Man, can't we rebuild William Moore? We have the technology.
There has been heavy criticism of the 2009 draft from some quarters of Falcons fandom, mitigated only somewhat by Peria Jerry's return to health. That whirling bladestorm of criticism is not going to lessen if Moore continues his one man jury act, however. It's also not going to get a potentially effective and dynamic defensive player on the field, which is the really bad news here.
Let's review his recent injury history, shall we?
- 2008: Struggled with injury issues throughout senior year, missing a couple of games.
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2009: Football Jesus, where do I start? Knee surgery during training camp. Hamstring injury. Hamstring tweak. Hamstring tweak. Hamstring injury, and he finally lands on injured reserve.
- 2010: Injures groin in OTAs. Re-injures groin in training camp
- 2011: Breaks every bone in body. Muscles turn into Twizzlers. Eaten by a dinosaur.
As you can see, Moore just can't stay on the field, even in imaginary scenarios I've made up for next season. The scouting reports on Moore indicated he was the prototype strong safety for our system: Big, strong, reasonably fast and with absolutely lethal tackling skills. If healthy, he's almost certainly no worse than Erik Coleman, and may well be a heck of a lot better with a little time.
Personally, I'm beginning to think Moore doesn't have time be able to dislodge Coleman from his rickety home atop the depth chart. Nobody believes Coleman is a long-term answer at the position, or even one beyond this season. Many of us hoped he'd be unseated by Moore last year, to say nothing of the upcoming season. Unless Moore can get healthy immediately and impress the hell out of everyone, we're stuck with Coleman yet again.
That's not to disparage Coleman, who's fine against the run and less than fine in pass coverage, and has bright flashes of something better. He's a distinctly average safety, and there's room for that in the NFL. It's just too bad that a player who could potentially be something special can barely stand from one week to the next.
Thoughts on Moore?