$16m in Cap Space, are we gonna spend it?

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

If Willie had shown any and I mean ANY improvement mentally over the last two seasons he would be here instead of Tranquil. But he's basically been the exact same player since midway through year two. He's physically really damn impressive and sometimes just has days where that's enough to take over a quarter or two but just lost other times.

When everyone was healthy Gay was down to playing something like 25% of the defensive snaps wasn't he?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

When everyone was healthy Gay was down to playing something like 25% of the defensive snaps wasn't he?

No - typically in the 50-60% range; nearer 70-80% when guys were hurt.

He was our clear LB2 last year.

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

When everyone was healthy Gay was down to playing something like 25% of the defensive snaps wasn't he?

I want to say it was 27 maybe and somewhere I saw he had a high run blitz rate but I really don't remember that I guess. He was a few trick pony that they didn't trust to read a play.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

I want to say it was 27 maybe and somewhere I saw he had a high run blitz rate but I really don't remember that I guess. He was a few trick pony that they didn't trust to read a play.

Let's go with "not a cerebral player" in a very complex defensive scheme.

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by Rausch

Let's go with "not a cerebral player" in a very complex defensive scheme.

Kind of breaks my heart. I was fully chubbed when we drafted Willie. Absolute freak specimen. You could argue he was more successful than the freak LB's that the Cardinals reached on in back to back drafts though.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

I want to say it was 27 maybe and somewhere I saw he had a high run blitz rate but I really don't remember that I guess. He was a few trick pony that they didn't trust to read a play.

Nope.

I mean he played 52% of the snaps in the SB when we were featuring Chenal (along with a healthy Bolton and Tranquil) to neutralize Kittle.

He was always a 50% of the snaps player - just check the game logs. And when the LB corps was dinged up, he was invariably north of 70% and even surpassed 90% on occasion.

He was a very very important part of the defense. He's not irreplaceable - but we'll have to make sacrifices elsewhere to do so (or lean heavier into sub packages which can open us up to misdirection).

I'd caution against downplaying his contributions here. He was awfully good for us.