If you can somehow block out his dropped pick-six that would have beaten the 49ers in the playoff, Packers defensive back Micah Hyde exceeded expectations in his rookie season.
So we should all prepare for Hyde to take the next step and be even better in 2014, right? Not so fast.
I know we’re a long way from training camp, but who is Hyde going to beat out for consistent playing time?
Tramon Williams? No way, especially if we get the Tramon from the second half of last season.
Sam Shields? I hope not. If that happens, it means the Packers just wasted a whole bunch of money on Shields.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix? Hyde hasn’t truly played at safety in the NFL so it’s hard to envision Hyde beating out the team’s No. 1 draft pick.
Morgan Burnett? It’s possible, but again, Hyde hasn’t played safety in the NFL. I can’t see him beating Burnett, who is entering his fifth season and second year of a new contract.
Casey Hayward? Only if Hayward isn’t the same player he was during his rookie season following an injury-wrecked sophomore season.
As of now, and “now” is a looooooong ways away from training camp, exhibition games and real football being played, Hyde is the Packers dime back and nothing more. Hyde will have to have himself a helluva training camp to earn more playing time beyond that.
——————
Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
——————
This is a good problem to have. WHEN (not if) injuries hit, between Hyde and House and maybe even Bush we should have enough depth to not have to watch the suckage we did last year. And if anyone doesn’t perform… they lose their spot.
Now about ILB….
Hawk is definitely no stud, and I consider myself Hawk-hating addict. In fact, my favorite thing to say about him is how for years he was paid like Patrick Willis yet never had a pro-bowl nod.
But at least he’s healthy and can rank up the tackle stats. I reviewed a few games from the past year, I noticed that Hawk actually has a little better knack for getting tackles for losses than I expected.
If Carl Bradford (or just maybe one of those intriguing ILB UNDFA’s) replaces Brad Jones, then I say I can live with that. My point is, as long as the rest of the front seven does there job, Hawk will be “just good enough” at ILB. There won’t be a “hole” there.
… and that’s not good enough UNLESS everyone else is great. I don’t know about you but I’m not satisfied with that.
I’m sick of our ILBs getting toasted on 3rd down by seam and wheel routes, or by a running QB. THEY HAVE TO BE FASTER DANGIT!
Hyde is a playmaker and needs to be on the field. The defense is much better when he is out there. I don’t care how much money his competition is getting paid, you gotta put the best man on the field, not the highest paid.
Hyde is a playmaker? You mean like the DROPPED INT vs the 49ers in the playoffs? That kind of “playmaker”?
At least he was in position to make the play.
I don’t think Hyde is the best man- assuming that Casey Hayward is healthy and picks up where he left off.
That being said, Hyde will be an important role player. Where Hayward is the far more gifted cover corner and playmaker, Hyde is more physical and could see time in packages where it’s 50/50 chance of run pass, or as a delayed blitzer up the gut from the nickle perhaps. Maybe in situations where they would like a DB in shallow zone to also spy the QB.
I think Williams/Shields/Hayward are all better CBs, but Hyde will have a place in this defense. He brings a little something different than the others.
Hell, go dime every time on 3rd and long situations. Take out Hawk or Jones and make him the nickel “inside linebacker.” Coverage ability as a unit jumps up a notch and he’s an outstanding tackler for a DB. Would not surprise me to see Dom use something like this next year to get him on the field. He’s a capable blitzer, can cover backs out of the backfield, take the TE, take the slot, whatever. He’s a nice chess piece to have.
I fully agree. Capers and MM will look at all defensive packages. “Becoming more multiple” won’t involve just 34 vs 43. Psycho, Hippo, etc. packages will include many players and utilizing their strengths.
“We need to find a way to get him (Hyde) on the field more.”… Mike McCarthy.
“We need to improve our pad level.”…Mike McCarthy
“Stay pawsitive.”
Hahaha!
“That was a joke.”
