I remember some people (including me) were confused why the Hawks didn’t draft Cedric Gray and instead traded down to draft Knight. Looking back at their pre-draft scouting report: One is an all-around LB. The other is a tackling machine. It makes sense now why John drafted Knight. Coach Mac’s scheme needs a tackling machine for the WLB position. A jack of all trades isn’t necessary if your secondary is elite.
I totally agree. The design of this defense really is that we’re going to have the linebackers focus on the run so we can stop the run with a light box and have more players to stop the pass. Makes a ton of sense and has been highly effective.
I just read the "draft prospectus" on Knight, and they had him at 5.8 overall, which is "back-up and special teams". Looks like he's already surpassed that. He's listed at 233 lbs, but when I see him on TV, what stands out is that he appears to have a really beefy lower body, so he has the strength of perhaps a 250 lb guy, but maybe more speed. Looks like a great find. That guy is always around the ball. Kudos to the coaching staff for letting the rookie play! I thought he looked pretty solid in pre-season, so this is good to see. Imagine this guy with a year of play under his belt. If it's anything like the year 2 leap shown by Mafe and Hall, we're on our way to a young and talented defense. Also not forgetting Murphy getting through the rookie learning curve. Great work on the analysis. Impressive the stat on how much we've been able to cut back on the heavy box.
New subscriber here...Great content here! Love solid, clear-eyed film analysis of my favorite team. Jones & Knight are already a mighty fine LB duo, with lots of room to grow together, let the excitement go wild! (and Jones&Knight has a nice ring to it, like a good cop/bad cop duo that can solve anything.)
One thing i noticed watching this video is that Byron Murphy has been making some amazing plays in run d. Not got the stats but he's having an underrated rookie year
McDonald is a top coach. Right now, our defense doesn't have a stand-out part. The outcome can be decided by the d-line, linebackers, and secondaries. I think in a couple of years our defense will be the best in the league.
It’s hard for the coverage group to be standout on its own without pass rush. That was same for the LOB they had a good pass rush to support them just didn’t have that one TJ watt kinda guy who gets 20 sacks. I think the current defense plays perfect team defense as Witherspoon who will be the superstar
100% Macdonald has been amazing. And I, for the most part, agree that the defense doesn't have a standout part. I think Witherspoon and Ernest Jones are some of the best at their position in the league, and Big Cat and Julian Love are top 10 easily, but yeah this really is more of a team defense than a superstar defense.
Earnest Jones shows why a stat/rating resource like PFF is very limited in its utility. He’s been scoring pretty low to mediocre since getting here and it boils down to their graders not knowing how to factor in context. Trusting Jones and Knight with these light box schemes is a testament to their talent, but it makes their job more difficult. PFF doesn’t know how to account for that. If we were playing more stacked box formations, his grading would probably look much better because a lot of responsibility would be taken away. This happened with Dodson last season. He scored very high but wasn’t given a lot of responsibility.
I totally agree that PFF is wildly underrating Ernest Jones. I was as surprised you were with his grades so far. I will say to be completely fair to PFF (because I do, don't tell any one, have a PFF subscription) they have a lot of good statistics and data. Even they will tell you that their linebacker, defensive tackle and safety grades are easily their worst. The accuracy of their grades vary by position because figuring out what a successful play looks like it easier for some situations and more difficult for others. PFF isn't worthless - but I don't take it's rankings for linebacker and a few other positions very seriously.
I say we pay him 9-12 with bonus or say we’ll offer you what your worth plus potential but you HAVE to improve on the pass game, we’re a zone defense so it’s going to be important. And id reference Zach charb and how he improved in what he needed to improve in during the season and it shows in his last start vs the one earlier this season.
I love Ernest Jones and I definitely want him here long-term but 20 million years is not doable. Especially when you look at the share amount of people we have to pay this year. The 15-17range sounds more likely.
