WHAT if we can do better at DT ? The possibility of losing Bennie Logan got me to wondering who’d replace him if he goes. The knee jerk answer was of course DT Beau Allen, who filled in for Logan in 2016 when he was injured for a couple games. During that time however, Allen was “just a guy”. It reminded us of why we needed Logan so much. However, after I gave it some more thought, I found myself faced with a question: Do we really need Bennie Logan?
THAT was written before Logan became a Chief. It was supposed to be the original open for this article. Then things happened how they happened.
I’m glad I had already asked myself that question. Had I not already been considering it, Logan not re-signing might have concerned me deeply. As luck would have it, I’m pretty sure we’re good. Not to dump on Bennie (because he’s a good soldier), but the question was worth asking. The answer is: “No, we don’t need him. We’re going to be fine.”
Logan is not the difference maker, he’s the rock in the middle vs the run, who absorbs blockers so that others can make plays. He doesn’t offer much as a pass rusher, but that’s really not his game. He’s a good guy, but what he does is easy enough to find and replace. He is by no means rare. We will see plenty like him.
What Logan does is “gap maintenance”, not “disruption”. He’s not the guy who blows up gaps and ruins plays. That ‘s who DT Fletcher Cox is. Logan is the stay-at-home DT who anchors the line. No shame in that if it works for him, but given all the times QB’s were able to step up into the pocket…was it really working for us?
So what if we replaced Logan with another disruptor? In my wettest of dreams, we signed DT Dontari Poe to team with Cox, but the money was never going be there for that. DT Destiny Vaeao on the other hand, is already on the roster, and is an active gap penetrator with enough foot speed to chase QB’s back and out of the pocket. Unlike Logan, Vaeao has the ability to be disruptive. We need that.
One of the primary goals of any defense is to cause turnovers. One of the best ways to do that, is to force the offense into making mistakes. If we can disrupt plays early, then opponents can’t do what they practiced. They then have to improvise, and that increases the odds of them making mistakes.
So let’s figure out a way to be disruptive right at the line of scrimmage. Let’s do that by starting the most disruptive D-Line we can assemble. Let’s make opponents as uncomfortable as hell, right at the snap of the ball.
has never been a bell-cow RB for a damned good reason. On 59 carries this year, he’s yet to see the end zone or break a run for 20 yards. His 36 touches over the last two weeks have taken a visible toll on his quickness and explosiveness. Which explains why he ran out of gas on the punt return that he almost brought back Sunday. Bet you hadn’t put those two together.
but he can’t evade NFL level speed on bootlegs. If he’s going to bootleg, it has to be into a throw. That option running stuff is out of the question for him. He’s just too slow at this level. If he drops back and the pocket splits, by all means young man, RUN! These QB option plays though? They have to go. Unless we’re drafting another QB.
He gave us all a reason to sit up and take notice in the preseason, but since the games began to count, he’s been only useful as a plugger vs the run. Even when going against an O-line decimated by injury. Despite frequent double teams on DT 
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