DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Free Agency Part 3

Sashi-ites I can live with, but Sashiettes not so much...

Wave those Sashi pom poms lol.

I don't look so good in one of those outfits, Eve...

sashi'ites

I suspect Landry to get a few targets. Good, better, best. Is Kyle Rudolph gold for the Browns at this point?

PFF had a writeup about him a few days ago.. https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pr...back-in-the-nfl

Dolphins gamble on Xavien Howard, make him highest-paid cornerback in the NFL

The Miami Dolphins’ brass is all officially all in on Xavien Howard.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Miami signed Howard to a five-year, $76.5 million deal with $46 million guaranteed on Thursday night, making him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. The record-setting extension follows what was a career year for the 2016 second-round pick, as Howard earned career-highs in overall grade (77.3), run-defense grade (83.6) and coverage grade (75.3) across 803 defensive snaps in 2018.

Howard’s career, however, has been marred with ups and downs. Among the 114 NFL cornerbacks targeted 100 or more times in the last three years (2016-18), he ranks just 58th in coverage grade (70.3), 42nd in forced incompletion percentage (15.9%), and 42nd in yards allowed per coverage snap (1.10).

The 6-foot-1, 192-pound Baylor product has ideal size, length and athletic ability to play press man and thrive in the NFL, but the results are inconsistent. He’s flashed elite play in press man in bursts throughout his career, but his three-year grades in man coverage, both at and away from the line of scrimmage, are underwhelming. He’s earned 30.0 and 29.9 coverage grades in press man in 2017 and 2018, respectively, largely because his highlight-reel plays are too often followed up by penalties.

[Editor’s Notes: To view all of Xavien Howard‘s career grades and advanced stats, check out his player page in Premium Stats 2.0!]

Only five NFL cornerbacks have been penalized on a higher percentage of their targets in the last three seasons than Howard, and a stark majority of his coverage penalties are a product of getting too physical or grabby in press man coverage. In fact, 18 of the 21 coverage penalties he has committed in his career have been called when he’s been in press man coverage.

In fact, if we remove Howard’s penalties in man coverage from the equation, his three-year coverage grade jumps from 56.8 to 77.3.

Committing penalties at Howard’s rate will always have a negative effect on a cornerback’s coverage grade in PFF’s system, making it no surprise that he’s earned better grades in zone coverage throughout his career. His play in zone isn’t much better and still very much inconsistent, but there are fewer bad plays on his tape when handed zone-coverage responsibilities as opposed to man.

In 2018, Howard allowed 11 receptions from 22 targets for 131 yards, zero touchdowns and just four first downs in Cover-2, Cover-3 and Quarters looks. He also logged four forced incompletions, including two interceptions, and ranked tied for 12th in coverage grade (81.4) among cornerbacks with 20 more targets in said coverages on the year. His 26.8 passer rating allowed in the three coverages led all qualifying cornerbacks this past season.

Turn our attention to his targets of 10-plus air yards in zone coverage this past season, and his 70.2 coverage grade and 26.7% forced incompletion percentage rank 14th and eighth, respectively, among 80 qualifiers.

The same natural ability (i.e., size, length, athleticism, speed) that made Miami determined to turn Howard into an elite press-man cornerback in the NFL shows up in his play in zone coverage. And he’s less prone to penalties when removed from the tight one-on-one situations he’ll find himself in when playing man coverage.

While all teams want their version of Stephon Gilmore – the NFL’s highest-graded cornerback overall and in press man a year ago – new Dolphins defensive coordinator Brian Flores isn’t bringing him to South Beach. And as much as Flores will want Howard to fill Gilmore’s shoes in Miami’s defense without a hitch, more harm than good will follow suit if he can’t hone Howard’s physicality and do away with absurd penalty rate.

The safer play is to limit Howard’s snaps in press man and pick his battles for him depending on the matchup, giving him less opportunity to see flags thrown his way and more opportunity to have high-floor production in off-zone coverage. The aggressive play, the likelier of the two options with Flores at the helm, is to bank on Howard improving in Year 4 to the tune of much fewer penalties and lockdown-man coverage across all matchups.

The Cleveland Browns have signed RB L.J. Scott. To make room on the roster, the team waived RB Devante Mays.

Scott is an undrafted rookie out of Michigan State, measuring at 6-0, 227 pounds. He closed out his four-year career as a Spartan ranking ninth among the program’s all-time leaders in rushing yards (2,855) and carries (610), as well as placing 12th in rushing touchdowns (25). Scott played in 43 career games, including 23 starts, and added nine 100-yard rushing performances. Additionally, he paced the team in rushing three consecutive seasons from 2015-17. Scott is a native of Youngstown, Ohio and graduated from Hubbard High School.

