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I definitely agree with your thoughts. It is unbelievable how durable Wilfork is with the amount of snaps he plays, and it would be foolish to expect him to keep this up for the next few years. My dream scenario is John Jenkins falling down the draft boards so that we can either take him with our first rounder, or move up a bit and snag him. It would be quite similar to Vince's draft day fall, and I see some similarities between the two players.Quote:
Originally Posted by hugepatsfan
It's crazy to think how much Wilfork used to come out of games. The fact that he wasn't a legitimate 4 down NT, but then we shift him from a traditional nose tackle to more of a DT and all of a sudden is he somehow even more amazing than before and pretty much unstoppable one on one.Quote:
Originally Posted by BradyIsTheMan12
If I'm not mistaken, Vince is playing about 80% of the snaps and Love about 65%. I could be way off though - not really sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by BradyIsTheMan12
It would be nice to get a top talent like Jenkins to maybe take snaps from VW (pushing him down to 65%) and then more from Love (down to about 45%). I think that would really improve our interior pass rush.
Can you think of a better role model and mentor to have than VW? Whoever we end up bringing in will be one lucky guy. :nod:
NT/DT's are among the longest lived positions in the NFL. They may also be the position with oldest age peak. I.E. the best 5 years of their career occur much later then RB's, QB's, etc. OL, and DE's are in the same ballpark.
For instance Ted Washington, was an absolute key for us in winning a SB. His peak was age 28-35. Wilfork's first great year was at age 26 (2007). His two best years so far are 2011 and 2012 (30-31). So he could have 3-5 great years left in him.
Love is an above average player, Wilfork is a HOF'er. If we could draft a guy that projects to fit between the two of those guys, we'd be set for some years.
As for Talib, it's time to start asking how much we will offer him to resign. I'd be willing to go pretty par - not stupid money, but say 15th CB type money, not top 5 money.
The good thing about us getting so many quality players in recent drafts is that it keeps our team salary down.
Look at the RB position for example... we could realistically go into next season w/ just Ridley, Vereen, Bolden, and Demps on the roster. I don't think any of us would look at that as a weak group, yet they cost probably no more than 3 mil combined.
Yes Mayo got an extension, but we still have Spikes and Hightower on rookie deals so our LB unit is great and cheap (though Spikes will be in contract year next season).
Dennard proving to be a starting caliber CB with potential to keep improving locks down another spot for low money. McCourty and Solder are still on rookies deals.
I think Talib resigning is a real possibility. He seems to really like it here (I read him turning down an individual piece with Mike Reiss because he wants to keep it about the team - I like that), BB seems to really value his skill set, he puts others in position to play more to their strengths, and I think the money is there.
Good point on the RB's.Quote:
Originally Posted by hugepatsfan
If Talib get's a whole offseason with us imagine how much better he could get.
I love how Talib matches up well with big receivers, and how well Dennard is unbelievable. It works out great bc how we have seen recently McCourty is a type of safety we need (ball hawk, well rounded). Have McCourty cover deep allows for aggresive play underneath and allows our other safety to roam the box. Talib has completely changed the scheme, since we got him the defense seems alot more aggresive with blitz's as well.