The Unofficial... Off-Season... D-line Thread
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I see I'll be spending some time in this thread. I'd say I'm most excited about Shelton and Coop. Right behind that I'm wanting to see what Starks and a healthy Taylor can bring to the line.
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I see I'll be spending some time in this thread. I'd say I'm most excited about Shelton and Coop. Right behind that I'm wanting to see what Starks and a healthy Taylor can bring to the line.
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And welcome you are... but someone needs to start an LB thread.
Orchard looks lean... and very quick. And in his interview the position coach was bragging all over Tank.
Oh yes, that's right. I have a personal interest in Orchards success given some of my comments. Not shocked to hear that he's looking quick.
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...or a gem so promising that he opens up trade possibilities for a starter.
Thats what I would guess too......a starter would bring more than a prospect, thats for sure......
If they want a decent return, it'd have to be someone like D. Bryant or Phil Taylor.....or maybe we at least recoup(or better) our original investment in a bubble guy like Billy Wynn or A. Bryant??
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Never say never, gum, but just feels like we are less 4-3-ish going into this year than we were last.
But we are looking at a helluva goalline unit...
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Don't rule out seeing orchard with his hand in the ground. He did that quite a bit at Utah.
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Ironically....the one guy we let go, Sheard, woulda/coulda been the best end for a 4-3 situation
Certainly in part... but IMO other changes have contributed as well.
Rubin, our best 4-3 DT leaving...
Phil's move back to NT, where he belongs...
Adding Shelton...
Adding Cooper...
Don't rule out seeing orchard with his hand in the ground. He did that quite a bit at Utah.
Situationally? Absolutely... although excepting his rookie year I can't think of instances when Mingo, a full-time DE at LSU, has been used that way.
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Ironically....the one guy we let go, Sheard, woulda/coulda been the best end for a 4-3 situation
Certainly in part... but IMO other changes have contributed as well.
Rubin, our best 4-3 DT leaving...
Phil's move back to NT, where he belongs...
Adding Shelton...
Adding Cooper...
Don't rule out seeing orchard with his hand in the ground. He did that quite a bit at Utah.
Situationally? Absolutely... although excepting his rookie year I can't think of instances when Mingo, a full-time DE at LSU, has been used that way.
Certainly in part... but IMO other changes have contributed as well.
Rubin, our best 4-3 DT leaving...
Phil's move back to NT, where he belongs...
Adding Shelton...
Adding Cooper...
Situationally? Absolutely... although excepting his rookie year I can't think of instances when Mingo, a full-time DE at LSU, has been used that way.
Of course situationally. The idea being to bring him along slowly while still allowing Nate to contribute as a pass rusher. Though he's had extensive work from a 2pt stance - he's well ahead of where Mingo was after being drafted.
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Nice little, 5-minute interview with D-line Coach, Anthony Weaver... great, baritone speaking voice.
Condensed version...
Tour's CliffNotes:
- Very excited by the group's work habits.
- Starks has brought a great, veteran presence.
- Xavier Cooper's first step is translating to pros.
- Three lesser knows that are impressing: 2nd-year players Jacoby McDaniels and Jamie Meder (The Pride of Parma), and rookie, Dylan Winn, the player most like Dellavedova.
- Can't wait for Shelton, but knows he is doing cardio to stay in shape.
Nice little, 5-minute interview with D-line Coach, Anthony Weaver... great, baritone speaking voice.
Condensed version...
Tour's CliffNotes:
- Very excited by the group's work habits.
- Starks has brought a great, veteran presence.
- Xavier Cooper's first step is translating to pros.
- Three lesser knows that are impressing: 2nd-year players Jacoby McDaniels and Jamie Meder (The Pride of Parma), and rookie, Dylan Winn, the player most like Dellavedova.
- Can't wait for Shelton, but knows he is doing cardio to stay in shape.
Thanks Tour! I'm starting get an insatiable appetite for these "Unofficial Offseason" topics to discuss. Great job man!
