The New Corners

[NashDishesDimes]

Corners are fine at this point imo, assuming no injuries. Its time to start focusing on the pass rush so the back end doesnt get exposed…

 

[Krangodnzr]

A surprise entry from the commanding general of the sunshine brigade

Is there a worse CB room in the league? Time will tell. The Burn Unit will certainly cost us games, along with the Rush Hour pass rush that comes at you like they're in a traffic jam.

Signed by the commanding general of the doom and gloom brigade

If we are going off of, you know, actual evidence from last season, this cornerback room looks to be a lot more sufficient than how you are assessing it.

FO metrics had the Cardinals as the 6th best coverage unit in the league. What a lot of people AREN'T factoring is how good the safety play has been with Baker and Jalen Thompson.

Trayvon Mullins, based on actual objective data, is better than any CB the Cardinals had last year.

 

[Russ Smith]

I think Guidry is obvious he's a freak athlete who didn't play a ton of football until he got to college so everyone sees how fast and strong he is and thinks we can teach this guy. But that doesn't necessarily matter at CB if you can't change direction which I would assume is his issue.

he only played 3 years of college as well. I'm not saying he's going to be great but I think he's the type of guy NFL teams sign for special teams and hope they can coach him up. Our problem is we may HAVE to play him at CB quite a bit if Hamilton is out for awhile.

Which is why I keep saying we're not that far away from Budda or Simmons playing some CB.

 

[MadCardDisease]

The Cards might be the first team to go through a season with no CB interceptions.

The Cards do get to face Geno Smith twice this year so there is hope.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I think Guidry is obvious he's a freak athlete who didn't play a ton of football until he got to college so everyone sees how fast and strong he is and thinks we can teach this guy. But that doesn't necessarily matter at CB if you can't change direction which I would assume is his issue.

he only played 3 years of college as well. I'm not saying he's going to be great but I think he's the type of guy NFL teams sign for special teams and hope they can coach him up. Our problem is we may HAVE to play him at CB quite a bit if Hamilton is out for awhile.

Which is why I keep saying we're not that far away from Budda or Simmons playing some CB.

Jalen Thompson as well.

 

[phillycard]

Early nickname of the Cardinals defense this year: “The Burn Unit.”

I hate to laugh at this but LMAO!!!

 

[Cheesebeef]

Is it over? Has the window completely closed? I don’t know. If so, it sucks. If not, we’ll see.

it’s not “completely closed” but it’s pretty close with the season a mere ten days away. The fact they haven’t shored up either facet of the D by now sucks regardless. It puts the team in a spot of desperation if they do try to remedy it.

 

[phillycard]

I hate to be so basic, but I HAVE to have somebody on this CB crew with a NAME for me to be even comfortable entering week one. Not that it would be the answer to our prayers, but it's like with ANY product in life. You would trust Coca-Cola as a brand more than you would trust Pimpslap Cola if you had your dithers about it. I have a high amount of faith in the pickups but a veteran name who has played the position and has been around the block a few times appeals to me as a fan and would allow me to breathe a little bit. I can't help it! 95% of the fan base's reaction when we signed Mullen was "okay, I guess". It doesn't help that we're facing Mahomes and a pretty darn good group of WR's week 1. Ugh....

 

[juza76]

Our cbs may be very average and not ballhawks but its difficult if none of them won't intercept a pass in 17 games

 

[Harry]

You're the 2nd person to say Mullen is best used as press ... But aren't there comments in his thread, attributed to Raiders coaches saying the opposite?

I’m going mostly on how I saw him play in college. He was successful enough disrupting routes that the number of targets he had to actually defend was surprisingly low. It’s much harder in the NFL for that type of play to succeed as the speed/strength combo of most receivers is too great. They can either beat a press of they don’t typically last in the NFL.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I’m going mostly on how I saw him play in college. He was successful enough disrupting routes that the number of targets he had to actually defend was surprisingly low. It’s much harder in the NFL for that type of play to succeed as the speed/strength combo of most receivers is too great. They can either beat a press of they don’t typically last in the NFL.

One of the reasons apparently he was cut by the Raiders is that their new staff wants to play a lot of press man and the other corners are just better at the press.

Another reason I've heard is that the Raiders staff was apparently pretty peeved that he had surgery in the spring, that he waited until then. I haven't heard a single Raiders analyst say that Mullen was a bad player, and most of them are kind of shocked that they moved on from him for so little. I'm not; we've seen the Raiders make moves like this for years.

 

[Harry]

Appreciate the analysis but where does this come from? In reading the Raiders forums, everyone seems to unanimously like Mullen and think he was good when played. Your take seems much more pessimistic

Big frog in a very small pond. Only one opinion can be right time will tell. Statistically you don’t acquire good CBs for a conditional 7th round draft pick. I’ve been wrong before but the odds are in my favor. I did say he was better than what they have. BTW his measured speed is deceptive. He don’t appear that fast in coverage.

