When Brown came to U of M he had a reputation for doing more with less based mostly on his time at BC. But when you look at his time here you start to see that he’s done well with elite talent. When he doesn’t have elite talent his defenses have been good but not great.
I’ve been a Don Brown defender. His system has produced elite defenses in 16, 17, and 18. But with the benefit of hindsight we can see just how talented those defenses were from a personnel standpoint. The 2016 group had four first round draft picks in the two deep (Charlton, Gary, Bush, and Peppers), another twelve players who were drafted or are on active NFL rosters (Wormley, Winovich, Hurst, Mone, Gedeon, Hudson, Lewis, Long, Watson, Hill, Thomas, Metellus). They guys who did not make the NFL (Godin, McCray, Kinnel, Stribling) were all conference players at some point in their career. The only player who doesn’t fit that description is Noah Furbush. It’s hard not to produce an elite defense with that much talent.
They numbers are similar when you look at the 17 and 18 defenses as well. So, do I think that Don Browns system can wotk and be elite? Yep. But he needs elite talent (despite what his record at BC suggests) and we simply don’t have it right now. The defense will be less talented next year when it losses Hutchinson and Paye. I’ve been slow to get here but I don’t see Brown being able to fix the defense. It’s regressed every year and the talent level isn’t as high as it was in 2016.
I’ve been a Don Brown defender. His system has produced elite defenses in 16, 17, and 18. But with the benefit of hindsight we can see just how talented those defenses were from a personnel standpoint. The 2016 group had four first round draft picks in the two deep (Charlton, Gary, Bush, and Peppers), another twelve players who were drafted or are on active NFL rosters (Wormley, Winovich, Hurst, Mone, Gedeon, Hudson, Lewis, Long, Watson, Hill, Thomas, Metellus). They guys who did not make the NFL (Godin, McCray, Kinnel, Stribling) were all conference players at some point in their career. The only player who doesn’t fit that description is Noah Furbush. It’s hard not to produce an elite defense with that much talent.
They numbers are similar when you look at the 17 and 18 defenses as well. So, do I think that Don Browns system can wotk and be elite? Yep. But he needs elite talent (despite what his record at BC suggests) and we simply don’t have it right now. The defense will be less talented next year when it losses Hutchinson and Paye. I’ve been slow to get here but I don’t see Brown being able to fix the defense. It’s regressed every year and the talent level isn’t as high as it was in 2016.
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