I still don't understand why. If you want to win in any sport you have to put your best players on the field. Say Raji goes down why would you not play Pickett there? "B.J. went down last week, we could put Pickett there he did play that position for the majority of his career including last season but...we'll go with some random, unknown and most likely worse player instead." It's simple logic:

NT: Raji > Pickett > Toribio (or any other NT we had) > Neal > Harrell
DE: Jenkins > Pickett > Neal > Harrell > Toribio (or any other NT we had)
DL: Jenkins > Raji > Pickett > Neal > Harrell > Toribio (or any other NT we had)

If you don't slide Pickett over your DL is worse as a whole. Obviously if we pick up a good backup at NT you wouldn't but I'm basing it off of what we have had.

The "greater than" (>) isn't meant to slight or favor any players specifically, I just put it up quickly to as a basic illustration of my point.

Lightning fast, but doesn't matter how fast you are if you don't keep the ball in your mitts, lol.

He has some trouble catching punts and kicks. I think after he catches it, he's fine? I'm not sure about that last part.

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Who did we have at NT that was more reliable than Neal/Harrell? If you can name someone let me know and I might agree with you.

I guess my main point is that there's a bigger drop-off in talent from Raji to Unknown NT than Raji to Pickett (NT) and Pickett to Neal (DE). I guess a good way to illustrate it would be with numbers like madden rating. For example:

AT DE: Pickett (9), Neal (7)
AT NT: Raji (9), Pickett (8), Toribio (5)

You drop from Raji to Toribio you lose 4 points overall. You drop from Raji to Pickett and Pickett to Neal you only lose 3 points overall. If you want to best line on the field you put Pickett in at NT plain and simple.

Once again I thought of the numbers quickly off the top of my head and they're not supposed to be my exact, official ratings of said player, just fast estimations for the sake of my example.

I wonder if Shields learned how to catch comfortably in the last 48 hours, or if we got some plans in the mix to get a legit KR and.or PR?

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My guess is nether... I'm guessing no depth chart has fully been updated. Shield would probably be behind Williams, Jackson and Nelson on the current return depth chart. Has Swain return kicks? I thought I remember him doing it one year and did decent other than not being aggressive enough which I think he's become more aggressive.

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KR Jordy, Brandon, Shields
PR Jordy, Tramon, Shields


I think that's how it'll be if we don't pick someone up.

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I checked Brett Swain's stats for pro and college and didn't see any return stats. Still looking though.

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I don't really care too much about our return game. Expecting anything from our STs is kinda silly. If we don't have a home run threat(we don't) just gimme the guy who knows how\when to fair catch or get to the 20+ on kickoffs. Getting greedy with Slocum doesn't make sense, it's like asking Ryan Grant to break a tackle(knew I'd get a shot at him in).

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Why the hell don't we get Jarret Bush back there returning? If he's such a special teams "ace", then why can't he return punts?

I hope the coaches at least give him a shot at it.

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It makes no sense to do that.

Bush as a special teams ace means that he is on all the top Special Teams: Punt Return, Kick Return, Punt Coverage, and Kick Coverage. Hell, he's the gunner I believe, which is probably one of the most thankless positions to play in football. Being elusive and shifty with the ball in his hands is not exactly his forte.

Jordy, while certainly not being explosive, is pretty damn solid. There really is no pressing need to improve from him; our Offense seemed to do fine given what we got from Jordy (and Will before his injury) last year.

We could improve with an explosive return guy (which Jarret Bush will never be, but Shields definitely could), but that is different from we "need" to improve with an explosive returner.

No need to act desperate and start testing random players with the jugs machine to see who can and cannot catch.

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