I could see Hyde beating out brunette or shields. Both do not tackle well. Both are extreme “reaches” in terms of signing to big contracts – burnette proved that last season! Hopefully we won’t see the same in shields.
If Hyde beats out Shields, something has gone terribly wrong.
Tim, I’m sure you mean Burnett…In any event, Shields was way over paid as is Burnett. Shields is a mediocre tackler. Last I checked, neither are All-pros, yet are being paid like they are. Am hoping Goodson (DB) develops into a stud. Tramon Williams is like Jekyll and Hyde…Inconsistent. Would love to see Hyde fit in and produce…
Sam shields’ contract was a gamble, but I do not believe he is overpaid.. at least, not right now.
Shields has put a considerable amount on work on tape that quite frankly, the great majority of CBs in the league simply can not replicate. He -flashes- special talent at the CB position, and has shown more maturity (in a football sense) each year.
If he continues to develop, his contract is going to look like a steal by the end of next season. That’s the gamble, though.
As far as tackling.. as much as it’s a great bonus to have CB’s that tackle well, I’m paying my CBs to cover WR’s and shut down the passing game. I want a guy who puts the ball on the turf.
Its gonna be hard for Hyde to get on the field more than 50% of snaps. He’s not a good enough CB to beat out Shields, Tramon or Hayward for their spots, so that leaves Dime CB.
I think they’ll move him to Safety and he should be in competition to start there, but its unlikely that he wins a starting job over Clinton-Dix and Burnett.
They might be able to get him in on a couple plays in other sub packages. Likely gets 40-50% snaps at most.
I don’t think he sniffs more than 20% of the snaps barring injuries to others. But I agree he’ll be used in certain packages as the situation calls for it.
Man – I hope he’s used more than 35% of the time. I think the nickel idea above is a fantastic one. Dude tackles like a LB. Let him run the middle of the nickel D… and get Hawk out of covering RB’s/TE’s.
(ugh… him letting people just run by him on 3rd and long is a recurring nightmare of mine)
I guess it depends on how often they go to the Dime coverages. I was thinking it was about 30% and finding some other sub packages pushes him to the 40%+ range. If they don’t use Dime more than 20% than your probably right.
FWIW, the last few years the Packers have been in one of our various nickle packages more frequently than any other alignment. I couldn’t give you exact numbers, but I think MM has stated they have been in nickle more than half the time. How much they are in base and dime, I wouldn’t be able to guess.
I know they have been in nickel as much or more that most teams. But Hyde’s role is in Dime, which is much less often. IIRC they were in nickel about 65% of defensive snaps. Now is Dime 1/2 that amt or more like a 1/4? That’s what we would have to know.
Let’s say the 2014 season comes and goes and Hyde doesn’t get on the field as much as we’d like. Remember — Tramon Williams is a FA in 2015 and will be 32 by next March. With a 2014 base salary of $6.9M and a whopping cap hit of $9.5M, it’s nearly a sure bet that Williams is gone and Hyde steps right in for him in 2015.
If Tramon is gone after the ’14 season, Hyde will be in competition w/ Hayward and House for the chance to start. He would likely be behind Hayward so that leaves him as the nickel CB, except that Hayward would still likely slide inside to slot CB. House is probably a better outside CB (like Williams is) while Hyde is better suited inside.
So if Shields and Hayward start, in nickel House probably comes in and plays outside w/ Hayward moving inside. That still leaves Hyde as the Dime CB.
Hyde’s best shot at starting next year might be if he can win a job at Safety. Of course that is assuming that they bring House back after this year.
House has had moments of looking very good on the outside. He plays a physical game. I think against some recievers he is a good choice, against others he gets burned, but I wouldnt count him out as a future starter…yet.
You won’t find a bigger House fan than me… If it was someone else they probably wouldn’t even take him into consideration. With a little more consistency he would be the most likely to take Tramon’s starting job. Hayward has been better so far, which is why I said he would be the starter w/ Shields, but it could easily be House who takes that starting spot. I love his physicality and press coverage ability. He’s got to step up this year to make it a reality tho.
