WP.com: RI: Gray praises potential of secondary he leaves behind

[NewRegime]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/red...seco.html#more

In personal notes at the end of every season, former secondary coach Jerry Gray critiques defensive backs and offers suggestions on how to improve.

Gray recently completed the process for the last time with the Redskins and plans to do the same after next season for the Seattle Seahawks, who this week hired him as their secondary coach. In D.C., Gray leaves behind an experienced and talented group, he said, that is capable of becoming one of the league's best. Gray believes the Redskins' secondary has the ability to accomplish great things for a long time, and he would not be surprised if it soon was second to none.

"At corner, you've got Fred Smoot, you've got DeAngelo [Hall], you've got Carlos [Rogers], you've got Justin Tryon, you've got Kevin Barnes, who I think is going to be a real good player, Bryon Westbrook," Gray said this morning in a phone interview. "At safety, you've got Chis Horton and Reed [Doughty] and Kareem Moore. What you have is a bunch of guys who can ultimately, I think, be the best secondary in football because there's a lot of talent there.

"To me, if those guys can do the little things that I talked about [in his notes], and then you get together as a collective group, they can lead the NFL. They are that talented. They can dominate the league for a long time. You don't have a lot of old guys in that secondary. If they [the team's new leaders] don't disband the secondary, they can get a lot out of it. I really believe that. You can see that these guys, if they can just keep growing together, could be that good."

The Redskins ranked 10th overall in defense this season. They were tied for eighth against the pass and tied for 26th with only 11 interceptions. Hall led the Redskins with four interceptions.

"DeAngelo has probably got some of the greatest hands I've ever been around," Gray said. "The guy can flat out catch a football - one hand, two hands, back flip, standing still. Any way you can think. He's probably the most talented guy I've ever coached, and he still has work to do.

"And I told him, 'Here's some of the things you need to do, and I think you can be All-Pro or Hall of Fame material.' There aren't many guys I've coached who have had his type of stuff. ... There are a lot of guys who haven't reached their potential yet, and there's a lot of potential there."

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[AKM311]

Interesting he doesn't include Landry!

[MOSSthaBOSS]

interesting he didnt say laron landry

[SittingBull]

No mention of Laron Landry. Mistake or underhanded jab?

[NewRegime]

You know what, I didn't even catch that. I would imagine that was a slip.

Lets not get all Mike Greenberg about this

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

definitely a jab at landry, first thing i noticed when i read this earlier.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

You know what, I didn't even catch that. I would imagine that was a slip.

Lets not get all Mike Greenberg about this

lol, the greenberg thing is being taken beyond the realm of stupid, but how do you forget to mention your 1st round potential beast safety thats coming off a horrid year? definitely jabby jab jab.

[NewRegime]

So is he taking notes from Vinny?

[moondog]

The lack of inclusion of Landry was the first thing I noticed too, but you can't just make implications based on that. That being said, despite all of Landry's tackles this year, I don't think we would have been worse without him...BUT if he would just break down and tackle and play to his potential, we would be immensely better.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

They might now be with a coach teaching them proper, basic, football fundamentals, like that newfangled tackling thing.

Hail.

[NewRegime]

The lack of inclusion of Landry was the first thing I noticed too, but you can't just make implications based on that. That being said, despite all of Landry's tackles this year, I don't think we would have been worse without him...BUT if he would just break down and tackle and play to his potential, we would be immensely better.

Listening to the radio, they said the Jets were the best tackling team this year. Its a HUGE emphasis by Rex Ryan. And if you recall, Kerry Rhodes (who is a beast) was benched because of his poor takleing. That definitely resonated with him and the other players.

Hopefully that will be a new focus this year in camp.

[Farbod21]

Confirmation of what everyone else knows. Landry is garbage.

[clubisyohankovic]

Does anyone think Barnes will be a decent starting CB at some point? (I'm honestly asking, because I haven't really paid much attention to him, and he seemed to be singled out by Gray as having some potential.)

[dadirtbags]

hmmm...no landry...agree...a shot..they must have butted heads ...JMO

[McD5]

D-Hall does have amazing talent.

A very poor man's version of Prime Time. But still great.