Whitt and the Cornerbacks

Nice article on changing up his assignments to a matchup basis.

http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...back/88525876/

But I was struck by this:

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Hayward, who signed with the San Diego Chargers during free agency, held that job last season and played the most snaps of any corner. He was schematically steady and played with intelligence, but the explosive pop from his rookie season, when he made six interceptions, was gone. He led the Packers in missed tackles (14) and recorded just nine pass breakups in 1,048 snaps, the worst ratio on the team. He also failed to intercept a single throw.

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If my memory has not failed me, I think PFF graded Hayward pretty high. I wonder what the cause for the discrepancy is.

Football Outsiders, which does rank DBs (but as part of their premium database) has the Packers defense ranked 21st versus other teams #1 receiver.

2nd rank against #2 WR
19th against other WR
4th against TEs
4th against RBs

Shields was the 13th ranked CB and Hayward was the 15th in adjusted yards per target. They were 19th and 20th respectively in success rate. Hayward was 3rd in target rate (who was getting picked on) and Shields was 18th.

So perhaps Hayward was solid but unspectacular, which is why they wanted to re-sign him but not break the bank.

or sometimes numbers and stats don't tell the whole story

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Originally Posted by pbmax

Nice article on changing up his assignments to a matchup basis.

http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...back/88525876/

But I was struck by this:

Quote:

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Hayward, who signed with the San Diego Chargers during free agency, held that job last season and played the most snaps of any corner. He was schematically steady and played with intelligence, but the explosive pop from his rookie season, when he made six interceptions, was gone. He led the Packers in missed tackles (14) and recorded just nine pass breakups in 1,048 snaps, the worst ratio on the team. He also failed to intercept a single throw.

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If my memory has not failed me, I think PFF graded Hayward pretty high. I wonder what the cause for the discrepancy is.

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My perception coincides with the bold. A lot of snaps - not a lot of productivity. Over-rated and no big loss (particularly outside), and given price tag and young depth ready to take over those snaps.

It has been said over the years that Hayward's natural position was inside. If Whitt is looking for that position to perform as it did with Woodson there, Hayward didn't come close to meeting those expectations. No wonder they didn't bring him back.

I definitely agree when Hayward had to be outside. The rookies, even as they struggled, were better on the edge than Casey.

Iirc Hayward was never a burner, he was a smart player who made up for pedestrian speed with his brains. when he got hurt, he lost some speed which he didn't have to lose.

Smart, savvy just too slow.

I hope this regular substitution strategy will prove effective in keeping opposing offensives off balance . A lot of very foul language was used last season as that Secondary was regularly toasted. It will require great concentration and much hard work to to assign each weeks responsibilities, but it might just work . Deceiving Offensives has become even more difficult, this could help in that effort .

:glug:

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Originally Posted by Radagast

I hope this regular substitution strategy will prove effective in keeping opposing offensives off balance . A lot of very foul language was used last season as that Secondary was regularly toasted. It will require great concentration and much hard work to to assign each weeks responsibilities, but it might just work . Deceiving Offensives has become even more difficult, this could help in that effort .

:glug: [/SIZE]

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Packers pass D was 6th in the League last season (according to Football Outsiders). How much better do you think is reasonable to expect it to improve?

Either Hayward was "smart and savvy" or maybe he just lucked out a lot and happened to be in the right place to get picks before his injury and not so much after. He's gone and irrelevant now. It seems to me we have a plethora of good Corners on the team - make that good DBs in general. IMO, this is gonna be one of the toughest positions to cut without losing some quality players. Maybe we have Whitt to thank for that - in part anyway.