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DB Shaun Wade (1st Team All American, New England Patriots)



“I’m really looking forward to it,” Wade said. “I didn’t even get to play a full half last year. But at the end of the day, it’s a team sport, not a me sport. We ended up losing last year, but we’re a new team. New them, new us, new place. So, I’m just really looking forward to it and just playing against them and get our goal, which is to win a semifinal game, because now we’re here. And after that, we’ll look toward the future.”

Just sayin': I'm expecting to see Shaun Wade come up BIG tomorrow night.
 
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Wades best attributes are physicality, aggression, tackling, and reading the play (quarterback and the ball).

I don’t think the boundary corner position plays to his strengths.

I would expect that at the next level he shifts to safety similar to Malcom Jenkins and the transition he made. Also think he will have a great and long career there.


I used to think he played physical and liked to hit people. He hasn't shown that on film yet in 7 games this year. He got bullied on multiple occasions last night and throughout the 1st 5 regular season games TBH, especially vs. PSU and IU.
 
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I used to think he played physical and liked to hit people. He hasn't shown that on film yet in 7 games this year. He got bullied on multiple occasions last night and throughout the 1st 5 regular season games TBH, especially vs. PSU and IU.

It’s a lot easier to play to your physicality as a safety / nickel when the play is in front of you vs as a boundary corner


That’s the whole point. There’s a reason why Doss, Coleman, Bell, Fuller - despite being fantastic OSU DBs and as great as they are - didn’t play cover corner. It’s probably the hardest position in the game after QB.

The experiment failed; but I don’t think that means Wade now doesn’t have pro level talent or value. It’s just probably at a different position.
 
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It’s a lot easier to play to your physicality as a safety / nickel when the play is in front of you vs as a boundary corner


That’s the whole point. There’s a reason why Doss, Coleman, Bell, Fuller - despite being fantastic OSU DBs and as great as they are - didn’t play cover corner. It’s probably the hardest position in the game after QB.

The experiment failed; but I don’t think that means Wade now doesn’t have pro level talent or value. It’s just probably at a different position.

The reason none of them played corner was they didn't have the hip fluidity, footwork and speed to play the position, on top of being considered as safeties when arriving. Wade got straight up bullied a couple times, just switching to being back on a hash isn't going to somehow change that. You're also forgetting that Malcolm spent considerable time floating between both boundary corner and split field safety along with already being one of the most physical CB's who was not afraid of contact since Winfield. I've still yet to see a DB since him match his willingness and ability to tackle.

That isn't Wade this year, not by a long shot. Some people on here claim Gamble was defending himself for the NFL by playing easy in his final few games of 03'. Well he ended up housing KState and I never really saw any evidence of such claims with my own eyes.

But I've seen it with Shaun and I do not offer that observation lightly. The keys, footwork, angles and responsibility along with the diagnosing of route progressions v leverage & positioning is also vastly different at safety. If you believe that being asked to play on the perimeter this year has slowed SW's development, imagine what yet a far more involving position change will entail? That's not a ringing endorsement if you want him to go 1st round.

Edit: and while I agree there are differences about having a play unfold in front of you, Wade wasn't always offered that advantage in a heavy c3 & c1 system from last year. But if you go back and watch, you'll see him be far more active with his hands near the LOS on receivers than this year. There's a good deal to unpack with his play that film study could help reveal. But to simply call him a tweener isn't a real solution or explanation for the DB we expected to see this year.
 
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The reason none of them played corner was they didn't have the hip fluidity, footwork and speed to play the position, on top of being considered as safeties when arriving. Wade got straight up bullied a couple times, just switching to being back on a hash isn't going to somehow change that. You're also forgetting that Malcolm spent considerable time floating between both boundary corner and split field safety along with already being one of the most physical CB's who was not afraid of contact since Winfield. I've still yet to see a DB since him match his willingness and ability to tackle.

That isn't Wade this year, not by a long shot. Some people on here claim Gamble was defending himself for the NFL by playing easy in his final few games of 03'. Well he ended up housing KState and I never really saw any evidence of such claims with my own eyes.