 

[Harry]

I can't help thinking that saying Javelin Guidry is a weak tackler was more about looking at his height than what he has actually shown. Something Javelin Guidry has shown to do well is tackle

He tests good in measured strength, but he doesn’t wrap up. Tackling can be taught, so maybe he’s improved since I last saw him. Once again good tacklers with his kind of speed are seldom cut even if height challenged.

 

[Harry]

We still don't know anything about Antonio Hamilton's injury, but it could cost him more than the first game. If he's out any length of time our corners are Murphy, Wilson, Mullen, and Guidry; and that's probably significantly worse than last year.

Is the issue an injury? Is that confirmed?

 

[Krangodnzr]

We still don't know anything about Antonio Hamilton's injury, but it could cost him more than the first game. If he's out any length of time our corners are Murphy, Wilson, Mullen, and Guidry; and that's probably significantly worse than last year.

Mullen is an upgrade from Alford.

 

[Harry]

How has he looked bad in pre season? Apart from that 1 snap in game 1 that everyone bases this opinion off? Which was a zone mixup that we have no idea was his fault? It may well be that the safety was supposed to pick up that route and didn't, with it being Wiggins or someone else back there.

He played 34 snaps all preseason. 34. There is no GOOD reason to expect he will be worse.

In the last preseason game it appeared they’d convinced him to be more aggressive and drop the huge cushion. He has the athleticism to be much better than he’s shown. Perhaps someone finally got through to hi. Watch the cushion in the KC game. That will answer the question.

 

[Harry]

Harry, congratulations for putting your reputation on the line, with the statement that Arizona might go through an entire season with ZERO CB INTS. Time will tell.

It was sort of tongue in cheek, but I’m afraid things will be bleak. I’m not sure I have the reputation you are crediting me with having.

 

[Harry]

I guess I was right this would cause a stir!

 

[Proximo]

if that were true -- the team would have IR'd him on cut down day

if it were a one month thing -- they would IR him now

whatever Hamilton has -- they believe its a one or two week thing

I have a feeling it is one of those, can we avoid surgery and just rehab situations - which usually end up requiring the surgery.

 

[football karma]

Statistically you don’t acquire good CBs for a conditional 7th round draft pick.

ever the optimist:

in the darker Cardinal days, one of my frustrations was the constant changing of coaching staffs -- and that resulted in letting good players go because they didn't fit the new system or were tainted by being picked by the fired staff or just didn't have a chance to develop.

Im hoping the Raiders full fledged house cleaning (by "the Patriot Way!" acolytes ) leads them to let some good football players go.

 

[BritCard]

Big frog in a very small pond. Only one opinion can be right time will tell. Statistically you don’t acquire good CBs for a conditional 7th round draft pick. I’ve been wrong before but the odds are in my favor. I did say he was better than what they have. BTW his measured speed is deceptive. He don’t appear that fast in coverage.

CGJ was just traded for a bag of peanuts. Marcus Peters went for a 5th. Really all depends on the contract situation.

 

[Russ Smith]

Early nickname of the Cardinals defense this year: “The Burn Unit.” I expect this defense to be exposed early and often with things only getting worse with a potential injury, which cannot be afforded at any position on D. On a positive note, I expect the offense to be fun to watch when Hopkins returns. 8 wins tops

Or "burn city."

 

[Garthshort]

I know this thread is about CB's, but pass rush is tied into it. So, it seems to me on 'passing' downs, that Golden and Gardeck will be the Edge guys. And Golden will probably be on the field for all downs. But, who do you see as the other OLB on 'running' plays?

 

[Stout]

It's not hope. It's evidence led projection based on a direct comparison to last years CB room which was no better and performed well. Certainly well enough.

Not during our epic collapse.

 

[Stout]

Quantify "Worse cornerback room"?

Does what it looks like on paper matter if they are top 10 in results? Like last year.

We went through this last year with the whole "P2 is gone, the rookie is starting" and it was fine.

The CB's on our initial 53 last year were Byron Murphy, Marco Wilson, Tay Gowan and Luq Barqoo. So I'd say currently we are vastly improved over the same stage last year.

There are a lot of poor CB rooms in the league. Lot's of teams without a real CB1.

There are lot's of unknowns. And it may take time for guys like Mullen to pick up the scheme but acting like it's a disaster when we just proved last year it need not be seems histrionic.

It was fine for part of the season. Until the inevitable Alford injury. Until Wilson turned into toast, etc. It was fine until it wasn't, because the room wasn't good enough. It contributed in large part to the big decline.