Quote Originally Posted by bobblehead View Post
You worked your way completely through the process to the conclusion I have drawn. There is a lot of talent on that D, it just isn't playing as a unit. Even Savage hasn't been a dumpster fire this year. I honestly can't point to one area and say they don't have the talent. Even Rudy Ford is playing good enough. But they are playing on their heels. Not to lose if you will. I want aggression. I want a guy who should be a high school gym teacher as my DC.
Agree. I feel like I've been saying "whole is less than sum of its parts" to describe this defense since the mid-Pettine era. Gute has put a lot of draft capital into the defense, at the expense of the offense. I would expect he is drafting players that are good scheme fits.
He has drafted "projects" like Rashan Gary who have worked out, and some who haven't. There's a certain amount of luck there with the player there (do they have the heart and brain to work hard and learn to be a good pro?) but I'm starting to wonder about the quality of the coaching the players are getting.

Purely cherry picking a coach -- Jerry Montomery has been with the team since McCarthy as DL coach. Can you name a player he's managed to develop into a good pro? (He inherited Kenny Clark.) Would Slaton count?
Ben Sirmans is an ok RB coach.

Stenovich was a better OL coach than current OL coach Butkus, but I think Luke Butkus isn't bad.

The defense and running game were supposed to carry this team early, and both aren't doing the job well. The youth movement is largely on the offense, so experience shouldn't be an excuse for the defense's failings IMO.