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It looks like we will see some big changes on the DL this year.
There are a handful of players who saw playing time that are gone, new additions, and others that may have their roles increased or decreased.
RDE- Jones is the future of our pass rush. Lets hope he is healthy. I would not be surprised to see him play more on the left side too, perhaps moving around based on matchup.
LDE- Ninkovich does a lot of things acceptably but none particularly well. He struggled mightily to generate a consistent pass rush last year, but knew what to do on the occassions he broke through or had a QB flushed out to him. My biggest hope is that we improve this position, but we have not yet. I could see Cunnigham or Bequette having a good camp and taking this role and moving Ninkovich to a jack of all trades DE, OLB, sub rusher, sub LB hybrid role, but i would have prefered John Abraham.
I have little, if any hope for Buchanan this year even if he makes the team. We once again seem thin at DE. Perhaps Collins or Hightower will end up seeing sub snaps there. Justin Francis has JAG who had one good game written all over him to me.
DT- Wilfork. I love Vince as much as anyone but we really need to sub him out more on passing downs. As the game continues to be more pass oriented and our penchant for playing from ahead causes us to be passed on more than most teams, we need more production from inside pass rushers than we have gotten.
DT- Kelly/Armstead Both bring more pass rush hope than anyone we had at DT last year (except Cunningham who was much better than he got credit for). This could be a big area of improvement.
Cunningham, if not playing LDE could return to the inside pass rusher role he did well in last year.
I see potentially more talent, and potentially a lack of depth along the DL.
I'd like to see Abraham signed, and a young DT emerge.
Hopefully we can create some real football discussion about players who will contribute unless someone bring the Tebow to DE argument in.
There are a handful of players who saw playing time that are gone, new additions, and others that may have their roles increased or decreased.
RDE- Jones is the future of our pass rush. Lets hope he is healthy. I would not be surprised to see him play more on the left side too, perhaps moving around based on matchup.
LDE- Ninkovich does a lot of things acceptably but none particularly well. He struggled mightily to generate a consistent pass rush last year, but knew what to do on the occassions he broke through or had a QB flushed out to him. My biggest hope is that we improve this position, but we have not yet. I could see Cunnigham or Bequette having a good camp and taking this role and moving Ninkovich to a jack of all trades DE, OLB, sub rusher, sub LB hybrid role, but i would have prefered John Abraham.
I have little, if any hope for Buchanan this year even if he makes the team. We once again seem thin at DE. Perhaps Collins or Hightower will end up seeing sub snaps there. Justin Francis has JAG who had one good game written all over him to me.
DT- Wilfork. I love Vince as much as anyone but we really need to sub him out more on passing downs. As the game continues to be more pass oriented and our penchant for playing from ahead causes us to be passed on more than most teams, we need more production from inside pass rushers than we have gotten.
DT- Kelly/Armstead Both bring more pass rush hope than anyone we had at DT last year (except Cunningham who was much better than he got credit for). This could be a big area of improvement.
Cunningham, if not playing LDE could return to the inside pass rusher role he did well in last year.
I see potentially more talent, and potentially a lack of depth along the DL.
I'd like to see Abraham signed, and a young DT emerge.
Hopefully we can create some real football discussion about players who will contribute unless someone bring the Tebow to DE argument in.