2023 defense, will the league respect?

[toffee]

We might have a run defender in Robert Cooper (6'2" 335 lbs)

• Cooper has the strong core and powerful hands to shed blockers, and he shows excellent instincts with the ability to quickly locate the ball.
• His ability to clog running lanes, however, is a talent highly coveted in the NFL.
• He has pure power, which is emphasized by a good pad level. Cooper can stand up at the point of attack and handle double teams, and he also has the ability to drive blockers back into the pocket with a bull rush.

Robert Cooper Defensive Tackle Florida State | NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report

Rating: 74.1 Rank: #55 Forty: 5.38 Robert Cooper from South Gwinnett High School was rated a 4-star recruit by ESPN and handed a 4-star grade by 247 Sports. After high school, Cooper joined...

www.nfldraftbuzz.com

 

[toffee]

We are replacing older fat men, Poona (6' 311 lbs) , Al Woods (6'4" 331 lbs) with two rookies. Since Al and Poona were quite bad, we have nothing to lose?

Cameron Young (6'3", 304 lbs).

And Robert Cooper (6'2" 335 lbs)

 

[renofox]

We are replacing older fat men, Poona (6' 311 lbs) , Al Woods (6'4" 331 lbs) with two rookies. Since Al and Poona were quite bad, we have nothing to lose?

Cameron Young (6'3", 304 lbs).View attachment 58991

And Robert Cooper (6'2" 335 lbs)
View attachment 58992

Love that Cooper pic. Looks like 335# of muscle without the jiggly.

 

[12th Dimension]

Wow, Cameron Young looks so different. Runs an amazing route for a NT.

Think you got the kid from Pitt by accident.

 

[Appyhawk]

Woods did a good job but has lost track of the level of athleticism present in our newbies. It may take a while but when they get tuned in and up to stride we'll be better for it. I wanted Woods to come back too but there comes a time...and the time is decided for sure with him signing with the Jets.

 

[toffee]

Woods did a good job but has lost track of the level of athleticism present in our newbies. It may take a while but when they get tuned in and up to stride we'll be better for it. I wanted Woods to come back too but there comes a time...and the time is decided for sure with him signing with the Jets.

Or, they could be another ready for prime time like woolen.

 

[bileever]

I think that Cameron Young has potential to get some snaps this year. He was the 9th ranked defensive tackle in the draft, and we were lucky to get him at #123. But I'm not sure we can expect as much from Robert Cooper. He was the 55th ranked defensive tackle in the draft.

Cooper also had shoulder surgery in January, and won't be done with rehab for 5 months. He had a much better season in 2021, and pre-season, he was projected as a low round pick. The shoulder injury, which he played through, resulted in Cooper having a much worse season in 2022. So hopefully, he'll recover from the injury and play better than he showed last year. But he's not a sure thing to make the roster.

 

[toffee]

I think that Cameron Young has potential to get some snaps this year. He was the 9th ranked defensive tackle in the draft, and we were lucky to get him at #123. But I'm not sure we can expect as much from Robert Cooper. He was the 55th ranked defensive tackle in the draft.

Cooper also had shoulder surgery in January, and won't be done with rehab for 5 months. He had a much better season in 2021, and pre-season, he was projected as a low round pick. The shoulder injury, which he played through, resulted in Cooper having a much worse season in 2022. So hopefully, he'll recover from the injury and play better than he showed last year. But he's not a sure thing to make the roster.

Robert is a smart football player though:

 

[Smellyman]

The way this defense is right now, its problematic at best. Oh, sure we have the best secondary in the NFL, but we were 30th last year in stopping the run. B-wags is a 4-3 LBer and how will this effect his playing in a totally different system ?

If we can't stop the run, how can we get our defense off the field ? Meanwhile the clock is going tic tic tic and we can't stop it. Lack of a effective run support is going to be our downfall in 2023. Bringing back Bwags and draft a hard hitting CB won't get this team in the top 10 in defense. Even if you bring back a 36 year old Woods at NT.

Cheers

Thank goodness they got rid of all those players that were awful at run D last year.

 

[bileever]

Robert is a smart football player though:

Thanks for the video. Cooper comes across as a smart and well-grounded guy. I really hadn't looked that deep into Cooper before I posted. Now that I've read a few stories, I could be wrong about the guy.

There is a chance that his injury last season really affected his play and that he is much, much better than that. In 2022, he only had 19 total tackles, with only 1 TFL (tackle for loss). Those numbers basically killed his chances at being drafted.

