membengal

There's your Tyler Boyd replacement a year from now. He was on the wish list for a lot of folks. I am good with this.

Good luck with him cleveland. Gonna need someone to live with him and cook for him etc.

Really? The guy that started 37 straight times for Nick Saban and played in all 54 games with Alabama he could have is ready to step in and contribute right away in the NFL? We sure? I mean, it's so simple to be a S in a Nick Saban defense...

ARE YOU SURE? LIKE, 100% SURE? Because Scott is here on a cheap contract where most of his experience has come at special teams until last year and I like him but it's not like he has a starting spot on lock. Daniel Jeremiah literally said, when Battle was announced, "he can start day 1". I absolutely believe that the competition to start and play significant snaps is wide open. Battle brings a ton to that competition.

He absolutely tackles well. Big deal for louA.

Lol - check out Lou as Zac called Battle

LOL - just saw Brugler's summary of Battle from his draft guide - here it is: Safeties are hard to project in the NFL - but one that played that long and that well for Nick Saban? Yeah, I think he will do just fine.

I mean...yeah. Battle is as experienced as you can get coming into the NFL. Played at a high level for Nick Saban for years. That's...as NFL ready as you can get. Again, Daniel Jeremiah called him a day 1 starter. We shall see, but he brings a jolt of needed competitiveness and depth to a S room that was our weakest on paper after Bell and Bates left. Don't know yet what we have in Hill or Scott. We can hope, but we don't know. And if one of them got hurt...then what? I overlooked S as a need but a lot of analysts kept mocking us safeties in rounds 1 or 2 and I hated that but sure don't hate the logic (or the player) here in round 3. Sounds like Battle will join that room and immediately be a candidate for leader. Fine by me. We are a long way from the days of this org ignoring the defensive side of the ball...

I wish I could like this post twice. Yes, this.

Yup. Not sure you can replace what Bell brought in the locker-room, but Battle sure seems like the kind of player to try to do that with. In hindsight, if they re-sign Bell and lose Pratt we probably see a LB here instead. The loss of Bell was more of a blow to Lou than I gave it credit. I have zero problems with a S coming out of Alabama who played as many snaps at as high a quality as Battle did. Daniel Jeremiah said immediately on the pick being announced that he can start week 1. Made me raise an eyebrow.

Just weird as fuck to root for a team that has...a plan. Still getting used to this.

20 passes defensed last few years.