Ross Tucker on Leon Hall

by eric nyc on Nov 15, 2011 7:45 PM EST

"Talk about a life-changing decision. Hall received a four-year, $39 million extension that included $14 million in guaranteed money, $9 million of which came by way of a signing bonus. Hall could have decided back in September to roll the dice and play this season under the terms of the last year of his rookie deal, thinking that after the season he could get closer to, if not more than, the $23.5 million guaranteed that his former teammate, Johnathan Joseph, received from the Texans.

Instead, Hall went the conservative route, and after this injury, he has probably been thanking his lucky stars every hour on the hour that he made that decision. You know how much guaranteed money Hall would get if he had to go into free agency this offseason coming off a torn Achilles? Zero dollars and zero cents. There are very few examples of players at elite movement positions such as cornerback coming back from Achilles injuries and ever being the same player."

Right now Leon Hall is the only CB we have under contract for next year that has started an NFL game. Anyone still think we don't need to draft a CB in the first round?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.

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Clements signed a 2 year deal

I agree he may not be the same player, but, he’d make one hell of a safety if he can’t come back fully, we’ll re-sign Jones, Ghee was good before injury( only reason trent made 53 over him) and if healthy we’ll be fine, come inside off the ledge, it ain’t as bad as you think.

by joeb698 on Nov 15, 2011 9:11 PM EST via mobile reply actions

I thought Clements was on a one year deal

And we still haven’t seen Jones play a defensive snap in 14 months, and even then he was playing the nickel. We’d all love to think he can step in and be an elite corner again, but the jury’s still out. Clearly Leon was a cornerstone of our defensive plans for the next 4 years. THat cornerstone might be gone now. At the very least, you can’t expect him to be a top man-coverage #1 corner again. You can hope, but the odds are pretty slim. It doesn’t kill us, I’m just saying it pretyt much necessitates drafting a top CB.

by eric nyc on Nov 15, 2011 9:34 PM EST up reply actions

Concerns about Jones are valid.

But from what I remember of last year, Jones played on the outside a bit and did a good job.

by Aether on Nov 16, 2011 4:46 AM EST up reply actions

Leon Hall is a great role model.

Here’s a guy that after “JJ” left for the Texans was in a prime position of leverage.
In this day and age of self-serving and (me,me,me) selfishness…………………………

……..Think about it………….“JJ’s” gone and (arguably) our best remaining staple
in the secondary could have stalled and Shruged off any offers that were sure to come
his way from the Bengals, while waiting for the offers that would (without a doubt)
materialize from other teams (way before free-agency).

But no! , My man Leon is one of those rare loyal teammates that wasn’t about to give up on his team, his team-mates or his goal of finishing what he started (with or without JJ).

My hat’s off to you Leon………………and see…………..Everything happens as it should.

by gratefulmax on Nov 15, 2011 10:27 PM EST reply actions

Two words:

Morris Claiborne. Hopefully he’ll fall into our laps in this draft.

by dstacify on Nov 15, 2011 11:43 PM EST reply actions

I can't remember the last time I saw someone say we shouldn't go CB in the first round.

Even when Leon Hall was healthy, CB was still one of our top three concerns (and number one on the defence). Maybe there was the thought that we could go CB in round 2 (or maybe round 3), but surely they couldn’t have objected to a first round CB?

But, yes. Now a first rounder is pretty much required here.

by Aether on Nov 16, 2011 4:49 AM EST reply actions

CB, RB, OG, CB, C

That would be my first 5 picks of the draft. Not necessarily in that order if someone falls, but I see we are in need of two corners for 2012. Maybe one can come from free agency but we need two.

Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

by UpStateMike on Nov 16, 2011 9:57 AM EST up reply actions

You might be right

We have to at least be prepared for the possibility Leon won’t play for us again. There isn’t a tougher position to come back from this kind of injury at than CB. It might be hard for him to come into our (or any NFL) camp and come out one of the 4 or 5 best CB’s. Like I said above, at the absolute least I don’t think you can ever really count on him being a true #1 CB, especially not in a Zimmer defense that NEEDS at least one shutdown corner to make the whole scheme work. It’s actually kind of hard to imagine a scenario where we get to the end of the preseason in 2012 and Leon Hall looks like he should be paid what he’ll be due to make next year – which is going to be a top 10 CB salary. We might not have a choice but to cut him.

by eric nyc on Nov 16, 2011 10:13 AM EST up reply actions

I might be overreacting to JSimp and AC's recent dropping problems...

But I would put WR over C in that list. Cook is decent (nothing special, but not the biggest need, either). Our interior line is struggling, but I think if you had some decent guards next to Cook, we’d be ok.
Other than that, we’re pretty desperate for CB, but even if we go first round, I’m thrilled by the thought of starting two rookie CBs. If Hall can’t go, Clements gets too slow (or he’s on a one-year contract and leaves – but I think he’s two years, right), and Adam Jones leaves or shows us nothing this year, then I think we have to seriously look at options in FA. Even a one year deal could give us time to look again at the top prospects in 2012 (still have an extra second rounder to play with).
Other positions to look at are SLB (Lawson is playing solidly, could be resigned, but also could leave in FA), S (not sold on Crocker, Nelson not looking great in coverage) and DL (extra help couldn’t hurt, plus some of our guys will probably move on elsewhere for more playing time and money).
OT, QB, FB, MLB are pretty ok for now.

by Aether on Nov 16, 2011 10:44 AM EST up reply actions

*Correction.

I’m NOT thrilled by the thought of starting two rookie CBs.

by Aether on Nov 16, 2011 10:45 AM EST up reply actions

who said anything about starting both of them?

I’d like to see one ready to roll though.

Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

by UpStateMike on Nov 16, 2011 11:37 AM EST up reply actions

Fair point.

I would be looking, in the above circumstances, though, to find two quality starters over the next two years. With that in mind, I’m thinking one in the first round this year, and one in the top three (ideally top two) rounds next year. It should allow us to find those young starters (just don’t let them go this time).
If we’re looking for a guy round three or four, I would think we ought to be looking at a different position for a depth guy/surprise starter at a greater need, and leave the next CB pick for the year after (also, at which point we’ll have a better idea of Hall’s status).

by Aether on Nov 16, 2011 1:29 PM EST up reply actions

Man I don't know. I think the value of CB is really up there these days

and we are finding out the hard way what it means to lose our go to guys. Maybe Ghee will be that player to get his chance to show he can be an NFL CB. I hope so. If that’s the case then it makes it easier for us to just get one in the draft, at least one early rounder.

Regardless, we need to get back to having two shutdown corners on this team ASAP.

Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

by UpStateMike on Nov 16, 2011 4:40 PM EST up reply actions

Just as long as we don't lose the pass rush.

Having pass rush, good;
Shutdown corners, excellent -
To have both is beast.

by Aether on Nov 16, 2011 5:51 PM EST up reply actions

Zimmer's pass rush philosophy relies on his corners

He needs at least one shut-down guy on the outside to make it work. It lets him rush 4 guys every down and mix in 1-2 extra pressures while not worrying about having to double-team anyone on the exterior. He was pissed when JJo left for good reason. With Leon down, he has to be losing his mind. Say goodbye to anything exotic. He needs Dunlap and MJ to be playing out of their heads the rest of the season for this thing to work.

by eric nyc on Nov 16, 2011 9:38 PM EST up reply actions