Revenge of the Birds
Reason 1: Isaiah shouldn’t have been the Cardinals’ 2020 1st round pick
Note: for those of you who have expressed your disapproval for ROTB articles involving former Cardinals or opinion-based threads, this long article (2 days to write) is not for you.
In a recent SI article by Donnie Druin, Isaiah Simmons, who was signed to a 1-year deal by the Packers this off-season, expressed appreciation for his new DC, Jeff Hafley, for giving him one specific role to try to “get really good at one thing first,”
Isaiah added, “That’s something I really appreciate because I never really had that opportunity to really just hone in on one position. It’s hard enough to get into the NFL let alone stay, as well as be effective at a position, so just being able to lock in on one thing and do that 1/11 every day, I mean that’s been - I feel like - huge for me.”
As Donnie Druin aptly points out, “According to Pro Football Focus, Simmons logged snaps at the following positions in Arizona:
Edge defender, off-ball linebacker, strong safety, free safety, slot defender and boundary cornerback.”
Here is the full SI article:
Former First-Round Pick Takes Dig at Arizona Cardinals (si.com)
If this was indeed Isaiah taking a “dig” at the Cardinals, man, in my opinion, he let the Cardinals off easy.
10 ways in which the Cardinals mishandled Isaiah Simmons
There were three players the Cardinals were heavily targeting at pick #8 in the 2020 NFL Draft:
Truth is, none of the most popular NFL pundits legitimately thought that Isaiah Simmons, with these stellar college credentials, would still be on the board at pick #8:
When the Panthers selected Derrick Brown at #7, one pick ahead of the Cardinals at #8, Steve Keim had a whole 10 minutes to consider scrapping his top targets to go with the Clemson defensive superstar instead.
But —- what Keim could not possibly do in 10 minutes is devise the best specific plan for a unicorn like Simmons —- AND —- have the team’s DC, Vance Jospeh, be fully committed to whatever that plan would be.
What Mel Kiper said that night about Isaiah Simmons turned out to be prophetic —- “the team that selects Isaiah Simmons has to have a specific plan for him.”
2. From day one, Steve Keim projected that Isaiah Simmons would play WILB.
We ROTB members KNEW from the get-go that WILB would not be the most suitable NFL position for Isaiah Simmons. If we KNEW it, why then didn’t Steve Keim, Vance Joseph or Billy Davis?
**3. One of the worst scenarios for Isaiah...
