2023 defense, will the league respect?

[toffee]

Our front 7 will be full of new faces, our DBs ought to be one of the best in the league, but can this defense stop the run better than '22? Will the rest of the league fear this defense?

Defense				UDFA
DE	Jarran Reed	Mike Morris		Jonah Tavai, Jordan Ferguson
NT	Cameroon Young	Mone* injured		Robert Cooper
DE	Dre'Mont Jones	Myles Adams		M.J. Anderson, Ifeanyi Maijeh
OLB	Boye Mafe	Taylor	Vi Jones	Cam Bright
MLB	Bobby Wagner	Nick Bellore	Joshua Onujiogu	Michael Ayers
MLB	Devin Bush	Jordyn Brooks	Jon Rhattigan	Robert Barnes
OLB	Uchenna Nwosu	Derick Hall	Tyreka Smith	Patrick O’Connell
LCB	Devon Witherspoon	Michael Jackson	Chris Steele	James Campbell
RCB	Tariq Woolen	Isaiah Dunn		Arquon Bush
NCB	Julian Love	Coby Bryant	Tre Brown	Lance Boykin
SS	Jamal Adams	Jerrick Reed II		Mo Osling, Christian Young
FS	Diggs	Joey Blount		Ty Okada

 

[Scout]

Reed, Wagner, and Adams can play the run. Young is known for his run stopping from college and Jones is able to generate TFLs as well as Love. I am not too familiar with Bush's run grades versus Barton's so I will have to look into that Witherspoon is definitely a reliable run defender from this college tape. Overall the transformation of the front seven is almost complete. I am sure the Hawks will sign some veteran players along the line at some point.

I will say that if the Hawks can stop the run on the early downs that this will lead to a lot more pressures, sacks and coverage sack opportunities.

 

[toffee]

Reed, Wagner, and Adams can play the run. Young is known for his run stopping from college and Jones is able to generate TFLs as well as Love. I am not too familiar with Bush's run grades versus Barton's so I will have to look into that Witherspoon is definitely a reliable run defender from this college tape. Overall the transformation of the front seven is almost complete. I am sure the Hawks will sign some veteran players along the line at some point.

From my chart, we spent big off season $$ on signing helps for front 7, other than Devin Bush, rest all looked pretty good. I think John and Pete belived that we have enough in front 7 to invest too much draft capital??

 

[onanygivensunday]

toffee - What did you do with Coby Bryant? He's the starting NCB, right?

 

[Scout]

From my chart, we spent big off season $$ on signing helps for front 7, other than Devin Bush, rest all looked pretty good. I think John and Pete belived that we have enough in front 7 to invest too much draft capital??

It is also how the draft board fell but they had covered most of the front seven concerns before heading into the draft. Imagine if the Hawks didn't sign Reed and Jones and relied on the draft to fill those gaps. The draft board of 2023 fell in a way it would have made it a nightmare for the Hawks to fill those two roster spots while trying to address other areas of the team (eg OL, RB). This is why most NFL teams fill as many gaps as they can before the draft.

 

[toffee]

toffee - What did you do with Coby Bryant? He's the starting NCB, right?

My bad, I forgot Coby. But he could be the odd man out, Pete will be always compete, but I think they will start Witherspoon opposite Tariq. For nickle back, it will be Love vs Coby? I dunno.

 

[onanygivensunday]

My bad, I forgot Coby. But he could be the odd man out, Pete will be always compete, but I think they will start Witherspoon opposite Tariq. For nickle back, it will be Love vs Coby? I dunno.

My thoughts are the coaching staff is going to know fairly early on in TC who is the starter... because the NCB will be facing off against JSN and his elusiveness.

It should be one of the more interesting competitions in camp.

 

[toffee]

My thoughts are the coaching staff is going to know fairly early on in TC who is the starter... because the NCB will be facing off against JSN and his elusiveness.

It should be one of the more interesting competitions in camp.

Totally agree, folks should be very excited to see that competition.

 

[DanejaHawk]

It is also how the draft board fell but they had covered most of the front seven concerns before heading into the draft. Imagine if the Hawks didn't sign Reed and Jones and relied on the draft to fill those gaps. The draft board of 2023 fell in a way it would have made it a nightmare for the Hawks to fill those two roster spots while trying to address other areas of the team (eg OL, RB). This is why most NFL teams fill as many gaps as they can before the draft.

