Kazee and Our Secondary

[DonOfThemBirds]

2 minutes ago, Vandy said:

Julio was always a freak bro, from the moment he was born.
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com/.amp/nfl/2017/11/15/julio-jones-atlanta-falcons-alabama

 

I know Julio was always a freak, but it wasn't nearly exposed to the masses like it has been in the NFL.

 

That's why GMs, scouts, and coaches were completely blown away by his combine performance. That's with having a broken foot. Even posters on here were impressed when it happened, but no one had any idea that the Falcons were gonna pull off a historic trade to get him.

 

Over time during his NFL career Julio has proved to be even more freakish than we had thought.

[Vandy]

10 hours ago, DonOfThemBirds said:

 

I know Julio was always a freak, but it wasn't nearly exposed to the masses like it has been in the NFL.

 

That's why GMs, scouts, and coaches were completely blown away by his combine performance. That's with having a broken foot. Even posters on here were impressed when it happened, but no one had any idea that the Falcons were gonna pull off a historic trade to get him.

 

Over time during his NFL career Julio has proved to be even more freakish than we had thought.

The broken foot thing I’m sure blew everyone away. But everybody who was anybody in NFL knew all about him.....except maybe Cleveland. 
 

Biggest worry was injury....someone that fast & that muscular must eventually break.

[DonOfThemBirds]

1 minute ago, Vandy said:

The broken foot thing I’m sure blew everyone away. But everybody who was anybody in NFL knew all about him.....except maybe Cleveland. 

 

 

Yeah, only Cleveland landing a thousand draft picks would make that a clear cut lopsided trade in favor of the Falcons lol.

 

Cleveland will forever be looked at as the loser of the worst draft trade in NFL history because they did absolutely nothing with all of those picks.

 

It's like winning millions in the Powerball, but then spending it all on failed get rich quick schemes.

[hjerry]

1 minute ago, DonOfThemBirds said:

 

 

Yeah, only Cleveland landing a thousand draft picks would make that a clear cut lopsided trade in favor of the Falcons lol.

 

Cleveland will forever be looked at as the loser of the worst draft trade in NFL history because they did absolutely nothing with all of those picks.

 

It's like winning millions in the Powerball, but then spending it all on failed get rich quick schemes.

When it happened, the Vikings were seen as the clear winner of their trade with the Cowboys

[DonOfThemBirds]

3 minutes ago, hjerry said:

When it happened, the Vikings were seen as the clear winner of their trade with the Cowboys

 

Yep, Cowboys fans and the media killed the Cowboys for trading Herschel Walker at the time it happened.

 

Turned out to be the best move in football history.

[hjerry]

1 minute ago, DonOfThemBirds said:

 

Yep, Cowboys fans and the media killed the Cowboys for trading Herschel Walker at the time it happened.

 

Turned out to be the best move in football history.

only because they picked the right players

[DonOfThemBirds]

11 hours ago, hjerry said:

only because they picked the right players

 

Yeah, but Jimmy Johnson has always been one of the most underrated great football minds. Glad to finally see him in the HOF.

 

 

.......while Jerruh tries to take all the credit.

[Stryka]

15 hours ago, MSalmon said:

You could apply much of the same criticisms to Rico as well. His range is garbage. Better instincts? I’m not so sure about rico being great in that area

we need a Delpit, McKinney or Winfield or even Ashyton Davis ASAP

His range is garbage? Questioning is instincts? Rico isn’t a stud ballhawk and def isn’t the most talented guy but he is a good player. His story adds to him as a worker. He’s a relentless student of the game. His leadership is valuable too. 
 

I’m all for upgrading at some point but he isn’t a weak link. Dude is a sure tackler and when he gets his hands on a ball it’s a  pick. Imo there aren’t 16 better FS in the league than him which makes him one of the better starters. We have a dearth at LB, lack of #1 CB and still need help on edge and inside on DL. Safety isn’t something I’m thinking about until 3rd round or lower. 

[Vandy]

1 hour ago, Stryka said:

His range is garbage? Questioning is instincts? Rico isn’t a stud ballhawk and def isn’t the most talented guy but he is a good player. His story adds to him as a worker. He’s a relentless student of the game. His leadership is valuable too. 
 

I’m all for upgrading at some point but he isn’t a weak link. Dude is a sure tackler and when he gets his hands on a ball it’s a  pick. Imo there aren’t 16 better FS in the league than him which makes him one of the better starters. We have a dearth at LB, lack of #1 CB and still need help on edge and inside on DL. Safety isn’t something I’m thinking about until 3rd round or lower. 

Rico played poorly last year, especially 1st half of year. He struggled more than folks admit coming back from his injury.

[runshoot]

12 hours ago, quotemokc said:

It is strange that Quinns defense in Seattle had a big reliance on a great FS in Earl Thomas but he has been content to stick with the less athletic Allen all these years.

I think DQ gets caught in his feels too much. He likes guys and then gives them extra chances at the cost of the team even when it is obvious that we should have moved on. 

[32wood84white]

This may be ignorant of me to say considering I only watched one play of his break down of Kazee. But I think Kazee is a big time playmaker that’s a huge part of this defense.

My mom comes over to watch every game with us and I remember telling her, we may lose some punch with Kazee and Rico together at safety against the run but we are going to play the pass so much better. And I need to watch game pass to see if that was ultimately true, seems to be considering the type of game we played on defense, but his presence carries some weight imo. Just the year before Drew tried a deep ball on Thanksgiving and Kazee was there to make the play. 
 

