What Just Happened and Who is the Replacement?

That he’s too small. Well before his 17 sacks. But yeah, I think I’m in the minority in thinking he can do it.

Only two missed tackles last year. Also, he’s the one who’s been the one switching with Andra, leads me to think he’s an option in their eyes too.

I’ve never been too big of a DJ Williams fan. He plays stupid a lot and tries to make up for mistakes with his raw physical ability. I’d like to see him traded in the next couple of years for someone smart, with Spoon taking his job. I’d rather have a smart, physical, sure-tackling linebacker who is a very vocal leader manning the ILB position than a guy who’s a liability 40% of the time.

He could very likely switch to inside and/or hedge against a the idea that we might not have Doom in 2011. He could likely be versatile and he’s got leadership and great attitude.

And it saves a few million dollars.

I think we’ll probably draft a guy, but I’m still making up my mind on who or when. The McClain development might take more time to get a real feel for how risky his condition is seen by GM’s once they get more info on his specific case.

There are no guarantees that we can find a FA LB who will be an improvement over Davis.

To add to your point, we lose contract leverage with anybody we chose to go after now, now that we look desperate for a starter.

I think they’ve got a fix already figured out, from in-house. I would guess they’ll also draft somebody, but I’m not sure I really have an opinion yet on how high of a resource they use.

He def improved as the season progressed, too

Your roster math is always enlightening.

I’m starting to look and learn more about Sean Weatherspoon (OLB). He’s projected late first/early 2nd, and he looks to be able to play either OLB or ILB. He can stop the run, but also excels in coverage, which is really what we need. I’m not sure if he would really fill the pass rushing aspect we’d be looking for on the outside, but I’m still learning about him.

One more thing, I’m beginning to wonder if we would begin to use Doom as a situational pass rusher, replacing him on one or two of the beginning downs, if he doesn’t start to stop the run better. He’s deadly rushing the QB on third-downs, but he’s one-dimensional. So again, an additional OLB could be useful, IMO. To be clear, I’m not convinced Doom will become situational; it’s just as likely that they continue to work with him in this new system.

DJ would still be the faster and better coverage guy. I think you’re right that Ayers will start, and maybe Doom. I say maybe because I could see a possibility that he’s substituted on run-stopping downs here and there.

I could see Haggan replacing Doom on a single down per series, as he’s the better run-stopper, then replacing Ayers on one down per series, as he’s better in coverage than Ayers (so far at least. But like you, I doubt many agree with my setup also. With that, I see a possibility that WW starts as the more cover prone guy in the middle, leaving DJ to run-stop and pressure QB’s from the inside.

I’m not sure I’m the one to tackle Atkins or Kelley since I’m not very familiar with them either. Greisen, IMO, was just sort of a “what-if” guy last year, in that we gave him a chance to shine, or even show something, but he didn’t. We have no reason to believe he will make the team this year. Atkins and Kelly are bubble guys right off the bat. It would be great if they perform well, but nobody in Dove Valley is planning their final-53 roster math around them.

As for Moss’ situation, we first need to realize that he isn’t a product of the new regime; they didn’t draft him. They have no loyalty to him, nor do they really have a vested interest to ensure he works out. The second, and perhaps the most important aspect to Moss’ situation, is to look at his stats. Which is basically zero. He had pretty much zero stats in 2009. No tackles, interceptions, sacks, etc.. He only played in seven games, started zero. Add to that, his 2010 slated cost of $750,000 plus a roster seat, and it seems more than unlikely that Moss makes the final 53.

So, with those four (Moss, Atkins, Kelley and Greisen) unlikely to make the team, my somewhat less-fluid roster count becomes seven, seven current linebackers that are likely to make the final 53. In fact, I would say it’s more like 6.5… I don’t see Larsen going anywhere, but that’s not because he’s a good linebacker (yet, anyway). It’s because he does well at ST’s and plays fullback, also. So really, I only count his roster math as half of a linebacker.

With 6.5 linebackers set to make the team, the move I advocate is to draft one linebacker early (so he’s sure to make the team), and maybe, just maybe one linebacker late. That would give us 7.5 linebackers making our final 53. Then if one of the bubble guys (Moss, Atkins, Kelley and Greisen) or the late drafted linebacker makes the team, then the roster math still only makes 8.5. Very normal.

As to which linebacking position I would draft, it would be inside. Some guys project at changing to inside, which is fine. But the intent in our draft, IMO, will be to get another inside backer, regardless of what they called him in college (I’m referring to Weatherspoon).

As to your other question about switching from outside to inside with current roster guys, I see no reason for any switches. We could continue to play with Larsen’s position, but I think it’s about time we let him anchor down and see what he can do staying put. We lost one ILB (Davis), and will lose one OLB (Moss), so there’s no gapping whole in fairly quality depth, just need to add one to ILB. Taking one from OLB to do it though, would still mean we’ve got the same amount of hole(s).

Great questions. It forced me to really nail down my roster math to a firm number. I really see adding one linebacker (hopefully early) from the draft as an easy do. And if one more guy makes the linebacker roster it would still only make 8.5-9, which wouldn’t be optimum, but not a crisis either. Thanks again

They occupy more blockers. When a guy can occupy two offensive blockers at a time, it means there’s less offensive blockers that can keep a linebacker from coming in and making the stop… even for a loss, which is optimum. Two of these guys (Willimas and Bannon) can consistently occupy two blockers. That doesn’t mean on every play that each will, and it doesn’t mean four O’ Linemen are consistently taken out of the equation… but it makes it more likely and more often.

The second part, is that when these bigger men aren’t being double teamed, they can easier take down the runner by themselves.

I like that you used Fields at DE. That’s how I see it. I think Green is going to be mainly in on passing downs to generate a little pressure from the inside. I see him as an upgrade to what Holliday was.