This. The sharp organizations sign draft hedges. The fact that JS went out and signed Brown meant that we didn't have to reach for a C. Proactively signing Dre'mont and Jarran Reed meant that we didn't have to force DL picks.

Now the organization gets to use how the draft board fell to them and the players they did manage to get in the draft as an extended data point with which to reapproach the FA pool and fill in any gaps. Pete was very explicit in saying that they weren't done with FA's in their press conference yesterday.

The roster is far from in its final form, fellas.

 

[Rainger]

Our front 7 will be full of new faces, our DBs ought to be one of the best in the league, but can this defense stop the run better than '22? Will the rest of the league fear this defense?

Defense
DE	Jarran Reed	Mike Morris	Myles Adams
NT	Cameroon Young	Mone* injured
DE	Dre'Mont Jones	Jarrod Hewitt
OLB	Boye Mafe	Taylor	Vi Jones
MLB	Bobby Wagner	Nick Bellore	Joshua Onujiogu
MLB	Devin Bush	Jordyn Brooks	Jon Rhattigan
OLB	Uchenna Nwosu	Derick Hall	Tyreka Smith
LCB	Devon Witherspoon	Coby Bryant	Chris Steele
RCB	Tariq Woolen	Isaiah Dunn
NCB	Julian Love	Tre Brown
SS	Jamal Adams	Jerrick Reed II
FS	Diggs	Joey Blount

Looks pretty damn good to me.

 

[toffee]

Looks pretty damn good to me.

To me too, but felt like we need a backup NT.

 

[AgentDib]

To me too, but felt like we need a backup NT.

I agree on the impact of UDFAs. We had 54 players total and will be signing a ridiculous number of UDFAs over the next two days to build out a full roster. I expect there will be a handful who make the 53 man roster this year on both sides of the ball.

 

[Jville]

Our front 7 will be full of new faces, our DBs ought to be one of the best in the league, but can this defense stop the run better than '22? Will the rest of the league fear this defense?

Defense
DE	Jarran Reed	Mike Morris	Myles Adams
NT	Cameroon Young	Mone* injured
DE	Dre'Mont Jones	Jarrod Hewitt
OLB	Boye Mafe	Taylor	Vi Jones
MLB	Bobby Wagner	Nick Bellore	Joshua Onujiogu
MLB	Devin Bush	Jordyn Brooks	Jon Rhattigan
OLB	Uchenna Nwosu	Derick Hall	Tyreka Smith
LCB	Devon Witherspoon	Coby Bryant	Chris Steele
RCB	Tariq Woolen	Isaiah Dunn
NCB	Julian Love	Tre Brown
SS	Jamal Adams	Jerrick Reed II
FS	Diggs	Joey Blount

The contract of Jarrod Hewitt was terminated some time ago. Hewitt is currently a free agent.

 

[toffee]

The contract of Jarrod Hewitt was terminated some time ago. Hewitt is currently a free agent.

Thanks, updated.

 

[Rock_the_Hawk]

There are some decent UDFA NT Robert Cooper who already signed with Seattle and Jerrod Clark who I hope they can get.

 

[toffee]

There are some decent UDFA NT Robert Cooper who already signed with Seattle and Jerrod Clark who I hope they can get.

I am hoping for Jerrod Clark too.

 

[sutz]

I agree on the impact of UDFAs. We had 54 players total and will be signing a ridiculous number of UDFAs over the next two days to build out a full roster. I expect there will be a handful who make the 53 man roster this year on both sides of the ball.

I think we average 1 or 2 UDFA making the final cut each year under Pete. Will be interesting.

 

[JPatera76]

Michael Jackson is missing from this chart as well

 

[Rock_the_Hawk]

I am hoping for Jerrod Clark too.

In the last draft PC JS was asked if he had any concerns with the cap money they have. JS no they are ok... do you believe them?

 

[toffee]

In the last draft PC JS was asked if he had any concerns with the cap money they have. JS no they are ok... do you believe them?

I do