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Jets begin inevitable transition at linebacker from David Harris to Darron Lee ~ ~ ~

kelly

By kelly
in NY Jets Forum

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kelly

kelly

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For the better part of his career, David Harris has been an every-down linebacker -- a constant in the lineup. Whether it's nickel, dime or regular personnel, he's always out there, relaying the defensive call and directing traffic for the New York Jets.

But, on Sunday, there was a subtle change.

Harris played only 66 of 73 defensive snaps, as he was replaced in the dime package by rookie Darron Lee. Sitting out for seven plays may not seem like a big deal, but we're talking about a linebacker who played every snap in six of nine complete games. (Harris missed 1.5 games due to a hamstring injury.) When healthy, he never sat out more than three snaps in a game -- until Sunday.

Could we be witnessing a changing of the guard at linebacker?

Yes, this could be the early stage of the inevitable transition. Lee is a first-round pick with outstanding speed. He's the future, and the future was the only defensive player on the field for every play in Sunday's loss to the New England Patriots.

"I played every down, I was fine," Lee said. "I didn't feel like that was too much. I did that when I was in college. I can go all day. I can play all day."

Lee confirmed he made the defensive checks while playing dime linebacker. Interestingly, he handled that job for two of the nine plays on Tom Brady's game-winning drive. Think about that: With the game on the line, Harris was on the sideline for two plays as the rookie ran the defense."I thought I did a pretty good job," Lee said. "Made sure everybody was lined up correctly and had their matchups. Everybody was on the same page. That's all it comes down to. When you want to play fast, just make sure everybody is on the same page -- and we were."

This doesn't mean Harris, 32, is being phased out, but it's a harbinger. If he's back next season for the final year of his contract, it might be as a two-down linebacker. Let's face it, he's not great in pass coverage, and that's an important component in the current NFL.

Lee is the new-age linebacker, but speed isn't everything. He learned a hard lesson about that on the Patriots' go-ahead drive.

 

On the pivotal fourth-and-4 play, Lee tried to disrupt the Patriots by faking an inside blitz while knowing he had man-to-man coverage on running back James White. In retrospect, Lee wishes he had lined up two steps to his left, the proper position based on White's alignment in the backfield. That small technique error was costly. He closed quickly to make the tackle on Brady's flare pass to White, but he was a split-second too late.

First down, Patriots.

"All I had to do was be two steps wider and I wouldn't beat him to the point," Lee said, owning up to his mistake. "He probably wouldn't have gotten those four yards."

Chalk it up to on-the-job training.

>   http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/65195/jets-begin-inevitable-transition-at-linebacker-david-harris-to-darron-lee

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bealeb319

bealeb319

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5 hours ago, Maxman said:

Lee seems to need more work than we hoped in coverage.

I really liked what i saw from him in coverage this year. It has not been fantastic but he has shown some pretty tight coverage and defiantly some promise that he could become something good for us.

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Jetster

Jetster

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Do you guys realize how fast things happen on an NFL field? I'm thrilled that Lee knew he was 2 steps inside & was still able to almost stop White from getting the 1st down. You realize David Harris with 2 steps towards White & the sideline would not even got there & would be running down the sideline.

The rookies are getting much needed experience. Jamie Collins was a non factor for the Pats in his 1st 2 years. We all want every rookie to play like 5 year vets but it's not how it works. 

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Maxman

Maxman

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4 hours ago, UnitedWhofans said:

Maybe, but you have to think that he is better in coverage than Harris is now

I will tell you what, I haven't been impressed with Lee at all. Hopefully he gets better but he hasn't made an impact yet.

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jamesr

jamesr

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8 hours ago, David Harris said:

I thought Lee played almost entirely the other ILB spot.

He does, but in the dime package they used to keep "Molasses" Harris on the field.  Keeping Lee on and subbing out Harris in the dime is the start of the transition to the younger player.

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Jetster

Jetster

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7 hours ago, RutgersJetFan said:

Honestly, Lee is kinda not good. Maybe the light clicks on for him eventually, but he looks lost out there half the time and the moments where things do click he plays soft. 

Seriously, some of you guys are ridiculous. Lee has played like 7 games. He was a bit player in the beginning & then got hurt after getting his ankle caught under a pile. He's also playing behind a group of players other than Leo who are putting zero pressure on opposing offenses.

The Jets are probably bottom 3 in sacks, pressures, in forcing TOs, no strip sacks, no interceptions. Bowles is trying to break in Lee & Jenkins. Defense needs everyone on the same page & that takes time. Lee is also playing on a team with a bottom 5 secondary right now. He's just 1 piece to a rebuild we need on defense. 

We get no pressure from the edges of our defense which gives QBs way too much time to find open receivers. I've said it before, the Jets should target Jamie Collins in free agency if possible and hopefully get a stud edge rusher at the top of the draft. If they resign Winters, they would have their 2 starting guards, they can target a tackle in FA, and draft another one. 