I agree that the $15-17M/year range is the most likely for sure. I was just making the point that it would probably still be an understandable signing if it goes up to $20M, because he is that good. But yeah the most likely outcome is in that $15-17M range for sure. As for your point about the hawks having to pay a bunch of guys this year, they really have one more year. I think Cross is going to (deservedly so) get an extension and maybe Mafe or Woolen as well, but I think those other guys (Abe Lucas, Kenneth Walker, Coby Bryant) you'll probably wait a year. The hawks have a lot of good young players but the cap is going up and $20M/year isn't what it used to be. It would be 7% of the cap in 2025 and just 6% in 2027.
Thank you for sharing this. That Seattle defense is looking good. Keep it up. Fingers crossed. GO hawks. . Seattle all the way. in MIKE MCDONALD i trust. .and Seattle is in first place in the NFC west division. 💚💚💙💙💚💚💙💙💚💚💙💙💚💚💙💙💚💚💙💙
After the Draft i can proudly say i was one of the few that was fired up over the Laumea pick , value and what i believed could be. With that being said must admit i was not excited by the knight puck and man i could not have been more off. He is not even the same dude from his early season reps. If haynes can wake up and or not be a busy( didnt like him either) but if he can awaken next year and compete on left sude , this will have been a great great draft class , what with early contributions and build for future
That Laumea take looks really good now. Not that I think he’s a great player but he’s already been better than a 6th round rookie should be. This draft really is looking to be great. I’m still a huge believer in Bryon Murphy and the rest of this class (aside from Haynes) has looked good. I think Schneider has done it again
It depends. Obviously if they’re in true hot quarters I would count that as a stacked box (the hawks did a fair amount of that kind of 9 man spacing in the second 49ers game). But while I was charting this, if the safeties were clearly pass first and out of the box, I charted that as a light box. I absolutely oversimplified my explanation for time and to not bog down the episode but I’m happy to explain more of the process to you and hear your thoughts.
@ yeah you’re right. I’m watching the Seahawks Packers game right now and the Packers are running the football down their throat against Seahawks light box 2-safety high defense. 😂😂 Mcdonald will have to think about playing less light box coverage moving forward.
You should have watched Knight against Cardinals at AZ. His pass coverage was way better, locked down both WRs and had Marvin 1 v1 with a pass deflection.
I did watch that game before I published. I thought he looked a lot better for sure but to me those weren’t take-alternating plays if that makes sense. He was good but there’s still been plenty of bad. I’m slightly more optimistic about his upside though for sure!
Every game Ernest Jones plays for us his free agent status climbs 500k. He is great. I can't believe the Rams traded him. Maybe they knew they could not afford him next year. The Titans knew this for sure. Can we sign EJ4 for $14 million per season. Thats what my gut says, maybe between $12 and $14, I doubt it. He is a top 5 linebacker.
Great video. I disagree on the valuation of Jones. I think he will make less than Queen who came off an All-pro year and had trouble finding a market. LB's are extremely devalued. I think he'll get around 8-11 Mil Per year
I hope that he only gets that. But I think Patrick Queen is kind of an anomaly. I watched his tape before the free agency period and he did not deserve that All Pro - Matt Milano and Levonte David to me were more deserving. It was a complicated evaluation because you don't really want to pay a guy at a #1 linebacker price tag when he has never been a #1 linebacker. That's why he only got $13.6M per year. Ernest Jones has a much better track record. He has been a gamechanging #1 linebacker. That's how I got to a $15M/year projection. For reference, Jordyn Brooks got nearly $9M per year - and I don't think he is an impact linebacker. I hope that Ernest gets closer to what you mentioned but we'll have to see. Thanks for your comment!
Yeah. To be fair to him, that was probably his worst play on the season and he was a solid linebacker for the hawks. But yeah that play looks pretty bad.
