Marquise Blaire

[bbsplitter]

Does anyone know why he has not gotten the chance to start at free instead of strong safety? Do they view him as too slow? Is it not a natural position for him? I feel like Blair at FS and McDougald at SS would be the best combination of personnel we have to put on the field at the same time. I love Thompson for his crazy game changing interceptions he has had lately, but it's time to move on. He has made the same coverage mistakes ever since he has been here. I am all for giving chances and letting the players grow over the years, but I think Thompson is the type of player who will be released or not re-signed at some point and then never heard from again in the league. There is no reason to start that type of player and not move on to at least someone with potential.

 

[DomeHawk]

Does anyone know why he has not gotten the chance to start at free instead of strong safety? Do they view him as too slow? Is it not a natural position for him? I feel like Blair at FS and McDougald at SS would be the best combination of personnel we have to put on the field at the same time. I love Thompson for his crazy game changing interceptions he has had lately, but it's time to move on. He has made the same coverage mistakes ever since he has been here. I am all for giving chances and letting the players grow over the years, but I think Thompson is the type of player who will be released or not re-signed at some point and then never heard from again in the league. There is no reason to start that type of player and not move on to at least someone with potential.

I think they like his aggressiveness but your observation does seem reasonable.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I think Blair's more natural position is at SS.

I mean, hasn't Pete said the reason we drafted him is because he can be that aggressive hitter we need at SS? McDougald can play both, but as of now if we're developing Blair for one of the two safety positions, he's better suited for SS.

IMO he's not fast enough either to play Pete's cover 3 one high type safety scheme. I think his 40 time was 4.5?

 

[bbsplitter]

I think Blair's more natural position is at SS.

I mean, hasn't Pete said the reason we drafted him is because he can be that aggressive hitter we need at SS? McDougald can play both, but as of now if we're developing Blair for one of the two safety positions, he's better suited for SS.

IMO he's not fast enough either to play Pete's cover 3 one high type safety scheme. I think his 40 time was 4.5?

I think Pete just said for his aggressiveness, I don't think he ever mentioned a specific position but your probably right that was the intent. Realistically though we have been playing a lot more a cover 2 ever since Earl left than we ever have. I just feel like Blair has shown way more coverage talent and deserved to be on the field somehow over Thompson.

 

[AgentDib]

I just feel like Blair has shown way more coverage talent and deserved to be on the field somehow over Thompson.

Are you talking about previous games? In this game both McDougald and Hill were injured so we needed to have Thompson (FS) and Blair (SS) on the field together.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I think Blair's more natural position is at SS.

I mean, hasn't Pete said the reason we drafted him is because he can be that aggressive hitter we need at SS? McDougald can play both, but as of now if we're developing Blair for one of the two safety positions, he's better suited for SS.

IMO he's not fast enough either to play Pete's cover 3 one high type safety scheme. I think his 40 time was 4.5?

I think Pete just said for his aggressiveness, I don't think he ever mentioned a specific position but your probably right that was the intent. Realistically though we have been playing a lot more a cover 2 ever since Earl left than we ever have. I just feel like Blair has shown way more coverage talent and deserved to be on the field somehow over Thompson.

1. It's not hard to look better than both Thompson and Hill.

2. We haven't seen enough of Blair to know how good he is yet, or where he fits in. I was merely puking up what Pete's said about him as to why we drafted him. Pete and John wanted some physicality and toughness at the safety position........and I do think Blair provides that, and will provide that going forward.

IMO priority #1 next off season is to find or draft a free safety. Our safety play this year has been one of the big Achilles Heels of our defense, along with the pass rush. Both Thompson and Hill, and frankly McDougald just aren't the answer. Not dynamic enough.

 

[HawkGA]

I just feel like Blair has shown way more coverage talent and deserved to be on the field somehow over Thompson.

Are you talking about previous games? In this game both McDougald and Hill were injured so we needed to have Thompson (FS) and Blair (SS) on the field together.

This.

Blair has actually been practicing exclusively at FS, but need forced the move to SS this week.

 

[Jville]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/A_Jude/status/1186404126067834880[/tweet]

 

[WestcoastSteve]

Blair can play either. I think he's needed in the box though. McDougald has been bad against the run, Hill can't stay healthy.

Whatever gets Tedric off the field I'm for. His interceptions were deflections not elite breaks on the ball, I'm thankful but not impressed.

 

[Mad Dog]

Blair is a SS in a FS's body. That's a bit of an issue for health moving forward. If you are a big hitter but don't have the frame for it, you aren't likely to stay on the field.

That being said, he deserves to start opposite McDougald and put out two FS/SS hybrids.

 

[sutz]

Probably just lost track of him because his name was spelled wrong on the team roster.

:twisted:

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Blair is a SS in a FS's body. That's a bit of an issue for health moving forward. If you are a big hitter but don't have the frame for it, you aren't likely to stay on the field.

That being said, he deserves to start opposite McDougald and put out two FS/SS hybrids.

Blair's a little undersized for SS, but with how the league is trending towards no one can hit anymore anyway, he's plenty big to be a good SS. Dude can hit, and is aggressive.

So I'm not worried about his size. The days of a Kam stealing player's souls with gigantic bone jarring hits is over.

 

[Boiler]

Probably just lost track of him because his name was spelled wrong on the team roster.

:twisted:

That's not it. It's the extra "e" weighing him down.

 

[xray]

I really like Blaire,,,but Flowers is getting more aggressive too...maybe a new nasty secondary starting to jell .

 

[justafan]

He is faster than TT, God knows he has to be smarter. I think he has all the physical tools to play FS his aggressiveness could play against him if he doesnt reign in it a little.

 

[hawkfan68]

He is faster than TT, God knows he has to be smarter. I think he has all the physical tools to play FS his aggressiveness could play against him if he doesnt reign in it a little.

There are quite a bit of DL's faster than TT. If you are comparing speed with TT for DBs, the bar is too low.

 

[justafan]

He is faster than TT, God knows he has to be smarter. I think he has all the physical tools to play FS his aggressiveness could play against him if he doesnt reign in it a little.

There are quite a bit of DL's faster than TT. If you are comparing speed with TT for DBs, the bar is too low.

There was a question in an earlier post about his speed to play FS

 

[Smellyman]

He is way faster than TT and McDougald.

4.48 is plenty fast for a Safety

 

[sutz]

He is way faster than TT and McDougald.

4.48 is plenty fast for a Safety

When? 15 years ago? Maybe in a Cover 2 scheme. In our Single High cover 3 I think we need more. In the time someone like TT makes it to the numbers, ET was at the sideline.

 

[chris98251]

He is way faster than TT and McDougald.

4.48 is plenty fast for a Safety

When? 15 years ago? Maybe in a Cover 2 scheme. In our Single High cover 3 I think we need more. In the time someone like TT makes it to the numbers, ET was at the sideline.

4.34 Guys and safeties are not exactly a commodity, teams were calling him to small initially but agreed that his speed was exceptional.