Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter · 2m And now the Chiefs have released CB Brandon Flowers -- rough day for veteran CBs. Do we bite?
Balls not in his court. He may need to sign a 1 year Grimes-type "show me" deal. Which I am ok with giving. Put Finnegan/Taylor/Davis in nickle and dime spots.
This may actually catch the Dolphins attention because he's considered to be good for the style of defense the Dolphins run. Could also catch the Bengals' or Vikings' attention on the same basis.
I'd rather roll the dice on Brandon Flowers than Cortland Finnegan. I sincerely hope that having Cortland Finnegan right now won't preclude Miami from going after Flowers...but I feel like it will.
This is exactly what I was about to say...still can't believe we're paying him almost 6 mil this year.
The positives are he's only 28 years old and fits the style of defensive coverage Kevin Coyle prefers. The negatives are he didn't play well in 2013 so you never know if he's slipping, part of the reason he may not have played well is because that was the first year they tried to use him as a slot corner, and Miami already shot their wad early going after a 30 year old Cortland Finnegan. If the Dolphins hadn't signed Finnegan already this would be kind of a no-brainer I would think.
I don't think he liked playing the slot either. He was good when he was the LCB. Thing is, Grimes plays that too. A switch to RCB wouldn't be as big of an adjustment as him playing the slot.
Brandon flowers is a stud..no way they cut him because he's slipping, he must want a big contract and their up against the cap and he wants out.. Really wanted to draft him.. Were pretty stacked at corner though...with grimes, finnegan, Jamar and Wilson we have 1 elite payers and 3 solid options..not a lot of room if the GM believes in his guys..
I would prefer Flowers over Finnegan, but that isn't going to happen. I think Flowers will probably end up with the Falcons or possibly the Jets, but I don't see him playing for the Dolphins this coming season.
Dj, I just don't see how we are stacked at the CB position. Grimes certainly was an elite CB last year and hopefully he can play at that same level in 2014. Finnegan is a HUGE question mark as far as I am concerned. I know you think he can play at the same level he did 3-4 years ago, but I don't. I think he has regressed quite a bit and he is probably a below average CB at this stage of his career. We still have absolutely no idea of either of the CB's drafted last year can play effectively in the NFL or not. So at this point, there is no way to know if Taylor will be a solid CB or a bust as an NFL player. Wilson has been at best an average player in the NFL and I don't see him ever being more than a 5th or 6th CB for the Dolphins. I think he would have a hard time even making the roster on the better teams in the NFL. Instead of a stacked CB position. I see this position as a weakness heading into the season. Our best hope, IMO, is that either Taylor or Davis need to win the CB position opposite Grimes and prove they can play in the NFL at a high level. If neither of these CB's can beat out Finnegan for a starting CB spot, I think the secondary is going to be a problem area all season long. I agree with you that Flowers would be a good addition for this secondary, but I don't see it happening. Right now I see the Falcons as the team most likely to sign him and the Jets will probably also have an interest in him.
He and Chris Houston were both probably cut because KC and Detroit checked their PFF coverage ratings and found they ranked 96th and 97th out of 110 corners last year.
This would tell us all we needed to know about the sophomores and Finnegan. I think a deal with a low first year cap hit and elevators if he's on the team next camp would be solid. We'll be forced to make a decision and if he plays well, we could have him for 3-5 years which is some security considering based on averages, Grimes should really only have 2-4 quality years and Finnegan is a 2 year deal that I don't see getting past year 1. EDIT: The AFC East goes through the Pats every year. Pass defense is something that we just have to be great at.
That's because you don't use any kind of projecting when you analyze the game, sorry, football doesn't work like that, you've got to be able to project, I've see what Jamar Taylor's talent looks like, I feel confident that finnegan is healthy and confident, not every team has an elite corner like we do, Jimmy is a solid player at this point.. I may of used the word stacked in the wrong context, I don't mean we're stacked in that were so fu&$in good, I mean we just have to much invested into the position.
