ILB vs OLB

[San Jose Bills Fan]

I'd draft Sergio Kindle (rather than McClain) instead. I think OLB is more of a problem since Maybin, Kelsay, and/or Schobel are slotted to play there.

 

 

I would be happy with this draft. I think there is a bigger probability that we take an OLB in the first two rounds than people think.

 

The two above quotes are totally in line with my sentiments. As I've posted recently, last year everyone was clamoring for a pass rusher.

 

In addition, most everyone agrees that the NFL is a quarterback-driven, passing league.

 

We already have a respectable collection of defensive backs. Imagine how much more effective they would be (ints, defensive 3rd down percentage) if we had a good pass rush.

 

Now one year after a consensus existed for drafting a pass rusher, Aaron Schobel is thinking about retirement and Aaron Maybin has not shown conclusively that he will be a legitimate pass rush threat. In other words, the pass rush has not been addressed.

 

This draft looks to me like there are numerous excellent pass rushers who could man the outside linebacker position for the Bills...which also happens to be a position of need. Everyone is clamoring for a nose tackle (understandable) but the buzz over Rolando McClain is a bit odd to me. Reminds me a bit of the buzz over Rey Maualuga last year.

 

Meanwhile draft experts agree that this class is loaded with edge rushers like Sergio Kindle, Brandon Graham (watch the exhaustive video of him on YouTube), Derrick Morgan, and Jerry Hughes, just to name a few.

 

I'm not saying we take a pass rusher at #9...but it seems to me that OLB is a position of much greater need than ILB, firstly because we have no proven talent at OLB where we do at ILB, and secondly because pass rushers are hard to come by and at a great premium in the NFL.

 

Interested to hear all of your opinions.

[GrudginglyPessimistic]

My sense is that my judgment was that Pos was actually a better talent in college when he played OLB his junior year than when an injury forced a move of him to MLB where he played well enough to draw a pick from the Bills who after giving up on Fletcher had a hole at MLB.

 

If the Bills judge McClain to be a better talent at MLB than the options at OLB in this draft my since is the take McClain and move Pos to his more natural OLB position. Pos showed both the speed to cover the deep middle in the Tampa 2 stylr version of the Cover 2 we ran that I have no issue with him playing the cover role called for by an OLB and he showed some good talent as a delayed blitz artist when called upon to do that as our MLB so I think this move would work.

 

The Bills actually have a need for two starter quality OLB players as we move to a 3-4 as I think Ellison has done well for a second day pick but really is not an outstanding OLB. Draft also surprised with how well he played due to injuries but he is a marginal starter at best/

 

Ironically the Bills might end up loaded if they sign FA Davis and flip Pos with this move and then also have potential of playing Maybin at what many see as a more natural OLB position given his size, pass rushing talent and the LB # the Bills assigned him.

 

Add to this that apparently part of the Schobel decision making may be that a move to OLB may be more attractive to him to come back. The zone blitz was actually more of his game as he shed weight and increased athleticism to play it and often covered not only in the short zone but even in the medium zone in the zone blitz.

 

The options are simply more complicated than the 2 starter hole in the 3-4 means we must pick and OLB in the draft.

[Pygskin36]

My sense is that my judgment was that Pos was actually a better talent in college when he played OLB his junior year than when an injury forced a move of him to MLB where he played well enough to draw a pick from the Bills who after giving up on Fletcher had a hole at MLB.

 

I thought the Bills drafted Poz to play outside actually... It would be interesting to see if he could play out there... He was not, IMO, very effective as a 4-3 Mike.. Maybe a 3-4 OLB opposite Maybin is a good fit for him... I just don't know if he's very fluid or how he'll translate to rushing the passer/covering TE's and RB's... We'll all know soon enough.

[iccrewman112]

I think a good guy to look at to fill an OLB position is Eric Norwood from South Carolina. I think he can be had in the 3rd Round. He anchored ht has been a really good South Carolina defense the past two seasons.

[JPS]

Maybin and Kindle fit the same mold. If you draft Kindle, are you giving up on Maybin. Particularly high picks, I'd wait till next year. Then again, Pittsburgh seems to draft a pass rusher every year.

