DBs

[ColtsFanMikeC]

I am guessing we will keep 9 or 10 DB's on our final 53.  I know it's early and we won't know much until after a few preseason games are played, but sounds like Pagano and Manusky are both very high on Marcus Burley from Univ. of Delaware and it sounds like Purifoy has had a good first week.  Purifoy was a ST stud at U. Florida, too which can't hurt his chances, plus I think he can play both CB and FS.

 

I am thinking our locks at CB are: (1) Vontae, (2) Toler, (3) Butler

At safety: (1) Landry, (2) Howell

 

That is 5 players, so we may have room for 5 more -- my guess at this time would be we'll keep 3 more CB's: Gordy, Burley, Purifoy and 2 more safeties: Mike Adams and Sergio Brown

 

This would put Dewey McDonald, Qua Cox, and maybe Sheldon Price on the practice squad.

 

I am thinking our secondary will actually turn out to be a strength of this team, assuming we stay healthy.  I think Butler is a top 5 inside CB in the league, Vontae is a top 5 outside CB in the league, Toler is an adequate or slightly above adequate #2 CB, and Gordy is a good #4 -- I won't be shocked to see Purifoy, Burley, or Cox bump him down the depth chart a bit. Adams is an above average S, Landry is hit or miss and hopefully if he stays healthy he will be looking like the Landry we saw in week 1 and 2 last year instead of the shaky one we saw the rest of the season and I think Howell will shock some people.

 

I expect Brown to continue to be an ace on special teams and think Purifoy's ability to play ST's will really help his odds to make this roster. I am just hoping he doesn't follow fellow Gator alum Rainey's footsteps and do something bone-headed off the field.

 

 

[BlueCollarColts]

I think Delano Howell will be our starting safety, not Mike Adams. 

[BlueCollarColts]

But I do agree, our secondary can be one of the best in the league, especially our corners, Darius Butler and Vontae Davis are some of the most underrated corners in the league. 

[ColtsFanMikeC]

I think Delano Howell will be our starting safety, not Mike Adams. 

I agree -- I think we'll start with Davis, Toler, Landry, Howell as the starting 4 -- unfortunately both Howell and Landry caught the injury bug last year so I think Adams is good depth for either of them. I think Purifoy's athletic ability and ability to play corner or safety (plus special teams) is going to go a long way for him towards making this roster.

[ColtsFanMikeC]

But I do agree, our secondary can be one of the best in the league, especially our corners, Darius Butler and Vontae Davis are some of the most underrated corners in the league. 

Yes, a lot will depend on our front 7 -- I am really hoping Mathis' suspension means Bjoern and Newsome will have to develop fast when they get thrown in the fire vs. Peyton and the Eagles in week 1 and 2 -- if one of those 2 can emerge as a serious pass-rush threat opposite Mathis when he returns, it will make our DB's all that  much better.

[BlueCollarColts]

I agree -- I think we'll start with Davis, Toler, Landry, Howell as the starting 4 -- unfortunately both Howell and Landry caught the injury bug last year so I think Adams is good depth for either of them. I think Purifoy's athletic ability and ability to play corner or safety (plus special teams) is going to go a long way for him towards making this roster.

I agree, I want us to keep Loucheiz Purifoy as well. Not only for the reasons you listed, but for his long-term potential as well. 

[BlueCollarColts]

Yes, a lot will depend on our front 7 -- I am really hoping Mathis' suspension means Bjoern and Newsome will have to develop fast when they get thrown in the fire vs. Peyton and the Eagles in week 1 and 2 -- if one of those 2 can emerge as a serious pass-rush threat opposite Mathis when he returns, it will make our DB's all that  much better.

Apparently Newsome has made a few plays, and Werner has been really impressive in camp as well, so there's that! 

[Bluefire4]

I'd rather keep 5 safeties and 5 corners to keep Colt Anderson and Sergio Brown on special teams.

[Hoosiernsavga]

I believe Gordy was running with the first unit with Davis out. I hope one of the rookies jumps in front of him for that #4 CB spot soon.

[HtownColt]

I believe Gordy was running with the first unit with Davis out. I hope one of the rookies jumps in front of him for that #4 CB spot soon.