Not to be redundant with bringing up our 86 team; but our defense ranked #1 in the AFC against the run while our corners were Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield.Too bad our superstar Safety on the horizon (Don Rogers) passed away before our 86 season. Here's our starting lineups back then:
12-4-0
QB Bernie Kosar
RB Ernest Byner
FB Kevin Mack
LT Paul Farren
RG Dan Fike
RT Cody Risien*
LDE Reggie Camp
NT Bob Golic*
RDE Carl Hairston
LOLB Chip Banks*
LILB Eddie Johnson
RILB Anthony Griggs
ROLB Clay Matthews
LCB Frank Minnifield*
RCB Hanford Dixon*+
SS Ray Ellis
As we discussed about the offense elsewhere, our leading receiver at RB (Fontenot- 47 rec) & WR (Brennan - 55 rec) were only situational rotation guys that accomplished most of their magic on 3rd downs.
Stopping the run via the LBers in that 3-4 was predicated on the gap integrity and blue collar efforts of the 3 up front in most of that scheme. However, we had a neat little David Puzzuoli wrinkle in the sense he finished with 6 sacks as the backup NT in the rotation. Fresh legs providing a little sic em, sock em and sack em! Teams weren't passing as often as they do now - but this was our top 5 guys at sacking the QB: 1) Hairston 9, 2) Camp 7, 3) Clancy 6.5, 4) Puzzuoli 6, 5) Banks 4.5. Sometimes teams rank high against the run because they're so horrible vrs the pass that nobody wastes time trying to run on them. Our Corners were Dixon and Minnifield so that was not the case here.
A reason I love bringing back the 86 team is because I think this team is shaping up a lot like that one. Custom built to play well in any weather off that Lake. Mud and Tia have had some very insightful posts about the varied/multiple fronts so it's tough to call our 3-4 traditional unless a lot of 2014 alignments and schematics were injury driven.
Here's the top 7 dlinemen in random order I think we'll see in our rotation:
Randy Starks - still some good football in that tank much like Carl Hairston had for us.
John Hughes - If memory serves me right I had my sour puss on that we let someone else draft WR T.Y. Hilton.Since that day, he's been my favorite 2 gap player here. Killer good when healthy. The good news is he can also kick inside if we should need that.
Danny Shelton - Would love to hear Keith Jackson describing him on my weekend caffeine volumes. He's a stud I can't wait to see tossing around Pouncey like he weighs an ouncey. Our DC spoke about the importance of an inside push that commands 2 blockers at all times to to keep a Guard off the ILBer. Check.
Billy Winn - Always had a knack for being in the middle of a big play whether he was causing it or coming up with the turnover. Didn't take long before I called him Billy Badass. His biggest enemy to date has been nagging injuries; and a occasionally a scale that reads one at a time.
Xavier Cooper - Love what I'm reading and seeing on film. Very intrigued here.
Phil Taylor - I've been his biggest critic to date ever since I gave him a Wundumson welcome dance that had my wife contemplating changing the locks on our house. My celebration was 1 minute shy of me sleeping with raccoons outside. Noticing the need to draft Danny Shelton for the apex of our defense should accomplish 2 things here Phil: 1) rehab the injury 2) show up with endurance that exceeds 2 consecutive downs. Both doable.
Des Bryant - Can he return to the form we saw before he had the procedure on a heart valve in November of 2013? He reminded me of a poor man's Richard Seymore. I just haven't seen the same guy since; but the first impression was powerful enough to keep him listed.
Deep enough for a fresh legged rotation that has very little dropoff. It should be LBer-friendly enough to project massive improvement against the run. Game on!
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very informative thread. well done as usual guys.
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I Know we our set on a 3-4 D System but I just don't get with all these names on D and if a team and situations call for it, play in a 4-3 D in Spots??
I Know we our set on a 3-4 D System but I just don't get with all these names on D and if a team and situations call for it, play in a 4-3 D in Spots??
