The reason it didn't sit well with me is because I believed we spent time/energy luring Jim Leonhard and then got rebuffed. Meanwhile, other potentially better candidates were taken off the board. That left with the Packers then taking Joe Barry. Although, Ejiro Evero was still available (I think) and Packers passed up on him. I mention him solely because it seems like he's doing pretty well with lesser talent.

So, my feeling is Joe Barry wasn't truly 2nd choice, he was merely the 1st choice of what was left, thus, appearing as 2nd choice. In other words, my thinking is LaFleur had some guys in Tier 1 and Tier 2. It also seemed like Leonhard was going to accept the offer after two very long meetings and then he had a change of heart, or didn't change his heart. No fault at all on him for that. 

Heck if I know though. Maybe LaFleur had Jim Leonhard and Joe Barry as 1a and 1b and felt either would rock out the defense. 🤷‍♂️ The optics from myself, someone who was watching it ... just felt like they really thought no way Leonhard would say no, then almost got caught with pants around ankles and went HEY JOE what up?!??!

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You could be right Z2C. You could be right.

 

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There are many things we don’t know about the process last time, nor do we know exactly what’s happening now.

Perhaps, when Barry Alverez was the athletic Director, he made a Leonard a promise that should there be an opening he would get the head-coaching job.

Since Alverez is no longer there, that is no longer his decision.

further, the new guy Fickell was a defensive coordinator at Ohio State, and probably has his brand of defense that he would like to implement. For all we know, after sitting down and talking about defensive philosophy, maybe the two just don’t get along.

Personally, I would love to see Leonard as our DC. He gets a lot out of not that much talent, and I think he would get this group to excel.

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Also remember, Matt was telling Barry what to do last year. This year, I don't know, but thete's definitely a different result.

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Another little thing to remember about our defense from last year to this year and that is we had guys playing for contracts last year and now they got paid and haven't played as well. Douglas is getting burnt it seems like every game and Campbell has been quiet and then he got injured. But it's a proven fact most players seem to play great in their contract year and have a drop off after they sign the hge contract.

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Also consider that this previous draft was set up for Barry, to him his guys to run the defense his way. 

Just like that one year Matt got his guys. They to Dillon and De Guara that year. We took Gary and iirc Savage that one year for Pettine. 

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