CB, R. Hood to visit the Bears...

[madlithuanian]

Rod Hood In High Demand

Posted by Mike Florio on May 20, 2009, 1:20 p.m.

The Cardinals surprisingly released cornerback Rod Hood in the days after the draft. Hood’s base salary, coupled with his potential unwillingness to accept a reserve role, contributed to his ouster in Arizona.

 

And he has since become a hot commodity.

 

We’re told that he has received a contract offer from the Rams, and that he’ll next be visiting the Bears.

 

Other teams in the mix include the Lions and Browns. The Bengals are out of the picture.

 

Hood has a connection to Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo; they both previously were in Philly together.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Interesting, makes sense with McBride moving to safety. Gives the Bears a bit more depth while they see if Vasher is healthy and if Moore is ready to make an immediate impact.

[lemonej]

Interesting, makes sense with McBride moving to safety. Gives the Bears a bit more depth while they see if Vasher is healthy and if Moore is ready to make an immediate impact.

DBDB doesn't it seem like there is a little unhappiness with the CB play and Safety play at work here. In the last 3 years there have been a lot of bodies brought in to supposedly upgrade depth or whatever. There has also been a lot of turnover in DB coaches under Lovie also. Most people keep pointing at just safety but that Atlanta game showed me something about the CB depth also. McBride, Graham, Payne,Bowman, Stelz,Manning, Moore and Alfalava all have been drafted within the last 4 years along with bringing in West, Manning jr,Archuleta, Earl and Bullocks off the FA pile. I think somone is on notice to step it up.

[defiantgiant]

DBDB doesn't it seem like there is a little unhappiness with the CB play and Safety play at work here. In the last 3 years there have been a lot of bodies brought in to supposedly upgrade depth or whatever. There has also been a lot of turnover in DB coaches under Lovie also. Most people keep pointing at just safety but that Atlanta game showed me something about the CB depth also. McBride, Graham, Payne,Bowman, Stelz,Manning, Moore and Alfalava all have been drafted within the last 4 years along with bringing in West, Manning jr,Archuleta, Earl and Bullocks off the FA pile. I think somone is on notice to step it up.

 

Really, I think they've been trying to replace Chris Harris and Mike Brown for the last 3 years. Most of the guys on that list are safeties, and most were brought in after Brown's recurring injuries started and Harris was traded away. They drafted Danieal Manning to be Brown's replacement, but he didn't pan out at free safety, and now he seems pretty entrenched at nickel back. Archuleta was supposed to step in for Harris, and we all saw how that went. Manning, Payne, Earl, Bullocks, Steltz, Afalava - it seems like the Bears have been scrambling to replace the awesome safety tandem they had in 2005-2006. I hope that they can finally get it right this year: watching Payne slide off tackles and Manning take awful angles was painful.

[lemonej]

Really, I think they've been trying to replace Chris Harris and Mike Brown for the last 3 years. Most of the guys on that list are safeties, and most were brought in after Brown's recurring injuries started and Harris was traded away. They drafted Danieal Manning to be Brown's replacement, but he didn't pan out at free safety, and now he seems pretty entrenched at nickel back. Archuleta was supposed to step in for Harris, and we all saw how that went. Manning, Payne, Earl, Bullocks, Steltz, Afalava - it seems like the Bears have been scrambling to replace the awesome safety tandem they had in 2005-2006. I hope that they can finally get it right this year: watching Payne slide off tackles and Manning take awful angles was painful.

What awesome safety tandem? The Bears haven't played a full year with Brown at safety since before Lovie got here. I agree getting rid of Chris Harris was a mistake since he along with Tillman were notrious for stripping balls from opponents. What I have a problem with is that if you want to put young players on the field you have to live with them making mistakes. That was the problem with Harris with Manning and now with Payne and Steltz. How many guys have played the deep safety for both Tampa and Indy? I can think of John Lynch as the strong safety with Tampa but there have been quite a few FSs in the mix. In Indy it has been Bob Sanders and a few there also. We might be wasting our thoughts on this since it seems the other teams playing our scheme can't seem to keep a tandem together either. Why is this? Its simple college teams don't play as much zone as the Bears do and the one team that does is Oklahoma and we haven't drafted one DB from there but we have drafted 2 DTs from there.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

DBDB doesn't it seem like there is a little unhappiness with the CB play and Safety play at work here. In the last 3 years there have been a lot of bodies brought in to supposedly upgrade depth or whatever. There has also been a lot of turnover in DB coaches under Lovie also. Most people keep pointing at just safety but that Atlanta game showed me something about the CB depth also. McBride, Graham, Payne,Bowman, Stelz,Manning, Moore and Alfalava all have been drafted within the last 4 years along with bringing in West, Manning jr,Archuleta, Earl and Bullocks off the FA pile. I think somone is on notice to step it up.

