#vikesruletheiremptytrophycase
Now, onto our pick of Casey Heyward. Many have said he makes a great nickel back. Good. Putting him there over Jarrett Bush ought to be an incredible improvement for our D this season. As far as S goes, I recognize there is a need, but have been thinking it may not be as great as many may think.
Zero pass rush, which is what we had last year, will make any secondary, the very best secondary you can put out there, look like dog shit. While the loss of arguably the #1 SS in the NFL in Collins was a huge blow to us, we had other players back there to take up the slack in 2011. Our biggest problem last season was we had NO ONE on the right side of our front 7. WE WERE #5 in total D just a season prior (2010), and won the SB.
It is amazing to me how the loss of Cullen Jenkins, and his positive rush from the right side of our DL affected our -entire- defense for the worse.
In 2010, our top 5 defense in the NFL had these players ranked in INTs:
# 5 Tramon Williams with 6
#19 Nick Collins with 4
#30 AJ Hawk with 3
#58 Charlie Peprah with 2
#58 Sam Shields with 2
#58 Charles Woodson with 2
* As a team, we ranked #2 overall in INTs in 2010 with 24.
* As a team, we ranked #2 overall in SACKS in 2010 with 47.
* As a team, we ranked #5 overall in Yds/G in 2010 with 309.1
* As a team, we ranked #5 overall in passing Yds/G in 2010 with 194.2
Let's look at 2011 a little closer.
* As a team, we ranked #1 overall in INTs in 2011 with 31.
* As a team, we ranked #27 overall in SACKS in 2011 with 29.
* As a team, we ranked #32 overall in Yds/G in 2011 with a whopping 411.6 - DEAD LAST!
* As a team, we ranked #32 overall in passing Yds/G in 2011 with 299.8 - DEAD LAST!
It is my guess that now that we appear to have solidified our front 7, our numbers should return to the levels of 2010 on defense, and may, in fact, exceed those. I believe we will be fine with the Safeties we have, and we may still add another decent player to develop in this draft. I'll definitely miss Collins, but I think our current players in Burnett, Jennings, Peprah and Levine should prove serviceable at the very least, and we may have one of those players surprise us. I do know that pass rush should make them all look a lot better. Either Peprah or Jennings or Levine should be able to get 4 picks this year (like Collins had in 2010 regular season) from the SS position, and maybe surpass that, while protecting the back half of the field.
Bush might be better served floating back to S.
Adding a player like Hayward to our secondary will be a big help as well. Speed/Size. Instincts. Hitter. Tackler. Ball hawk. Leader. wow. Nice addition.