*** Official I love Marcus Cooper Thread ***

[Mr. Laz]

Tall,strong and can run ... without him they would have been toasting Dunta Robinson all game long.


Young guy saved our collective asses today

[/edited, because i'm a dumb ass with the wrong picture]


Height: 6-2
Weight: 192
Age: 23
College: Rutgers
Experience:R

[Titty Meat]

I'm still trying to figure out how in the world an andy reid team went 4-12 last year.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Do you feel it's worth trading away picks to acquire his replacement or spending our top pick next year on drafting him?

I'm not there. If we can find someone on our roster or the waiver wire, great. I can't justify allocating our limited resources towards a secondary that is exceptional at 4 of 5 spots.

I don't think it's top pick worthy, but it won't hurt to look into it and see if one falls for us. We have enough top picks on this defense. We need to get some firepower with our first pick this year.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

I'm still trying to figure out how in the world an andy reid team went 4-12 last year.

He checked out, I think.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Do you feel it's worth trading away picks to acquire his replacement or spending our top pick next year on drafting him?

I'm not there. If we can find someone on our roster or the waiver wire, great. I can't justify allocating our limited resources towards a secondary that is exceptional at 4 of 5 spots.

If we were in the 20s and someone like Elam, Reid or Vaccarro were there, yeah I'd strongly consider taking him.

That said, this draft doesn't appear to be nearly as strong at safety as last year's. Clinton-Dix out of Alabama may be the only 1st round talent in the draft but he just got suspended indefinitely and is more of a centerfielder type FS anyway.

In the end, I love the way we're building this team. I know everyone believes the 'modern NFL' is about arcade offenses and 35 pt games, but I still think you can win by building the best defense possible and playing smart offense. I'm fine continuing to use high-value resources on our defense and I don't see a better place to target than FS.

Someone may end up falling like Floyd did last year, in which case I'd go that route instead. Or maybe a good pass-rusher to rotate in/replace Hali someday would fall to us - a Chandler Jones type. And yeah, I'd be fine with that as well. But if we went FS with the right prospect, I'd have no problem with that at all.

I just don't see the right prospect in the 2014 draft.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by mdchiefsfan

I don't think it's top pick worthy, but it won't hurt to look into it and see if one falls for us. We have enough top picks on this defense. We need to get some firepower with our first pick this year.

What you are advocating as a course of action fits solidly within my "could be upgraded" category.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

What you are advocating as a course of action fits solidly within my "could be upgraded" category.

Ah, sorry. Just read your post and responded. Yes, "could be upgraded" is logical.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by patteeu

Let's stipulate that PFF isn't the final word on performance. That said, Abdullah has a pretty positive PFF rating across the board. His overall rating is better than Lewis despite having only 40% of the snaps. Lewis is rated quite a bit higher in coverage, but both are in solidly positive territory. Abdullah's run defense is significantly better than Lewis who has a pretty terrible rating.

Does Abdullah generally play the SS position?

I think Abdullah and Demps are both more the SS type.

But Lewis is doing nothing so let's go with 2 athletic SS instead of just putting a shitty FS out there.

[Buckweath]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

I think Abdullah and Demps are both more the SS type.

But Lewis is doing nothing so let's go with 2 athletic SS instead of just putting a shitty FS out there.

Lewis is decent in coverage and in this pass-heavy league, that's what I want first and foremost out of my FS. Sure, he is poor against the run but we already have an Eric Berry who is real strong against the run and who might just be now one of the top 5 safeties in the league. Add to that we have some real good corners, who knows if Sanders Commings might turn out to be good and there's no way I'd spend a high pick in next year's draft on a safety.

WR is clearly the position that I'd look first to draft with our 1st round pick next year.

[ChiefsFanatic]

Originally Posted by mdchiefsfan

Flowers will slide from the strong side into the slot I would imagine, leaving a space. Cooper would still be the nickel CB, just won't play it in the slot.

EDIT: I'll add that they might be starting Cooper while Flowers' knee is healing

I think that Flowers may be playing the nickel, or the slot receiver to prepare for Wes Welker and the Broncos. Until Cooper looked so good, we were going to be stuck with Robinson in the nickel, but since Cooper is playing so well, it gives us a great opportunity to put Flowers on him.