Completely agree, but I also think the Bears want to make sure they have tons of bodies that can play in the secondary so they don't get lit up. It just makes sense cause corners or at least the Bears CB's have tended to get hurt so you need the protection and with more and more teams running more spread type of offenses having the extra corners helps.

 

At the same time, I think the best way to improve our secondary is to actually have a pass rush and I certainly hope we see a better and more consistent one from the Bears this season and beyond.

[lemonej]

Completely agree, but I also think the Bears want to make sure they have tons of bodies that can play in the secondary so they don't get lit up. It just makes sense cause corners or at least the Bears CB's have tended to get hurt so you need the protection and with more and more teams running more spread type of offenses having the extra corners helps.

 

At the same time, I think the best way to improve our secondary is to actually have a pass rush and I certainly hope we see a better and more consistent one from the Bears this season and beyond.

Thats where I think the biggest improvement needs to come from.In the Super Bowl year there was pressure off the edge up the middle and not much blitzing. Since that year there has been more blitzing from LBs and DBs trying to create pressure because the front four hasn't been getting it done. First and foremost a healthy Tommie Harris will be the key. when he is right he can change this defense. The other key is the guy who lines up next to him. I think the future of this team at the position is on the roster with Harrison and Gilbert but Adams should be on the field on first down. Why? The Bears run defense has been a little suspect since the Super Bowl year.Adams IMO was the best at run stuffing last year and when he and Harrison were on the field it was not bad. I figure Harrison will only get better. If the Bears can get the run stopped with 6 of the front 7 that leaves Urlacher free to roam that short zone in the middle and lay some hits on the guys who come across and try to find the opening in the zone. I hope that he can do more of this. I don't care if he leads the team in tackles. I think Urlacher is at his best when he can make plays in space.

[AZ54]

Rod Hood In High Demand

Posted by Mike Florio on May 20, 2009, 1:20 p.m.

The Cardinals surprisingly released cornerback Rod Hood in the days after the draft. Hood’s base salary, coupled with his potential unwillingness to accept a reserve role, contributed to his ouster in Arizona.

 

And he has since become a hot commodity.

 

We’re told that he has received a contract offer from the Rams, and that he’ll next be visiting the Bears.

 

Other teams in the mix include the Lions and Browns. The Bengals are out of the picture.

 

Hood has a connection to Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo; they both previously were in Philly together.

 

 

I don't know a single Cards fan who regrets cutting this guy. He'd add experience and depth to our secondary so from that point of view I don't mind adding him but if he's a starter you have to live with a lot of his mistakes.

[defiantgiant]

What awesome safety tandem? The Bears haven't played a full year with Brown at safety since before Lovie got here. I agree getting rid of Chris Harris was a mistake since he along with Tillman were notrious for stripping balls from opponents. What I have a problem with is that if you want to put young players on the field you have to live with them making mistakes. That was the problem with Harris with Manning and now with Payne and Steltz. How many guys have played the deep safety for both Tampa and Indy? I can think of John Lynch as the strong safety with Tampa but there have been quite a few FSs in the mix. In Indy it has been Bob Sanders and a few there also. We might be wasting our thoughts on this since it seems the other teams playing our scheme can't seem to keep a tandem together either. Why is this? Its simple college teams don't play as much zone as the Bears do and the one team that does is Oklahoma and we haven't drafted one DB from there but we have drafted 2 DTs from there.

 

Yeah, Brown's problems started right before Lovie showed up. Still, he was a difference-maker on the field, and that may have delayed Chicago in trying to replace him outright.

 

Somebody earlier in this thread was asking why the Bears can't solidify the safety position, and I think it has less to do with colleges not playing zone and more to do with the kind of safeties you need to run the Tampa 2. Even more so than other schemes that play the safeties in zone, you need smaller, more mobile safeties in the Tampa 2, since they have very large zones to cover. In a Cover-1 or Cover-3 based scheme, you need one centerfielder-type safety, but the strong safety can be bigger and handle most of the big hits. Both Tampa-2 safeties have to have good range and coverage ability, which usually comes at the expense of a traditional safety build. Plus they've both still got to do a lot of hitting, which for a team that needs small, light safeties means you have a lot of injuries at the position.

