With 25 days until the opening of Training Camp, it's time to get up to speed on position battles and the players involved. Up first, the defense.

Position: SLB
Incumbent: Shantee Orr
Players involved: Orr, Charlie Anderson
Analysis: I already did some of this position here. Long story short, the better candidate for this job depends greatly on the role Kubiak sees for the SLB. If he wants to blitz from that side, in order to free Weaver/Okoye (and draw attention from Mario), Orr is the answer--he played that style in the old 3-4. If, however, Kubes sees more of an all-around LB role, with TE pass coverage and whatnot, Anderson might be the way to go (better height and slightly faster).
Prediction: Orr named "starter," but Anderson will get plenty of second/third down reps.

Position: WLB
Incumbent: Morlon Greenwood
Players involved: Greenwood, Shawn Barber, Danny Clark
Analysis: All three of those guys have at least seven years of NFL experience, so we aren't exactly talking about a long-term solution here. Even more strange, you have three dudes here who are incredibly similar. All are roughly the same height and weight and all have posted multiple 100-tackle seasons. The biggest differences lie with Barber, as he is far better in pass coverage than the other two, but also has a lot of trouble staying healthy. Given the choice, I would probably go with Clark because he is a little younger than Barber and a little better than Greenwood, but I don't know that any decision here will make or break much of anything.
Prediction: Greenwood keeps his job, at least to open the season. (Note: If one of these three gets cut, my guess is it will be Barber, as Clark can also play MLB if needed.)

Position: CB2
Incumbent: Demarcus Faggins
Players involved: Faggins, Fred Bennett, Jamar Fletcher, Dexter Wynn
Analysis: So, the official word is that this position is Petey's to lose--something he is completely capable of doing. Bennett, the rookie out of South Carolina, looked good in OTAs. He picked up the defense quickly and seemed to be taking in everything the coaches taught. The knock was that he still needed to improve his ball skills, but you could say the same thing about Faggins and Wynn. Neither Wynn nor new addition Fletcher have never really shown anything that would suggest they could be a starting NFL CB, so this competition is really just about Faggins and Bennett.
Prediction: Faggins continues to butcher the CB2 position.

Positon: FS
Incumbent: C.C. Brown
Players involved: Brown, Dexter McCleon, Von Hutchins
Analysis: Newsflash--Granted, I spend most of my words on the secondary complaining about Petey, but Brown was no great shakes last season. Because of this, the Texans did not receive much in the way of big plays from their safeties last year. As a possible remedy, veterans McCleon and Hutchins have been taking reps at free safety through the offseason. Now, if the goal for the free safety in this defense (and the reason for moving two CBs to FS) is to create turnovers via the interception, then my vote goes to McCleon. (As an aside, I have no idea why Hutchins would give anyone the impression that he can play a ball-hawking centerfield type of safety.)
Prediction: McCleon.

Position: SS
Incumbent: Glenn Earl
Players involved: Earl, Brown, Brandon Harrison
Analysis: If Brown is supplanted at FS, he will likely get the chance to compete at his natural position of SS. Rookie Brandon Harrison will also be in the mix there as well. The odd thing about Harrison is his size--he's 6'1"/227 and will likely fill out at this level, meaning he might be better served playing nickel LB. (There are also rumors that he is afraid of making big hits, which isn't exactly what I want out of my SS.) As for Earl and Brown, flip a coin.
Prediction: Earl keeps his starting gig.

Position: Nickel CB
Incumbent: McCleon
Players involved: Bennett, Fletcher, Hutchins
Analysis: Such is the state of our secondary that a guy who was not even the primary nickel CB at the beginning of last season is in a position to be our starting free safety this year. Also, in a nice twist of irony, our starting CB2 is not good at the position he gets to play, but might be our best nickel CB. Crud. The team brought in Fletcher to play this kind of role, and I am sure he will get some opportunities, but I think a strong showing by Bennett in his competition with Faggins might land him this gig as a consolation prize.
Prediction: Bennett

Labels: 2007 Draft, Chocodiles, Demarcus Faggins sucks, Preview, Secondary issues are primary, Shawn Barber and Danny Clark, The Fred

Posted by matt on Sunday, July 1, 2007 at 1:12 PM | Permalink