Profilers secondary concerns

What some people seem to forget is Wright’s groin injury that he suffered in the middle of the year that he played through. I don’t know if he has the prototypical #1 type corner skills, but he’s for sure a good #2.

Berry played in his first season basically last year, and whenever he was thrown in (which became more and more at the end of the year) he did very well. He just needs to locate the ball better in the air and he’ll be great. You never see Berry get burned, he just tends to give up a catch that he should have made a play on. He had a better grade at PFF than Houston or Wright did. Easily our best tackler at DB as well. He’s gonna be good next year, bank on it. (but don’t quote me on it)

I still don’t get your love for the phonz, but oh well. People don’t get why I like Berry so much either. Phonz gives up big plays constantly and can’t tackle. Depth is all I see from him. Maybe nickel. Just my $.2

Houston? I wonder if he is a plug. Just how long will that guy be with the team? #2 corner ideally.

IMO Berry has the ability to develop into the #2 corner. He really dropped the ball, LOL, in the post season; keep in mind one season is a pretty small sample size.

To me, Phonz and Wright should both be playing the nickel. We watched what happened against Phonz playing the deuce against the Pats. Wright is good, but like you said inconsistent; plus he is better suited for the nickel.

When it comes to FAs’ I really don’t agree with the Cortland buzz lately. I’m sure the front office has a solid plan. They made a run at Johnathan Joseph, apparently made an attempt to trade up and snag Peterson as well as trying to acquire Asante Samuel. Its obvious they’re trying to find their number one guy. Personally wouldn’t mind settling for Janoris Jenkins. Florida had him man up against Julio Jones and AJ Green.

but I also can see how some of it was due to the underwhelming play of the D line. There were quite a few times where I watched a QB sidestep a rush or step up in the pocket and have all day to throw as the interior line got double teamed and the ends got washed out down field.

I think we need to work in some kind of alternate scheme. The blueprint for beating our D is out there and teams are using it ad nauseum. The same screens, trap plays and pass protections work over and over against us.

I think you’re spot on with almost everything. I’ll strongly disagree about the Phonz and I’m not sure I can agree with you about Houston and Spievey.

Phonz is the most unreliable one we have. As I commented above I just don’t think he can be trusted. He’s worth keeping as depth with the hope he figures it out. I just wont be surprised if he’s totally lost their trust.

Houston will indeed likely never be an elite CB or anything. I think he’s pretty good tho and if he manages to improve like he did coming in to this season he could be a very good #1 for us. He managed to learn a lot about ball location after his first season here and I think that could improve. He’s developed into being pretty sticky in coverage too. When you add those together he has the makings to be quite good. He’s not the weakness imo. Now if he’s put out there with another #1 caliber CB this D is going to really click.

I fear what you said about Spievey is correct. I just don’t want to admit it or see them give up on him. I’m have to wonder about the whole “anti-Gronk” puzzle. How will teams cover these TE. Will it take a converted TE to defeat a TE of their caliber? It seems to me this coverage ability is the best thing going for Spievey. At the least I wonder if he can be made into more of a big nickle type guy then. He’s got the short range coverage ability, solid tackling, and good instincts. It’s just his over the top deep coverage that have been most suspect, iirc.

Solid breakdown!

I think that the Lions made some great strides in the secondary over 2011.
1. Chris Houston really improved his play, especially ball skills, which was the big knock against him when he came to Detroit. A solid Corner that could get even better.
2. Aaron Berry was a rookie who did not play like a rookie. According to PFF one of the better tackling corners in the NFL. I can see him getting even better with more experience. A solid starter with a lot of upside.
3. Eric Wright is not a guy that I am sold on. He is an upgrade over our other back ups, but I really don’t want to see him playing a lot of snaps. I could live with him as our slot guy, but not if he plays over half the defensive plays. The Lions should be able to keep him for a reasonable amount of money if they want. Oh yeah, our most penalized Corner.
4. Alphonso Smith just does not seem to get it. He has some great ball skills and makes some big plays, but his negative plays, lack of run support ability, and attitude issues overshadow that. I do not see him in a Lions uniform in 2012.
5. Louis Delmas, the enigma. I thought he looked pretty good as a rookie, hobbled in 2010, and almost invisible in 2011….except for allowing a number of big plays. What happened? I could live with a few mistakes if he made some big plays for the Lions, but nothing. We are so thin at Safety that we really need Louis to raise his game. A keeper for at least another year.
6. Amari Spievey, the mystery. I really don’t have a good feel for how he is developing. I was hoping to see a big jump forward in his play in 2011 as he became more comfortable as a Safety. It really did not happen. To me, this is his make or break year. If he continues to struggle, he may not last the season. For our sake, and his, I hope he picks it up a few notches.

