Desir
 

How lucky were we to watch Desir develop into a decent corner? I was pretty down on him last year for the few games that he played, and I think Omaha was as well.

I don't think he grew at all under the Pagano system, where Pags was not only a bad coach, but a perhaps an even worse developer of talent.

In two regular season appearances against Desir (primarily anyway), DeAndre Hopkins averaged 4.5 catches for 36.5 yards. Hopkin's season average (including these games) was 7.5 catches per game for 98.5 yards. Hopkins is likely one of the top 2-3 receivers in our division.

Desir vs Amari Cooper.... Desir held him to 4 receptions for 32 yards. Cooper averaged 5.8 rec per game for 111 yards (only including his 9 Dallas games).

PFF ranks him #18 out of 90 CBs In the NFL. Sportrac Has the average CB salary at $2.8M, we paid Desir $1.75M.

** Please note: Do we really NEED this discussion to go to "Coaching doesnt matter?"

Unfortunately, just mentioning the "coaching doesn't matter" discussion ensures that it will become the central focus of this thread...

hehe.... doing the preemptive strike.

Sherk and others know a geat deal more about salaries and contracts and such, but if PFF for all it's faults is saying he had the 19th best season among NFL corners, and we are paying him the 71st highest salary among NFL corners. Something is going right.

He's UFA this year, we have to pick him back up and pay him.


**Edit... Cheese and rice, the redskins are paying Josh Norman $15M this year and $35M next.... Thats 5 million dollars a pick this year. We only paid 1.7M for Desir's 1 pick.

I could be wrong but I don’t recall ever being down on desir

I think we need to lock desir up. His man ability gives the defense some flexibility with coverages

As much as it pains me to agree with Omaha, I think Desir was the #2 priority re-sign for the Colts after Glowinski. You cannot ever have too many solid / good CBs on the roster and we only had 3 last year: Moore, Desir and Wilson coming on in the back half of the season.

Desir may be wanting crazy money (i.e. see $5m a pick) but if he is reasonable, sign him AND pick another talented kid in the draft.

Walk Worthy,

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He's proven himself, you dont' sign him what does that say to the locker room when they have money to spend?

He wanted too much money? Players get over that stuff. They know the business

If he is asking $15m a year, then based on his history and physical abilities, he is probably out of our price range. With only one year of starter quality performance, he is probably more of a $9 - $12m a year guy instead of higher than that.

I would love to retain him because you cannot have too many solid / good CBs. But let's not all of a sudden believe he is a top ten CB. He is good, not great and if he is asking a "great" price.....

Walk Worthy,

I like Desir but I'm not interested in paying him like a top 5 CB at all.

I think that is about right, and would put him at the bottom of the top third of CBs. Maybe a little less than that even.

Blows my mind that the redskins are paying Josh Norman $15M a year.

My bad, different poster, different player.... one of those two.

You can move the money around, years and bonuses, if you want a guy, you can keep him.

I agree with you, but I bet even still there is a lot of players vs management shit that goes on. Probably less in the Ballard vs grigson era.

I seem to remember in one of the injury years we cut a decent player on defense because Pags started him and Grigson wasnt on board with it. I posted about it, I bet we cut (whoever it was) to keep Orlovsky.

While I agree that these players are professionals who understand the business, there has to be some friction there. McAfee might be another example. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall to some of these dynamics.

Desir, Moore and Wilson made a pretty good trio. Gotta agree with omaha..the guy needs to remain a Colt.

I would still like to add one more piece for young depth though. The fall off is dramatic after the above 3.

Corners are a position you constantly need to add. Hard to keep depth there. Although I put that position further down on needs than most people this year.

Yep. With how much zone they play, they can find good scheme fits in the mid and late rounds.

I like Desir as well, but nobody's talking about his age. He'll be 29 next year, which is usually on the downside of a CB's career. So if we resign him, it should be on a Ballard Special contract, where he's paid a good yearly average, but nothing guaranteed after the first year. Not sure he'd take that kind of contract because there might be other teams out there that would be willing to give him more guarantees.

It's not the downside of a CB's career, who has not played a lot during his career.

So where would address his replacement? FA? Draft? What round

Just because he hasn't played in as many NFL games as others doesn't mean he still doesn't have a lot of wear on his tires. The guy has been in the league five years, practicing day in and day out. Regardless, I'm not sure that its really a question of how much wear and tear he's exposed to, but rather just the simple fact that the motor skills necessary to be an top CB are at their peak in a person's mid-to-late 20s.

