Andrew Gribble wrote another this-will-sound familiar article on Jabrill Peppers, and how playing free safety last season will help him out a lot as a strong safety and safetybacker.
He will understand better what is going on around him.
What's new here is some of what assistant DB Coach Jerrod Kruse told Andrew about Peppers the free safety:
Jerrod says that the 2017 Browns were tops in the league against the deep ball, and Jabrill Peppers had everything to do with that.
Per Kruse, Peppers did what he was asked to do, and that was first and foremost to keep a lid on opposing offenses. Kruse shrugs off criticisms of Peppers in that role, implying that those critics didn't get what his actual job was in that Gregg Williams defense (which couldn't run press/man on the outside).
But now Peppers is back to strong safety and safetybacker along with Rodney Kindredfield, and that got me to wondering:
What is the closest thing Gregg Williams might have to a base defense (which puts his best eleven players on the field)?
*Ok defenses have to adapt to offenses and situations, so it's simply not possible to have any one personnel group, but I'm just trying to put myself in Gregg's shoes and sorta ranking guys*
First off, skip the two outside corners. They have to play 99% of the time, so we're really talking about the other nine players.
Well, the no-brainer is Myles Garrett, which leaves eight.
On the next rung, you've got to have Ogbah, Kendricks (that's right Kendricks), Collins, and Kindred. Yeah KINDRED I said dammit.
I don't care where he was drafted or who drafted him, that guy is a stud.
That's five (of nine non-cornerbacks), leaving four players.
Well, you really have to have a free safety, so Damarius Randall is the default here (I bet he'll be terrific though), leaving three slots.
Well, Larry Ogunjobi has to be one of the last three. He's an inside player and a rising star. Highly underrated, terrific upside, plays pass and run, one or two-gap, enters year two just watch this guy!
Two slots left: Well, if you remember that Gregg Williams leans on a "Field General" middle linebacker who literally "quarterbacks" the defense, one of those guys should be Joe Schobert...
But here it gets complicated. Kendricks and Collins are both experienced veterans, and one or both might be able to make those calls.
Schobert is a tackling machine and an underrated athlete too, however, so I gotta include him.
The last slot (given the variables) has to be a tie between Jamie Meder, Trevon Coley, Jabrill Peppers, and Briean Boddy-Calhoun.
Ok maybe Brantley or somebody else I dunno.
Poor Gregg Williams! He's got too many good players!
But he can sure run any "type" of personnel group he wants on any down, in any situation, against any offense.
I rate Derrick Kindred over Jabrill Peppers because he's better than Peppers is so far. You people all expect Peppers to just elbow Kindred out of the way, but you're wrong.
Jabrill Peppers has an athletic edge on Kindred, and might just be awesome in year two, but that would just force Gregg Williams to figure out how to get them both on the field as often as he can, because (read my lips) Derrick Kindred is, and will remain, a stud.
A lot will change between now and Game one, so right now we're just guesstimating.
Will Larry Ogunjobi keep kicking ass when he gets to play more (because if he does, he has a good shot at the Pro Bowl)?
Will Caleb Brantley overtake Trevon Coley? And just how good will this overall defensive line be?
In 2017, Gregg ran as much of a 4-man front as he could, but that could change in 2018.
Williams has now moved Peppers up and added Kendricks. He is also now stacked with man cornerbacks, and cross-training Boddy-Calhoun at free safety.
This season, Gregg might field more 3-man fronts to get/keep guys like Schobert and Peppers on the field.
Jamie Collins can put his hand in the dirt, and Kendricks can stand up in a defensive end slot. Meanwhile, both Garrett and Ogbah (not to mention their backups) are fully capable of lining up inside.
On the other hand, Meder is...nevermind poor Gregg Williams I feel so sorry for him.
But 26 or so of his peers don't.
Will Baker Mayfield make a play for the starting job in training camp?
Yes, of course he will. He will bust ass and fight like he always has. Then he'll accept that Tyrod's "lead" on him was too great to overcome, and accept his redshirt season.
Can the Browns have a bigger player than LeBron?
Yes, but it's Mayfield, and you need to wait awhile.
Myles Garrett is all that, but he's a defensive end, so he can't win.
Jarvis Landry says Tyrod Taylor looks amazing. Amazing.
Evan Western (a Green Bay guy) wrote about how all these ex-Packer front office guys (including Dorsey) just massively upgraded the Browns' roster.
I only had time to "skim" this article, but I think it's pretty good (and will sound familiar to my crickets).
However, Callaway in the FOURTH round shouldn't surprise anybody, Nick Chubb is in Hyde's face rtf now (and is superior to him), Jamie Collins was injured, not killed, and Kendricks isn't here to "help" Schobert and Kirksey, and Austin Corbett is a legit contender to start at left tackle in 2018.
Evan calls Denzel Ward a "clone" of Packers stud Sam Shields based on his combine numbers. I don't know Shields yet so no comment.
Okbye.
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