Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
I think people will be surprised by how well Hurst does, but they really shouldn't.
The 2nd biggest surprise of the offseason (after Hudson's departure), it's honestly still hard to believe we cut him. Like clockwork, every Monday after the games I'd load up the All-22 of the game and, like clockwork, he was consistently one of the only highlights on our entire defense. For 3 seasons. And speaking of those 3 seasons, he finished as our #1 graded defender in 2020, our #1 graded defender in 2019, and our #3 graded defender in 2018 (as a Rookie) among players with 200+ Snaps each season.
In 2019 he finished with the 3rd Highest Win Rate % out of ALL NFL Defensive Tackles when double-teamed, when he posted a 16.9% Win Rate vs. 2+ Blockers. So what did Paul Guenther (and Marinelli) do the next year? Use him less. Like, way less. Because of course. In 2020 he was only played on 25.0% of our defensive snaps, in favor of Maliek Collins who week-in/week-out was a dumpster fire.
Originally posted by Dsoto87:
Can't believe the raiders essentially traded out Hurst for Solomon Thomas 😂😂😂
After watching a little tape, he looked like a disruptive player and I wondered if I was missing something, but his tape seems to agree with the grade.
This FA period was so bizzarre with people like Thomas and Witherspoon getting seemingly large contracts in comparison to some others. Thomas got around $2.7 million this year and good for him. Maybe the Raiders system will fit him well. We got Hurst for around $1 million though and he certainly looks like the better of the two players.