[thebandit27]

Totally agree San Jose.

 

The 3-4 rush LB position is absolutely critical. I definitely think that the current ILBs (Mitchell and Poz), supplemented with a guy like Andra Davis, can get the job done. I may get killed on here for this, but I'm personally not against either Ellison or Harris getting consideration at ILB as well.

 

But the pass rush is key. The good 3-4 teams have it, the bad ones don't.

 

Maybin and Kindle fit the same mold. If you draft Kindle, are you giving up on Maybin. Particularly high picks, I'd wait till next year. Then again, Pittsburgh seems to draft a pass rusher every year.

 

Not really re: Maybin and Kindle. Maybin was strictly a down lineman in college, while Kindle played quite a bit of OLB his senior season, and looked quick and instinctive while doing so. Also, he's got 2 years of football experience on Maybin, who came out after his redshirt sophomore season.

 

Re: Pittsburgh, the same can be said for teams like Dallas (drafted Anthony Spencer even though they had Ware and Ellis), Miami (signed Cameron Wake even though they had Jason Taylor and Joey Porter), NYJ (drafted Gholston even though they had Calvin Pace and Bryan Thomas), etc. Like San Jose said, good 3-4 teams can rush the passer.

[Thoner7]

Maybin and Kindle fit the same mold. If you draft Kindle, are you giving up on Maybin. Particularly high picks, I'd wait till next year. Then again, Pittsburgh seems to draft a pass rusher every year.

 

I did that back in April.

 

But no, we need two OLBs. Maybin could play weak side, Kindle strong. I love Kindle, but B. Grahmam is better. I wonder if we will have a shot at either in the 2nd with guys like Piere Paul/Morgan likely to go before them, although I really doubt it. But you never know as E.Brown fell to the 2nd last year and Barwin and Johnson fell into the 3rd. In the third I would expect Norwood to be there and he would be a great addition.

[SuperKillerRobots]

My sense is that my judgment was that Pos was actually a better talent in college when he played OLB his junior year than when an injury forced a move of him to MLB where he played well enough to draw a pick from the Bills who after giving up on Fletcher had a hole at MLB.

 

If the Bills judge McClain to be a better talent at MLB than the options at OLB in this draft my since is the take McClain and move Pos to his more natural OLB position. Pos showed both the speed to cover the deep middle in the Tampa 2 stylr version of the Cover 2 we ran that I have no issue with him playing the cover role called for by an OLB and he showed some good talent as a delayed blitz artist when called upon to do that as our MLB so I think this move would work.

 

The Bills actually have a need for two starter quality OLB players as we move to a 3-4 as I think Ellison has done well for a second day pick but really is not an outstanding OLB. Draft also surprised with how well he played due to injuries but he is a marginal starter at best/

 

Ironically the Bills might end up loaded if they sign FA Davis and flip Pos with this move and then also have potential of playing Maybin at what many see as a more natural OLB position given his size, pass rushing talent and the LB # the Bills assigned him.

 

Add to this that apparently part of the Schobel decision making may be that a move to OLB may be more attractive to him to come back. The zone blitz was actually more of his game as he shed weight and increased athleticism to play it and often covered not only in the short zone but even in the medium zone in the zone blitz.

 

The options are simply more complicated than the 2 starter hole in the 3-4 means we must pick and OLB in the draft.

 

I think Poz is too small and not a good enough blitzer to play OLB in the 3-4 on a consistant basis. I do think that he would be perfect as an ILB in this defense though. Especially if Tim Graham and Drayton Florence are right about the type if defense we're running next year:

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/...-d-after-sabans

 

Maybin and Kindle fit the same mold. If you draft Kindle, are you giving up on Maybin. Particularly high picks, I'd wait till next year. Then again, Pittsburgh seems to draft a pass rusher every year.

 

I think you hit on it there.

 

Picking a OLB at #9 does not constitute giving up on Maybin - it means they want a crazy pass rush which would be a good thing in my opinion. Having a wide variety of pass rush options at OLB allows them to potentially play 3 at a time if they wish to further confuse the offense as well as have quality depth at an important position.