That will be hard to do after the season Gordy is coming off of

[akcolt]

Yes, a lot will depend on our front 7 -- I am really hoping Mathis' suspension means Bjoern and Newsome will have to develop fast when they get thrown in the fire vs. Peyton and the Eagles in week 1 and 2 -- if one of those 2 can emerge as a serious pass-rush threat opposite Mathis when he returns, it will make our DB's all that  much better.

I have watched the Ducks play for all of Chip Kelly's years the head of the monster in Philly is Shady everything they do is set up off the run have to be able to hold the middle and set the edge. Likes the TE's too.

 

Philly is one of the teams I am really interested in this year with a full yr of film on that offense and Foles. The loss of Jackson was big too. Is Cooper the #1? He has had 93 career catches for 1500 yards in 4 yrs. Or Macklin coming off the knee injury never had over 70 catch's or a 1,000 yard season. I guess Macklin. Either way it will be interesting to see the league's adjustments to that offensive scheme this year with all the film they have.

 

Wouldn't mind stealing Henry Josey either.

[throwing BBZ]

I am guessing we will keep 9 or 10 DB's on our final 53.  I know it's early and we won't know much until after a few preseason games are played, but sounds like Pagano and Manusky are both very high on Marcus Burley from Univ. of Delaware and it sounds like Purifoy has had a good first week.  Purifoy was a ST stud at U. Florida, too which can't hurt his chances, plus I think he can play both CB and FS.

 

I am thinking our locks at CB are: (1) Vontae, (2) Toler, (3) Butler

At safety: (1) Landry, (2) Howell

 

That is 5 players, so we may have room for 5 more -- my guess at this time would be we'll keep 3 more CB's: Gordy, Burley, Purifoy and 2 more safeties: Mike Adams and Sergio Brown

 

This would put Dewey McDonald, Qua Cox, and maybe Sheldon Price on the practice squad.

 

I am thinking our secondary will actually turn out to be a strength of this team, assuming we stay healthy.  I think Butler is a top 5 inside CB in the league, Vontae is a top 5 outside CB in the league, Toler is an adequate or slightly above adequate #2 CB, and Gordy is a good #4 -- I won't be shocked to see Purifoy, Burley, or Cox bump him down the depth chart a bit. Adams is an above average S, Landry is hit or miss and hopefully if he stays healthy he will be looking like the Landry we saw in week 1 and 2 last year instead of the shaky one we saw the rest of the season and I think Howell will shock some people.

 

I expect Brown to continue to be an ace on special teams and think Purifoy's ability to play ST's will really help his odds to make this roster. I am just hoping he doesn't follow fellow Gator alum Rainey's footsteps and do something bone-headed off the field.

 

 Can you name 6 inside corners? Or who the other top 5 are?

 I suspect there are more than 30 better safeties than Adams. Maybe more than 50. Kinda figure he wouldn`t start for many teams. JMO

[Smonroe]

5th CB and 4th/5th S spots are going to be interesting to watch.

 

I think ColtsFanMikeC is pretty much right on about the other names.  I can't attest for the secondary being a strength just yet, so much depends on our pass rush.

 

I do think we'll start off the season with 10 DBs, with Denver and Philly looming.  Plus, Toler and Landry are always suspect as far as health.

[chad72]

5th CB and 4th/5th S spots are going to be interesting to watch.

 

I think ColtsFanMikeC is pretty much right on about the other names.  I can't attest for the secondary being a strength just yet, so much depends on our pass rush.

 

I do think we'll start off the season with 10 DBs, with Denver and Philly looming.  Plus, Toler and Landry are always suspect as far as health.

 

If I had to make a bet at this point, I'd bet on our run D improving and our pass D stagnant.

[TheBlueAndWhite]

Apparently Newsome has made a few plays, and Werner has been really impressive in camp as well, so there's that!

yes but I could look impressive against our Online! Lol

[TKnight24]

yes but I could look impressive against our Online! Lol

Werner plays OLB which means he's going against Cherilus & Castonzo so let's not discredit our offensive line when the top 2 lineman are the ones our young OLB is doing well against

Speaks volumes to Werner thus far, we'll see if he continues the momentum into the preseason and then the season

[lollygagger8]

I think our front 7 being improved will help out the DB corp more than they/we know. 

