Because John Dorsey kept missing on pass rushers.

Dee Ford had injury history in college that he ignored. Kpassognon might not be a miss but he came from a small school in Villanova and needed at least a season on the bench in order to learn the defense.

Dadi Nicolas, a 6th rounder in 2016, flashed a bit but then tore a pattellar tendon and his career might be over.

Where Dorsey really screwed up was by taking a $4 million dollar Dead Cap hit for Tamba Hali in early 2016, then turning around and giving him a 3 year, $21 million dollar deal with $12 million guaranteed. Not only was a he a shell of himself in 2016, he didn't hit the field until late 2017 and made zero impact.

Thus, Frank Zombo.

I just think if it was an obvious passing situation, throw Kpassagnon out there. Ready or not, I think he could have come closer to a rush than Zombo. Zombo had no chance of beating a pass blocker.

For that matter, I saw more pass rush from Bennie Logan. Put him in there instead of Zombo on passing downs.

I'll give Zombo credit for being able to read plays. The final view of him getting pushed downfield by a quarterback muddies that image, but he generally never got fooled on running plays. He was tolerable there. But man, putting him on a pass rush was not a good experience for anybody.

They're gonna have to play young guys now. No one else to run out there.

Big IF's here, but if they happened it'd be really, really good for us.

K-Pass becomes a solid starter
Ford is a GREAT option for a 3rd pass rusher
Dadi comes back and is a decent 4th option

You get 2 out of those 3 we're in pretty good shape OLB wise.

Those are big if's for sure in 2018, although I do think that Kpassognon becomes more than serviceable, eventually.

My issue with Zombo is he takes up snaps of developmental players and he isn’t good at all. Never was. He’s not even as good as a 38 year old James Harrison.

Well, Hali and Ford were injured. As of today, that's more than $18 million locked into two players that can't play.

Apparently, Kpassognon was so behind the 8 ball that they were forced to play Zombo.

Again, this squarely falls on the shoulders of John Dorsey.

Bad contract for Hali, back injuries to Ford, drafted a developmental player in the 2nd round last year, etc.

Oh I know that and I’m not knocking him specifically for having to play. He’s just not effective. Dorsey just didn’t do a good enough job. Zombo should’ve been replaced a year ago

I like Zombo.

Guys like Frank Zombo are supposed to get replaced by younger cheaper dudes.

This was spectacularly terrible management of the roster and the cap, and he deserved to be fired for this alone. It shows a lack of foresight, a handicap of pride, and a disregard for the future. It also highlights the misstep of drafting Ford.

Man, Dorsey could spot potential talent, but the dude just completely lacked a broader vision for what it takes to build a winner. So myopic when it came to raw talent.

He's pretty cheap, and I don't know what youth would improve. I'd rather he get replaced by faster, more athletic dudes, though.

This thread is a prime example of tossing some shit at a wall. except none of it is going to stick until this summer. The best case scenario is someone gets bragging rights out of this thread...

every draft pick and FA signing and trade guy will hit 100% and it will be the best D of all time

Great knews