I don't disagree. You can never have enough pass rushers. Look at a team like the Giants. They have a bunch of them. As for Vernon, I like him a lot because he does a lot of different things. He can drop into coverage on occasion, he's a fantastic special teams player and I still believe in him as a pass rusher. I mean, they are coaching him to be one, Cameron Wake is helping him become one, and he was drafted to be one. He has to keep working at it but we've seen some instances this year where he's been able to get pressure on the QB. Hell, him pressuring the QB won us the game against the Rams.
My only concern with upgrading offensive talent ahead of defensive is that the O-line may still hold us back. It's tricky to upgrade multiple spots along the Oline all at once when there are other areas of the team that could stand improvement. I'm at the point where I think you get a free agent guard, and just live with what you have on the OL. Tannehill's progress, plus an additional weapon in the form of a great receiving tight end or wide receiver should be enough to take the offense up another notch. PLus, next year the players will know the offense better, which will mean better execution so Sherm can open up the playbook more.
Agree that Vernon looks good in space (WAY better in coverage than I would have expected), and great on special teams. IN terms of his sacks, it's the same 'someone else chased him into my arms' type of sacks that Merling used to get. I juts don't see Vernon doing anything (pass rush wise) at DE that a boatload of other guys couldn't do, and that a few dozen guys couldn't do a bit better. Heck Babin would have been an improvement, for example, and he was released!
Yeah, but Vernon is barely 22 and a rookie. This isn't some 4 year vet we're talking about. We'll see though.
i would go with #1 Dan Marino #2 Barry Sanders #3 Warren Sapp #4 Kevin Williams #5 Zach Thomas #6 Louis Oliver #7 Brock Marion next group #1 Irving Fryar #2 Ricky Williams #3 Randy McMichael #4 O.J McDuffie #5 Richmond Webb #6 Brandon Pettigrew #7 Dwight Stephenson for comedy relief #1 Channing Crowder , Lamar Thomas and Terrell Buckley
Regarding Vernon, this coming off-season and next season will be a good indicator of how well our coaching staff can develop players. Vernon is very athletic. Can our staff help him develop pass rushing skills? On that note it seems that he would be a good linebacker. Or hybrid LB/DE.
And neither am I ( at all )......... just thinking we need an impact receiver and we have a lot of expiring contracts so its very likely we sign one. Thats why also also suggested we draft a WR with potential to grow into a #1 . So we'd have a guy who can produce day 1, and a guy who can develop into his role.
Plain and simple....This offense is going NOWHERE until this O-line is upgraded. There are no holes for our RBs to run thru and T-hill is getting mugged!!! The only teams that are doing well are the ones that have an elite qb like Rodgers. T-hill is no Rodgers. The fins need to upgrade both guards.