But in 2021, he had 39 tackles (16 solo/23 assists) and 4.5 TFLs. By way of comparison, here are numbers for a few other highly touted defensive tackles that I coveted (with their draft position is in parenthesis) and for our own Cameron Young and Cooper in 2021:

Solo Asst. Tot. TFL
Jalen Carter (#9) 16 16 32 7.0
Calijah Kancey (19) 17 14 31 14.5
Mazi Smith (26) 23 25 48 2.5
Brian Bresee (29) 9 6 15 5.5
Keeanu Benton (49) 20 16 36 10.0
Gervon Dexter (53) 23 32 55 4.0
Cameron Young (123) 10 27 37 3.0
Robert Cooper (udfa) 16 23 39 4.5

So Cooper had solid production numbers in 2021, and probably would have been on the road to being drafted if he had not been injured. If he had improved on those numbers, he might have easily been a day 2 pick. I don't have sack numbers listed here, and Cooper and Young definitely do not have pass-rushing ability, which lower their value.

I know defensive line stats don't tell the whole story about a player's contribution, but production-wise, Cooper seems to be at least as good as Young. So my apologies for dissing him earlier.

 

[GeekHawk]

That does help out the situation a little, but a defense the league will respect, nope ! Not yet.

Gotta earn it first. I was 'hopeful' last year for the D (and ultimately disappointed) but I am 'fairly confident' this year. Unless they come up with a 1-6 scheme or something.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

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 think we can expect a couple restructures to free up enough cap to go out and get another veteran DT.

I mean, they have to. No way you can go into the season with this little of depth in the DT rotation.

 

[AgentDib]

Technically we are OK, in that we can sign our rookies with our current cap space and have 0.9 cap space remaining. In reality, we'd rather have about 5m in cap space at this time of year.

It would still make sense to extend Nwosu, Fant and Lewis.

 

[toffee]

We didn't draft high profile DT help, but we did drafted two guys of good size and stats, right?

 

[MORGULON]

Depends on the front 7. No matter how they're configured. If Seattle's opponents can get 5 yards per carry no one will respect them.
Now I'm an optimist, I feel like they moved on from the "jags" and went younger , faster, meaner, better.

 

[toffee]

wow, Poona went cheap, like one year, $1mil guarantee cheap to the Bills.

2023 Seahawks Free Agency: Details on Poona Ford’s contract with the Buffalo Bills

Once again, not a lot of money for a Seahawks free agent.

www.fieldgulls.com

 

[Smellyman]

wow, Poona went cheap, like one year, $1mil guarantee cheap to the Bills.

2023 Seahawks Free Agency: Details on Poona Ford’s contract with the Buffalo Bills

Once again, not a lot of money for a Seahawks free agent.

www.fieldgulls.com

because he isn't very good

 

[BASF]

wow, Poona went cheap, like one year, $1mil guarantee cheap to the Bills.

2023 Seahawks Free Agency: Details on Poona Ford’s contract with the Buffalo Bills

Once again, not a lot of money for a Seahawks free agent.

www.fieldgulls.com

Chasing a ring, needed to go to a team on the cheap. He also looked lost last season after the scheme change.

 

[Mick063]

I just prefer a gap responsibility as opposed to recognition and react. The problem is that it takes a disciplined group for gap responsibility, because all it takes is one player to "ad lib" and the entire gap responsibility structure falls apart. Alternatively, you need a rotation of large, strong men, to reliably employ a "read and react" run defense. Stop the guards in their tracks, disengage from them, diagnose the direction of the running back, and then chase him down and wrap him up. Just more moving parts that can break down than otherwise filling an assigned gap and waiting for the running back to arrive or maintaining the discipline to just stay in that gap to prevent the cutback if he isn't headed your way.

Seattle went through a 4-5 game stretch where the run defense was halfway competent, but before and after that stretch, they stunk up the joint. From my perspective, the early season issues were with the defensive ends not properly setting the edge (with called slants going the wrong way being another BIG issue as well...that is a defensive coordinator issue) and the late season problems were mostly with the linebackers. The safeties were exasperating the problem with missed open field tackles. I know that the DT's were culpable for both droughts as well but shore up the inside linebackers and defensive ends and it seems like you have most of the problems resolved. Bobby is a stop gap, but an elite bridge for the time being and the team drafted the heck out of the defensive ends and edge.

I really do think they are going to be ok. But the window for it lasts as long as Bobby does. I'm hopeful because the playoff game against San Francisco was a significant improvement over the regular season contests (at least the first half was). The defense was holding up well against Samuel, Aiyuk, Kittle, McCaffrey, etc. The missing, injured Jordyn Brooks and overmatched Cody Barton finally caught up with them in the second half, but the ends and safeties were still holding up ok.

 

[Lagartixa]

I read that the league has been moving away from the 350lbs NT, to smaller 300-320 pounders. Robert Cooper could move inside on certain situations? Anyways, this is beyond my knowledge, I am totally winging it.

Quick Google, top 10 nose tackles h ttps://bleacherreport.com/articles/942101-ranking-the-nfls-10-best-nose-tackles

1. Casey Hampton 6'1" 325 lbs
2. Vince Wilock 6'2" 325 lbs
3. Jeremiah Ratliff 6'4" 303 lbs
4. Isaac Sopoaga 6'2" 330 lbs
5. B. J. Raji 6'2" 337 lbs

It doesn't mean you're wrong, but the league might have changed a bit in the eleven and a half years since that article was posted.