What is your '09 Depth Chart?

by Pregame with Pabst on Aug 4, 2009 10:24 AM EDT Comment 27 comments

In light of the start of training camp, I thought it would be interesting to see everyone's take on the position battles out there and who you think will win out. I'll leave it wide open, but I will call you crazy if you think that Ben Harstock (our 6th lineman in the run game) will beat out Tony G. Let's see what you got.

I think the offense is pretty set, but here is my idea for the defense:

DE - J. Abraham and J. Anderson

DT - J. Babineaux and T. Lewis (to start the season)

OLB - M. Peterson and S. Nicholas

MLB - C. Lofton

CB - C. Houston and B. Grimes

S - E. Coleman and T. DeCoud

What do y'all think? Am I crazy for having faith in J. Anderson? Is DeCoud going to make it to the starting line up? What will the DT rotation be? I'd also like to hear y'alls comments on Offense and Special teams.

This FanPost was written by one of The Falcoholic's talented readers. It does not necessarily reflect the views of The Falcoholic.

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Here we go

DEs: John Abraham and Jamaal Anderson
DTs: Jonathan Babineaux and Trey Lewis
OLB: Mike Peterson and Jamie Winborn
MLB: Curtis Lofton
CB: Chris Houston and Chevis Jackson
S: William Moore and Erik Coleman

by Dave the Falconer on Aug 4, 2009 11:11 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

did we end up signing winborn?

last i remember is the “5 other teams interested” thing from his agent

by gritzblitz on Aug 4, 2009 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, in the end we got him

Just a formality, I guess.

by Dave the Falconer on Aug 4, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yahtzee

by gritzblitz on Aug 4, 2009 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defense

DE: Abe, Jamaal Anderson
DT: Babs, Peria Jerry
OLB: Peterson, Nicholas
MLB: Lofton
CB: Houston, Chevis Jackson
S: Coleman, William Moore

I don’t think the “starters” on the D-Line are going to matter that much – they will be rotating in & out. For CB’s, I have next-to-no faith in Hutchins, and not too much hope for Grimes either. One (or both) may get significant Playing Time early in the year, but I would be shocked if Owens didn’t pass them on the depth chart by the end of the year.

Also, I agree the starters on Offense are set – it’s just a matter of Playing time: 2 Backs with Fullback (Ovie), 2 TE (Hartsock) 3 Wide (Harry Douglas), etc.

Dave, are you serious about Winborn??

by orang3b on Aug 4, 2009 11:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Totally serious

At least initially, I see him starting outside in the spot formerly reserved for Stephen Nicholas. The guy’s a tackling machine, and that may be all the team wants to see out of that spot for now.

by Dave the Falconer on Aug 4, 2009 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ya know

I didn’t really know anything about Winborn, and I’m usually not too impressed with guys that rack up big tackle totals on bad defenses – somebody’s got to make the tackles, right? Especially considering that he was released by the Broncos. But 1) maybe he didn’t fit into their plans for the 3-4, and 2) they’re not exactly well known for properly evaluating defensive talent recently…

Anyway, I checked his advanced stats in FOA09, and whadda you know – he was actually decent last year (especially considering almost the entire D-Line in front of him was a steaming pile of you know what)… He was better against the Run than in Coverage, but he was ok… so if the coaches don’t think Nicholas or Wire are up to snuff, I can now agree that Winborn will probably be just fine in that spot.

by orang3b on Aug 5, 2009 9:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

my turn

DE: JA1 and JA2
DT:babs and jerry
OLB: Peterson weakside coy wire yes i have him starting strongside
MLB:loften duh
CB:Houston and chevis jackson
S:coleman and T.DeCoud

by mistab50 on Aug 4, 2009 11:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Wire and Winborn

I can see Wire starting the season, but I don’t see Winborn coming in and taking a starting position off the bat.

"If you can’t get excited for Ryan throwing to Gonzalez, you’re either a robot or clinically dead. Or you’re a zombie robot, which is just plain awesome."
Dave the Falconer

by Pregame with Pabst on Aug 4, 2009 11:55 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I can actually see frequent rotations all over the Defense

keep them fresh… we have a lot of speed players that if they know their time on the field is going to be short, they are going to be explosive on every play.

I can very easily see a rotation with Moore and DeCoud at safety. Nicholas and Winborn at LB (I agree with Dave about Winborn, the guy is a tackling machine). And all kindsa crazy rotation stuff going on with the CBs.
As long as Wire is such a stud on special teams, I don’t see them letting him waste energy playing LB unless absolutely necessary.
Grimes is pretty much locking up his spot with what he’s doing in training camp. Picking off Matt Ryan twice, one involving wrestling Jenkins to the ground, isn’t going to be overlooked and has him the running leader in CBs right now (next to Houston of course) – well, that’s my presumption anyways.

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Aug 4, 2009 12:31 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

You get a rec for agreeing with me!

No, really, you get it for good points. Grimes has been a beast at camp so far, but I’m still banking on Chevis Jackson…

by Dave the Falconer on Aug 4, 2009 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Because everyone seems to follow my lead on this

I recommended this FanPost. Y’all should too.

by Dave the Falconer on Aug 4, 2009 1:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

my opinion

it wouldn’t surprise me at all for us to situational start guys all year long, with the exception of some(abe, lofton, peterson, etc.) start our guys according to who we’re playing. In 10 games we could have 8 different starting lineups on D

by gritzblitz on Aug 4, 2009 2:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Continuity

I can’t imagine that we would have that many changes across the defense.

