mayoclinic

Mississippi DE Greg Hardy will reportedly miss the rest of the season with a broken wrist:

Ole Miss hit with huge defensive blow | CollegeFootballTalk.com

Hardy is an amazing pass rusher and my top 4-3 DE/3-4 elephant candidate at 6'5", 267# with 4.67 speed. He played LB in high school and is fairly good playing in space. He's a potential top 10 talent who has been dinged up with injuries, manly a foot injury. The wrist injury is unrelated.

His injury history is a bit of a concern, but this could cause him to drop to the end of the first round or even the 2nd round now. That would be a potential steal.

I'm hoping either Hardy or Derrick Morgan falls to within reach of the Pats. Either one would do wonders for our pass rush.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

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reamer

While I hate to see anyone injured, this could be precisely the thing that propels Hardy to a great career. He has some attitude/character concerns, and maybe sitting out the rest of his senior season and watching his draft stock drop will be a maturation process. It's gotta be difficult and painful to deal with, from a psychological or emotional perspective, let alone the physical rehab to get back into playing shape. Granted, he could be ready to go by the senior bowl, and do well enough to vault back into top 10 - 15 status, but there are enough dangerous pass-rushers out there that I have to think he'll drop a bit. I hope he learns from the experience, and comes out ahead in the end. I also hope we consider drafting him, because I think he's a heck of a player.

I'm kinda liking the all-injury team:

DE/OLB Hardy
RB Scott
WR Decker
DT/34DE Jones

Ironic, no? I wouldn't mind that draft at all, and we could probably get them all in the second/third at this point. Ahhh, the draft is such a strange experience . . .

mayoclinic

That wouldn't be a bad draft at all. Jones is one of the better 3-4 DE prospects around, and if he falls to the 2nd round we should definitely give him a hard look.

NFLdraftcountdown interviewed Hardy recently, and he came across quite well. Sounds like an intelligent kid, seemed very open to playing 3-4 LB as well as DE.

Draft Countdown - Greg Hardy Interview

Unless Rolando McClain somehow lasts to us, at this point I'm dreaming about the possibility of getting Derrick Morgan with our 1st round pick and Hardy with our earliest 2nd round pick. We could then play a 4-2-5 defense with Hardy and Morgan and DE and Wilfork and Warren at DT, kind of similar to Minnesota's front 4 (with Warren playing the Kevin Williams role and Wilfork playing the Pat Williams role). Mayo and Guyton have enough speed and range to cover a lot of territory at LB. Morgan and Hardy could both drop back into coverage when needed, and Chung and McGowan could also come up and function as hybrid DB/LBs. I think we could do a lot with the kind of pressure generated by that front 4 and those playmakers in the back 7.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

"The key to any successful organization is to anticipate things, not react to them." - Michael Lombardi

reamer

Mayo, you're a genius. I love the 4-2-5 idea. Love it. So much speed and power, both against the run and pass. Wow. Youth, experience, athleticism, technique--each position would be absolutely loaded.If we resigned Bodden, we'd have one of the best defensive lineups I've ever seen.

As much as I like the players we've discussed, I wouldn't be in the least bit opposed to leveraging our abundance of second-rounders into first-round impact pass-rushers. I think that's a clever way of bringing new guys into the fold and maximizing our preexisting personnel. Brilliant.

Why didn't I think of this? *mutters*

Ochmed Jones

I really can't see Hardy in the elephant role with our defense. He has next to no coverage experience and opposing team have success running right at him. He has much more success when chasing plays from the backside.
He also is not known as the cerebral type player that BB prefers. I compare Hardy to Gholston, but without the tremendous weight room strength that Gholston had.

It is going to be nearly impossible for BB to get tape on these hybrid OLB/DE"s playing in coverage and I still doubt that he will gamble use a first round pick on a "projection selection". That is not his style. Veteran FA seems to be BB's preferred method of recruiting for this position.

mayoclinic

I think Hardy is much more fluid than Gholston. He also played LB in high school.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

"The key to any successful organization is to anticipate things, not react to them." - Michael Lombardi

Ochmed Jones

Given how cut Gholston was coming out of college, it is hard to not be more fluid than he was, but is Hardy fluid enough to drop into coverage in the NFL? Is Hadry fluid enough to cover Leon Washington coming out of the backfield? I can't see it.

And remember, the jump from High School to college is huge, but the jump from college to the NFL is massive. The only player I have ever seen that could have gone from High school to the NFL was Walker of Georgia.
And remember high school is much more run oriented than college or the NFL, what Hardy did as a LB in high school, will probably not translate to the NFL.

But if BB projects Hardy to be the OLB/pass rusher that we have lacked since willie left, then I am OK with the selection.

mayoclinic

I doubt there's a 3-4 OLB in the NFL capable of covering pre-injury Leon Washington coming out of the backfield. I don't think that's a realistic goal.

I would project Hardy to play 4-3 DE/3-4 elephant. I don't recall all of Willie McGinest's responsibilities in the elephant, but I don't think covering Leon Washington out of the backfield (or his equivalent from McGinest's time) would be expected. Can they drop into coverage? Yes. Would you put any of them one-on-one on an elusive RB like Washington or Kevin Faulk. Heck no.

I think Hardy, Derrick Morgan, Everson Griffen and Jason Pierre-Paul are all good candidates to play 4-3 DE and the elephant. I see that as a different role from that which someone like Sergio Kindle, Jerry Hughes or Ricky Sapp would cover. I see those guys having much more coverage responsibility. But I still don't see them being able to cover Leon Washington out of the backfield.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

"The key to any successful organization is to anticipate things, not react to them." - Michael Lombardi

mayoclinic

Nolan Nawrocki had this to say about Greg Hardy and Derrick Morgan.

Regarding Hardy: "Mississippi senior DE Greg Hardy will be sidelined the remainder of the season after a left wrist injury he suffered earlier in the season was re-aggravated last week against Northern Arizona, with X-rays revealing a fracture. The injury-prone senior, who was also slowed by a stress fracture in his foot early in the season, finishes his career with 26½ sacks. He has been used most in passing situations as a senior. Hardy possesses unique pass-rush skills, but with a quirky personality that has opened questions about his overall character and dependability topped with more injury questions, his draft stock could plummet considerably. That said, some team will still likely take a shot in the middle rounds because of his pass-rush ability."

Regarding Morgan: "Georgia Tech junior DE Derrick Morgan continued his assault on ACC quarterbacks with a three-sack effort vs. Wake Forest — his second such feat this season (he had three sacks vs. Clemson). Morgan showcased his scheme flexibility, notching sacks with both his hand in the ground and standing up, demonstrating the latter with a game-clinching sack on 3rd-and-7, in which Morgan absolutely bulldozed the Demon Deacons' running back in pass protection."

ProFootballWeekly.com - Ole Miss loses Greg Hardy for season

I still love the idea of Morgan in the first (preferably at #32) and Hardy somewhere in the second. That would give our pass rush a huge shot in the arm.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

"The key to any successful organization is to anticipate things, not react to them." - Michael Lombardi