Rookie Safeties.....Starters?
 

I watched Pollard and Page in camp and have been hearing all the hype about these guys. They both have a nose for the ball and seem to be making improvements everyday in camp. They aren't any questions about drafting these guys now. I even had an encounter with Pollard at camp, and he was the nicest guy to me.


Me: "Are we going see some big hits this year?"

Bonecrusher: "Ohh yeah, (huge smile on his face) most definitely it's going happen."

Then I told him he looked forward to seeing him play and he thanked me.


These are the classy guys that end up being superstars.

I know you might not like the idea of two rookies in the secondary, but the safeties we have now may not perform, or may not keep up.

I'm not saying right off, but these guys look like the future of our safeties, and the future could come sooner than expected, IMO.


So........Could Pollard and Page start this year? If yes, when?

I could care less who starts in our secondary. As long as whoever starts improves our defense and makes plays period. I would have no heartache if Wesley ends up sitting.

Pollard & Page = Cherry & Burruss

Good stuff.

For every play he makes, he fucks up 3.

That's the story of Wesley last year.

I mentioned several times before the draft that the Safety position has one of the highest success rates in regards to rookies having quick success/impact. It was the reason I wanted to target a safety in the first two rounds.

To have a rookie start and have success this year at the safety position is not beyond reason. To have two rookies may be asking a little too much.

It may be asking too much....

But how long can we live with Wesley giving up big plays?

Will Knight's speed finally start being a huge problem, if it isn't already?

You don't have to convince me. As far as I'm concerned, Greg Wesly is the weakest link of our defense at this point. And while Knight may have the smarts, he doesn't have the athleticism anymore to keep up with TEs in the league.

My guess is neither rookie will start, and Paige will get the first chance based on Wesley's pathetic play even though Pollard may be the better of the two. I can see Pollard taking Knight's spot late in the year when the work takes it's toll on Sammy.

Herm's starting safeties last year in NY:

Erik Coleman - 2004 2nd day pick
Kerry Rhodes - 2005 2nd day pick

And Coleman started as a rookie on that last Jets playoff team. Herm's definitely not afraid to play young safeties. The guy Coleman replaced was Jon McGraw, who was a 2nd round pick in 2002. Herm also had 2nd round rookie Justin Miller starting at CB opposite Law at the end of last year.

And despite that, the Jets finished 2nd in fewest passing yards allowed last year, 7th in yards/pass attempt against, and 5th in INT's. A bit of that is that they were behind a lot... so teams ran on them, but even then they still finished well in stats like INT's that are pretty impressive.

They'll both get a chance.

I'll be interested to see how they compare to our current starters.

Isn't this a welcome change from Vermiel who the veteran was starting no matter what..........

It makes me think whoever is back in the secondary is going to fit.

Herm knows what he is doing, who should be out here, and who shouldn't be out there.

If it's not the rookies, maybe he'll straiten our current safeties.

How do the Safeties fit in the cover 2?

I'm not up to speed on it.

I think Wesley and Knight will start.

If either one gets hurt, they can kiss their job goodbye.

If either one struggles for more than a couple of games, they can kiss their job goodbye.

Personally, I am hoping the competition makes them both better. I'm still in love with Greg Wesley.

Explanation, if possible.

GoChiefs: He has a nice ass.

I just like the way he plays the game. I've always been a big fan.

Like a reerun?

Don't make me bump my award-winning thread about the leading turnover-forcing safeties in the NFL.

I understand, but it seems he misses too many plays.

Just some consistency and he's golden.

Maybe Herm can change it.

Darwin award?

He's still a complete dumbass, for every good play he makes there's about 5 really stupid ones.

He doesn't seem to be the hitter he once was, also.

He laid some wood last year.

Its time for you to give up this homoerotic obsession you have with Wesley. Dude only gets INT's because he plays so damn deep and gets them after the ball is tipped in the air....Woopdee doo....


Like it was mentioned earlier....for every good play he makes, he blows 5 other ones....

Your comments can easily be interpreted into something sexual, FWI.

I seem to remember Wesley having a few, but not the same as recent years.

I may be wrong.

I've always been a big Wesley fan also, but his play has slipped the last 3 or so yrs, in my opinion. I think he got a new contract, and got comfortable. If he could play like he did in his first few seasons, I would be all for him keeping the starting spot, at one time he was a heck of a safety.

3 years and counting...

How much longer?

well... obviously if his play doesn't improve over what it has been the last couple yrs, then get his ass out of there. I am very anxious to see Bonecrusher, and Page play, but if Wesley can recapture his willingness to hit people in the mouth then leave him in there, and let Pollard learn a yr.

Wesley and Woods should have both been out of here 3 years ago but Vermiels allegiance to his veterans brought them both back.......

We'll see.

Herm will make sure whoever is out there will be the right person to play.

Pollard will be replacing Knight, if it happens.

Vermeil allegiance could do some major damage to this team.

Herm knows what he is doing.

To be fair, both Wesley and Woods were pretty good in 2003.

