Dodson being released

[maoling]

I'm not sure if I've ever seen them shitcan two recently signed starting linebackers midseason like this before. Maybe when Jack Patera was coaching. Or Flores. Or Erickson lol.

An uninformed guess is that MM told JS butt-out, this is what I want. And Jody told all of them, win now; you are all on the hotseat. This is probably going on in some other top brass offices at VMAC also. Paul has been gone for six years now; this shit imo was never Jody's bag and she has been a pretty loyal steward of her brother's intent. Which to me might likely have been to divest herself from his shadow one day, especially when it comes down to the civic drama of owning a local sports' franchise.

The heat is on at VMAC. I am putting 16 points on the Hawks kicking ass in SF next weekend.

[Donn Beach]

Replacing Brooke and Wagner was strictly JSs decision?` I can see it in terms of the budget but it involved a different type of player, guys better at pass protection. He had to have discussed that with MM one would think q

[Sibelius Hindemith]

The return they got for Baker, Dodson and a 4th round pick was Ernest Jones. The Titans got him for the difference between a 2026 5th round pick and a 2026 6th round pick. I mean, WTF is Snider doing?

[Donn Beach]

Richard Sherman weighs in

"You said hey, we're going with PFF"s higher and second-highest graded coverage linebackers... no offense to those guys... but there's a reason Mike Macdonald looked at the tape and said 'he's the problem, we're cutting him...' Then you trade Jerome Baker to get a linebacker you wanted. So that was $11 million dollars that you spent on linebackers to replace Bobby Wagner that are no longer on the roster nine games into the season. I don't know if Bobby's making seven this season... It was really frustrating then and it's even more frustrating now because you're basically conceding that you made mistakes."

From the article

At least they're admitting it, which is infinitely better than denial. The simple fact is that both Dodson and Baker were getting washed out far too often against the run. Other teams saw it on film, and they were going to keep exploiting that dynamic as long as it continued. Hopefully Ernest Jones and Tyrice Knight will fare better, but it's far from guaranteed.

[Michael K.]

Richard Sherman weighs in

"You said hey, we're going with PFF"s higher and second-highest graded coverage linebackers... no offense to those guys... but there's a reason Mike Macdonald looked at the tape and said 'he's the problem, we're cutting him...' Then you trade Jerome Baker to get a linebacker you wanted. So that was $11 million dollars that you spent on linebackers to replace Bobby Wagner that are no longer on the roster nine games into the season. I don't know if Bobby's making seven this season... It was really frustrating then and it's even more frustrating now because you're basically conceding that you made mistakes."

From the article

At least they're admitting it, which is infinitely better than denial. The simple fact is that both Dodson and Baker were getting washed out far too often against the run. Other teams saw it on film, and they were going to keep exploiting that dynamic as long as it continued. Hopefully Ernest Jones and Tyrice Knight will fare better, but it's far from guaranteed.

Bingo. Worried about the pass, which they fucking should have....Wagner and Brooks were Charles Barkley Terrible in pass coverage last year. It didn't work out because we were getting killed by the run. The issue is? We got killed by the run last year too! Think back to the Steeler game...our LBs were supposed to be studs against the run and the Steelers didn't even try to pass? Fuck Sherman, he's whinning because of Wagner? Sorry, the defense was DOGSHIT last year. I'll take this year's version.

I'll also take a coaching staff and FO that realizes they made mistakes and moves on. Pete would have extended their contracts and given them a raise before he admitted he fucked up. Always ComPete? Bullshit...that's what's going on now, not then. Sorry, I am not going to do a ton of handwringing over this. Two undersized LBs were brought in to shore up the pass defense, it backfired and we moved on. Works for me. This team aint making the playoffs with this O Line and this QB anyway, so why not make some moves?

Seems to me this should put the entire locker room on notice. Perform or get out.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Did JS admit he screwed up a second time by getting so little back for them?

[AZOldDawg]

How could they not at least be able to trade him for a 7th round pick????

Who knows? Perhaps cutting him frees up more cap space. Seems odd that an above avg back-up ILB wouldn't get back a draft pick that is worth more than whatever amount of cap space they are saving.

My guess is that there was something to do with coach ability or chemistry going on under the table

[Donn Beach]

Pete cut Cary Williams in kinda a similar deal. Yeah it's about the run vs the pass. They wanted middle linebackers that were better against the pass because of the passes greater significance these days. I don't want to act like I'm astute but at the time I'm wondering isn't that about designing your defense? It made it seem like Wagner was a dinosaur but he seems alive and kicking. And they trade for a Wagner lookalike. It's seems they decided they didn't need a run stopper but then greatly regretted it. It is an odd deal, I wish I knew more about MMs Ravens defenses. I assumed that was the deal, he went about it focusing on the pass there in that fashion

Also too, I saw an article but forgot to read it, seemed to be able a resurgence of the run. Wondering if teams are just running more, the ones with running qbs are

[Donn Beach]

. Passing has been trending downward since 2021, but we are seeing a significant dip to start the 2024 season. The NFL is cyclical, but the numbers we are seeing this year are different, as Kevin Cole (Unexpected Points/former Data Scientist at PFF) pointed out about my viral tweet from this …

Here's one, the rest is behind a paywall. Seems to indicate running the ball is back in fashion

[roosevelt]

Seahawks paying attention to intelligence quotient.