Now it looks like they are gonna add a little 4-3 to the multi front arsenal.......from Oneills pressy....
1) The Browns will use more four-man fronts
From a traditional standpoint, Cleveland employs a 3-4 scheme. But that will be less of the case in the 2015 season. On Thursday, defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil hinted the Browns will use more exotic fronts, including several packages with four players in a down position on the line of scrimmage.
“I do think we’ll be able roll more guys up front, and that’s a good luxury because if you can keep those guys up front fresh, that will really help us in the later part of the game,” O’Neil said.
Pettine took it a step further, talking specific changes. The coaching staff views 26-year-old Scott Solomon
as more of a defensive end who can set the edge on early downs and force running backs to the inside. Armonty Bryant
is versatile enough to stick his hand in the dirt and become a one-on-one matchup pass rusher with a left tackle. And Pettine even said the Browns will consider teaming 330-pounders Danny Shelton
and Ishmaa’ily Kitchen in the middle together as defensive tackles.These defensive revelations from mini-camp could be a significant storyline all season
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Kickass Browns defense. Oh, this coming season is going to be great !
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I Know we our set on a 3-4 D System but I just don't get with all these names on D and if a team and situations call for it, play in a 4-3 D in Spots??
Now it looks like they are gonna add a little 4-3 to the multi front arsenal.......from Oneills pressy....
1) The Browns will use more four-man fronts
From a traditional standpoint, Cleveland employs a 3-4 scheme. But that will be less of the case in the 2015 season. On Thursday, defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil hinted the Browns will use more exotic fronts, including several packages with four players in a down position on the line of scrimmage.
“I do think we’ll be able roll more guys up front, and that’s a good luxury because if you can keep those guys up front fresh, that will really help us in the later part of the game,” O’Neil said.
Pettine took it a step further, talking specific changes. The coaching staff views 26-year-old Scott Solomon
as more of a defensive end who can set the edge on early downs and force running backs to the inside. Armonty Bryant
is versatile enough to stick his hand in the dirt and become a one-on-one matchup pass rusher with a left tackle. And Pettine even said the Browns will consider teaming 330-pounders Danny Shelton
and Ishmaa’ily Kitchen in the middle together as defensive tackles.These defensive revelations from mini-camp could be a significant storyline all season
Now it looks like they are gonna add a little 4-3 to the multi front arsenal.......from Oneills pressy....
My listen produced more of an impression of a semi-brush-back on the question... Pet said we were more of a 3.5-3.5 D than a 3-4. O'Neil upped the ante stating that we often present five-man fronts.
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Well sounds like they see it too or became members. But either way I can see the 1/2 when your trying to run in a bunch of 330's like Hockey line changes. We are Huge:: Kitchen, Taylor, Shelton, Starks, Hughes, Cooper, 2 Bryant's and Wynn, damn turn on the Game Lights. Is A. Bryant getting work at LB? (active 7 could be 8?)
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Now it looks like they are gonna add a little 4-3 to the multi front arsenal.......from Oneills pressy....
My listen produced more of an impression of a semi-brush-back on the question... Pet said we were more of a 3.5-3.5 D than a 3-4. O'Neil upped the ante stating that we often present five-man fronts.
My listen produced more of an impression of a semi-brush-back on the question... Pet said we were more of a 3.5-3.5 D than a 3-4. O'Neil upped the ante stating that we often present five-man fronts.
The point I've been trying to harp over and over is how many on this board are hung up on '34' and '43' and the players that they believe are to be pigeon holed into spots.
Defense doesn't work that way in Pettine and O'Neil's mind(s). Which I can appreciate - the only problem is that the defense itself can be very complex. I'd expect to see some growing pains out of Shelton and Orchard in the very early going. Hell, don't be surprised if there are some busted plays at their spots in the pre-season.
That said, all the early word is that Danny is absorbing the calls like a sponge and having a great showing.
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