Wilfork at DE?

[mcsully]

Considering Wilfork played DE during the Dolphins game and parts of the Ravens game, I don't think its a far stretch to continue to see him played there. I was hoping they could have drafted Mount Cody but I'm not disappointed with what we got instead.

The big question is "if Brace is the man" to be starting, what is his best position.. It appears, from a previous thread, he's working at DE.

There is no question Wilfork has the potential to be a great DE in a 3-4 defense.. Very much like Ngata, who can play all three positions. The real quesiton is, where is our strenght now with players like Pryor, Richard, Deadrick and ect.. do we have more talent at DE or NT. If its DE, Wilfork should stay at home.. But if we have a possible starting NFL quality NT, then Wilfork should slide out..

 

[Fencer]

Lets try brady as WR. look at hoyer he is real good and if we move brady to WR he can be awesome as a averegeQB like edelman can be such a good WR.

i say BB should think about converting brady to WR.

I say you should save those analogies for a thread where they're relevant.

DE and NT do the same things, just in a different mix and with different reads. Sort of like the three different WR positions.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

-- We know Wilfork can play NT at a high level.
-- We know Mike Wright is an effective reserve NT.
-- At the end of last season I'd have said Myron Pryor could effectively play NT as a reserve, at least for brief periods, but he looked horrible at nose against NO so he bears more monitoring.
-- Gerard Warren has taken camp reps at NT and is a 10 year veteran whom I'd give the benefit of the doubt.
-- Brace is a blank sheet of paper waiting for the pen.
-- Kyle Love looked very raw with some decent potential the other night.

Does NE move Vince to DE? At the moment I'd say situationally only, and I doubt there'd be any significant interest in a permanent move.

Brace may have started working at DE because of the need to build depth there, or Pepper may feel he's better there and have no immediate plans for him at NT. Pryor may just be struggling with a new technique and will be fine by the time the season gets here. If Deadrick continues to improve - Reiss noted he was the only rookie to get 1st half reps - or if someone else steps up at DE then Wright might be available for the Nose again. As things currently stand, I see no value to shifting Vince outside and considerable value to keeping him at nose with the way things are starting to shape up at ILB.

 

[bigcountry75]

While I can agree that wilfork won't kill us at being a DE I think that brace will be better at DE and wilfork staying at the nose....Here's why....

At NT your job is to eat up blockers and don't get pushed back.....VW has a lower center of gravity with short arms and is very capable of holding his ground and even gets some push.....

At DE in a 3-4 your first job is to eat up blockers but you also have to be able to read and react......Brace has longer arms so he can use them to keep the O-lineman away from his body and shed them to either side depending on where the RB is going......Also he is taller then VW so he will have the more vision possibly seeing around/over the O-line to see where the play is going.....

Now I do agree with the posters that say it will hurt our pass rush with both of them in there but against teams like the Jests that run the ball 70-80% of the time it will help out a bunch......These are just my reasons as to why like brace at DE more than VW...

 

[mgteich]

I think highly unlikely that Brace would be considered one of our best run defending Dl's by the end of THIS preseason. There is ZERO chance of him being good enough in a month to consider moving Wilfork. Perhaps this COULD be a consideration in a year.

.Assuming Brace is one of our 3 best run defending DL by the end of preseason, would BB play him on the nose and move Wilfork to DE?
I'm not taking a side either way on this yet, pimarily because I just havent seen enough of Brace to judge him, but I have no doubt that Wilfork can be effective at DE.
Thoughts?

 

[Deus Irae]

Dale and Holley have the scoop. Wilfork is working at the QB position today.

 

[Ring 6]

I think highly unlikely that Brace would be considered one of our best run defending Dl's by the end of THIS preseason. There is ZERO chance of him being good enough in a month to consider moving Wilfork. Perhaps this COULD be a consideration in a year.

He has been here a year and been evaluated. There is no doubt the team knows where he was last year, what they think his potential is, and can assess how far he has come in a few weeks. No decisions are made with 100% certainty, and I dont think it takes a year to determine how Brace plays in the next 3 weeks. Good or bad his role this season will be determined by previous evaluation, adjusted over the next 3 weeks, THEN constantly adjusted over the course of the season.
Perhaps I am wrong but I dont think a year long study is required to assess his 2 gap run D ability and how it has developed over the off season.
My starting point is that his potential is that he can be a good 2gap run defender, which is why he was a 2d round draft pick. Its not like he showed up today sight unseen.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Yeah I think Vince can handle playing DE. Don't think it will be a full-time switch but I definitely think we'll see Vince over there when needed this season. Will most likely depend on who they're playing that day and how the young players develop through the season.