Mays, a second-year player, spent 10 weeks on the team’s practice squad last season.

https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/bro...medium=referral

Scott is a very good RB ... If he can stay healthy???

Collins is not going to be on the Patriots long if he gives the effort he gave for us.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001...ay-for-patriots

I find this a truly strange signing.

When the Browns are so hot that even their castoffs get snatched up.

Inversely, if he does give the effort he gave here for the Patriots, he could find himself back in the Brown and Orange

The Patriots value guys who know their system. They often bring guys back after they've been cut loose. They just brought back Benjamin Watson. In the past they've brought back Brian Hoyer, Patrick Chung, and a few others.

Hoyer and the rest didn't get cut loose because of attitude, though...

Yeah - it was Collins lack of effort, lack of sticking to his responsibility and his attitude that made him expendable. . . he's not like those other cats you mentioned.

Good luck, Nate. I hope you stick w/the Dolphins.

Collins was a much better player than given credit.

Yup.

I actually think he was much worse than most people thought. It wasn't until last year that people caught on that he was a lazy piece of crap who took poor angles to the ball to avoid contact and was a terrible example to the young guys on the team.

He still has a few defenders, but that's only because they are still fighting a fight that was lost long ago.

I guess Bill Belicheck is one of those defenders. Not sure what fight he is fighting?

We just disagree, as you would say..

I thought BB traded him?

Perhaps Collins has been humbled and he can live up to his immense athletic ability? He didn't play well here. That's why Dorsey let him go. Hell, he tried to trade him and couldn't find any takers. BB found a sucker in Sashi.

j/c:

I wasn't even thinking of Sashi….lol....you are the one who keeps that alive.....Bill just took him back. That tells me something....If he sucked as bad as you think he was, Bill wouldn't have, unless of course you think Bill is a dunce.


So you think Bill Bellicheck is a dunce?


That isn't putting words in your mouth....something I know you would claim....that is a question......note the punctuation.

This will be my last post on it. I already said that BB traded Collins.

I already said that Dorsey tried to trade Collins and could not find any takers. That includes BB.

I already said that Collins has a lot of athletic talent. However, he was available for a long time. Why is that? Because he has played so well in the last few years?

I never even once insinuated that BB was a dunce. He has taken chances on other guys before. That isn't stupid. Give an athlete a shot. He signed Kenny Britt. The guy gave him nothing. He signed K2. He gave him very little. He has brought in a ton of guys after they were released. Most are released again. That doesn't make him a dunce.

However, it does not prove that Collins played well in Cleveland.

We just disagree....cool

Its official ...

NATE ORCHARD
LB, MIAMI DOLPHINS

Dolphins signed LB Nate Orchard.

Orchard got the deal after working out at minicamp. He split time between Buffalo and Kansas City last year — playing in just four games. Orchard became expendable after Seattle signed Ziggy Ansah but should have an easier path to snaps in Miami.

SOURCE: Barry Jackson on Twitter
May 15, 2019, 7:04 PM ET

The #Chiefs agreed to trade terms with #Jets, sending a 6th round 2020 for Darren Lee

@Rapsheet

Folks said the same thing when BB let him go...And folks used BB's 'greatness' to trash the Browns decision to bring him on board... Folks said he must be trash. It's obvious he doesn't listen to game plan.. He freelances too much.. On and On and On...

Now BB has him back in NE, and now I see the same thing. More taking up for anything that BB does.

thats it?? dang.

I'm curious as to how you could see that based on his play on the field?

He was a guy who made tackles down the field. He was not an impact player anywhere near the LOS. He ran himself out of plays. He missed tackles. Was he the worst OLB in the NFL? No. Was he even average? I don't think so. I think that his play was below average, and ineffective. That's why he's gone.

This is the move when teams want to get rid of a failed first round pick. We did the same with Gilbert and Erving. The Chiefs aren't in a position to claim him so they give up a late round pick to give him a shot.

You keep mentioning Cam Erving, but I thought he was a starter for the most dynamic offense in the league? Is that wrong?

He was a backup that was forced to play because of injury.

When we had him he was horrible and we just were trying to move his contract. That was my only point.

Cam Irving got shoved around, missed assignments, was slow to block and was a penalty machine. I'm glad he's having a career resurection, because he seemed like a nice guy, but he was trash as a Brown.

Now that LJ Scott is gone, I suppose this is competition for Hilliard's spot, camp fodder or bolstering Special Teams (I don't know his history as a KR/PR).