I really doubt Hyde starts early in the year, but as the season goes on, I can see him taking more and more of Burnett’s snaps. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s starting safety by the end of the season. The Packers would then have Hyde and HHCD as the safeties of the future, and they’d be able to get out of that bad Morgan Burnett contract next year. That money could go towards resigning Nelson/Cobb.
Wow! These guys are great and Hyde probably won’t get on the field. Problem is that our defensive backfield was terrible last year. I understand all the things that contributed to our lowly defense but I will also say that if Hyde plays like he did as a rookie, he will be on the field. I also would not say that Williams, Hayward or Burnett are shoe ins at their positions. They all have to prove something.
He should be the “next man up” at SS and Nickel. Furthermore, when either outside CB or the FS goes down, he will be up at SS or Nickel with others moving to outside CB or FS. Injuries are a big part of the game. He will see a lot of action one way or the other.
I hope that Hyde gets a chance to compete for a safety spot with Burnett. i realize that is unlikely given what GB is paying Burnett, but I would not mind seeing a safety tandem of Hyde and Clinton-Dix. i realize that they do not have a lot of combined experience but Burnett has experience ands he was terrible last year. he was frequently out of position and even when he wasn’t he was beaten badly by opposing receivers. Maybe if he faces some competition during training camp Burnett will improve his game. In any case it’s hard to believe that Hyde could be worse. If not at safety then Capers needs to find a way to get Hyde on the field more often. Hopefully to replace Hawk on passing downs. We’ll see. It’s all speculation for now. Go Pack! Thanks, Since ’61
Who knows if Capers is actually going to adapt and change his stupid schemes that have our safeties covering the other teams #1 WR’s constantly, the way GB’s safety guys played the past couple years he would be better off just playing all CB’s if he is going to ask them to cover WR’s in man to man all the time. I think he forgot he doesn’t have Nick Collins or Charles Woodson anymore.
Was said earlier,production not paycheck needs to be the deciding factor. Heck, nobody’s even mentioned Richardson. If completely healthy,who knows? Regardless FS or SS, you either have the instincts back there or you don’t. After 4 years in the league it was scary how lost Burnett looked last year. Very early on, but something about Hyde indicates he may possess that “it” factor. Sure hope so!
Hyde is a “football player”. He seems to have great instincts, especially close to the line of scrimmage. It’s too bad he’s not a little faster, but he’s quick enough to be the dime CB and a rotational safety. If he could concentrate on safety only he’d probably be a really good one.
It’s sometimes forgotten that Burnett missed the first quarter of the season. When he came back he played with MD, Banjo, or Richardson, and without Hayward. There was a lot on Burnett’s plate. Yes, he made a lot of bad plays, but there could several reasons for that other than he individually regressed.
Regressed is an understatement. He was part of a group of safeties that failed to grab a single pick all year, and PFF graded him near the bottom of the league (74 I think).
If I were TT, I would completely prepare another safety to replace Burnett in the likely event he unveils as (IMO) a bust.
It’s inevitable that one of our starting DB is going to be injured throughout the season. Hyde will get plenty of PT. He will also rotate in to keep our starters fresh so our DB can play 100% in the 4th Quarter. I see a lot fatigue in Williams so Hyde should spell him often.
If you go back and watch the majority of big plays in the pass game given up last year, you will see MD Jennings or Morgan Burnett in the scene on most of them. I love blitzing and exotic looks but if you don’t have safety players that are capable of covering WR’s and TE’s one on one the scheme is going to fail. You put that in combination with a lack of talented pass rushers up front and you get what we have seen the past couple seasons. They can’t get a pass rush with 3 or 4 guys and even 5 often, so Capers brings extra guys forcing the FS or SS to play somebody man to man, We need to hope that Clinton-Dix can do this job light years better than Jennings or Burnett for that matter. Or maybe Peppers helps balance the pass rush and we don’t have to rely on so much blitzing.