Game Release for Friday: Depth Chart

Nice find, MB.

I am interested to see how the backup LBs do in some "real" action tomorrow. The starters are the same as last year. They have Costanzo and Spencer as #2 LBs, which is deserved, as I think they "get it". I want to see how Harris, Bowens, Trusnik, and Wadsworth do, and whether they are "getting it" Schlegel and Cassell, we know what they have, but I also want to see if they have progressed from last year.

 

This is an expanded view of my previous post.

Jets vs Atl Preview: The LBs

The starting LBs are the same as last year.
Barton, Thomas and Hobson have all looked good in camp, and are healthy and in good playing shape. They have handled camp really well, done what they are supposed to do, and have largely remained under the radar. There has not been a lot of intersquad contact involving the LBs during the 11 on 11s. Without really hitting and tackling ballcarriers, it is impossible to completely evaluate how they have done. They have shown some blites in tc, and I expect we'll see each of them blitz at some point tomorrow, just so the coaches can get it on film to see how they did.

I am interested to see how the backup LBs do in some "real" action tomorrow night. They have Costanzo and Spencer as #2 LBs, which is deserved, as I think they "get it". Bowens and Kassell round out the second unit. Costanzo and Cody Spencer have been more physical than most of the guys on the team, and have been flying around tc. Bowens has been learning his assignments, and tomorrow will be a better test of how he does at game speed than just watching him in tc.

The third team LBs (as listed) has some interesting names. Wadsworth, Schlegel, Harris and Trusnik. These four guys have something to prove, and tomorrow will be out first chance to see them in action in green and white (other than Schlegel, who has his own cross to boar, err--bear.)

Wadsworth and Harris have so far been mildly disappointing imo, but tomorrow gives them an opportunity to show what they have been working on the past two weeks. trusnik has shown some potential along the way, but certainly has to prove himself.

Harris has looked better on his run assignments and (to me) unsteady on his pass coverage. He has been reprimanded by Westhoff a couple of times on ST, and in fact, yesterday he lost his spot on the KO coverage team that he had been in earlier in the week.

but the game tomorrow will be at game speed, not tc speed, so that's why i am looking forward to what they will do. It is very possible that Harris is sooo good, that his seemingly blase attitude in camp is just because he is that good, and he isnt worried. That's why I think he's a good player to keep an eye on tomorrow to see what he has.

of course, their work on ST and pleasing Westhoff will have an impact on their future here, and we wont always be able to see on TV what some guys are doing. But Westhoff has spent a lot of time practicing the KO and punt units (as he always does in tc) and if anyone screws up on ST, it wont help them.

Of course, last season we saw McClover excel on ST in preseason but he was cut anyway. So, they are going to have to also do their thing as LBs if they want to stick around here.

I want to see how Harris, Bowens, Trusnik, and Wadsworth do, and whether they are "getting it" Schlegel and Cassell, we know what they have, but I also want to see if they have progressed from last year.

All of the LBs have been working on their pass coverage as well as playing their lanes to stop the run. Harris sometimes looked unsure when he is dropping back into coverage.He and Bowens have spent time thinking in tc and not just reacting, so again, I havent seen them at game speed, and I am looking forward to it.

I havent discussed our starting ILB, #51, because he has his own thing going on, too. An super excellent 4-3 ILB who last year did an adequate, though far from excellent job adjusting to the 3-4. Tomorrow night wont give us a lot of answers about Vilma for this seaspn, but it is a good night to closely follow the subs, who have a lot more to play for.
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