 

I'm glad we've got a bunch of young guys at safety going into 2009, because we always seem to send at least one safety to IR every season. Between Bullocks/Graham/maybe Bowman at FS and Steltz/Payne/Afalava at SS, we should have enough quality depth to get through a season OK.

[lemonej]

Yeah, Brown's problems started right before Lovie showed up. Still, he was a difference-maker on the field, and that may have delayed Chicago in trying to replace him outright.

 

Somebody earlier in this thread was asking why the Bears can't solidify the safety position, and I think it has less to do with colleges not playing zone and more to do with the kind of safeties you need to run the Tampa 2. Even more so than other schemes that play the safeties in zone, you need smaller, more mobile safeties in the Tampa 2, since they have very large zones to cover. In a Cover-1 or Cover-3 based scheme, you need one centerfielder-type safety, but the strong safety can be bigger and handle most of the big hits. Both Tampa-2 safeties have to have good range and coverage ability, which usually comes at the expense of a traditional safety build. Plus they've both still got to do a lot of hitting, which for a team that needs small, light safeties means you have a lot of injuries at the position.

 

I'm glad we've got a bunch of young guys at safety going into 2009, because we always seem to send at least one safety to IR every season. Between Bullocks/Graham/maybe Bowman at FS and Steltz/Payne/Afalava at SS, we should have enough quality depth to get through a season OK.

DFG that first statement could be a similar comment about Grossman also. It seems that the two of them were neck and neck on being on the IR list and I think it impeded the Bears from replacing him also.

Since the Bears seem to change DB coaches every other year that also might be part of the problem. If Lovie wants to have certain techniques performed by his safeties then why not coach them along with calling the plays. Supposedly he worked one on one with Manning after being unhappy with the way he was progressing under last year's DB coaching scapegoat. This year I'm taking the gloves off when it comes to Lovie because I've grown tired of his vague answers and penchant for throwing some of his defensive coaches under the bus. I wonder if when Herm Edwards money owed to him is over if he comes here and we can have a Tampa reunion.

 

As for the size of the safeties I can remember the original guys that played in this defense with the Steelers and they were the same size. The problem is those guys played in the mid to late 70's. Now you can't have a MLB that weighed 215 pounds like Jack Lambert. If we could play a 250lb MLB in this defense why not some bigger safeties? I was really high on Patrick Chung and didn't care about some of the comments about him not being good in zone coverage because as you and I have both discussed zone coverage is rarely taught in college. I think that is probably one of the most overlooked transitions that rookie NFL players have to go through. You hear more about the QBs having to come up under center but not about the DBs having to learn how to play in space. I believe this also is part of the problem that WRs have when it comes to their learning how to run NFL routes and read coverages since its new to them also.

[defiantgiant]

As for the size of the safeties I can remember the original guys that played in this defense with the Steelers and they were the same size. The problem is those guys played in the mid to late 70's. Now you can't have a MLB that weighed 215 pounds like Jack Lambert. If we could play a 250lb MLB in this defense why not some bigger safeties? I was really high on Patrick Chung and didn't care about some of the comments about him not being good in zone coverage because as you and I have both discussed zone coverage is rarely taught in college. I think that is probably one of the most overlooked transitions that rookie NFL players have to go through. You hear more about the QBs having to come up under center but not about the DBs having to learn how to play in space. I believe this also is part of the problem that WRs have when it comes to their learning how to run NFL routes and read coverages since its new to them also.

 

I assume the 250-lb. MLB you're talking about is Urlacher. The problem with using him as an example is that he's an athletic freak. You can't even call him a prototypical Tampa-2 MLB, because he's much bigger than the prototype and has at least as much range and coverage ability. He's practically the size of a defensive end, but he covers like a safety: guys with that physical skillset don't come around often. Obviously every Tampa-2 team would love to have an Urlacher clone, just like they'd like to have a freak at free safety. I'm sure Lovie and company would jump at the chance to get a 220 or 230 pound free safety with the requisite range and coverage skills, but in a big guy those are pretty rare.

 

Taylor Mays from USC is a good example: he goes 6'3" 230, but has the speed and coverage ability of a much smaller, lighter player. He's the best of both worlds, for sure. But Mays is going to be a high first-round pick, and there's a reason for that: guys like him don't come around very often. Most guys as fast as he is are around 200-210 pounds, and most guys as big as he is don't have the speed or range for the Tampa-2.