Probably not a lot of teams that can put a #1 corner on the slot receiver.

[ChiefsFanatic]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

If we were in the 20s and someone like Elam, Reid or Vaccarro were there, yeah I'd strongly consider taking him.

That said, this draft doesn't appear to be nearly as strong at safety as last year's. Clinton-Dix out of Alabama may be the only 1st round talent in the draft but he just got suspended indefinitely and is more of a centerfielder type FS anyway.

In the end, I love the way we're building this team. I know everyone believes the 'modern NFL' is about arcade offenses and 35 pt games, but I still think you can win by building the best defense possible and playing smart offense. I'm fine continuing to use high-value resources on our defense and I don't see a better place to target than FS.

Someone may end up falling like Floyd did last year, in which case I'd go that route instead. Or maybe a good pass-rusher to rotate in/replace Hali someday would fall to us - a Chandler Jones type. And yeah, I'd be fine with that as well. But if we went FS with the right prospect, I'd have no problem with that at all.

I just don't see the right prospect in the 2014 draft.

Building defense is fine, but unless they are the 85 Bears or 2000 Ravens, you are going to need an offense capable of keeping up with those 35 point per game offenses.

The other offense could run 70 plays, and the defense could play great on 65 of those plays, but those other 5 plays could be quick strike scores with some of the offenses out there.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Buckweath

Lewis is decent in coverage and in this pass-heavy league, that's what I want first and foremost out of my FS. Sure, he is poor against the run but we already have an Eric Berry who is real strong against the run and who might just be now one of the top 5 safeties in the league. Add to that we have some real good corners, who knows if Sanders Commings might turn out to be good and there's no way I'd spend a high pick in next year's draft on a safety.

WR is clearly the position that I'd look first to draft with our 1st round pick next year.

Berry might be top 5? Who else is even in the conversation?

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Buckweath

Lewis is decent in coverage and in this pass-heavy league, that's what I want first and foremost out of my FS. Sure, he is poor against the run but we already have an Eric Berry who is real strong against the run and who might just be now one of the top 5 safeties in the league. Add to that we have some real good corners, who knows if Sanders Commings might turn out to be good and there's no way I'd spend a high pick in next year's draft on a safety.

WR is clearly the position that I'd look first to draft with our 1st round pick next year.

he has zero ints and 1 pass defense all year


He hasn't done much of anything.


I think 1 decent tackle to prevent a 1st down and a pass breakup.


not enough to make up for his shit run defense

[Kiimo]

Is it crazy to think Dunta could take over Kendrick Lewis' position at safety?

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFanatic

I think that Flowers may be playing the nickel, or the slot receiver to prepare for Wes Welker and the Broncos. Until Cooper looked so good, we were going to be stuck with Robinson in the nickel, but since Cooper is playing so well, it gives us a great opportunity to put Flowers on him.

Probably not a lot of teams that can put a #1 corner on the slot receiver.

I was just saying there is a difference between being the nickel corner and the slot corner. It usually is that way, but I think it is Cooper that comes in when we play nickel with flowers moving to the slot.

In base formations we have Smith weak side and Flowers strong side

[DJ's left nut]

I have to wonder how bad one would have to be for 'needs to be upgraded' if Lewis doesn't qualify.

He's not getting torched deep very often because our system uses so much man and our CBs have done the job. For a guy playing the kind of rover safety he usually plays to only have 1 pass defensed means that the CBs are really dominating their matchups and he's simply not being asked to do much.

And he's just an abomination in run support. With as aggressive as the defense is, zones are going to open up over the middle and he's going to need to be able to either stop a scrambling QB or actually make a play on a check-valve WR when he breaks into the open field. He's done none of that this year.

He's a clear liability as soon as someone has the ball past the first level. That happens on runs, passes and scrambles. With the number of hot routes, etc... that our blitzing forces, there are going to be more instances where his abysmal open-field tackling is more critical than his adequate coverage skills.

The only strength I see in the guy is that he remains a very smart player that seems to know this defense extremely well. That said, he's the weak link in this defense and I don't see any reason we shouldn't be actively seeking an upgrade, especially given his unreliable injury history.