We are still a work in progress so Macc is going to go BPA in the draft. Whether that's offense or defense. We need some star power. Right now Leo is our best player. 

As fans, stop expecting players to go from college to all pro in their 1st years. It's unreasonable. With all our bitching, put Drew Brees at QB & no ones selling their seats at MetLife. Did you see Brady run? Our time is coming.

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The Crusher

The Crusher

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19 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

From slow, overpaid and terrible to tiny and terrible.  Can't wait. 

When do we begin the transition from Namath to our 2nd franchise QB?

It's like Lee already started his sophomore slump. I thought beginning of the season he looked pretty quick and flashed at times. Now? He takes bad angles, cannot shed blocks, looks slow and can't cover to save his life. Hopefully since he started his sophomore slump early maybe he will come out of it early? Early returns look bad. 

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jdeacon

jdeacon

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I cannot even judge what is going on with Lee with how terrible the rest of our defense has been. Honestly I rarely even know he is out there unless I purposely look for him, A discouraging sign for a first round pick but not the end of the world.

Even if the kid just turns out to be decent its a hell of a lot better than a majority of the jets first round picks.

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Jetsfan80

Jetsfan80

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23 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

It's like Lee already started his sophomore slump. I thought beginning of the season he looked pretty quick and flashed at times. Now? He takes bad angles, cannot shed blocks, looks slow and can't cover to save his life. Hopefully since he started his sophomore slump early maybe he will come out of it early? Early returns look bad. 

That kind of thing would be acceptable if a guy like him was taken where he was supposed to be taken, in the 2nd-3rd round range.  But as a first rounder?  F*ckin sh*tbag pick.  We could have just taken Su'a Cravens.

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Jetsfan80

Jetsfan80

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And for f*ck's sake we didn't need to spend yet another 1st round pick on our defense.  Period.  Somewhere there had to be an offensive player that was close to being in the "Best Player Available" category. 

It's even worse that Lee was a luxury pick for a good team, not a key cog for a bad one. 

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Raideraholic

Raideraholic

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26 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

It's like Lee already started his sophomore slump. I thought beginning of the season he looked pretty quick and flashed at times. Now? He takes bad angles, cannot shed blocks, looks slow and can't cover to save his life. Hopefully since he started his sophomore slump early maybe he will come out of it early? Early returns look bad. 

Some positions take longer transition from college to the pro game. Counting on a rookie lb in coverage was never going to be a smooth transition.( takes more than great speed to cover someone )  Anyone who thought he was instantly going to improve Jets cover ability was not be realistic.( shame on you)

In time Darron Lee going to be a very good player in this league , and the Jets Fo will be proven right ..   Heck the Jets want to get rid of Darron  Lee call the Raiders.    For Darron Lee I would give up their stud rg Gabe Jackson .      That's how much a fan I am of Darron Lee.

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drsamuel84

drsamuel84

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I think Lee's shown a ton of promise his rookie year and has the potential to be a really good player.  He's a solid first rd. pick at a position of a need who will most likely be our starting LB for the next 10 years with Pro Bowl potential, can't ask for much more at the #20 pick in the draft.  I know a lot of people complain that the "value" wasn't there where we took him but who did we really miss out on?  A fair assessment it to sometimes look at the next 5 guys taken after him and you have Will Fuller, Josh Doctson, Laquon Treadwell, Artie Burns and Paxton Lynch.  None of them are exactly lighting it up, Fuller has a decent start to his season but has leveled off a lot, Doctson's been hurt all year and Paxton Lynch couldn't beat out Trevor Sieman you can make an argument for Burns since our CB position has been so weak this year but I think Lee's the better player so in the grand scheme of things we do alright. 

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The Crusher

The Crusher

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1 hour ago, Jetsfan80 said:

That kind of thing would be acceptable if a guy like him was taken where he was supposed to be taken, in the 2nd-3rd round range.  But as a first rounder?  F*ckin sh*tbag pick.  We could have just taken Su'a Cravens.

This regime is worse than the former at evaluating talent.

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The Crusher

The Crusher

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1 hour ago, Raideraholic said:

Some positions take longer transition from college to the pro game. Counting on a rookie lb in coverage was never going to be a smooth transition.( takes more than great speed to cover someone )  Anyone who thought he was instantly going to improve Jets cover ability was not be realistic.( shame on you)

In time Darron Lee going to be a very good player in this league , and the Jets Fo will be proven right ..   Heck the Jets want to get rid of Darron  Lee call the Raiders.    For Darron Lee I would give up their stud rg Gabe Jackson .      That's how much a fan I am of Darron Lee.

Oh so Lee is a guaranteed bust? Thanks.  All kidding aside you guys look great this year and are very fun to watch. F-the Pats.

