Tj Mcdonald Was An Upgrade On Mikell

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Sum1

Sum1

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Over at the Ram Stalk I just saw a thread where some bozo blamed the Walton firing on "Fishers arrogance of waiving Mikell" or something like that...

So, since McDonald was essentially playing the role Mikell played while McCleod replaced Dahl I just took a quick glance at the stats.

Mikell: 59 tackles, 2 FF , 3 sacks (14 games)
TJ: 52 tackles, 1 INT , 1 sack (10 games)

Obviously, tackles don't necessarily paint an accurate picture for safety play...but I think that using those numbers to compare a couple safeties that are somewhat "box safeties" it is definitely relevant.

TJ is young and already effective...he is going to continue to progress. Mikell appears to have leveled off and likely will continue to trend downward.
 
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I think we would have been a lot better off with McDonald and Mikell as our starters, but for the long term I think it was good for Mcleod to be tossed in the fire like he was. He's going to be a very valuable backup safety/nickelback and impact STer in the long term future, whereas Mikell is basically at the end of his career.
 
You think maybe Michael Griffin would make a good FA signing to pair with TJ ? Played for Fisher and GW in Tenn. ... but he is 29 already...
 
I thought TJ did an admirable job this season. Sucks he got hurt, but he did a good job as a rookie.
 
jjab360 said:
Depends on the pricetag, imo.
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I think he would come much cheaper than Wright, Byrd ... Another one to think about is Michael Jenkins - N.O. ... played for GW. If these guys love there old coaches like they say .... they might discount a bit
 
ReddingRam said:
I think he would come much cheaper than Wright, Byrd ... Another one to think about is Michael Jenkins - N.O. ... played for GW. If these guys love there old coaches like they say .... they might discount a bit
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I think Griffin might be a declining player. Malcolm Jenkins IMO has more upside, he is talented, came into the league as sort of a CB/S-tweener (somewhat similar career arc to former Card and current Giant Antrel Rolle). He was a FS-type complement to SS Roman Harper (and would probably complement McDonald well, they both have pretty interchangeable skill sets). I thought Vaccaro would make Harper expendable, but maybe it will be Jenkins. Not sure if they want to try and extend him (possibly like Saffold subject to whether he gets a better offer or not?), or how much he would want/command on the open market. I would think he would be cheaper than Byrd. Good point about the Williams connection/s.
 
Sum1BTRthnU said:
Over at the Ram Stalk I just saw a thread where some bozo blamed the Walton firing on "Fishers arrogance of waiving Mikell" or something like that...

So, since McDonald was essentially playing the role Mikell played while McCleod replaced Dahl I just took a quick glance at the stats.

Mikell: 59 tackles, 2 FF , 3 sacks (14 games)
TJ: 52 tackles, 1 INT , 1 sack (10 games)

Obviously, tackles don't necessarily paint an accurate picture for safety play...but I think that using those numbers to compare a couple safeties that are somewhat "box safeties" it is definitely relevant.

TJ is young and already effective...he is going to continue to progress. Mikell appears to have leveled off and likely will continue to trend downward.
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I'm surprised they didn't blame it on our cutting of Craig Dahl.
 
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I loved Mikell, but I never saw him dish out hits like TJ does on a regular basis. I think he will be a fine safety for us. We just need a ballhawk next to him.
 
I also thought TJ did a great job. To be honest, I had my doubts about him, but he was much better than I anticipated. I don't think he'll ever be the ball hawking FS type that this defense desperately needs. But he'll be a damn good box safety. He seems to generally be in good position, especially for a rookie, and hits like a ton of bricks. I look forward to seeing him progress under Williams
 
Sum1BTRthnU said:
Over at the Ram Stalk I just saw a thread where some bozo blamed the Walton firing on "Fishers arrogance of waiving Mikell" or something like that...
.
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Sum please don't take this as a critique of you, but I think we hear about that cesspool too much on this board and FWIW bringing their specious BS here is not raising this place.Not tellin you what to do , just sayin how I see it in the grand scheme.
I respect you and your contributions here, IMO you and your keyboard are above that sorry collection of illiterate malcontents.:bigup:
 
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Frankly if I had known where this op started I would never have wasted my time reading it. Since I did you might as well put contract numbers up to go along with the "stats". That would have given you what you needed.
Friends don't let friends read ramstalk:slap:
 
From what I can recall Mikell remaining with Fisher was a pure business decision....if he remained Mikell carried a serious cap cost from my understanding his release save the Rams 3 mil instant & twice as much in cash value (6 million).
I also seem to recall that Fisher was highly interested in having Mikell back but @ a reduced rate & Mikell wanted to test his Market value after a great 2012 season. Mikell had no serious offers close to his Rams contract and finally held out & signed a late season deal with the Panthers for only 920K. Sounds like Mikell thought much higher of his value than the true market value imagine that.
 
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Thordaddy said:
Sum please don't take this as a critique of you, but I think we hear about that cesspool too much on this board and FWIW bringing their specious BS here is not raising this place.Not tellin you what to do , just sayin how I see it in the grand scheme.
I respect you and your contributions here, IMO you and your keyboard are above that sorry collection of illiterate malcontents.:bigup:
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Bahaha point taken. Sorry, I only was referencing it because it got me thinking about the subject and thought it was worth taking a look at. Obviously, there was quite a bit of concern and criticism about the safety position this year and I just thought it was worth the discussion.
 
he might not have been an upgrade in his first year, but he was close and should only get better and better.
 
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He wasn't an upgrade yet, he missed a lot of tackles to me and Mikell was good in the box and in the blitz. However, I didn't like the pick at first but think TJM will become a good Safety. They still need someone next to him desperately IMO
 
F. Mulder said:
He wasn't an upgrade yet, he missed a lot of tackles to me and Mikell was good in the box and in the blitz. However, I didn't like the pick at first but think TJM will become a good Safety. They still need someone next to him desperately IMO
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My point is that if you look at Mikell this year he regressed and produced at almost identical numbers as McDonald, while also playing in 4 more games.

Granted, it's hard to get a complete gauge on it being that they are in different systems, schemes, opponents, etc...but it looks like we let Mikell go at the right time and got probably about the same production we would have only cheaper and younger.
 
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