All I'm saying is that I'd be extremely hesitant to sign guys to big guaranteed contracts who are in their late 20s/early 30s and who play positions that rely upon elite athleticism, since the window for those skills to remain at their peak is fairly short. So as much as I like Desir and how he's risen from nothing to become a good corner for us, its not good business to sign these guys to big guaranteed contracts. We've seen it over and over, but some teams (for example, the Raiders or Washington) never seem to learn. Those are contracts that make everyone happy when they're first signed, but the team and fans later grow to regret. If Desir had played the same but was only going to be 26, things would be different.

This is the same reason (among many others) that it wouldn't be a good idea to trade for Antonio Brown (age 31) or sign Le'veon Bell (though he'll be only 27 next year, RBs peak very early).

Your concerns about his age also limit the type of contract he can expect to get in UFA. He's likely looking at a 3 year deal, which if structured the right way would be like a 1 year deal with two option years. It's low risk.

Actually, that's exactly the type of contract that the Colts should try to implement. Pay him well for the first year, but don't commit to him for too long if possible The problem (and maybe the reason we haven't locked him up yet) is that Desir may feel he can do better on the free market - where it's likely that another team would be willing to stick its neck out and sign him for lots of guaranteed money - hoping that he'll buck the overall trend and continue to perform at a high level for several years.

Who could blame Desir if this is true? This is probably his best chance to cash in for himself and his family. I'm only looking at it from the Colts perspective - what I think makes sense for the Colts. I'd expect Desir to do what's best for himself.

The draft, probably. Round depends on talent available. It's mostly a zone scheme, so it's not like we need multiple first rounders to play corner.

Though Ronald Darby is a FA and Reich would know him some from Philadephia. Jason Verrett has an injury history but is very talented when healthy, he won't command a big contract. Bradley Roby will be available.

I bet one of our first 3 picks will be a corner. Byron Murphy, Traveon Mullen, Rock-Ya Sin, Joejuan Williams. Can see us getting one of those guys.

I hope not

Because of the high pick used on a CB or the players?

He will reply with "Yes".

Well D'Joun Smith just got cut by the AAF, let's bring him back!

The Colts better hurry.....upon hearing he is a free agent, I am sure Pags ran to the Bears GM's office to beg him to sign D'Joun.

I'm pretty sure Ballard will go DL/EDGE at 26 and 34, but I think anything from WR, CB, SS, OL will be fair game for that late 2nd.

Omaha wants to build the trenches, but I'll push back on not considering CB at 2.26 because here's what you would have on both lines:

OL:
3 1st rounders
1 high 2nd rounder
Glow

DL:
1 1st rounder (incl #26)
3 2nd rounders (incl #34)
Sheard
Autry
UFA?

At some point you run out of roster spots. 2.26 will be BPA at WR, CB, SS, etc.

I don't think they will spend their first round on CB. But I think they will consider their 2nd rounders for it, 3rd and 4th also. Those guys I listed are 2nd to 3rd rounders I think.

A lot still depends on what happens in FA.

The pick. Cb just isn’t that important right now. We have some talent there if we bring back desir. And we should.

Moore, Desir, and Wilson all had some stand-out performances last year, with an overachieving group of no-names on the DL. The only front 7 (6, most of the time) star we have is Leonard. Improving the DL gives our corners more opportunities to make plays.

On the other hand, we also played some bad QBs last year. This year we'll play Matt Ryan, Patrick Mahomes, Philip Rivers, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger. So the corners will be challenged in a way they weren't until the 2nd round of the playoffs. So assuming we re-sign Desir, addressing the DBs with a 2nd or 3rd round pick seems like a fine thing to do this year if the value is there.

If we bring back Desir I agree. Still waiting to see how FA breaks this year. They sign a Lawrence and Jarret then our DL needs go down. The only position I don't think they will use those top three picks on is WR.

Got Hairston still in there who had a sophomore slump but a guy I'm still high on. I like the group we have, but secondary can always use an injection of talent.

Pass rush and DL is still top priority as the team stands and I think they will address it high and a couple times. But from rounds 2-4 I can see a CB in there or possibly a safety as the team is currently constructed.

Another guy is Chauncy Gardner Johnson of Florida, I think he can play CB and S. That versatility is useful in a nickle DB.

Maybe a 1 year prove it deal. At 27 he probably would like some long term security. Might be his last contract. Hope we do keep him though. I think Ballard will reward him if he qualifies as one of those guys he thinks deserves a contract and improves the locker room.

I keep thinking about how I felt about the corner back situation going into last year. I want us to sign Desir.

I am for continuing to stock line man, both defensive and offensive. We have enough holes that Ballard should be able to almost always draft the best available player.

Desir was on Sirius and sounds like he really wants to be back.