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Jetsfan80

Jetsfan80

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1 hour ago, Raideraholic said:

Some positions take longer transition from college to the pro game. Counting on a rookie lb in coverage was never going to be a smooth transition.( takes more than great speed to cover someone )  Anyone who thought he was instantly going to improve Jets cover ability was not be realistic.( shame on you)

In time Darron Lee going to be a very good player in this league , and the Jets Fo will be proven right ..   Heck the Jets want to get rid of Darron  Lee call the Raiders.    For Darron Lee I would give up their stud rg Gabe Jackson .      That's how much a fan I am of Darron Lee.

Blah.  We've taken enough project picks.  We want an instant contributor at a position that matters.  Like that time we took Derek Carr rather than making a stupid pick, like taking a safety at 20.  Wait.....

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phill1c

phill1c

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Just now, Jetsfan80 said:

Blah.  We've taken enough project picks.  We want an instant contributor at a position that matters.  Like that time we took Derek Carr rather than making a stupid pick, like taking a safety at 20.  Wait.....

He led the team in tackles.

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Jetsfan80

Jetsfan80

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1 hour ago, phill1c said:

He's a LB, that's often what they are asked to do.

it's unlikely that he will be able to bring back the coal industry or captain the next Mars expedition.

No, that's not what they are always asked to do.  First off, if the tackle is taking place 6 yards from the line of scrimmage, it's not a great tackle.  If he's getting to guys and holding them to 2-3 yard gains or even getting TFL's, that's great.  Second off, pretty much his primary role on this team is to cover guys.  If he's leading the team in tackles, it could easily mean he's allowing lots of completions.

He's not passing the eye test, so my guess is that tackle # is pretty meaningless. 

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Beerfish

Beerfish

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2 hours ago, phill1c said:

He's a LB, that's often what they are asked to do.

it's unlikely that he will be able to bring back the coal industry or captain the next Mars expedition.

If you go back and look at all the chatter to justify taking a smaller speed LB at the time it was all about being able to cover RB,s and TES., make impact plays such as creating turnovers and getting some sacks.  He might get better in those areas but so far he has really done nothing in any of them.

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rangerous

rangerous

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you can't teach speed.  he'll do better in coverage and actually has enough speed to make up for a bad angle.  his only issue at this point is physical size.  it's easy to see him be blocked out by players 50+lbs heavier.  he'll need to recognize the blocks and avoid them or learn better on how to shed them.

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jack48

jack48

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On 11/29/2016 at 0:51 PM, kelly said:

For the better part of his career, David Harris has been an every-down linebacker -- a constant in the lineup. Whether it's nickel, dime or regular personnel, he's always out there, relaying the defensive call and directing traffic for the New York Jets.

But, on Sunday, there was a subtle change.

Harris played only 66 of 73 defensive snaps, as he was replaced in the dime package by rookie Darron Lee. Sitting out for seven plays may not seem like a big deal, but we're talking about a linebacker who played every snap in six of nine complete games. (Harris missed 1.5 games due to a hamstring injury.) When healthy, he never sat out more than three snaps in a game -- until Sunday.

Could we be witnessing a changing of the guard at linebacker?

Yes, this could be the early stage of the inevitable transition. Lee is a first-round pick with outstanding speed. He's the future, and the future was the only defensive player on the field for every play in Sunday's loss to the New England Patriots.

"I played every down, I was fine," Lee said. "I didn't feel like that was too much. I did that when I was in college. I can go all day. I can play all day."

Lee confirmed he made the defensive checks while playing dime linebacker. Interestingly, he handled that job for two of the nine plays on Tom Brady's game-winning drive. Think about that: With the game on the line, Harris was on the sideline for two plays as the rookie ran the defense."I thought I did a pretty good job," Lee said. "Made sure everybody was lined up correctly and had their matchups. Everybody was on the same page. That's all it comes down to. When you want to play fast, just make sure everybody is on the same page -- and we were."

This doesn't mean Harris, 32, is being phased out, but it's a harbinger. If he's back next season for the final year of his contract, it might be as a two-down linebacker. Let's face it, he's not great in pass coverage, and that's an important component in the current NFL.

Lee is the new-age linebacker, but speed isn't everything. He learned a hard lesson about that on the Patriots' go-ahead drive.

 

On the pivotal fourth-and-4 play, Lee tried to disrupt the Patriots by faking an inside blitz while knowing he had man-to-man coverage on running back James White. In retrospect, Lee wishes he had lined up two steps to his left, the proper position based on White's alignment in the backfield. That small technique error was costly. He closed quickly to make the tackle on Brady's flare pass to White, but he was a split-second too late.

First down, Patriots.

"All I had to do was be two steps wider and I wouldn't beat him to the point," Lee said, owning up to his mistake. "He probably wouldn't have gotten those four yards."

Chalk it up to on-the-job training.

>   http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/65195/jets-begin-inevitable-transition-at-linebacker-david-harris-to-darron-lee

I do not get Lee as a straight up run support inside LB.  He just does not have what it takes to stuff the run

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