Players have to be given time to get into a rhythm and get to know each other. If you’re constantly changing that then our defense is not going to know how to work off of each other. We’ll have our defined starters by the beginning of the regular season, but there are certain battles (SS, CB, OLB) that might go down to the Wire.

"If you can’t get excited for Ryan throwing to Gonzalez, you’re either a robot or clinically dead. Or you’re a zombie robot, which is just plain awesome."
Dave the Falconer

by Pregame with Pabst on Aug 4, 2009 2:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

LOL on the Coy Wire pun

and you make a very valid point about continuity being beneficial… though I could very easily see our coaching staff utilizing a different run play group and pass play group and encouraging players to exert themselves without worrying about their stamina with the assurance that they have guys on the line waiting to back them up.

I can understand why you like Wire at LB, but he is far too great a beast on special teams to let him waste energy on defense. Wire led a very efficient special teams unit last season and I like the idea of being able to depend on him to do it again this season. Field position was one of the most significant factors that led to our success last season.

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Aug 4, 2009 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Excellent point about the Special Teams…

by orang3b on Aug 4, 2009 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pun Intended (although it was bad)

Although I agree with y’all I do not think he should start. He did a good job on run downs at the end of the season, but I’d rather have him taking heads off on special teams.

As to the changes, i’m sure we’ll see a variety of different playes on the fields depending on the differing packages and sub-packages they run on Defense. I see the starters staying the same, but for instance Lofton started all last year, but did not play on 3rd downs due to his sub-par (then) coverage ability.

I think we’ll see more of that. Say C4 turns out to lay down the law on run downs but DeCoud owns it in passing situations you would see DeCoud come in for our Nickel and Dime packages. Same with our LBs. Although I see Lofton being an everydown player this year.

"If you can’t get excited for Ryan throwing to Gonzalez, you’re either a robot or clinically dead. Or you’re a zombie robot, which is just plain awesome."
Dave the Falconer

by Pregame with Pabst on Aug 4, 2009 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

+1 about lofton

I look forward to seeing him be a solid every down LB. With Peterson as his mentor, he’s the type of guy that could lead our defense for years.

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Aug 4, 2009 4:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

not major changes

but one game start nicholas at olb then next game start wire or winborn, things like that but continuity is a good point

by gritzblitz on Aug 4, 2009 3:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

my jab at it

Below are who I believe will be the overall starters for the year. Not sure about Week 1, but by the mid-point, I think this is how it will look.

DE: Abraham and Davis
DT: Babs and Jerry
LB: Peterson, Lofton, and Nicholas
S: Coleman and Moore
CB: Houston and Grimes

by Jesse28 on Aug 5, 2009 7:23 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Davis

I could certainly see Davis taking over by mid season should Anderson not do anything.
He might even start right out of camp.

"If you can’t get excited for Ryan throwing to Gonzalez, you’re either a robot or clinically dead. Or you’re a zombie robot, which is just plain awesome."
Dave the Falconer

by Pregame with Pabst on Aug 5, 2009 8:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defense

DE: Abraham, Davis
DT: Babs, Lewis
OLB: Peterson, Lofton, Nicholas
CB: Houston, Jackson
S: Coleman, DeCoud

-I think Davis wins that job in training camp. He’s almost as good against the run and much better as a pass rusher
-I would love Jerry to start from the get-go, but you don’t improve your rush defense by using an undersized line. I would like him to add 15 good lbs and play at 310.
-Nicholas has that job because his speed allows him to stay with the talented TEs that have been added to the NFC South
-The year that DeCoud has under his belt gives him the nod. Moore will play his way into this position, but not to start the season…

I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I only lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three.

Elayne Boosler

by NaGaNole on Aug 5, 2009 9:31 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs

Rec'd

Great point about Nicholas covering the NFCS TE’s.

And while I pretty much agree on your points on Davis, don’t forget that Jamaal many times slid inside to tackle (and had to fight off trash) on 3rd down (when it’s easier to pick up sacks – in a passing situation), while Davis was coming off the edge. And while Jamaal is still (hopefully at 23) developing, Davis is probably about as good as he is going to be (he’s 26) – it just depends on Playing Time (if he gets more opportunity)…

by orang3b on Aug 5, 2009 9:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Anderson is the prototype 3-4 end...

He’s a talented guy in the wrong scheme. I think both the team and him would be better served trading him to a team that uses a 3-4 defense. The problem comes in getting value, and I don’t know if we can since his numbers are not where they could be. It’s a catch 22…

I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I only lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three.

Elayne Boosler

by NaGaNole on Aug 5, 2009 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defensive Line

I think that we could see a great deal of rotation all along the defensive line.

We know that Abe is no longer an everydown player and is reserved for demolishing QBs on passing downs, and that the interior of the line could see a lot of situational players depending on down and distance.

I could see something like this:

RE – Abraham (named starter), Chauncey Davis/Kroy Biermann/Lawrence Sidbury (depending on situation rotate through)

LE – Anderson/Davis (named starter), Kroy Biermann/Lawrence Sidbury

DT – Jonathan Babineaux / Trey Lewis / Peria Jerry / Vance Walker (Babs will rarely come off the field. i could see Trey Lewis on 1st and 2nd with Jerry coming on on 3rd down. I could also see Walker lining up next to Lewis to plug up the middle when facing power formaitons)

Your thoughts? Am I way off?

"If you can’t get excited for Ryan throwing to Gonzalez, you’re either a robot or clinically dead. Or you’re a zombie robot, which is just plain awesome."
Dave the Falconer

by Pregame with Pabst on Aug 5, 2009 9:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs