I voted for bringing in competition, but if the NFL doesn't lift the 80-man-roster restriction this offseason, I'm not sure how much competition will actually be brought in.

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You need the NFL Europe back. :p

Anyway, I'm ok with these guys. The problem is, they're both promising guys who had flashes of brilliance, especially Bigby at the end of the 2007 season. You can't possibly replace them by a really high paid long term guy and they're to good to be replaced by a random 1 year signing.

I'm all for bringing in competition, but Bigby will walk away with the starting spot anyway, I'm afraid. Might push him a little harder in training camp though.

Until this happens and we get reasonable pressure on the QB I don't know how you can evaluate these guys. Add to that Bigby was obviously restricted by his injury and we all saw the difference in his mobility because of it. It also affected his ability to lay the wood like we know he can as well.

Look at the difference in who was playing in front of Dawkins and Leonard and tell me what they would have done this year in our defensive backfield. I felt bad for our guys back there this year. I would watch the QB have all day and before looking downfield when they would be letting it go I KNEW somebody down there was going to be open. I don't care who it is it's just not possible to stay with guys that can run like that for that long.

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I feel obligated to say something.... I believe in Bigby, he is the tough, hard hitter we need in our defense. He is an intimidator for WRs going across the middle. I feel that with experience, he will become a very good safety.

I bet none of you woulda guessed I supported Bigby 🙂

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Nope, I had NO idea that you supported Bigby, Bigbyfan....haha!

I support both of them, just give them next year with a hopefully better D-Line.

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I voted the first option, I really do believe that Atari is a good enough option at SS when healthy.

I understand some people who have concerns with Atari in coverage, but I for one don't share them a whole lot. From what I remember, in 07 Atari was in position to make plays in coverage (like break passes) but he didn't. I don't immediately recall any glaring play where I was sure Atari couldn't have covered the player to save his life. I think it's a matter of Atari needing more seasoning to realize that instead of trying to push a player down after a catch, he should try and go after his hands to force the incompletion. I think Atari just needs some time to calm down on the field, and just pick up the little nuances of being an effective player in coverage. Being friends with someone like Al, I'm sure Atari will understand the smaller details of effective coverage sooner rather than later.

What I like most about Atari is that he is a dependable Safety. If Leroy Butler is to be believed, the loss of our "sure" safety in Atari led to a loss of confidence by all the DBs. Makes sense, you want to have a S that you know is assignment sure and tackle sure. In 07 Atari was both.

If you look near the halfway point of last season (week 6-7) then you'll see Atari was on pace to record over 100 tackles, have 4 FF and 2-3 sacks.

Those are pro-bowl type stats, and I think it's fair to say Atari played at an all-pro level in parts of his first year starting. What I liked most of all about Atari was that he showed late in the season that he was starting to understand that you could be aggressive on the field without resorting to taunting players, talking trash, etc. (not to say there isn't a time and place for it during games)

We'll be fine at the position IMO assuming Atari stays healthy. That's not a given though, so I'd love to have some more competition at the position, preferably a vet.

On a related note, I'm intrigued as to what packages could be created with a healthy Atari, Nick Collins, and Rouse. A 3 Safety package would be really neat, and considering Nick's speed and Atari's propensity to be an effective blitzer that showed in the 07 pre-season, some interesting possibilities may lie in a 3 Safety package...

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I like Atrari his health is a concern,but if healthy very good player just feel it doesn't hurt, to have competition,but with new d-line and new strength coordinator things will improve.

So let's see... through the course of the various conversations, some folks would like to see turnover at:

D-Line
Linebackers
Safety
O-Line
Tight End
Running Back

Is there a part of this team that people like? :crazy:

And where do we expect to get the money to turn all these positions over?

Before anyone gets cranky, I get it - it's the offseason after a disappointing year, we're all sitting and waiting for IndecisionGate09 to play out, and people are just throwing darts. Still, while I might enjoy having the best players in the league at every position as much as anyone else, I think some people are looking for gaps in positions where I just can't buy that gaps truly exist.

I still really think that chucking guys like Rouse and Bigby under the bus after one bummer of a season is hasty stuff - I wouldn't be at all surprised to see both take big steps next year, and I do NOT want them to be doing that for another team.

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Yeah.

Wide Receivers
Starting QB
Cornerbacks
Cheerleaders
Bikini Girls

So we're solid at five.

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I heard the Bikini Girls were unrestricted free agents after this season. Where are we doing to come up with enough guaranteed money for THEM?

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