Let's talk Earl Mitchell

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

Let me start off by saying that Telesco has made some very good moves this offseason in terms of re-signing players and restructuring certain contracts.

That said, it could be disastrous for us to sign Mitchell. He gives us nothing and would stand to take away valuable resources that we desperately need to use for players that would actually help us. Worse yet, adding him might convince Telesco not to draft Nix if he is available at #25 or even Justin Ellis later in the draft (i.e., something resembling an actual NT).

Even before anyone mentioned Mitchell on this board, I looked at Polian's grades and concluded that he must have been temporarily insane to give an A to Mitchell and deem him a top 6 FA overall. He has some other crazy grades as well. By contrast, PFF graded Mitchell negatively and worse than Cam Thomas last year. Soliai was ranked positively in double digits. CBSSports ranks Mitchell 97th among FAs with Soliai ranking 33rd. Yahoo ranks Mitchell 43rd out of 48 named free agent DL players. Soliai is ranked 16th.

Worse yet, Soliai's value would be better for us and Mitchell's value less for us. Mitchell is a 4-3 DT that played out of position as a NT last year. Soliai is a true 3-4 NT. But that's just scheme. It's even more of an issue when one considers that we have no real run stoppers on our DL save an undersized Lissemore (if he is going to be asked to play NT). I definitely would play Lissemore over Mitchell. The absolute last thing we need to do is to bring in another player that might struggle to hold the point of attack and that will not command any double teams. Mitchell makes us even softer than we were with Thomas.

Please, please, please pass on Mitchell.

Having watched nearly every snap of Mitchell's tenure in Houston and then running across this post, I have concluded that you just yap authoritatively about everything, particularly things you know nothing about. It's really sort of annoying.

[Beerman]

I am not sure why you are incapable of grasping that good NTs play much more than 20%-30% of their team's defensive snaps regardless of defensive formation. Poe played something like 93% of his team's defensive snaps last year. In recent years, Ngata and Raji have played well over 70% of their team's defensive snaps. Jamal played somewhere around two-thirds of our defensive snaps when we had him in the 3-4.

I have been discussing getting a good NT, not a NT that sucks. In FA, that means Soliai, who would play about 50-55% of our snaps. In the draft, that means Nix, who would get a large percentage of snaps this year and even more in the few years following that.

Now maybe you can just admit that you are wrong or you could try to argue that KC only played nickel about 7% of the time.

Ngata plays DE and NT. Raji didn't even play NT the past 2 years buddy. They are essentially DE's in their schemes. Poe is a monster of an athlete, that's why he played so much. The Chiefs also don't have good pass rushing Ends. We do.

Soliai is even less of a pass rusher, he is clearly coming off the field in nickel downs, so not sure why you think he would play more with us.

Nix likely would play some DT snaps in nickel packages, but I doubt he would as a rookie over Liuget or Reyes. Again though, he's a first round pick. It's expected he's a stud. None of the FA guys are worth it IMO.

[Steve]

A 34 D needs 2 good DL, who get most of the time. Now that we have Liuget and Reyes, we really don't need another, at least not a high priced guy. Just enough to add depth, but Lissemore and Guy, I thought, were pretty good depth players. Not awesome, but not a weakness either.

[Bolt-O]

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter 40s

Falcons agree to terms with DT Paul Soliai and G Jon Asamoah, per source.

[Beerman]

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter 40s

Falcons agree to terms with DT Paul Soliai and G Jon Asamoah, per source.

Good riddance.

[Yubaking]

Again, you are obsessed with a meaningless statistic. Yes, it could be something in conjunction with other stats (passing especially), but those other stats are more important.

YPC is a great stat for comparing two different units. If you want to know who is the best run D, then YPC is the stat to go to. If we wanted to know who the best run D was among the AFC west, then it is the go to thing. But since that ranks right up there with the other meaningless stuff, why shoudl we give a crap.

But YPC doesn't mean anything by itself. Proof: By YOUR OWN ADMISSION -> we gave up the same # of points last year as this year (more or less). Now POINTS ALLOWED is the GOAL of DEFENSE, how is it that we should give a crap about YPC?

You have just proven you are wrong using your own evidence.

This is quite possibly the weakest argument I have seen all year.

We fell off of a cliff in both YPC against and YPA against last year. That's a mathematical fact and it is very relevant.

