Defensive Back Logjam

massraider

massraider

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Man, as I was going for a second cup of coffee to keep up with the Muffster's furious posting, it occured to me I have been reading Marquice Cole's name as much as Josh McCown's.

While I am excited that a UDFA has performed well, Cole isn't the guy I am thinking about. We know he is either practice squad, or is going to strain his 'Darnell Bing' in the next few weeks and be IR'd.

But even without Cole, there's a ton of bodies here right?

Huff
Stu
Darius-I personally wondered if we needed this guy.
Scrabble-Is this guy gonna be signed long term, or what?
Fabien
Routt-I'd feel better about Scrabble's contract if he was making some noise
Carr-Is he a good enough DB to keep if he loses some return duties to Johnnie Lee?
Frampton--Haven't heard much. Gotta think either him or Bowie gets cut, and PS'd
Bowie--All I've heard is that he had a boo-boo.
Colin Branch--When he joined this team, I thougfht he was a lock to make the final 53. Has anyone heard his name?
BJ Ward--Seems to have a darn good chance to make the team. But geez, so do all these guys.
Duane Starks--I hope he and Whitted are roomates, so the rest of the team can turn that room into a den.
Hiram Eugene-Is he a longshot? Coach seems to be focusing on special teams.

We're gonna wind up cutting some good players, at both CB and safety.
 
Cole might just take Chris Carr's job... if Higgins is the real deal as a returner. I think BJ Ward has locked his spot up right now.

My revised depth chart pre-preseason midway training camp

CB - Nnamdi, Fabian, Routt, Cole, Bowie
SS - Darius, Branch,
FS - Huff, Schweigart, Ward

OTB - Frampton, Starks
 
Always great to see players step it up determined to win a job on the squad and BJ Ward has done just that. He was one guy I wanted to keep my eye on as training camp started.

I like that he has the speed to play centerfield and can also play in the box. His ability to hit certainly goes into the theme we are instilling.

He also blocked seven kicks in college, which is impressive.

Cole is proving that he is not a speed guy. I like the potential of Frampton and Bowie and hopefully we can keep them either on IR or via the practice squad with no team raiding it. All I know is that I don't envy being in the position the coaches will be in when final cut day arrives.

EDIT: I meant to say that Cole is proving that he is not just a speed guy.
 
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I still don't see how Carr gets cut! He is getting better each, has turned into a nice fallback CB, and isn't just a return man on ST, dude is a pretty good all around special teamer.

Who the hell is BJ Ward? He isn't even gonna make it past the second cuts.

I can't see Bowie making the final 53, unless someone gets hurt. He is just too raw and we are too deep. PS material for sure.

Don't know much about Cole, so I won't comment.

I thinks Starks gets whacked at the last minute because he isn't even the Nickle back anymore, with Fabs, Scrabble, Carr and Routt, dude is the 5th CB.

Frampton will make the team and make an immediate impact on ST.
 
S and B Executioner said:
Who the hell is BJ Ward? He isn't even gonna make it past the second cuts.
Click to expand...

This is a post in response to this question. I found it a while ago while wondering the same thing. He loses some credibility with the Bing info. but wh really saw that coming?

Let The Battle in the Raider Defensive Backfield BEGIN!!!!
By saint
Posted on Thu May 10, 2007 at 03:49:10 PM EDT

http://www.silverandblackpride.com/story/2007/5/10/154910/266

While the Raiders have stockpiled receivers and running backs, not to mention tight ends, one of the areas that I am expecting a real battle in is the defensive backfield.

As it stands, there are two positions that are filled. Nnamdi and Huff WILL start. So, that leaves one starting safety and one starting corner postion available.

Let's take a look at the players who will be battling for those two spots as well as the nickel and dime slots:

My favorite going into camp for the strong safety position is BJ Ward.

Whom you ask?

To which I emphatically respond, "JUST #1 on the depth chart from the Ravens last year!!!!" Yes, those same Ravens who have the most intimidating D in the league.