I'd tend to doubt it, to many draft picks and vets at our Cb slots I'd think he was waived b/c they planned on using him in the same role, in his mind that would/could crush his next contract value. A Glass Patterson said in Cleveland "I do not want to put up anymore bad film"
I really don't see how you can assume I am not projecting how I think these players will perform in 2014. I have stated numerous times that I don't see Finnegan ever playing as well as he did 3-4 years ago. I project he will be the same player he has been the past few years, which isn't very good. I hope Taylor steps up and becomes a quality NFL CB, but since he really wasn't healthy last year, we still don't know if he can effectively play CB in the NFL or not. There have been thousands of players over the years who have had plenty of talent, yet they never made it in the NFL. I just want to wait and see how Taylor develops before I am willing to accept he is part of the solution in the secondary and not just another player to be concerned with in the secondary. You view Wilson as a solid CB. The Dolphins list him as a safety on their roster, but no matter where he is listed, I still feel he is merely a mediocre player in the secondary. It appears that because I don't agree with you on the CB position for the Dolphins, you want to negate my opinion by simply stating I don't use any kind of projection. That is not the case. My projection of what I expect from the CB position this coming season is just not as positive as yours. I hope you are right about the CB position and this group is far better than I think they will be. As of right now though, we merely have a difference of opinion on how effective we think this overall group of CB's will be in 2014.
I retract what I said, I have seen you right on different occasions, especially Ireland, sparano and how the team will perform over that last couple of years.. I'll take a healthy confident Finnegan over Carroll all day, I didn't say Jimmy is a solid starting corner, just that he is solid at the position he plays..I expect the more talented Jamar Taylor to win that job, thus creating depth that we didn't have last year. This Kevin Coyle dude seemingly can put together a secondary that can keep folks out of the endzone, now I believe he has more talent to work with.
We'll see, NC was an ascending young player, Finnegan had an awful yr in 2013, to put it another way would you trade Nolan Carroll for Courtland Finnegan straight up? Objectively..I wouldn't
again...finnegan was hurt, a broken bone in his head and a hammy to boot....we'll see how he looks this year
He primarily plays slot corner, and PFF rated him 8th in slot coverage snaps per reception, and 13th in least yards per slot coverage snap, out of 46 slot corners. Since that is basically a statistic and not a subjective observation, it is pretty hard to refute it, and it says he was actually comparatively effective as slot corners go.
You beat the Pats by knocking Brady around and making him uncomfortable. Of course a great secondary helps but nothing is more important than getting in his face. That said, I'm all for Flowers. Not sure we're interested though.
because when you have a player who has reached a certain level of play, which finnegan has, and you now have a clean bill of health, and now you see the attitude change, the confidence return in the player, and you project the body type as far as age in relation to losing speed, and you have seen Nolan Carroll do some of the things that he did, you make a projection, and for me, finnegan comes out in top. If we all waited to see it play out there would be no need for GMs. Remind you My projection is not long term here, it's for this year, and with Jamar Taylor and grimes on the team, it allows me to let Nolan walk in a contract year. What did Nolan Carroll get paid? 2/3.65....as I suspected, with limited action, what that tells me is when the GMs broke his game down last year when deciding if they want him, that was his rate.
If he were released earlier I think we'd have pursued him over Finnegan but we are kind of in a position where I don't know how much more we can invest in the position. I doubt he would come here for a 1 year deal when someone is probably going to offer him a pretty sizable contract. He might be done or it might have been a scheme issue but I do think he'd be an upgrade over our 2nd tier guys here.
these athletes are emotionally fragile sometimes, and that fragility is often connected to their performance, i highly doubt brandon flowers has lost anything, unless he had an injury i missed, its probably just because he feels like he deserves a contarct, and the chiefs are lowballing him, mistakes are made all the time on the evaluation end, i would put my money on brandon flowers..great skills.
He signed a huge contract before the 2011 season. He agreed to a restructure before the 2013 season. They don't want to pay him that much anymore. That is the reason he was cut. He played like one of the top corners in the league in 2012, when ironically, the team as a whole did poorly. Then last year when they had their big turnaround, Flowers' performance individually took a nosedive. He is still only 28 and healthy. It's a good bet that 2013 was an anomaly.
just loved him comin out of college, wanted to draft him, and he didn't dissapoint at the pro level, just a great ability to stay close to the receiver, such good reactionary quickness, just a perfect zone corner.
Carroll was JB Brown 2.0 so if we can't replace him that says more about this new FO. btw I'm more interested in seeing what Walt Aikens does his rookie year.