[Bravo]

I don't know.... I'm VERY skeptical about our defensive backs. We will have to wait until mid season to see.

I'm predicting by game 7 our starters will be..

CB: Davis, Butler, Gordy

Safties: Adams, Brown

Landry, Toler, Howell all will be injured.

Just a prediction I don't want it to happen obviously and I hope our DB's shine this year! Toler has looked great in camp so far!

Gosh I've been negative latley! ;)

[ColtsFanMikeC]

 Can you name 6 inside corners? Or who the other top 5 are?

 I suspect there are more than 30 better safeties than Adams. Maybe more than 50. Kinda figure he wouldn`t start for many teams. JMO

I think the only CB that you can't argue with is Richard Sherman, and probably Revis. Vontae's only problem is he tends to play to his competition or have very brief mental lapses -- his play vs. Denver may be the top performance from a CB all last season.  Vontae doesn't put up mind-blowing numbers and unfortunately that is what most fans, pro-bowl voters, and ESPN analysts like to talk about but I think that CB should be thought about in a similar fashion as OL -- if your name isn't getting called, you are doing your job.  Vontae only had 1 INT but that is simply because teams were not throwing at him very much. Take into account that our pass-rush outside Mathis was pretty non-existent last year and that only boosts Vontae's value -- given a better pass rush he'd be even better.  He needs to improve his focus a little bit, but he is a very solid tackler for a CB (he doesn't have a lot of tackles because offenses don't attack his side of the field, but he almost never misses a tackle when they come his way) and when facing the elite WR's I am not sure anyone in the league performed better than he did last year.

 

As far as Butler goes, the only inside/slot CB that I can say was 'hands-down' better than Butler last year was Honey Badger Mathieu in Arizona.  Butler is a little small and isn't great on the outside, but he had a heckuva year last year when he was in the slot and he is only continuing to improve.  Butler is a play-maker and a game changer (see his interception to close out our win over Seattle) and he is very solid on the inside.  Again, looking at the Denver game, he pretty much blanketed Welker when he was in the game (he got hurt for a little bit this game and he gave up 1 24 yard reception to Welker, otherwise he had him blanketed -- Welker's big damage in that game came when he was lined up against Gordy, Angerer or another LB -- I'd say Butler's play that game was huge, as Vontae pretty much eliminated D. Thomas -- D. Thomas' TD came the play Vontae was out of the game and Butler, when he was in the game, really minimized Welker's damage).  This is harder to say than outside corner, because there are not a lot of corners in the league who play strictly on the inside, but other than Honey Badger I can't name one slot CB that I'd rather have on my team (slot is not a #2 CB, I guess we can say Butler is an elite #3 CB or strictly slot -- there are plenty of CB's I'd rather have as a #1 or #2 to match up with bigger WR's on the outside).

[ColtsFanMikeC]

I'd rather keep 5 safeties and 5 corners to keep Colt Anderson and Sergio Brown on special teams.

I kind of agree, although I think that is where Purifoy's really going to make a push to make this team -- I think he can play both CB and safety, and I think he is a much better athlete than Anderson, which hopefully equates to a better STer (at U. Florida he blocked multiple kicks, played gunner, and even had a pretty successful stint as a kick returner -- so I am thinking if he keeps his head on straight he can outperform Anderson on STs). I guess you could consider my picks as 5 CB's, 4 safeties, and 1 'CB/S' in Purifoy.

[ProblChld32]

I believe Gordy was running with the first unit with Davis out. I hope one of the rookies jumps in front of him for that #4 CB spot soon.

Highly doubt any of the rookies out shines Gordy, he has too much experience that these rookies just dont have yet.

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

I don't think our secondary is a strength, honestly I think its a question mark. 1 Davis is a top 10 corner not a top 5 corner & will continue to be until he is more consistent. Tolar is good IF HE CAN STAY HEALTHY! I do love Butler as the slot CB. Gordy makes the team & I think Purifoy does to. Burly I don't think so. Safety, Landry when healthy is a all pro safety, his problem is, he has had 1 year he  has stayed healthy. Howell question mark, Brown, playing safety question mark, Adams makes team as insurance, I think they keep 5 safeties, battle between McDonald and Anderson for last spot. I am rooting for McDonald based on his size, athletic ability, and upside!