What do you think about Josh Jobe and do u think Tre brown would do better then him if Mike gave him a chance because Tre brown was number 1 in press coverage and I think he would do better if Mike would give him a chance I know that he was bad against the giants
I think the hawks will and should leave Jobe as the #3. Firstly, he’s in my opinion a better all around player than Tre. But I think more importantly Tre has been injured a lot and I think even when he gets healthy you would be loosing cohesion on the backend. Now as for next year, I think the hawks will be looking for a new #3 corner to at least compete with Jobe. Not that he’s a bad player but a lot of teams have been going after him and I think the defense could be massively improved with a better #3 corner that’ll force teams to throw more at Riq and spoon.
Right now it will probably come down to Week 18. I think in all likelihood the hawks can win 2 out of the next 3 and get to 10-6 by the final week. Wild card would still be on the table. Idk it’s going to be tight.
I remember some people (including me) were confused why the Hawks didn’t draft Cedric Gray and instead traded down to draft Knight. Looking back at their pre-draft scouting report: One is an all-around LB. The other is a tackling machine. It makes sense now why John drafted Knight. Coach Mac’s scheme needs a tackling machine for the WLB position. A jack of all trades isn’t necessary if your secondary is elite.
I totally agree. The design of this defense really is that we’re going to have the linebackers focus on the run so we can stop the run with a light box and have more players to stop the pass. Makes a ton of sense and has been highly effective.
Solid take
Great vid. A vid breaking down JSN’s breakout would be awesome
That’s definitely on the docket! He’s been incredible and looks like an elite guy.
@@The_Legion_of_12she’s a chill guy
I just read the "draft prospectus" on Knight, and they had him at 5.8 overall, which is "back-up and special teams". Looks like he's already surpassed that. He's listed at 233 lbs, but when I see him on TV, what stands out is that he appears to have a really beefy lower body, so he has the strength of perhaps a 250 lb guy, but maybe more speed. Looks like a great find. That guy is always around the ball. Kudos to the coaching staff for letting the rookie play! I thought he looked pretty solid in pre-season, so this is good to see. Imagine this guy with a year of play under his belt. If it's anything like the year 2 leap shown by Mafe and Hall, we're on our way to a young and talented defense. Also not forgetting Murphy getting through the rookie learning curve. Great work on the analysis. Impressive the stat on how much we've been able to cut back on the heavy box.
Thank you! Yeah both Ernest and knight really do punch above their weight class.
New subscriber here...Great content here! Love solid, clear-eyed film analysis of my favorite team. Jones & Knight are already a mighty fine LB duo, with lots of room to grow together, let the excitement go wild! (and Jones&Knight has a nice ring to it, like a good cop/bad cop duo that can solve anything.)
Ditto. Great depth of analysis (and homework - watching film on Warner and R. Smith for comparisons).
Bruh your works is impressive. so glad that i found your channel! subbed
Thanks for the sub! Appreciate it :)
Mike McDonald - a chill guy
Love the channel …. This channel and all films 22 have the best Seahawk film study’s
Thank you!!!
One thing i noticed watching this video is that Byron Murphy has been making some amazing plays in run d. Not got the stats but he's having an underrated rookie year
Oh for sure. He’s probably the most underrated hawk rn.
Amazing work. Love your channel!
Great video man, keep em coming
Appreciate it!
these vids are so good bro
Thank you!!!
McDonald is a top coach. Right now, our defense doesn't have a stand-out part. The outcome can be decided by the d-line, linebackers, and secondaries. I think in a couple of years our defense will be the best in the league.
It’s hard for the coverage group to be standout on its own without pass rush. That was same for the LOB they had a good pass rush to support them just didn’t have that one TJ watt kinda guy who gets 20 sacks. I think the current defense plays perfect team defense as Witherspoon who will be the superstar
100% Macdonald has been amazing. And I, for the most part, agree that the defense doesn't have a standout part. I think Witherspoon and Ernest Jones are some of the best at their position in the league, and Big Cat and Julian Love are top 10 easily, but yeah this really is more of a team defense than a superstar defense.
