I was having a similar discussion a couple of weeks ago with my buddies. They are all firmly in the "Jamal Adams was the worst trade I've ever seen in the history of all trades and I will forever be butthurt about it" camp.
Obviously, it all comes down to the health of his shoulder and fingers. But after watching the video that was floating around a few months back of Karl Scott talking about the Match Quarters and Cover 7 principles he's bringing, coupled with the switch to a Hybrid 34 front I got immediately excited to see if this reignites Adams and unlocks even more of his potential. A lot of it is similar in concept to what he was doing in NY when he was a bona fide game wrecker.
I believe there's going to be a heavy emphasis on read/react aggressiveness on the back end of this D that is going to play nicely into Jamal and Diggs' skillsets.
Regardless of statistical outcomes, I believe wholeheartedly this defense is going to be orders of magnitude more fun to watch than any KNJ defense.
Agree. I think the mud that Jamal gets slung his way is entirely unjustified. What happened to him last year was the equivalent to buying a Ferrari, but only using it to make 'quick' runs to the grocery store. It's not thr cars fault its not getting out of third gear.
Adams reduced impact wasn't a result of any decline on his end, but was more a function of how he was being used. Taking away his strong suit, which was his freelancing, and forcing him into a role he'd never played just didn't make sense, and amplified the mistakes he did make. He was out of position and easy to predict. We took our ace out of play...
You could say the same for Dunlap last year. The guy didn't just forget how to rush the passer. He wasn't used properly.
What's hard to say is how much of what we saw last year was experimentation in a lost season, and how much was just the result of the mad tinkering of an ineffective and out of touch DC. It's come to light that the defense never picked up what Ken was trying to teach, ie - he wasn't communicating it well. Not sure it matters anymore.
What does though, is that it seems like we're implementing a system that will maximize the strengths of the players we have and return the brains of the side to the safeties, and more specifically, Q Diggs. That's the part I'm most excited about. As talented as Adams is, I don't think he's the 'captain' type of leader in a cerebral sense. He's the emotional lightning rod and hired assassin. When hes bringing havoc, the team feeds off of it.
Diggs will be the guy to get everybody where they need to be and functioning optimally.
It will be fun to see how the young dogs in Brown and Brooks, and the additional leadership of Harris work together in creating that 3 level, lock-step communication that was so obvious in our heyday, between Bryant, Wagner and Chancellor and Sherm. They functioned every bit as a unit across levels as they did within their respective position groups.
I think that under Diggs's tutelage, we can get that unity back again. He has a little bit of that quiet, but violent leadership character that Chancellor had. Walk softly, get everybody in place, and knock the snot out of people.
Wagner was great, but oddly enough, i think that because he came of age in a system with such strong leadership behind him, that he never quite stepped into the role of 'complete ' captain of the entire defense. No doubt he was the leader of the group emotionally and from a seniority perspective, he just never assumed the roaming, in your face leadership role that Chancellor had on the field, making sure everyone was on their Ps and Qs.
Just my opinion.
from me.
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