Well, one of the reasons, remember, is that players like Sherm were "too big" to play corner. It was felt that players his size could not be agile enough to keep up with WRs in the league. Meanwhile WRs kept getting bigger and bigger when the average DB around the league hovered around 5'10"-6'0". Sherm and Browner were a bit of an anomaly for their time.toffee":ydm7wm5z said:SpokaneHawks":ydm7wm5z said:It's still early in the season but what these stats and the current product on the field show me is that our defense's success has more to do with the system than the players. It looks to me like our "system" creates stars not the other way around! It's too bad some of our stars didnt see it that way.
If one would to review ex-hawks defense stars, most were low round picks, castoffs, or un-drafted, these guys excelled with Hawks. Earl being an exception. Our current defense lineup? I saw a few low rounders, castoffs, and un-drafted.
But the scheme helps them by encouraging them to be more physical, and play more press where they can bump the WR and disrupt their patterns. They play on the edge of being illegal when it comes to contact, but they have to. It works, though they get maybe more penalties than other secondaries.
Now, the rest of the league is catching up and everybody is looking for tall, long armed CBs. Players like Sherm are not necessarily dropping to the 5th round as often.