[Coach Tuesday]

I'm not an expert on this but isn't one of the advantages of the 3-4 the fact that you can create a pass rush with it without blue chip pass rush specialists? It's more about angles and matchups than ability (although ability helps). I guess my point is that while you're right that the Bills need a better pass rush, that doesn't mean to me that they need to draft a pass rush specialist in Round 1 (or at all). Signing a guy like Andra Davis (and hopefully a couple more like him) and using scheme and direction may do the trick.

 

And, we need a freakin' left tackle. Badly.

[Philo]

I think a good guy to look at to fill an OLB position is Eric Norwood from South Carolina. I think he can be had in the 3rd Round. He anchored ht has been a really good South Carolina defense the past two seasons.

 

I like the idea of Norwood as well, as seen in my mock in my signature. OLB trumps ILB, in my opinion. We NEED a pass rusher and Maybin, while he still has some shot, hasn't proven anything.

 

Either way, we go OLB before ILB in the draft now because we signed Andra Davis. Him and Poz should do well on the inside for the next couple of years.

[gjv001]

The two above quotes are totally in line with my sentiments. As I've posted recently, last year everyone was clamoring for a pass rusher.

 

In addition, most everyone agrees that the NFL is a quarterback-driven, passing league.

 

We already have a respectable collection of defensive backs. Imagine how much more effective they would be (ints, defensive 3rd down percentage) if we had a good pass rush.

 

Now one year after a consensus existed for drafting a pass rusher, Aaron Schobel is thinking about retirement and Aaron Maybin has not shown conclusively that he will be a legitimate pass rush threat. In other words, the pass rush has not been addressed.

 

This draft looks to me like there are numerous excellent pass rushers who could man the outside linebacker position for the Bills...which also happens to be a position of need. Everyone is clamoring for a nose tackle (understandable) but the buzz over Rolando McClain is a bit odd to me. Reminds me a bit of the buzz over Rey Maualuga last year.

 

Meanwhile draft experts agree that this class is loaded with edge rushers like Sergio Kindle, Brandon Graham (watch the exhaustive video of him on YouTube), Derrick Morgan, and Jerry Hughes, just to name a few.

 

I'm not saying we take a pass rusher at #9...but it seems to me that OLB is a position of much greater need than ILB, firstly because we have no proven talent at OLB where we do at ILB, and secondly because pass rushers are hard to come by and at a great premium in the NFL.

 

Interested to hear all of your opinions.

If we go defense with the #9, I would be thrilled if the Bills selected Dan Williams, DT from Tennessee. Could be the NT answer for the next 8 years.

[spartacus]

My sense is that my judgment was that Pos was actually a better talent in college when he played OLB his junior year than when an injury forced a move of him to MLB where he played well enough to draw a pick from the Bills who after giving up on Fletcher had a hole at MLB.

 

If the Bills judge McClain to be a better talent at MLB than the options at OLB in this draft my since is the take McClain and move Pos to his more natural OLB position. Pos showed both the speed to cover the deep middle in the Tampa 2 stylr version of the Cover 2 we ran that I have no issue with him playing the cover role called for by an OLB and he showed some good talent as a delayed blitz artist when called upon to do that as our MLB so I think this move would work.

 

The Bills actually have a need for two starter quality OLB players as we move to a 3-4 as I think Ellison has done well for a second day pick but really is not an outstanding OLB. Draft also surprised with how well he played due to injuries but he is a marginal starter at best/

 

Ironically the Bills might end up loaded if they sign FA Davis and flip Pos with this move and then also have potential of playing Maybin at what many see as a more natural OLB position given his size, pass rushing talent and the LB # the Bills assigned him.

 

Add to this that apparently part of the Schobel decision making may be that a move to OLB may be more attractive to him to come back. The zone blitz was actually more of his game as he shed weight and increased athleticism to play it and often covered not only in the short zone but even in the medium zone in the zone blitz.

 

The options are simply more complicated than the 2 starter hole in the 3-4 means we must pick and OLB in the draft.

 

you got half the answer with Poz.

 

he was better before he was hurt and is now damaged goods.

 

he will never regain the speed and agility he had before the injury and can't make up for the lack of skill

 

another player drafted while injured who never recovered.

 

Sam Bradford or McClain will be a lock at #9