yet another FS thread!

We should be able to land another veteran free safety after June 1 if we want to. Bronson might be pretty good.

 

I haven't been paying attention to the 9ers, but I thought he was good. And summer school starts about then. They should be able to tell if either of our young FS candidates can get the assignments quickly. They both should be fine physically.

 

Being that his DC last year was Mora, think the Falcs will have some interest?
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volcano vaporizer

 

I think he would be an upgrade. At least that would allow tillman or branch to take on the role once they have proven it. I think he has the same skills as grant but tackles better if I remember correctly.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn’t Bronson yet another FS who is more suited to SS and forced into the role out of necessity? Free safeties seem to be more rare than they should be and if our '04 D drops off due to a secondary that is even one drop leakier than last year I wonder what the lynch mobs first words will be? Does the phrase "SHOULD HAVE KEPT GRANT" already sound overused?

 

Grant was not beyond getting beat. Our secondary was not that good with him here either. I will settle for someone who is decent in coverage and give up some run support from the free safety if need be. Shaw may be the guy who gives us that.

 

Yeah, we should've kept Grant. The difference between he and Minter was, basically, that Minter scored on a few of his picks, and that Minter's position and disposition suggest a high rate of tackles (Grant was 4th?)
Neither of them made a ton of plays on the ball, which is where I'd have expected Grant to make more strides this upcoming year, but don't ever expect back from Minter.
It's also funny because, after noticing that both players got suckered into the same things on big plays in the SB, that similar things happened in other games, on other unrelated plays, where each would react basically in the same way.
They were, last year, our two best defensive backs, unquestionably. Yeah, our secondary was never that great. Just as none of the secondaries in Minter's tenure have been that great, but that doesn't take away from what MM has done here personally.

 

I have the impression that Minter makes a fair amount of plays on the ball. No stats, but he seems to be a center of the D.

 

backing the idea that I tend not to see him or Grant at the ball that often unless it's deep - duh, zone defense - here are the stats for this year.
Minter - 3 INT, 5 PD
Grant - 3 INT, 9 PD
The difference, as noted, was that Minter scored on two attempts, and had 75 yards total more return on his picks. Grant made more plays on the ball.

last year INT/PD:
Minter 4, 5
Grant 3, 13

year before:
Minter 2, 8 (*Minter played 14 games)
Grant 5, 8

totals, 3 years:
Minter: 9 INT (3 TD, 257 yards ret); 18 PD
Grant: 11 (137 yd ret); 30 PD

These aren't including tackles. Yes, Minter has a tremendous value as a run supporter.
Key to note is that in the last five years the only time we've been able to cover the TE was with Fields healthy. But Grant had as many or more PDs each of the three years he played.

Yeah, they're just stats. But they don't lie - they're statistics on balls that were defended and picked. Neither of them made enough plays on the ball. Both made mistakes. Both are heads above the other contestants.

 

Interesting stats. Stats do lie, or mislead, but often they don't. Football can't be measured in stats, except the score, but they are still interesting. Maybe it is the scores that make the impression.