@@The_Legion_of_12s What defensive positions should be improved?
@MrRuslaN100defensive line across the board tbh leonard williams is good everybody else is serviceable
Earnest Jones shows why a stat/rating resource like PFF is very limited in its utility. He’s been scoring pretty low to mediocre since getting here and it boils down to their graders not knowing how to factor in context. Trusting Jones and Knight with these light box schemes is a testament to their talent, but it makes their job more difficult. PFF doesn’t know how to account for that. If we were playing more stacked box formations, his grading would probably look much better because a lot of responsibility would be taken away. This happened with Dodson last season. He scored very high but wasn’t given a lot of responsibility.
I totally agree that PFF is wildly underrating Ernest Jones. I was as surprised you were with his grades so far.
I will say to be completely fair to PFF (because I do, don't tell any one, have a PFF subscription) they have a lot of good statistics and data. Even they will tell you that their linebacker, defensive tackle and safety grades are easily their worst. The accuracy of their grades vary by position because figuring out what a successful play looks like it easier for some situations and more difficult for others.
PFF isn't worthless - but I don't take it's rankings for linebacker and a few other positions very seriously.
The shuffle at 6:25🤤😍
Great vid bro
Glad you enjoyed
I’ve been saying for years if Seattle get some run defense and pass rush defense we could make deep playoff runs
I say we pay him 9-12 with bonus or say we’ll offer you what your worth plus potential but you HAVE to improve on the pass game, we’re a zone defense so it’s going to be important. And id reference Zach charb and how he improved in what he needed to improve in during the season and it shows in his last start vs the one earlier this season.
Good thing you’re not a gm lol good luck finding elite coverage backers not named fred warner
I love Ernest Jones and I definitely want him here long-term but 20 million years is not doable. Especially when you look at the share amount of people we have to pay this year. The 15-17range sounds more likely.
I agree that the $15-17M/year range is the most likely for sure. I was just making the point that it would probably still be an understandable signing if it goes up to $20M, because he is that good. But yeah the most likely outcome is in that $15-17M range for sure.
As for your point about the hawks having to pay a bunch of guys this year, they really have one more year. I think Cross is going to (deservedly so) get an extension and maybe Mafe or Woolen as well, but I think those other guys (Abe Lucas, Kenneth Walker, Coby Bryant) you'll probably wait a year. The hawks have a lot of good young players but the cap is going up and $20M/year isn't what it used to be. It would be 7% of the cap in 2025 and just 6% in 2027.
He won’t get 20 mil per year, doesn’t have the consistent track record to get more than 12-14 M if you ask me.
@ yea, that’s a good point. I am just excited about this roster so I am worried about who we might have to loose to keep some of these guys.
20 million years is a long time. I wouldn’t bet on his durability to last that long
Yeah you’re probably right 😂
I was thinking around 15mil as well. Locking him at that rate for a long term deal will look GENIUS by 2025 offseason.
Jones is from Ware County Georgia
I wrote my comment before I saw your number. Your is realistic.
I wish yours were what was going to happen but I do think $15M+ is probably where it’s heading.
Great video. Go Hawks.
Appreciate it!
Thank you for sharing this. That Seattle defense is looking good. Keep it up. Fingers crossed. GO hawks. . Seattle all the way. in MIKE MCDONALD i trust. .and Seattle is in first place in the NFC west division. 💚💚💙💙💚💚💙💙💚💚💙💙💚💚💙💙💚💚💙💙
After the Draft i can proudly say i was one of the few that was fired up over the Laumea pick , value and what i believed could be.
With that being said must admit i was not excited by the knight puck and man i could not have been more off. He is not even the same dude from his early season reps. If haynes can wake up and or not be a busy( didnt like him either) but if he can awaken next year and compete on left sude , this will have been a great great draft class , what with early contributions and build for future
That Laumea take looks really good now. Not that I think he’s a great player but he’s already been better than a 6th round rookie should be.
