Hailskins Article- Where's the D Line Help?

SkinsandTerps:

The Redskins DL in the 1980s had Dave Butz at tackle and Charles Mann at DE. Either of those players were the equal of Dexter Manley and both were probably superior overall.

Monte Coleman was an athletic linebacker. (For those too young to recall, they actually experimented with Coleman as a punt returner one year in training camp!) The other Redskin linebackers in that time frame were solid players who were much more like plodders than throughbreds. Neil Olkewicz (sp?) was a fine MLB but he was not much more "athletic" than an oak tree.

One player who seem's to have been cast to the way side on this site is Jermaine haley, he finished the season very strong for us, he was getting a nice push inside, he looked like he was starting to come into his own down the stretch last season, he's also 6'4" 325lbs maybe he's a guy gibb's feel's can start, I think he would make a nice combo next to griffin.

More Blitzing means means moreo pressure on our CB. And we lost champ Bailey this year. I'm personally one who things our defense has a long way to go. Part of the reason why I think its vital we use our first round draft pick on a defense player this year. Everybody who thinks that Williams can make miracles happen with no talent in dreaming. That was the case in Buffalo and it will be the cas here. In my opnion the defense is about three players away. I hope they fill on of those gaps with sean Tayler.

I think it's a little bold to say our defense that is littered with young stars doesn't have any talent. Fred Smoot, Shawn Springs, LaVar, Washington, etc all GREAT players and with the exception of Springs, young. I think we have a lot of talent on defense, and I think how far that our defense slipped last year (that was nearly the same as the year before) shows what a great coordinator can do for ya!

Under Lewis don't forget we had a disruptive DT in Gardener that collapsed the pocket and drew constant double teams which freed everyone else up. We don't have anyone like that right now.

I agree that alot of the woes on D last year have to be attributed to Edwards, but part of it was from a lack of talent and production up front that put a huge strain on the rest of the D.

Mattyk makes an excellent point here about Gardner- he was a menace inside for us two years ago. I guess the question is can C Griffin be that kind of player? I sort of doubt it- and I don't think Jermaine Haley or Holsey or any of the others can either. It would just be nice to see the Skins get a good young defensive lineman to develop. We haven't drafted a difference maker on the D Line ever. Sure we can rush Lavar and Washington to get pressure, but teams are much more successful when they don't HAVE to rush their backers to create pressure. The year the Bucs won the championship, everyone raved about how they could get pressure with just their front four. The same was true of the Ravens when they won it. That way, when you DO bring a backer, they REALLY don't know what to do. I just don't think it's good to have to bring backers or safeties on a consistent basis to generate a pass rush b/c sooner or later, you're gonna get burned.

To add to raleigh's point, look no further than the Panthers last year and how difficult it was to deal with their front four. Granted we're not going to have a line like that overnight, but picking up a young stud DT or DE in the draft would be a good start.

If we have a good d-line that will put pressure on the qb it will make the d-backs job easier. My pick is d-line.

If there was a Peppers type of player in this years draft it would make a lot more sense. I suppose we could trade down and pick up a lineman, mabye even two if we traded with the Patriots. Udezi would be a great pick up in the 10-15 range, earlier than that would be a stretch. I still think we take the impact player at 5, and if they want to do some dealing to get another lineman then that would be a bonus.

Keep in mind that picking up Gardener was a huge risk. He had been a dissapointment in Miami, and disruptive in the locker room. At this time two years ago, no one knew he would have such a great year and there were many doubts about the pick up.
With this coaching staff, who knows who will step up....I bet someone will....