[defiantgiant]

Rotoworld reports that Hood signed with Cleveland. He would have been strictly a backup in Chicago, since we're not looking for a new nickel back. With the Browns, he'll either start or play the nickel - I can see why he'd choose that over being a fourth corner for the Bears.

 

I do hope that, having passed on Hood, the Bears will be more likely to offer Tinoisamoa a contract. Our only competition is the Bills, and I think we've got a better chance to sign him than they do. I don't know what happened to Hillenmeyer last season, but he looked severely stretched in coverage; it'd be nice to get a Sam 'backer who has more range and coverage ability.

[Pixote]

Rotoworld reports that Hood signed with Cleveland. He would have been strictly a backup in Chicago, since we're not looking for a new nickel back. With the Browns, he'll either start or play the nickel - I can see why he'd choose that over being a fourth corner for the Bears.

 

I do hope that, having passed on Hood, the Bears will be more likely to offer Tinoisamoa a contract. Our only competition is the Bills, and I think we've got a better chance to sign him than they do. I don't know what happened to Hillenmeyer last season, but he looked severely stretched in coverage; it'd be nice to get a Sam 'backer who has more range and coverage ability.

 

I agree, of the 2 I wanted Tinoisamoa far more. I think he could be a very good starter for us whereas I saw Hood as depth for our DBs.

 

I just read on KFFL that Tinoisamoa is visiting NEP, crap, more competition for the guy.

[lemonej]

I assume the 250-lb. MLB you're talking about is Urlacher. The problem with using him as an example is that he's an athletic freak. You can't even call him a prototypical Tampa-2 MLB, because he's much bigger than the prototype and has at least as much range and coverage ability. He's practically the size of a defensive end, but he covers like a safety: guys with that physical skillset don't come around often. Obviously every Tampa-2 team would love to have an Urlacher clone, just like they'd like to have a freak at free safety. I'm sure Lovie and company would jump at the chance to get a 220 or 230 pound free safety with the requisite range and coverage skills, but in a big guy those are pretty rare.

 

Taylor Mays from USC is a good example: he goes 6'3" 230, but has the speed and coverage ability of a much smaller, lighter player. He's the best of both worlds, for sure. But Mays is going to be a high first-round pick, and there's a reason for that: guys like him don't come around very often. Most guys as fast as he is are around 200-210 pounds, and most guys as big as he is don't have the speed or range for the Tampa-2.

I'm sorry I took so long to respond DFG you are so right about the prototype at Tampa 2 MLB and Urlacher doesn't fit the mold but he is the type of athlete you need at the position.That is what is wrong with this defense? You need to have special players in a couple of positions to play it. The original team that played this defense was the Steelers under Chuck Noll and they had a HOF at DT, MLB, WLB and CB. The next most celebrated team that played this defense was the Bucs under a former Steeler Tony Dungy. That team will have a HOF at WLB,DT,SS and CB. Our defense has only one potential HOF player and a possible 2nd.

 

Taylor Mays I'm a big fan and think he may be in the top 10 next year and also believe if he had come out this year he would have been a top 15 pick and the top safety on the board.

[defiantgiant]

I'm sorry I took so long to respond DFG you are so right about the prototype at Tampa 2 MLB and Urlacher doesn't fit the mold but he is the type of athlete you need at the position.That is what is wrong with this defense? You need to have special players in a couple of positions to play it. The original team that played this defense was the Steelers under Chuck Noll and they had a HOF at DT, MLB, WLB and CB. The next most celebrated team that played this defense was the Bucs under a former Steeler Tony Dungy. That team will have a HOF at WLB,DT,SS and CB. Our defense has only one potential HOF player and a possible 2nd.

 

Taylor Mays I'm a big fan and think he may be in the top 10 next year and also believe if he had come out this year he would have been a top 15 pick and the top safety on the board.

 

Yeah, the scheme puts a ton of pressure on a number of positions. The middle linebacker and strong safety have to have a great deal more coverage ability than normal, the under tackle needs to provide much more pass pressure than a typical defensive tackle, and the corners in particular need to be extremely good in run support, as ballcarriers are funneled out to them frequently.

 

I'm not down on the Tampa 2 as much as some people: I think it's a great scheme, when it works. Any base defense that can get pass pressure rushing 4 guys is pretty potent. The Bears just need Harris, Urlacher, and the defensive backs to play up to their potential.