This draft really is looking to be great. I’m still a huge believer in Bryon Murphy and the rest of this class (aside from Haynes) has looked good.
I think Schneider has done it again
Great analysis bud. but a light box isn’t a light box if a defense is in quarters or other match coverage. The safeties are in run fits.
It depends. Obviously if they’re in true hot quarters I would count that as a stacked box (the hawks did a fair amount of that kind of 9 man spacing in the second 49ers game). But while I was charting this, if the safeties were clearly pass first and out of the box, I charted that as a light box.
I absolutely oversimplified my explanation for time and to not bog down the episode but I’m happy to explain more of the process to you and hear your thoughts.
@ yeah you’re right. I’m watching the Seahawks Packers game right now and the Packers are running the football down their throat against Seahawks light box 2-safety high defense. 😂😂
Mcdonald will have to think about playing less light box coverage moving forward.
You should have watched Knight against Cardinals at AZ. His pass coverage was way better, locked down both WRs and had Marvin 1 v1 with a pass deflection.
I did watch that game before I published. I thought he looked a lot better for sure but to me those weren’t take-alternating plays if that makes sense. He was good but there’s still been plenty of bad. I’m slightly more optimistic about his upside though for sure!
@ that’s fair. I mean he did get rookie of the week as well. So not bad. He has been solid and only getting better per game.
100%
Every game Ernest Jones plays for us his free agent status climbs 500k. He is great. I can't believe the Rams traded him. Maybe they knew they could not afford him next year. The Titans knew this for sure. Can we sign EJ4 for $14 million per season. Thats what my gut says, maybe between $12 and $14, I doubt it. He is a top 5 linebacker.
Great video. I disagree on the valuation of Jones. I think he will make less than Queen who came off an All-pro year and had trouble finding a market. LB's are extremely devalued. I think he'll get around 8-11 Mil Per year
I hope that he only gets that. But I think Patrick Queen is kind of an anomaly. I watched his tape before the free agency period and he did not deserve that All Pro - Matt Milano and Levonte David to me were more deserving.
It was a complicated evaluation because you don't really want to pay a guy at a #1 linebacker price tag when he has never been a #1 linebacker. That's why he only got $13.6M per year. Ernest Jones has a much better track record. He has been a gamechanging #1 linebacker. That's how I got to a $15M/year projection.
For reference, Jordyn Brooks got nearly $9M per year - and I don't think he is an impact linebacker.
I hope that Ernest gets closer to what you mentioned but we'll have to see. Thanks for your comment!
Go Hawks 💙💚😃😃
Did you just say 15 MIL? I mean if thats what its going to take hes worth it
:41 looks so bad for Dodson
Yeah. To be fair to him, that was probably his worst play on the season and he was a solid linebacker for the hawks. But yeah that play looks pretty bad.
What do you think about Josh Jobe and do u think Tre brown would do better then him if Mike gave him a chance because Tre brown was number 1 in press coverage and I think he would do better if Mike would give him a chance I know that he was bad against the giants
I think the hawks will and should leave Jobe as the #3. Firstly, he’s in my opinion a better all around player than Tre. But I think more importantly Tre has been injured a lot and I think even when he gets healthy you would be loosing cohesion on the backend.
Now as for next year, I think the hawks will be looking for a new #3 corner to at least compete with Jobe. Not that he’s a bad player but a lot of teams have been going after him and I think the defense could be massively improved with a better #3 corner that’ll force teams to throw more at Riq and spoon.
PAY THE MAN.
do you think seattle wins the division?
Right now it will probably come down to Week 18. I think in all likelihood the hawks can win 2 out of the next 3 and get to 10-6 by the final week. Wild card would still be on the table. Idk it’s going to be tight.
Now fix the rush defense..4.7 yards a game is horrid
There is more than 1 LB in the world, and one that can do the work jones does for 10 million less😂
Not really lmao or we would brought em in