Carl Banks made an interesting comment in the brian burns video today about Shane Bowen's defense in the playoffs against the bengals/burrow. That game was in the 2021 season when Tennessee went 12-5 and had the 6th best defense at 20.8 ppg. Also Bowen's first year as DC.
by snaps played here were the guys over 50% on that roster (everyone else was 40% or below) - note that all of them played 50% snaps in that playoff game, so they pretty much stayed healthy - 6 of them played 89%+ snaps in the playoff game:
s kevin byard 1050 snaps (96%)
de harold landry 981 snaps (89%)
dl jeffrey simmons 932 (85%)
cb jackrabbit jenkins 861 (78%)
cb kristian fulton 737 (67%)
dl denico autry 709 (64%)
s amani hooker 704 (64%)
lb david long 634 (57%)
cb elijah molden 632 (57%)
a few things stand out:
firstly crazy that jackrabbit was in that kind of role so recently. feels like his time here was much longer ago than it was.
positional split is 5 DBs, 3 DL, 1 LB.
landry, simmons, autry roles should pretty seamlessly fill with burns (83%), lawrence (67%), thibodeaux (87%). the lb will obviously be okereke (100%).
the 5 dbs are where things get interesting. banks (844 snaps, 74%), pinnock (1k snaps 89%), flott (518 snaps, 46%) are the top returning DBs by snaps and seem secure for 50%+ roles barring injury. jalen mills played about 500 snaps last year. hawkins mccloud and belton each played about 300. all 4 of those guys are likely in the depth mix not sure any will be every down players. holmes had 123 last year but 572 in 2022 so maybe he has a claim to being mentioned in that 2nd group.
adoree vacated almost 800 snaps and mckinney played the same 1100/100% okereke played so no surprise given the tredavious white visit i think it's likely we'll see at least 1 more veteran DB added, maybe 2.
among FA S snaps last year:
quadre diggs played 97% for seattle
tashaun gipson played 89% for san fran
justin simmons played 87% for denver
julian blackmon played 84% for indy
jayron kearse played 77% for dallas
micah hyde played 74% for buffalo
eddie jackson played 60% for chicago
depending on price any of those guys could fit.
the hard thing to judge with bowen is how much impact vrabel and schwartz had with that d. but if he's the goods he seems to have at least the front 7 pieces for his d (assuming they can stay healthy, which seems to have been the problem the last 2 years in TEN).
hooker (and FA micah hyde) were part of the iowa safety lineage that preceded belton. maybe worth remembering since belton did flash this past year.
he's definitely the best name on that list. i would imagine he has some good offers already but maybe taking visits/taking his time.
hooker (and FA micah hyde) were part of the iowa safety lineage that preceded belton. maybe worth remembering since belton did flash this past year.
People keep saying this, but I didnt notice him doing anything special. He was a disaster at times during his rookie year, so his play has improved since then. But I just missed all this flashing.
I am looking forward to seeing Gervarrious Owens get a chance thos year.
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which seems like a pretty impressive performance given that tannehill had 3 picks in the game. i only vaguely remember watching and it doesnt look like they did much to slow down burrow (28/37 for 348 yards) but they kept him out of the end zone and picked him off once (amani hooker).
hooker (and FA micah hyde) were part of the iowa safety lineage that preceded belton. maybe worth remembering since belton did flash this past year.
People keep saying this, but I didnt notice him doing anything special. He was a disaster at times during his rookie year, so his play has improved since then. But I just missed all this flashing.
I am looking forward to seeing Gervarrious Owens get a chance thos year.
In 7 starts he has 4 ints and 3 fumbles recovered. I didn’t see enough that id pencil him in as a starter (or not sign 1 of the vets) but he has a nose for the ball.