Its fun to predict what will happen. I'm going to save this post and repost at the end of the year and see how it turned out.
The 2016 defense was tremendous with great play from the secondary, breakout play from TJ Watt and overall excellence at stopping the run and defending the pass.
I think the 2017 version will be better. Nick Nelson is reportedly better than Shelton. Jamerson provides slot cover skills at FS. ILB is basically same as last year. Dooley and Jacobs production should be close to Beigel and Watts. DL is returning all starters and backups with addition of Loudermilk will be better. Stopping the run will be the key and this team should be very good.
Schematically having a strong back end allows flexibility attacking the ball. I expect this to be a top ten defense and fully capable of slowing down Penn State, OSU, Northwestern, and Nebraska, etc.
The 2016 defense was tremendous with great play from the secondary, breakout play from TJ Watt and overall excellence at stopping the run and defending the pass.
I think the 2017 version will be better. Nick Nelson is reportedly better than Shelton. Jamerson provides slot cover skills at FS. ILB is basically same as last year. Dooley and Jacobs production should be close to Beigel and Watts. DL is returning all starters and backups with addition of Loudermilk will be better. Stopping the run will be the key and this team should be very good.
Schematically having a strong back end allows flexibility attacking the ball. I expect this to be a top ten defense and fully capable of slowing down Penn State, OSU, Northwestern, and Nebraska, etc.
