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I'm just an old softy; cannon fodder inhabit state and federal capitals, and major city administrations...but I digress.Thanks, Mr. Box; I would post more, but my entries seem to be caught in an as-yet-unexplained time warp lasting a couple of days. Kinda makes it hard to keep current in a thread.
As for poor ol' Mike, he'll turn 34 before Opening Day. How many OLB/DEs, one of whose duties is to rush the QB, are effective at age 34 and can still display the required explosiveness & closing speed? What I saw throughout this past season from him is what happens to everyone, eventually, and I don't see how being another year older will improve the situation. That's why I feel that he is now better-suited to help us at SILB, as he did in '05 after the miserable failure of the Beisel/Brown disaster.
After all, what are NFL players if not (well-paid) cannon fodder?
Certainly the odds are against Vrabes, and I expect we'll see some kind of action regarding his cap hit, but I don't see any percentage to moving him inside - he's just not going to be as effective there as he will outside. Thomas will be effective inside and, as was noted above, Guyton rotating in for nickel situations and Thomas sliding back outside improves the pass rush.
-- Guyton created some decent pressure blitzing last season, I'm interested to see how he does after going through the offseason program.
-- Mayo should also be more effective after the offseason program - from his profile at NFL Draft Scout: "Physical playing inside the box, his excellent range and quick burst as a blitzer helped him collect 21 tackles behind the line of scrimmage during his last two seasons at UT." He had 5 sacks and 5 QBH from WLB his junior year, so he will factor into the pressure mix too.