31/32

Rankings don't mean shit and are almost never right. With that said, we have sucked for a long time so until we prove it on the field we will be viewed as such.

Remember that.

A defense primarily composed of 2nd and 3rd year players with 1 rookie starting and a few vets like Bradbury and Martinez is going to have earn it. Doesnt mean the athletic is right but no one in their right mind is going to proclaim that this defense is league average or better.

Guys need to emerge. Good thing is we are not asking for older past their prime slobs to perform a miracle. We’re asking for young players to ascend to the next level. We need kids to become pros. Could happen.

that you're fooling yourself.

If the defense isn’t noticeably better someone is going to have some explaining to do to ownership. We can talk expectations all day long, realistic or hopelessly optimistic, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we need to see some results this year. I’ve been beating the drum all offseason that these are young players that needed development. That’s all well and good but at some point these kids need to show something. Year 2-3 is enough. The following players are NOT rookies anymore:

Lawrence
Hill (3)
Connelly
Zimines
Carter (3)
Love
Baker (let’s assume he’s done)
Ballentine

Then you have the high rookie 2nd in McKinney. Most of these picks were mid to high. We basically need 1-2-3 of these guys to emerge as stars and soon if we want to see this D take a step forward. A guy like Dexter Lawrence likely needs to become a household name star. A guy like Love may be the key to a good secondary since Baker seems dead here. If the giants are going to shock people on D, Martinez and Connelly need to emerge as big players in the middle of the defense. The rookie McKinney needs to emerge right away and form an above average duo with peppers. All these things are possible but until it happens we’re gonna get shit on, and rightfully so. At least we have a plan with this staff and roster building. Now it just needs to develop.

That needs to be a big time strength. Peppers, McKinney (Love?)

Martinez at MLB hopefully with Connelly (Mayo 3rd)

Lawrence in the trenches with 2 additional physical 3/4 DEs.

Lots of money and high draft capital up the middle. Needs to come together and be a strength. It’s on them.

Right now it is, we soft we slow. That has to change.

...so this is a make or break year IMO.

wherein Schmeelk interviewed some PFF stats guy with a multisyllabic name, and that guy spoke convincingly about how a team's pass defense is largely defined by their weakest link among the presumed 5 starting DBs.

Last year's secondary had 3 "weakest links" among 5 starters, with Baker at one boundary corner, whoever played slot corner, and a fork in his back FS.

Not to mention LBs like Ogletree and Mayo who had little success defending the pass.

Atop all those personnel issues, they seemed too confused to execute many basic defensive calls set out by the DC.

DG has adressed the FS position probably with McKinney (or Love in his second year converting from CB) but two CB positions of three remain huge ???

Also, pass coverage is not our 10 mil Mike LB's strong suit...

We won't even get into pass rush.

What should anyone think of the Giants' D until proven otherwise?

But their weak spots have all been replaced.....

Starting with Bethea.....who was just wow.

I suspect improvement at slot, FS and hopefully LBers.

The 2nd outside corner might have been resolved with most current puck up......so

Knowing the system is the next major hurdle.....which unfortunately won't happen until mid season.....I suspect.

Just go along with the meaning of the word.

we are one of the worst defenses in the league. No one knows how these guys are going to perform coming out of this pandemic either. Many of the young guys still needed to get stronger, who knows if that happened.

is the pass rush, but I am not too worried about it. Even last year I don't think it was terrible and it will be better this season. To me the keys to this D lie in the secondary and at MLB. Also Dexter lawrence needs to emerge as a major piece in the middle.

and it should be better, as it's certainly more talented.

But, you could certainly argue how much better, or if they overpaid for some of the upgrades. There's no impact player at Edge, young up front and in the backend. No idea if Graham is up for the challenge, etc.

Until we see the following on the field, the following are still out there : inconsistent DL, average pass rush or worse, and a backend littered with bad luck.

...yeah, there are a few good players on that D, but you simply will never get off the field without a pass rush. I'm happy with the run D, Lawrence now in his prime, some mild upgrades at LB I think, but this defense simply is missing it's big hitter. No impact DE or hybrid LB. Happy they resigned Golden, but there's simply no punch to this pass defense on paper, and then there's the matter of the bench. If Golden and/or Lawrence are lost for any significant time, it's gonna get ugly.

In comment 14947669 JonC said:

Quote:

and it should be better, as it's certainly more talented. But, you could certainly argue how much better, or if they overpaid for some of the upgrades. There's no impact player at Edge, young up front and in the backend. No idea if Graham is up for the challenge, etc. Until we see the following on the field, the following are still out there : inconsistent DL, average pass rush or worse, and a backend littered with bad luck.

My pollyanish hope or prayer is that the very back end - the safety corps - might provide us an impact player, or perhaps more accurately stated impact play as a unit.

Peppers, Love and McKinney have IMO impact upside. But it's projection yet.

till they earn it.

the defense hasn't been good since 2016