Not that I recall, it’s gotten to the ridiculous point where you kind of give up judging the defense because this is not the defense they had planned on at any level.
So what does the (potential) loss of Mayo mean? The biggest question to me is whether they move Hightower to Will and bring Collins in at Sam in base? Or do they leave Hightower at Sam and put Fletcher at Will?
Ultimately then they must decide who the top coverage linebacker becomes? Hightower, Collins or Fletcher?
There’s no question Dane Fletcher has always moved and tackled well. He saw time at OLB as a rookie but became more of an MLB in 2011, and being used as a spy on good receiving backs like Ray Rice.
Collins has been brought along slowly and still appears a little green. At least from an experience standpoint, I think Fletcher is probably ahead of him at this time in base.
Also think Steve Beauharnais, a rookie out of Rutgers, could see some snaps. Like the rest of the Rutgers rookies, he looked like a solid football player in preseason.
There’s no easy answer because Hightower is effectively the next guy up, but likely a step behind Fletcher in coverage. So it will probably have to be a gameplan thing, and at least for the Jets game I think you’ll see Hightower get the most prominent uptick in snaps.
Collins should also see some more time in subpackages, but it will be interesting to see how they manage all the young linebackers and put together a plan of attack.
