Any thoughts on how Ninko's status here may link with the team's plans for 3-4/4-3 considerations?
I was thinking that if the team went 3-4 (Armstead-Wilfork-Deaderick?) Ninko would be an ideal fit back at his old OLB spot. He seems more comfortable at DE though.
If the team stays in the 4-3 and another edge rusher is found, you gotta think that Ninko would be relegated to backup duty.
Unless Armstead is the answer to interior passrush, or an interior DT rusher is found, the edge is where the upgrade is going to be done, and Ninko is just too much of an overachiever and too little of a brute force guy to make the every down difference.
I think the whole 4-3/3-4 thing is a red herring. The Pats have been and will be "multiple", and I certainly don't see going to a pure 3-4 base as the best fit for their personnel. And I think that any idea that Brandon Deaderick would be our starting DE in 2014 in ludicrous. He's a decent reserve, but no more. Chandler Jones is a great 4-3 RDE who has the athleticism to stand up at times, but I think it would be a misuse of his talents to try and convert him to a 3-4 OLB. Again, some of it is semantics, because the Pats are constantly mixing concepts and morphing between schemes.
My personal hope is that Armond Armstead will emerge as the player that BB was hoping he could get from Shaun Ellis in 2011: the 6'5" 290# end who can play in 4-3 and 3-4 schemes, stand up at times, move inside, and cause disruption all over the place. I think that's BB's model. Ellis was over the hill by the time he came here, and Red Bryant stayed in Seattle and Jonathan Fanene didn't work out, but BB generally keeps on trying until he finds someone who can fill a role that he envisions. So my model is Armstead-Wilfork-DT-Jones in the "base", with the idea being a DT who can also play 3-4 DE, so that Jones can either be a classic 4-3 LDE or stand up in an elephant role. In sub packages Armstead could move inside, with Ninkovich playing LDE. Ninkovich could also be used a fair amount at OLB, where he has played in the past - I think that between the two he would still get a fair amount of snaps and be an effective playmaker, just not a regular starter and every down player.
What I'd love to do is add a guy in the draft who can play that "DT" role next to Wilfork and be a beast inside in 4-3 schemes or play 3-4 DE. Johnathan Hankins, Jesse Williams and Brandon Williams call come to mind. Maybe a late round guy with elite athleticism and high upside like William Campbell.
Either way, I see Nink continuing to be a valuable contributor, but not a foundational player. He'll be 30 in the 2014 off-season. A 2-3 year deal for reasonable money makes sense, but not over-spending, regardless of scheme.