It is incredible to me that you continue to be incapable of seeing multiple variables moving at once. This is just like your attempt to cite total rushing yards as if that defined our team as a rushing defense. You couldn't see the effect that the diminished rushing attempts had against us in that discussion and now you can't incorporate the effect of the 2012 offense versus the 2013 offense into the result of each defense.

With an offense that was leaps and bounds better than the offense was in 2012, the 2013 defense essentially surrendered the same gross points as the 2012 team did. Was this because the two defenses were about the same? Hell no. Sorry, but that is nothing short of idiocy. Do you really dispute that the 2013 offense helped our defense much more than the putrid 2012 offense did by giving away fewer turnovers and controlling the ball more?

Good grief! If there were two sprinters and one had to carry an anchor while other got to run on a forward moving walkway of the kind that is frequently observed in airports and they both finished with the same time, I could see you arguing that all that matters is that they finished with the same time and that you would not be concerned that factors other than the actual sprinting ability of the two runners is what you were really measuring with your cited stat. Do you see just how weak of an argument you are making?

You proved nothing except that you can make some pretty bad arguments.

Further, net points allowed should be considered. Our 2012 team forced 11 more turnovers and scored something like 7 defensive TDs, so their net points allowed per game was actually significantly better than the 2013 defense's net points allowed despite being saddled with a much worse offensive unit.

Stunning, just stunning.... :banghead:

[Formula 21]

I am not sure why you are incapable of grasping that good NTs play much more than 20%-30% of their team's defensive snaps regardless of defensive formation. Poe played something like 93% of his team's defensive snaps last year. In recent years, Ngata and Raji have played well over 70% of their team's defensive snaps. Jamal played somewhere around two-thirds of our defensive snaps when we had him in the 3-4.

I have been discussing getting a good NT, not a NT that sucks. In FA, that means Soliai, who would play about 50-55% of our snaps. In the draft, that means Nix, who would get a large percentage of snaps this year and even more in the few years following that.

Now maybe you can just admit that you are wrong or you could try to argue that KC only played nickel about 7% of the time.

You can bitch all you want, but it's pretty obvious NT is not going to be a strong point for the Bolts next year.

[Steve]

This is quite possibly the weakest argument I have seen all year.

We fell off of a cliff in both YPC against and YPA against last year. That's a mathematical fact and it is very relevant.

It is a fact. How is that relevant?

We didn't give up more points, you said so yourself. That is the goal of defense, and the only true measure of defensive success. It seems like you keep digging yourself deeper and deeper.

[Yubaking]

Ngata plays DE and NT. Raji didn't even play NT the past 2 years buddy. They are essentially DE's in their schemes. Poe is a monster of an athlete, that's why he played so much. The Chiefs also don't have good pass rushing Ends. We do.

Soliai is even less of a pass rusher, he is clearly coming off the field in nickel downs, so not sure why you think he would play more with us.

Nix likely would play some DT snaps in nickel packages, but I doubt he would as a rookie over Liuget or Reyes. Again though, he's a first round pick. It's expected he's a stud. None of the FA guys are worth it IMO.

I was not referring to last year. I said in recent years when each did play NT. Soliai is actually decent for NTs as a pass rusher. I agree that Nix is even better as a pass rusher. And it isn't like Reyes is great as a pass rusher either. I would sacrifice 5% less of one pass rusher to get 100% more of a run stopper on 2nd and long.

[Yubaking]

It is a fact. How is that relevant?

We didn't give up more points, you said so yourself. That is the goal of defense, and the only true measure of defensive success. It seems like you keep digging yourself deeper and deeper.

No, actually you do by being blind to multiple variables moving at once. Read my discussion of the sprinters again. Maybe next time you will understand what it means and how it applies to the discussion.

[Beerman]

I was not referring to last year. I said in recent years when each did play NT.

It doesn't matter. Those players have the potential to play either position, well at least Ngata has the potential to play them both well. Raji less so. Your argument was that Soliai can do it as well, he clearly can't. He also got MASSIVELY overpaid for a 30 year old NT.

You want a 1st round stud NT that has the versatility to play run and pass downs. NONE of those were available in FA (they aren't even available at the back end of the first round, Poe was at 10 I think). Maybe they are available in the draft. Either way, none of your arguments were pertinent to the players available or even feasible to be signed given our cap space.

[Steve]

You didn't answer the question.