Marshall Will Help Davis and Smith Progress The level of competition between WRs and DBs on our roster has been taken to a new level. Vontae Davis and Sean Smith played against the leagues best last year, and backed down to no one. But during practice the competition wasn't at gameday level. Adding Marshall gives Vontae a perfect weapon to practice against. Working against Marshall everyday will only bring out the very best in Vontae. Being that Vontae is already an aggressive corner, he won't have any problem with Marshall's physicality. Marshall also allows Vontae to practice against a legitimate redzone target, working for jump balls. Of course this will impact Sean Smith as well; but I think Vontae will gain the most of Marshall's presence from a defensive stand point. I'm looking forward to training camp. Hopefully Henne and Marshall torch Vontae a few times to get a fire burning between the two. EDIT: Will Allen has nothing to learn from Marshall. He shut him down last time they faced off.
Nice post GISH. I am excited to see Vontae and Sean step it up next year...they both have a bright future.
Good points, but are you saying Vontae will gain the most, because he's already physical enough to legitimately challenge Marshall, and thus improve via the competitive exchange? Otherwise, I'd imagine it would be Smith who stands to gain, er rather "needs" to break through his shell, and hopefully, would be in position to make greater strides toward more physical play.
A lot of Smith's time will be spent against #2 WRs. Vontae needs the practice to be ready against the WRs he will be facing. Playing Marshall will prepare him for guys like Greg Jennings, who Vontae faces this year. Once it becomes routine for Vontae to be playing top level WRs, he will go from solid to great. I don't think Smith has as high of a ceiling, which is why I say Vontae has the most to gain from the competition.
While Vontae's natural talents eventually emerged, and the scales tipped to reveal a more accurate measure of their abilities, I certainly hope there's still some altitude beneath Smith's ceiling.
ok, I'll be the negative guy to say it. This isn't how an nfl team practices. For the most part Vontae will be going up against Patrick Turner or whatever WR we have on the practice squad (hence the term) this season. He will not be going toe-to-toe with Brandon Marshall in every practice, or even half of them I'd imagine.
They will work together daily. Not in every single drill. But the 1's do play with other 1's. I highly doubt that Sparano prepares the team for a game by having the 1's practice against the 3's.
Miami keeps their CBs on the same side of the field the whole game. So to say Sean will be playing #2s isn't exactly true. Also, Sean was a much better man to man cover corner than Davis last season. Tho I would love to see some Smith vs Marshall jump balls.
Actually I wouldn't interpret that as negative. Its nice to finally have a receiver, who was acquired from anywhere else, BUT the Practice Squad.
A majority of #1 WRs will line up with Davis. Sometimes they move around. But most of the time Vontae is one the #1. Smith got burnt a lot as a rookie. He got no picks, and his highlight reel comes mostly from the preseason. He needs to improve quite a bit. Getting a quality FS will help a lot, but Smith left plenty of room for improvement.
He got burnt just as much as VD(actually I think maybe even less). Although you are right about the picks, I still think he played better overall. I actually think Smith will surprise a lot of people next season and end up being the better corner.
While Sparano was forthright in his PC regarding this, it'll be interesting to see if Nolan falls in line, to adhere to that philosophy. Then again, as I recall, it was based mainly upon their lack of experience.
