Donte Whitner aka Hitner

Originally posted by LoneWolf:
McBath isnt on the roster and Robinson is a fs also.

Robinson's smaller, but throws his body around in run defense, he's a really good tackler as well as pass coverage.. I honestly think he could play either safety position and honestly wouldn't be surprised if he wins a starting spot this year

Originally posted by Cooper22:

Originally posted by Kolohe:
Nah I say keep, yes gaining 4 mil in cap space is good to add but Whitner is leader of the secondary, cap space can be gained elsewhere like releasing Haralson would gain a little over 2 mil in cap space. We don't need massive amounts of space, we only need maybe one or two more free agents before closing up for the draft.

I agree he's a leader, but I guess I just think much, much less of him as a player than most on this board.. That $4 mill might enable us to sign a difference maker such as Nnamdi, Reed, or Woodson

I don't necessarily agree with cutting him now but I wouldn't be against it. It is difficult enough losing 1 Safety but replacing both would be a major learning curve for our secondary. Whitner is by far the weakest coverage link in the secondary. Goldson had some serious range as a S which compensated for some of his brain farts. Will be difficult to find a FS with that much range and size combination.

I guess the game vs the Ravens really pissed me off. Whitner was TERRIBLE in coverage and it killed us in that 1st half.

I think Whitner will be gone after next year.

Originally posted by Cooper22:

Robinson's smaller, but throws his body around in run defense, he's a really good tackler as well as pass coverage.. I honestly think he could play either safety position and honestly wouldn't be surprised if he wins a starting spot this year

Anything is possible but i think the "more experienced" spillman gets the starting nod first just due to game time in his position.

Originally posted by Cooper22:
You kind of contradicted yourself.. You said we don't need cheaper, but then you go on to all these other needs that we have to fill.. We're really pushing the cap this year and we need to save money wherever we can (hence letting Goldson walk and Manningham taking a pay cut).. We need some way to pay for all these needs and still ending up below the cap.. I'm not really understanding your logic there.. Releasing Whitner would save the money needed to address all the needs that you listed (as well as the need for an upgrade at SS IMO)

My point was we have holes in quite a few areas, and if one is filled (dline rotation) it directly benefits our secondary. You yourself alluded to the decline of the dline having a negative effect on the db's. All im saying, and most here would agree, if you fix the d-line you fix the secondary problem. If Baalke determines we are strapped for cash and wants to restructure some deals and make some cuts to give us extra space so be it, but cutting Whitner right now is a bad idea. As it is we have no idea whats going on at FS. Are we sticking with Dahl? Is Culliver moving over? If so who is his replacement at CB? How does that effect Rogers? Are we drafting a FS? Is Woodson's walker in good enough condition for him to play effectively at FS? Are we going to draft a CB and move him to FS? For me that is to many questions to have to put another vacancy at the SS position. Is Whitner an all world SS? No he isn't, im not debating that. What im saying is for this season he will due. Especially if we fix the problem with the dline. Actually, if we don't fix the dline problem our defense is going to regress quite a bit. That alone is why we will not get rid of Whitner this year but instead worry about dlinemen.

then why got selected to the probowl?

Originally posted by AZ9erfan520:
My point was we have holes in quite a few areas, and if one is filled (dline rotation) it directly benefits our secondary. You yourself alluded to the decline of the dline having a negative effect on the db's. All im saying, and most here would agree, if you fix the d-line you fix the secondary problem. If Baalke determines we are strapped for cash and wants to restructure some deals and make some cuts to give us extra space so be it, but cutting Whitner right now is a bad idea. As it is we have no idea whats going on at FS. Are we sticking with Dahl? Is Culliver moving over? If so who is his replacement at CB? How does that effect Rogers? Are we drafting a FS? Is Woodson's walker in good enough condition for him to play effectively at FS? Are we going to draft a CB and move him to FS? For me that is to many questions to have to put another vacancy at the SS position. Is Whitner an all world SS? No he isn't, im not debating that. What im saying is for this season he will due. Especially if we fix the problem with the dline. Actually, if we don't fix the dline problem our defense is going to regress quite a bit. That alone is why we will not get rid of Whitner this year but instead worry about dlinemen.

