Found this gem about Highsmith

From ESPN:

Alex Highsmith had a pass rush win rate of 24% as an edge rusher. He didn't have enough plays to qualify for our leaderboard, but if he had, that would have ranked 7th...one spot ahead of Chase Young.

 

Chase gets double teamed though. Highsmith is impressive though ... it is his run defense that needs to improve.

 

That's fair, but considering where he came from, no real preseason, he played very well.

 

Hopefully he can take another step up with an NFL off season of training.

 

He will. And it won't take 4 years to show it...

 

As much as I criticize Butler for the immense talent he has to work with he needs to be given credit for this quick acceleration in this kids learning curve.
Remember Zo from FSU. I think he was on the starting roster for 3 years and basically was a bust.
Another kid that I thought was a no brainer gem was a Jr out of Ohio St. He bounced around and even was tried out with the Pats.
Then the kid from UCLA who I thought would be the 2nd coming of Jason Taylor. I suck at finding if prospects will make it. lol

 

Highsmith just needs to get stronger and hit the weight room. Maybe also get another move to help in his pass rush.

 

Chase does not get doubled he disappeared like he always do in big games

 

Lol, he's already got more moves than Bud. You don't need five moves, you need a couple that you perfect. He's got the rip and dip and spin move already. Work on those and perfect them.

 

In regards to your criticism of Butler, curious what you thought 3-4 years ago? What about when he was an assistant to our DC? A few years ago our defense was not good and everyone wanted Butler fired. A year later (last season) we had a top 5 defense. So did Butler suck 2 years ago or just have bad talent? Then he got great talent in 1 year and delivered a good defense...in spite of Butler being a bad coach?

So what would Butler have to do to prove he's good? He sucks when we suck, he sucks when we don't suck. If we stunk due to talent issues then turned it around by adding a few players with talent, wouldn't that mean Butler proved his defense works? In fact it works better than 28 other teams? We are not talking about HOF players at every position... in fact I'd say the only player on our defense that deserves to be in the probowl is Watt. So I'm having a hard time understanding the logic that he's dealing with far superior talent than every other team. Cam Heyward is good ...and Minkah is really good .... a probowler. So this amazingly talented defense carrying Butler is Watt and Minkah? The criticism of Butler is so far off base and lacks any legitimate logic. No basis in reality or evidence of critical thinking, just irrational dislike. There's not 1 player on this defense that is a legit HOF contender. Maybe Watt will be some day but he's got a long way to go for that....and if I'm a betting man I'd bet significant $ he will never be a HOF LB.

I guess if you wanted to argue that Tomlin is completely running the defense and Butler is just collecting a paycheck then at least it's a possibility. Of course you would need to know some facts that no one else knows to make that claim. What happened to basing opinions with facts to support them? Bizzaro world.