BJ was a standout talent at Florida State who holds the Fla State record for blocked kicks with 8. He is a sprinter and he hits like a ton of bricks. At 6'3" he should also be able to cover some of the bigger TE's in our division.

The only way I can see him NOT being #1 on our depth chart would be if his migraine problems continue.

He was put on IR last year because of his constant migraines. I had the pleasure of meeting him last week while he was in town for the first camp and he is a focused and pleasant personality which we all know this team can use more of.

If the migraines do persist the spot will go to Darnell Bing.

Yes, that is right, the Darnell to OLB experiment is over and he will be competing to be Huff's partner.

Bing is ready to compete and he would give a us a ball hawk who hits like Ronnie Lott and it would also give us two of the starting safeties from the greatest college game ever played, USC vs Texas 2006.

Third on the depth chart has to be Stu. Stu and Brayton are the designated whipping boys on D. And, in my opinion that critisism is justly dished out.

Stu seems to always take bad routes and is the type to get 20 half tackles in a game instead of solo tackles for loss. He also has a whopping 2 interceptions in 3 seasons. He is just not a play maker.

Now as far as play makers go, Eric Frampton may soon supplant Stu and start working his way up the charts.

The local boy, he played for Oak Grove in San Jose, stepped up in big games against USC and Oregon and Lane Kiffin has seen his play making ability up close!!!

He is a ball hawk who slipped down because of his forty time at the combine. He ran slower than any other safety. Let's hope that his game speed is what Kiffin drafted him for.

The good news about these battles is that each of the players who do not start can fill in on Goal Line D and special teams.

As far as the corner position goes it looks like Nnamdi will be starting at left corner and Fabian has a pretty tight hold on the other corner position.

The top challenger has to still be Stanford Routt. He plays the run batter than Fabian, but Fabian has shown to be a better cover corner. Stanford also has a couple of inches on both Washington and newcomer, John Bowie.

John Bowie is a speed burner that Kiffin and company had thier eye on early in the draft and ended up using the drafting with the Randy Moss pick.

He is a former track star who can return punts and I think will be a great nickle and dime back.

With all of this youth at the corner position it is a good thing that Duane Starks was resigned.

Starks will be able to mentor these corners. The average age between the four mentioned above is 23 years and 2 months!!!!

My guess is that the defensive backfield will end up being, Ward, Huff, Nnamdi and Fabe, but, they all have hungry and talented players breathing down thier necks.

Let's GO OAKLAND!!!
 
If Routt doesn't get on the field soon I think there's an outside chance he gets IR'd for the season. I doubt they'd outright cut him, though.
 
S and B Executioner said:
I still don't see how Carr gets cut!
Click to expand...

I agree... He played well last year and gives us a guy capable of playing both corner and safety in addition to his return skills...

Who the hell is BJ Ward? He isn't even gonna make it past the second cuts.
Click to expand...

That kind of flies in the face of all the impressive camp reports we've been hearing on the guy... He's been making plays on the ball and laying some lumber... A lot can change, but as of right now he looks to have the fourth and probably final safety spot on lockdown...


With the way that Cole kid is said to be playing, we may be forced to use Stepper's Jano/Porter pretend method and pretend we took him in the 4th round and that Bowie was the one signed as an UFA...
 
BJ Ward was pretty studley during his time in Baltimore. Im sure we all realize how well Baltimore drafts and scouts players. This guy could be a ST captain, and a possible role player at S. I personally can say ive seen alot of his NFL career from living in Baltimore. I was mildly excited to get him because of his head ache problems. But no doubt the kid has a great combo of size/athleticism/football instincts. Hopefully he can overcome the head ache's and give them to other players.
 
Jack's sore libido said:
As a special teams demon?

Uh, no.

Give me the guy with the 42-inch vert for blocking kicks.
Click to expand...

I gotcha.

If he can be a guy like Cooper, Im sure we've got one out of 53 spots for him.
 
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