So when he points out four verticals and Kazee not getting there, he has no clue what Kazee has been taught to look at. He has no clue if there was a matchup down the seams that he was responsible for looking at first. Also he’s comparing him to one of the greatest FS ever in Earl Thomas. Obviously we want him to be Earl but no one else in the NFL is either.

But again, my opinion may be ignorant due to the fact I did not watch the entire video.

[The Don™]

3 hours ago, Vandy said:

Rico played poorly last year, especially 1st half of year. He struggled more than folks admit coming back from his injury.

He definitely struggled but so did almost every player on defense except for Grady. That scheme/playcalling in the first 7.5 games (excluding Seattle game 2nd half) was horrible. Once the coaching and scheme changes had time to marinate, Rico started looking better. Debo started looking like a top MLB again. Shi*, even Vic came on later in the season.

[Jpg428gggg]

3 hours ago, Vandy said:

Rico played poorly last year, especially 1st half of year. He struggled more than folks admit coming back from his injury.

It’s not too uncommon coming back from an achilles injury. I am with the rest of the thread in that you can’t pencil him in as a starter. He is a smart player that has the ability to play multiple positions across on our defense. My hope is that we draft a young guy that can learn from Rico and Rico takes over the position of 3rd safety or nickel back. We just need in an influx of talent in our defensive backfield.

[vel]

 

[Vandy]

1 hour ago, The Don™ said:

He definitely struggled but so did almost every player on defense except for Grady. That scheme/playcalling in the first 7.5 games (excluding Seattle game 2nd half) was horrible. Once the coaching and scheme changes had time to marinate, Rico started looking better. Debo started looking like a top MLB again. Shi*, even Vic came on later in the season.

I think/hope it was combo of Quinn’s bad scheme + him coming off injury. Nonetheless, I believe this is his last year as a starter in ATL. Same for Neal as well.

[KRUNKuno]

This fan base is so allergic to turnovers that when a player actually creates them they don’t know how to act.

Kazee is the best free safety that we have.  He is not an nfl corner and doesn’t need to be out in that position.

[Osiruz]

My problems with KZ is his horrible tackling, and his dumb decisions in going for kill shots and getting ejected. I have no issues with him at FS with those being corrected, provided we move Rico to NCB. 

[Stryka]

On 4/6/2020 at 8:17 AM, Vandy said:

Rico played poorly last year, especially 1st half of year. He struggled more than folks admit coming back from his injury.

He had some struggles but that was to be expected coming from an injury. I think the entire team including him played way better in 2nd half obviously. He still looks quick and rangy out there to me. He also didn’t get beat deep and still rarely misses a tackle. That’s 2 critical aspects of a safety’s job. 

[Vandy]

3 hours ago, Stryka said:

He had some struggles but that was to be expected coming from an injury. I think the entire team including him played way better in 2nd half obviously. He still looks quick and rangy out there to me. He also didn’t get beat deep and still rarely misses a tackle. That’s 2 critical aspects of a safety’s job. 

LOL. Rico’s got a lot of good qualities, and I’ve been a fan of his. But I sure wouldn’t be going around describing him as “rangy”. At all. 

[Vandy]

On 4/6/2020 at 2:03 PM, KRUNKuno said:

This fan base is so allergic to turnovers that when a player actually creates them they don’t know how to act.

Kazee is the best free safety that we have. He is not an nfl corner and doesn’t need to be out in that position.

Not saying much. Frankly, if secondary was good, Kazee would be a backup as depth.

[Fernando C.]

Trade down and get Delpit that would be the best case scenario.. grab an extra 3rd..

[Stryka]

On 4/10/2020 at 10:23 AM, Vandy said:

LOL. Rico’s got a lot of good qualities, and I’ve been a fan of his. But I sure wouldn’t be going around describing him as “rangy”. At all. 

He doesn’t have the speed but he definitely is instinctual. Define Rangy. It isn’t all about speed for me. 

[kiwifalcon]

50 minutes ago, Stryka said:

He doesn’t have the speed but he definitely is instinctual. Define Rangy. It isn’t all about speed for me. 

This is why I’ve been on the Winfield Jnr train this is a safety I’d take over any.Instincts with 4.45 speed that equals more range and it’s speed we’ve never had at safety.

He can do exactly what Rico does fill in at SS down in the box hits like a train and has NFL pedigree to boot.

He’s my dark horse pick @16.

[Stryka]

On 4/12/2020 at 5:19 AM, kiwifalcon said:

This is why I’ve been on the Winfield Jnr train this is a safety I’d take over any.Instincts with 4.45 speed that equals more range and it’s speed we’ve never had at safety.

He can do exactly what Rico does fill in at SS down in the box hits like a train and has NFL pedigree to boot.

He’s my dark horse pick @16.

I really like him but then you have a dearth at CB and a surplus at S if keke is healthy. When does he play? Meanwhile we have 2 below average young guys playing elite WRs week in and out. If Winfield can be had in the 2nd. I’m cool. In the first. Nah. More pressing needs. 

[Run 'n' Shoot]

Safety should not be a first round consideration unless everyone we wanted at 16 is gone and we cannot trade back.

Slim chance that will happen with the CB, LB and Edge defenders available. Not to mention OL.

There are some good points made in the breakdown. Hopefully, Kazee will improve or the coaching staff will put him in a better position to win.