But I've seen it with Shaun and I do not offer that observation lightly. The keys, footwork, angles and responsibility along with the diagnosing of route progressions v leverage & positioning is also vastly different at safety. If you believe that being asked to play on the perimeter this year has slowed SW's development, imagine what yet a far more involving position change will entail? That's not a ringing endorsement if you want him to go 1st round.

Edit: and while I agree there are differences about having a play unfold in front of you, Wade wasn't always offered that advantage in a heavy c3 & c1 system from last year. But if you go back and watch, you'll see him be far more active with his hands near the LOS on receivers than this year. There's a good deal to unpack with his play that film study could help reveal. But to simply call him a tweener isn't a real solution or explanation for the DB we expected to see this year.
Shaun isnt having the year that he wanted to have but after re-watching every game again and focusing on his technique, something occurred to me. It seems to me that Shaun's playing off, soft man, by design. Stay with me for a moment. By playing off in man he is inviting them to attack his side of the field which protects the other side of the field. The way we began this season with guys looking out of position, I would wager that they made this move to try and protect the side of the field with little to no experience. Allowing the short passes and making the play in front of the Defense is how this should work. There were anomalies obviously and it doesnt account for them not playing the ball or battling strongly for possession. Banks has improved a lot over this season but with Clemson's explosiveness and the big play in their first series against Sevyn, I really feel we utilized this strategy again. It worked for the most part but the strength on ball isn't Shauns personal strength so it's both good and bad possibly. You can believe he'll be off again this week to battle Bama's speed. Let's hope it works one more time.
 
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Shaun isnt having the year that he wanted to have but after re-watching every game again and focusing on his technique, something occurred to me. It seems to me that Shaun's playing off, soft man, by design. Stay with me for a moment. By playing off in man he is inviting them to attack his side of the field which protects the other side of the field. The way we began this season with guys looking out of position, I would wager that they made this move to try and protect the side of the field with little to no experience. Allowing the short passes and making the play in front of the Defense is how this should work. There were anomalies obviously and it doesnt account for them not playing the ball or battling strongly for possession. Banks has improved a lot over this season but with Clemson's explosiveness and the big play in their first series against Sevyn, I really feel we utilized this strategy again. It worked for the most part but the strength on ball isn't Shauns personal strength so it's both good and bad possibly. You can believe he'll be off again this week to battle Bama's speed. Let's hope it works one more time.

In order of bolded.

- Not always. Generally in previous Silver Bullet defenses, going back as far as my memory takes me (early teenage years) our boundary corner can be thrown meg assignments and generally we would roll safety help away while that corner was free to play to their skill set. Fox, Gamble, Everett, Malcolm, Devon, Travis Howard... all played a variety of techniques that the defense would call for. The reason why you "traditionally" see more off coverage to the field side is because of ball flight time, especially in zone or pattern matching heavy defenses. Why not have superior athletes getting their eyes back to the QB and going to picks? Especially against college QB's who don't always throw with timing.

- As I mentioned above with rolling safety help away from Shaun. I get that, but it doesn't excuse his level of play.

- If said short passes are cheap and easy completions to move the chains... then no, that's not how defense works.

- The issue is you see glimpses of it last year and hesitancy combined with a lack of fundamental play this year. And you're a 6'1 195lb corner with long arms that can't (or won't) throw a proper press, bump, anything. It's mind blowing.

- I'm sure Devonta Smith is giving some nightmares right now. I'm cool if he gets (most likely will) 5-7 catches for 100 yards and a TD. But if you surrender 10-12 catches for 150 and a couple teddies, then likely some of those catches were drive maintaining possesions. Bucks simply can't give Bama every 3rd down, they have to get off the field at some point. As explosive as Bama's offense is, they're equally as good at keeping possession - +11 in T/O margin. So I'm not simply counting on turnovers either. More than likely Shaun will draw the #2 as we attempt to bracket Smith with numbers and leverage. Leverage specifically against Bama's early down RPO designs.
 
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His season is reminded me of Bradley Roby a few years ago. Roby came back when he could have went pro and had kind of a pedestrian year. Both under Coombs.
That is exactly who I compared him to. My dad was all over Roby saying he wasn't worth shit while I said his scheme sucked and wasn't helping him at all. I feel the same about Wade. There is a common denominator.
 
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