I definitely agree and you make some good points about other questions needing answers.. But I'm just saying if we can add good d-line depth, as well as improve our secondary, imagine what our defense would be like.. By cutting Whitner, there's a good chance for an upgrade at SS (IMO) and you save money to add more help to the d-line

Originally posted by Nolanonsense:
then why got selected to the probowl?

Pro Bowl voting, historically anyhow, reflects a players performance from the previous season. Just as Bowman didn't make the Pro Bowl after an outstanding 2011 season, Whitner's 2011 season is what put him in the 2012 Pro Bowl. Same reason Tom Brady could throw 35 picks next year and still make next years Pro Bowl. Now a days it doesn't really mean much.

Originally posted by Nolanonsense:
then why got selected to the probowl?

Whitner no good

Whitner must be the new Delanie Walker of this board suddenly.

The dude cleans up after Bowman missed tackles. And sometimes goes against 6'4-6'6 tighends and to no one's surprise lost in those match-ups in the end zone. This usually happens around draft time when someone wants to push their own draft picks for a replacement.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

Whitner must be the new Delanie Walker of this board suddenly.

The dude cleans up after Bowman missed tackles. And sometimes goes against 6'4-6'6 tighends and to no one's surprise lost in those match-ups in the end zone. This usually happens around draft time when someone wants to push their own draft picks for a replacement.

I'm not sure if your post was serious or not. I've watched every game atleast once and have yet to see bowman miss a single tackle.. I've seen plenty of Whitners missed tackles, but none of bowmans.. As for covering tight ends, he pretty much got burned by every player he was responsible for.. So I don't really know what you were trying to say here.. Also, when Willis was asked to cover those bigger tight ends, he did just fine..

Whitner is an asset in the box but a liability in coverage. However he is the leader of our secondary and we need him. I also heard his cap figure would be dead money if he was cut. So it's pointless to cut him now. Trust in harbaalke!

Originally posted by SFATeflonDon:

Whitner is an asset in the box but a liability in coverage. However he is the leader of our secondary and we need him. I also heard his cap figure would be dead money if he was cut. So it's pointless to cut him now. Trust in harbaalke!

The days of the classic in the box safety are slowly coming to an end. For one, we rarely have 8 in the box.. Also, the majority of the teams that make the playoffs have exceptional passing games, which is why IMO, we can easily upgrade whitner..

Originally posted by Cooper22:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by Cooper22:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by Cooper22:

Originally posted by defenderDX:
My thoughts are you shouldn't be posting about something you have no idea on what you are talking about.

So Whitner was good in pass coverage? And is worth the $4+ mill?

Solid argument.

To say we should just CUT someone means you clearly aren't thinking it through. No Whitner is not great in coverage and we could do better. But just cutting him isn't the solution. You say Draft Free Agency? ok. That's a solution. Who in Free Agency? And you want to just cut him and leave a huge hole in that position hoping a rookie can just come in and start? Do you know of any rookies who can? If so, name then. Since you're sooo serious on cutting Whitner, clearly you MUST have someone else in mind....

In the Draft: Matt Elam, John Cyprien, Eric Reid, Shawn Williams, JJ Wilcox, Duke Williams would all be upgrades over Whitner.
In Free Agency: Quintin Mikell, Bernard Pollard, and Michael Huff would all be immediate upgrades.. Not to mention the typical free safeties such as Kerry Rhodes, Ed Reed, and Charles Woodson

I'm going to agree with DefenderDX, though not with the same tone. Whitner is a first round talent, who plays a very good SS. Everyone seems to overvalue Goldson, who was not great in coverage. You need to pair a ball hawking safety with a strong run defending SS. Yes there are some options in free agency for a safety, and in the draft. But Whitner is a good veteran player. He also is signed for decent money.

As for our secondary as a whole, we have good, big physical defenders. But when our pass rush degraded at the end of the season, the secondary was exposed. Our draft focus should be on DL and a good safety and CB.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Whitner must be the new Delanie Walker of this board suddenly.

The dude cleans up after Bowman missed tackles. And sometimes goes against 6'4-6'6 tighends and to no one's surprise lost in those match-ups in the end zone. This usually happens around draft time when someone wants to push their own draft picks for a replacement.

Totally agree. People seem to forget that there are a lot of big TEs and RBs who need to be stopped. Pairing Whitner with a good "ball hawking" safety will be very appropriate.