I don't understand how that team got so many turnovers.

Is it luck?

True, but weird at the same time, because Vermiel didn't bring either of those guys in, and as much as he ignored the defensive side of the ball, I'm wondering if those two weren't more of a carl thing seeing as how he drafted them.

Wesley is a thug bonehead-I have not been impressed with him for several years-he forgot how to hit and takes plays off. Knight did a fine job except getting burned on deep coverage-but did have some big turnovers.

P@P will have to show something in preseason to be starters opening day.

I don't think you overpay for safeties, you could justify the Wesley one alot more than the Woods one. Woods had broken his leg and was over 30 years old, 2 huge reasons to not pay him but the Chiefs did......

My friend got back from River Falls (he lives nearby, and goes just to see a professional team practice... apparently not a Chiefs fan, just a fan of the game). From his reports, Page is looking like the best safety on our roster, and it's not at all out of the question that he start. Pollard is as good as the reports say, and it's not out of the question that he start as well.

I'd be just fine with this combo. There'd be mistakes, but I've been putting up with mistakes for years now with this defense. May as well have some mistakes blamed on inexperience, and to couple with those mistakes, some amazing plays by great athletes. Oh, and I want to see some ****ing hard hits. More QB crushing safety blitzes, as Gaz would have it

ROFL

Any situation can be tied to, or blamed on Carl.

Yeah, you're probably right. But Carl takes care of his guys usually... plus Gunther was coming back and they were both Gunther guys as well.

Someone Reserve Pollard a bust in Canton... let the HOF curators know now.

I hope so.

After the 3 superbowls and 8 probowls.

I think one of them will start in place of Knight. I do not pretend to be an expert but it is just from what I have picked up from reading. I read where Knight got burned and that he is slow. Plus, the 2 young guys seem to like to hit people.

I agree-more hits. Page sounds like the steal of the entire draft.

You guys are over-doing it with the "hits" stuff. If they like to hit guys fine, but they better have the speed and smarts to know and be in the right positions or it won't make any bit of difference.

speed and smarts-does not apply to Knight and Gwes

Even if you're more concerned with speed than hits, I think they are guaranteed to be faster than Sammy Knight, so its just a matter of learning where to be at the right time, and Herm should be good at coaching that.

I have heard Pollard is one of the fastest guys in camp, and is a monster on the QB blitz.

Impossible. He has no burst. He's slow off the line. We could've had Manny Lawson with that pick. Terrible pick. He'll just be another abandoned "unpolished potential" project in a few seasons.

His 40 is 4.59......

Not as fast as mine, but not bad.

LOL!!! Yeah cut his azz right after Trent. Oh and trade LJ.

Let's hope all those eggs hatch.

I think Wesley has gotten a bad rap the last couple of years undeservingly. Yes, he has blown some plays, but so has every other safety in the league. I think it is very deceiving because there have been so many times that other players on the D have blown their assignments and Wesley is the one that has to run them down, thus giving the impression he is the one getting beat. He always collects a handfull over turnovers every year and still imposes fear on a receiver. I'll never forget the hit he put on Terrell Davis his rookie year, although Davis got up (slowly),damn that was a big hit!

The thing I hate MOST about Wesley is when he blitzes the QB - he ALWAYS missed the QB when he is blitzing, ALWAYS

its no suprise wesley will get benched early for a faster more athletic player in pollard.

the special teams needs a vet, wesley should fill that spot nicely.

His first couple of seasons he lit people up. I haven't seen him make any of those bone-crushing hits in the last few years.

Wesley's problem is not athleticism. He's not the most gifted player out there, but in his 1st couple of years he more than made up with it by playing with HEART.

Now, he has no heart. He got paid and he doesn't care. It was readily apparent last year when he acted like a spoiled baby when they brought in Knight.

And I've heard several reports from camp about Pollard and Page and they all mention that Wesley looks like he's going through the motions out there - he has no fire...

In his underwear on an indoor track. Big ****ing deal.

Let's see what happens when they put on the pads.

I say play the rooks except whenever we play Brady and the Patriots... didn't Wesley have like four picks off Brady last year?

That's not getting paid, that's the lingering effects of Greg Robinson. He was like an attitude vampire that sucked all the heart out of our entire defense. It's taken us years to wash the stench of 'read and react' off.

Read and react= burned and benched

While that may be true of some players, it's not true of Greg Wesley. He clearly demonstrated that before last season, when he apparently felt entitled to his starting position...

I am as excited as anybody about our two young safeties, but let them at least play one preseason game.

Wesley, takes bad angles and is crappy in coverage whether or not he makes big hits.

Anyone saying Knight is dumb is way off IMHO. He is definitely not fast, speed always was a bit of a liability with him and now he is older.

I saw him nicely sniff out some run plays and help destroy them last year.

That being said, I still wouldnt mind if these guys started the season, because that means that they have progressed even more than we have read about (several have seen) at TC. Maybe even starters after the bye week?

and That is a shame reading about G-Wes and the lacking heart.