Originally posted by lamontb:
Originally posted by sfout:Good points. But it's not like Rogers locked down the slot. He's still trying to figure out which way Victor Cruz is going. Niners had to double cover the slot in the 2nd half of the game.
Originally posted by Fal_Mc11:
Originally posted by lamontb:
This really is a tough one. Younger pass rusher vs aging corner back. A corner back that had a career year playing behind a dominate front 7. He had 6 interceptions this year vs 8 in his whole career. Then Brooks has had questions about wok ethic at times. But every year the guy has improved. Probably will be a 9 sack guy his whole career. But that's exactly what you need when you have the Smith Bros. wrecking havoc. To me Brooks has a better chance of maintaining his current level of play for far longer than Rogers. I'm slightly leaning towards Brooks. I think it will come down to how well the staff thinks Aldon projects as starter at OLB vs how they project Culliver ar a starter.(1)
Brooks is young and has improved every year since joining the team. Plus we have worked so hard on building a pass rush the last few years, are we ready to take a step back in that department? Mario Williams will be the top OLB for the 3-4 on the market, but Brooks will be up there to due to this age and skill level. Does he want big money? If so the Cowgirls, can write the HUGE check that will make it hard for him to return.(2)
Clearly I want Brooks over Rogers. See Rogers is and was great last year, but part of that was the product of a great pass rush. A pass rush provided by Brooks and the Smiths. If Brooks leaves, that would leave us who to replace him? Don't out price yourself Brooks, stay loyal to the team that took you off waivers and believed in you.
1. Culliver looked great and statistically he measures right up to Rogers. As a nickel and occasional #2 Cully logged 40% the amount of snaps that Rogers played and he logged 7 PDs while Rogers logged 18. Ironically 7 is 40% of 18 so you extrapolate Cully's production out to a similar level as Rogers. Cully also registered 35 tackles while Rogers registered 44. IMO I think Cully could step right in for Rogers and we'd have minimal drop off, the only issue is Cully isn't nimble enough to cover slot receivers in the nickel like Rogers is, unless Brock or T. Brown is skilled enough to defend against slot receivers we'd have to find a new CB capable of covering the slot.
Thats the real question: Can Cully cover slot receivers in the nickel and completely take over for Rogers or will we have to find a new slot corner when we go to nickel packages? Will Brown be able to move inside on the slot with Brock coming in as the nickel on the outside?
2.With Jerry's comments about wanting our ILBs I bet he wouldn't mind snatching up a quality OLB from us lol. Someone said MM tweeted that Brooks is looking for $8M a year average, is he really worth that much to us? IMO Aldon will be able to take over for him next year and we either draft a new pass rush specialist OLB or use Demarcus Dobbs as a pass rush DE on 3rd down.
Letting Brooks walk seems like it will cause the least amount of headaches especially if he is demanding some ridiculous salary.
And Dobbs isn't going to be a pass rush specialist on 3rd downs. That's still going to be Aldon's job in the 4 man front.
Now that 8 million a year for Brooks might be the ultimate deal breaker. Do you or anybody have a clue what the going rate is for a 8-10 sack OLB is in the NFL?
cool, an actual conversation.
I think Rogers will be more willing to come back at a price that we like. but i think its fair to consider if Rogers great season was an anomaly, or the result of playing behind a great front 7. Of course you could argue that Brooks had a really good year in his contract year, too, and that could be a "buyer beware" situation.
I think its also important to consider that the team does project Cully as a starter long-term. Haralson is not the long-term answer at OLB, as fine a player as he is.