Just some off the wall thinking.

One of the issues for our defense in coverage I believe is the loss of Collins. He had the speed to play sideline to sideline. Giving out CB confidence that they can play more aggressive off the line, trail coverage and know Nick would be there deep to help if needed. We don't have that anymore. If we want to protect the CB deep, we need 2 guys where Nick managed himself.

Now with the NFL rules today, having a hard hitting FS isn't that important. Because it ends up in penalties. Shields is the fastest guy we have, and he has shown his ability to close on plays. Often to bail himself out. I'm wondering how it would work having Sammy sitting in center field, it would again give us that sideline to sideline presence in the secondary for deep help to break up plays, or go for the ball and get picks.

Nick Collins didn't blow many coverages because he wasn't really assigned to cover someone and was faster than everyone lol ... that's not a knock on Collins, it was a helluva an asset for the Packers.


Considering how much Sam Shields like to scope out the backfield, maybe being Safety would be a good thing for next season? I too don't think changing positions after 5 games when he's starting to come into his own is a wise decision. As for replacing Shields, easy, that guy Charles Woodson.

In base defense, you restrict what you can do with Woodson a lot more by tying him to the cornerback position. That's not to say it would strictly be a bad thing though, Chuck can certainly do a lot for you as a CB. In nickel/dime, he'd be a corner anyways so if Woodson is going to be #2 (or #3, I forget which Shields is), who's going to take HIS spot? And that person's spot?

No.

Shields is a damn good coverage CB but an average at best tackler.

I've got about 21,000 examples of that myself.

Davon House, hopefully.

Woody's the slot corner. He's more suited there, because he's lost a step. Hayward is the backup slot guy. He's more suited there, because of his size. Bush is the third slot corner.

Williams, Shields and House can play the outside better than those other guys.

Then you have the S's.

I don't ever expect to see anyone as good as Nick Collins. He was the best I've ever seen.

But McMillian's got a TON of potential.

I'm not sure if it's really worth the discussion of moving guys to other starting position, as they do not play anything near the starting formation for most of the game. IIRC Woodson played only a few snaps as a real SS early in the game, other than that he was mostly lined up near the LOS. Not wondering at all about that as the Packers constantly played multiple DB sets throughout the game and McMillian/Jennings and Burnett did well back there. So why shift Woodson into the backfield if he can line up where he's best?