We obviously need some new talent in the secondary. I could see Mayhew grabbing two Free Agents [a CB and a Safety] and drafting at least one DB in the first three rounds. If the guy is an early draftee [first or second round] he will get a good shot to start or be the primary back up.
I think the FA pick ups in the secondary will be one “high priced” guy and one “average”. A high price CB [Finnegan?] will mean that Wright is gone. I really don’t see any high quality Safety FAs [Branch is pretty good but I don’t know if he fits what the Lions really want. He is more of a Strong Safety type], so I don’t see the Lions going that route.

I don’t have a good feel for our other back ups, except that they did not play much, or well for whatever reason. I think we are pretty thin back there.

core equaling Houston, Berry, Wright.

Though Im not exactly sold on Wright fully and its not because of the injury knowing it hampered him some. Could be the fact of being in the system for first year but its that he showed some mental errors in some clutch situations. I like that hes aggressive on the ball and player which is why he was flagged so much but he needs to get that timing down. The argument for him being in the system and seeing what he can do can be found in none other than Houston.

@Houston- a guy written off that they traded for and was a last minute decision for them to Re Sign in Detroit. I remember during the off season I was very strong in the chasing of these highly touted F.A that I wanted to see Houston come back. He outplayed all said F.A’s but one- Rodgers- that everyone wanted them to make a play for. So im all on board w/ him if his production is kept this way and improves he’s a very solid corner and still w/ some youth in him who can play well in this system. Houston continues to play like last season or even improve you can start making argument for top10 CB hitting the F.A market.

Berry is essentially playing a sophmore year next year and has proved to be solid in depth and still raw enough in potential that he can become a solid CB. He seems to get it but needs some tweaking.

The safety positions I wont get into but i agree we need someone to challenge back there. I also agree we need to bring in at least one more CB that can be an immediate impact type player and though there’s some FA’s out there some would like them to chase Id like to see them find it in the draft if possible. mainly for the lack of a cap hit and for the fact that the core is a good start that needs some tweaking.

They are all to inconsistent!

ALL OF THEM!

just saying…

Great rundown, Pro. Rec’d.
Also I love

Lebrons disease

You sure spelled it out. Our CB depth is fine; we need a #1. TBH, I’ve been drinkin’ the Cortland F Kool aid, just don’t know how we’ll pay for him.

Interesting point about Spievey. I wonder if CB would be such a major concern if we could find another beast @ safety…

i used to be one of alphonso’s biggest supporters. i thought he had a solid 2010 season outside of the new england game, but he continues to miss on gambles and gets scorched deep, and that doesn’t overshadow his attitude problems. any guy that gets burnt deep and then tries to give his intercepted football to the head coach during a game doesn’t get it. he seems immature to me.

but good analysis on houston and wright. i’d love to the lions get cortland.

one thing i think about secondary players in today’s nfl is that there are only a handful of shut-down corners today who can play press man. it’s a passing league and the rules don’t make it easier on the defensive backs at this point. i think we’ll be complaining about inconsistency no matter who we have back there.

Nnamdi Asomugha.

A lot of folks wanted the Lions to pay big bucks for Nnamdi and frankly, Wright played is well as Asomugha did and came at a fration of the price. Folks need to be careful what they wish for, they might get it.

I really like the phonz. he is for sure the ball hawk.

It’s tough to grade them because they are all #2 or 3 guys. like houston is a great #2. and a decent #1.

getting kirkpatrick or jenkins would be oh so nice

Corner is a hard one to find real starters in the draft or even FA. 2 to 3 years of development usually shows the #1 talent anyways. Youth usually means inconsistancy at corner. But I think the for the money, our guys fit. D-Line takes a big piece of the cake and not alot left for DBs. Thats why we saw what we saw last year. A lot of talented # 2s and #3s but no true #1. But the good news is, these guys showed promise with our coaching staff. I like the plan though, whether be draft or FA, keep looking for upgrades. It seems to be working?