b/c they feel two new S's will be better for us in the end and hit their stride together come playoff time (ala CK).

People are overreacting here. Cuts like Whitner happen all the time...and already have for many teams to date. We are taking a similar approach with Rogers while originally trying to nab Smith, Nnamdi, etc. but in his case, he'd only save us 1.1M but cost us 5M in dead money. Of the two, Whitner would be the most salary-cap friendly cut and may need to be made if we acquire another FA in the secondary.

Originally posted by Cooper22:
I think it will be very easy to find a cheaper upgrade over Whitner through free agency or the draft, as this draft is particularly deep in strong safeties.. Heck, I could go out there for free to go look lost in pass coverage..

And according to overthecap.com, cutting Whitner would save $4.1 million this season..

What are your thoughts on this?

Are you talking about the Pro Bowl selected Donte Whitner.

What other Pro Bowl safety could you get for only 4 mil?

Originally posted by NCommand:
LOL. I'm surprised by this outcry for Whitner. This poster is merely trying to think like a GM. We WILL have to think about the salary cap. We have already seen big-time players cut, released b/c their production no longer matches their salary. In this case, we could see quite a few surprise cuts b/c of younger, cheaper players being developed behind them who may have more upside. Whitner is one of these guys. The reality is he gave up 14 TD's last year (all year long - had nothing to do with the pass rush) including 2 in the Superbowl...worst in the NFL. Can a rookie do worse?

Nobody in their right mind would say Goldson is worth 8.25M a year, hence, we let him walk even though we offered him a fair salary to play for a Superbowl team.

That said, Whitner has the dot on his helmet and makes the calls re: alignments, something Willis used to do. Losing both safeties would be hard at first. Then again, we play a very basic, vanilla defense and tend to play our S's VERY deep anyhow (keep everything in front) so if the coaches bring in a couple more S's via FA (already nabbed one) and top picks in the draft, the ownership may be willing to take a few lumps in the beginning to save money and b/c they feel two new S's will be better for us in the end and hit their stride together come playoff time (ala CK).

People are overreacting here. Cuts like Whitner happen all the time...and already have for many teams to date. We are taking a similar approach with Rogers while originally trying to nab Smith, Nnamdi, etc. but in his case, he'd only save us 1.1M but cost us 5M in dead money. Of the two, Whitner would be the most salary-cap friendly cut and may need to be made if we acquire another FA in the secondary.

Exactly.. If you're going to have a superbowl team, you're going to have cap casualties (look at the Ravens defense now).. Whitner would be an ideal cap casualty because he can be easily replaced and maybe even upgraded with a cheaper option.

Originally posted by D_Niner:
Are you talking about the Pro Bowl selected Donte Whitner.

What other Pro Bowl safety could you get for only 4 mil?

Pro bowls don't mean anything when evaluating player worth to a team.. He made the pro bowl because of a couple highlight reel hits

Originally posted by Cooper22:
Exactly.. If you're going to have a superbowl team, you're going to have cap casualties (look at the Ravens defense now).. Whitner would be an ideal cap casualty because he can be easily replaced and maybe even upgraded with a cheaper option.

Lets hear those options. Who could we get thats playing at a pro bowl level for less $$$$.

Goldson was one of my favorite players on the team, but he was wayy overrated on this board too.. Free Safety who was average at best in pass coverage

Originally posted by Cooper22:

Originally posted by D_Niner:
Are you talking about the Pro Bowl selected Donte Whitner.

What other Pro Bowl safety could you get for only 4 mil?

Pro bowls don't mean anything when evaluating player worth to a team.. He made the pro bowl because of a couple highlight reel hits

Oh... I thought pro bowls where there to recognize the best players at a given position for the year.

So, why again did these cheeper options not make the pro bowl?