ATL? Dang they tried us.
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2018 Secondary
- Thread starter JoeyFlex5
- Start date
I see him as a solid dependable guy, on the downside of his career, but he had a decent year against some pretty darn good cbs. He didn't allow too many tds, plus he's never missed a game in his career.....knock on wood
Another thing to consider is that he has been the number 1 corner for his entire career. He will now be the number two corner, which will no doubt benefit him.
BloodRaven
Pro Bowler
Did anyone see Gil Brandts all time list for safeties? He put Reed at 4th and Polamalu ahead of him. Someone take this old Brandt fella out behind the woodshed.
i think he only had ray lewis at number 8 for linebackers as well...
Boldnpurpblack
Practice Squad
All his lists have been crazy.
The LB he list, he combined pass rushing 3-4 OLB's with 3-4 ILB's and 4-3 LB's... and Ray Lewis was outside the Top 5. And then he had guys like Demarcus Ware who played DE most of their career and OLB for a few years at Denver make the list.
Ed Reed and the Safety list.
Brandon Williams cracked his best ever DT list. I mean congrats to BWill...... but c'mon. Suh, Damon Harrison, McCoy, etc... none of them made the list but Brandon did??? idk...
Ive heard the CB list is pretty bad too.
I respect Gil's knowledge of the history of football, but his ability to rank players is bad. It's impossible to tell on any of them what he places importance or value on.... where some guys seemingly only have their high ranking based on stats (modern guys), while others take their place based on ProBowls/All Pros.... and then others are clearly guys he had fond memories of as a younger man so he gives them a boost.
It's almost impossible to argue him on certain guys bc I wasnt alive to see them play; but there are certain things that are just ludicrous. And hes already made changes to his lists after releasing them based on Twitter and Comment Section reactions/input. Clearly hes not too confident in them himself.
He's largely average. He isn't going to give anything in the run game and he's going to give up a lot of catches and touchdowns, but then out of no where, like last year, he'll go on an 8 game streak and shutdown guys like AJ Green.
He's consistently average with a blip of above average play in there. Last year was actually his best of the past 3 and if the Ravens get that play again, it'll be very welcome across from Jimmy.
Going to have to guess much of the ill will came from the elite contract an average player got.
he's a relic who is only relevant because he used to be employed by "America's Team" back in the mesazoic era
i didnt even think dinosaurs could watch football...
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
so would you say, compared to having a shareece wright or rashaan melvin as the #2, that we have a lot less to worry about with our secondary? with the rest of our secondary healthy, and brandon carr becoming the guy who gets targeted often, can he hold up and not kill any chance of us winning big games like those others?
and if jimmy goes down again, would it be a drastic improvement to solidify our defense having him as our next man up to play the top spot with humphrey across from him? or would he often struggle the way he did against ODB and be a liability and make our pass defense an easy target once again? basically, does our defense and basically our whole season ride on jimmys health still?
also, by the end of the year, do you think carr holds the #2 spot strong, or do you think humphrey bypasses him, based on what you know of the 2?
His streak was not unpredictable though. Basically during that stretch he was not asked to be the number 1 guy and do everything because during those games Claiborne was healthy and could do his part whereas once he got hurt and he was asked to do what Jimmy does he couldnt because very few players can. If we ask him to do what Shareece Wright does or even just a little more he will look like an All-Pro and thats all we need from him and it truly highlight how terrible Wright was.
Sledge Hammer
Pro Bowler
We shoulda signed Claiborne. I know I know the giant hot alien in the room!! His injuries. But we are gambling on greatness here. In our system he may be the best cornerback in the league if he avoids injury. And he was very good last year and the latest injury was pretty flukish. He avoided all those nagging injuries he was known for. I dunno he looked different last year!! And I'm going out on a limb here and say he plays in 16 games this year. For a mil more than Carr we shoulda gambled on greatness. Carr is a risk to. He is a solid not spectacular player going into season 10. How many cornerbacks fell off the diving board at 32-33?? Claiborne was a better pure cover cornerback than Peterson coming out. And he is getting his stuff in gear now and has caught on the nfls schemes and zones. If he played 16 games he would put the defense on that feared defense level. Especially if Judon makes the jump and Timmy makes rookie impact
SepticeyePoe
Hall of Famer
What would you say if we signed Claiborne and he got hurt?
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
its just reckless for us to siggn a massive injury risk to our secondary though. we can either give a fat contract to a guy who has had one healthy season out of 4, or give a smaller deal to a veteran who has been solid and healthy. our biggest issue in the secondary has been health, and bringing more health risks to that group is just dumb, and the contract it would require is just asking for a disaster, hindering the team once again with big money guys sitting on the trainers table
Boldnpurpblack
Practice Squad
While i agree that Carr has been largely average most of his career - hes often been counted on as a #1 CB. So, I think having Jimmy across from him often picking up the top guys, or just being responsible for one half of the field.... coupled with the fact that in either scenario hes going to have elite Safety help over top that can afford to shade their help his way since Jimmy can stand alone on an island, we're in a good position to get closer to the best version of Carr than the worst.
Now, if Jimmy goes down, as with pretty much any team who loses their top CB, it could be tough.
But with Carr we at least can turn to someone capable of being an average CB1, as opposed to having to turn to someone who was never more than an average CB2. And if Humphrey can shoot out the gate playing like a starter, then we should have enough to steady the ship.
When you add Jefferson, Carr, Boykin, and Canady to a group that was already really good for the healthy stretch of last year -- we're definitely going to be better equipped to deal with the loss of Jimmy. Not to mention the fact that it has relegated Webb to a backup, so he also can be implemented as a matchup based guy anywhere in the secondary.
We now have, hopefully, 4 non-starters in the secondary who are better than our opening day starter at CB last year in Wright.
Sledge Hammer
Pro Bowler
We took our shot to be a great intimidating defense and it rained lol. Claiborne could be that shutdown playmaking cornerback and I wouldn't be upset at management. I may criticize management at times. But it's all about being the best. And if Claiborne got hurt then management took its shot. To get a shutdown playmaker at a fraction of the cost. If Timmy Williams falls off track I would applaud management for trying. I'm gonna guess he plays 16 games or close to it. I think there is much a chance of Carr falling off the diving board going into season 10. And maybe I'm a spoiled brat. But I didn't like the Humphrey pick. And I don't like him at cornerback. At All. There was 4 players on Bama alone I liked better than Humph. Allen,Timmy Williams Foster and My favorite of the bunch Howard. Especially Allen,Howard. Actually Tim Williams I liked as much or more than Howard and Allen. But with the drama we got him at a total steal round3
We dont need to "take a shot" to be a great defense. We just needed to have reliable people opposite Jimmy and if that happens the Ravens are an elite defense in pretty much every stage of the game. The Ravens defense was the BEST defense in the league before Jimmy went down and they just got better in pretty much every facet of the game.
The point about health is definitely understandable. Claiborne had a very good season and I liked him when he was coming out (Granted I didn't see too much of him then). But I don't think that finances were an issue. Claiborne actually signed a smaller contract than Carr. He signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the Jets compared to Carr's four-year, $23 million deal.
Lets not forget that Carr's contract is most likely going to be a two year contract. It's actually pretty easy to get out of it after this season with option years for the remaining three years. Claiborne's upside is higher but his injury risk is too much to bear.
Seriously you wouldn't be upset at management, if we missed the playoffs because our top 2 CBs were out due to injury. I think it's too big a risk, but that is my opinion and you are entitled to yours.
It's optimistic, but a possibility.