FanPost

Three Young Defensive Players that must Progress


In order for the defense to keep improving without the availability of limitless resources, some players currently on the roster must get better. The growth of Fletcher, Laurenitis, Long spearheaded our defensive improvement last year. With free agency in the unsure state that its in, whats on our roster right now is the only sure hope for improvement.

1) Jerome Murphy

We invested a high third round pick in Murphy, who was the player Jonathen Baldwin called the best corner he had faced in college. After some close calls in the dime package against San Diego (Murphy blew coverage leaving some players wide open down the field that Rivers didn't see) and losing some 50/50s.. Murphy's facetime was cut and he was relegated to special teams. Not to worry, all Murphy's problems stemmed from hesitancy which is very common for rookie DBs. I cant wait for Murphy to feel confdent enough in the scheme to use is aggresion in a way that benefits the defense. Look for him to take over in the nickel package being that King and Dockery will most likely not be back

2) George Selvie

Another South Florida player who we stole on draft day. Selvie showed that he deserves to part of the 3rd down blitz package. Selvey is smart and much like Leonard Little, has to eat studiously to keep weight on. Selvey has natural pass rush skill that is hard to teach, but just needs to be schematically comfortable and needs to work his way into an NFL body. I think Murphy can be a good player while I think Selvie wil be one. I don't care where he was drafted. He screams Jason Taylor to me.

3) Darrel Scott

Here is where we start to enter fantasy land. But I do believe that Scott must contribute to the DT rotation for the defense to show additional improvement this year. When Scott recovered form injury, Jermele Cudjo was immediately sent back to the Inactive Roster. The coaching staff thinks of him at least a little higher than Cudjo. Not to say he wasn't in the rotation this year, he was. He just needs to be a more visible part of the rotation entering his third year. The learning curve on DTs is steeper than you think (see Ryan Picket)., but at 6-3 315 Scottstill has upside.