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DL and LB Projected Depth Chart


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36 minutes ago, BillsShredder83 said:

I think the offense and secondary positions are pretty obvious to everyone but theres alot going on at DL and LBs. Anyone want to take a swipe at what they think depth charts will be?

Did you want to take a crack at it yourself as the OP?  Kinda hate random question threads that could probably be googled.

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Shedder, it’s customary to take a crack at it first, and then do the whole, thoughts?  I’d encourage you to give it a shot, but you are new to posting so everyone gets a mulligan and glad you came to the TSW.  I’ll help out with my initial thoughts, and everyone can blow it up if they want.  No matter as it will never be completely accurate, as they will put different players in based on what we think they will do next.  It’s why we have a rotation on our line.  It’s not just to keep them fresh, but also some are better against the run, and some are better at penetrating.  But what the heck having my coffee on a Sunday morning before the gym and church.
 

Line 1 DL               Line 2 DL

Hughes.                 Murphy

H. Phillips              Jefferson/Oliver

Oliver                      Butler

Addison                  Addison/Jefferson
 

LB Crew

Klein

Edmunds

Milano

 

I would be guessing beyond Matakevich for ST and depth as a back up who will make the LB active 53 speaking to Thompson, Joseph,  Dodson, and Phillips.  Last year we kept 4 DE’s, 4 DT’s, 6 LB’s, and 9 Secondary.  After listening to the series on Movin the Chains by position group, one overarching theme is coaches tend to keep the same number of people at each position.  I trust those guys as they are usually spot on.  Having said that, 4 of the LB’s are set in Milano, Edmunds, Klein, and Matakevich.  So of the final four listed above, none of us are in camp to decide who are the final 2.  I’d speculate of Thompson, Joseph, Dodson, and Phillips whoever is the best at both depth and ST will get those final two spots.  I just don’t see Matakevich and Klein Losing their respective spots.  My TSW experts probably have a better handle than me.

 

Im not sure who would make the final 8th DL spot, and as much as I thought Murphy might have been cut for the cap savings, McD does really like him and he played well the last few games.  It just depends on whether we need the $ bad enough for the extensions we’ve all talked about.  Long was a cap casualty so Murphy could be a logical choice if another more unknown guy steps up and is cheaper.  McBeane know they have a window to do something special this year and if Murphy is far ahead of others, we’ll keep him.  None of us are in T. Camp so we’re not going to really know anything like an inside take.

 

Well Shedder, that took a little bit, and as my friends have told me enough times, I could be completely wrong.  I made educated guesses based on what I know about the roster.  I’m not being hard on you at all.  Just give it a try yourself and maybe you have ideas others haven’t thought of on the board.  Again, welcome to the group.  We’re not all salty all the time.

 

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Big daddy O-Town in the house.  How is practically my neighbor to the East?  I’m open if you and Putin want to change anything.  I just took my usual blind stab at it.  Did a little hw., but I’m actually looking forward to some people giving us their take as I could learn something.  If you noticed, I put Jefferson sometimes going inside and sometimes outside as he did this in Seattle pretty well.  Butler could maybe pop outside at times as well as both are versatile.

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56 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said:

Shedder, it’s customary to take a crack at it first, and then do the whole, thoughts?  I’d encourage you to give it a shot, but you are new to posting so everyone gets a mulligan and glad you came to the TSW.  I’ll help out with my initial thoughts, and everyone can blow it up if they want.  No matter as it will never be completely accurate, as they will put different players in based on what we think they will do next.  It’s why we have a rotation on our line.  It’s not just to keep them fresh, but also some are better against the run, and some are better at penetrating.  But what the heck having my coffee on a Sunday morning before the gym and church.
 

Line 1 DL               Line 2 DL

Hughes.                 Murphy

H. Phillips              Jefferson/Oliver

Oliver                      Butler

Addison                  Addison/Jefferson
 

LB Crew

Klein

Edmunds

Milano

 

I would be guessing beyond Matakevich for ST and depth as a back up who will make the LB active 53 speaking to Thompson, Joseph,  Dodson, and Phillips.  Last year we kept 4 DE’s, 4 DT’s, 6 LB’s, and 9 Secondary.  After listening to the series on Movin the Chains by position group, one overarching theme is coaches tend to keep the same number of people at each position.  I trust those guys as they are usually spot on.  Having said that, 4 of the LB’s are set in Milano, Edmunds, Klein, and Matakevich.  So of the final four listed above, none of us are in camp to decide who are the final 2.  I’d speculate of Thompson, Joseph, Dodson, and Phillips whoever is the best at both depth and ST will get those final two spots.  I just don’t see Matakevich and Klein Losing their respective spots.  My TSW experts probably have a better handle than me.

 

Im not sure who would make the final 8th DL spot, and as much as I thought Murphy might have been cut for the cap savings, McD does really like him and he played well the last few games.  It just depends on whether we need the $ bad enough for the extensions we’ve all talked about.  Long was a cap casualty so Murphy could be a logical choice if another more unknown guy steps up and is cheaper.  McBeane know they have a window to do something special this year and if Murphy is far ahead of others, we’ll keep him.  None of us are in T. Camp so we’re not going to really know anything like an inside take.

 

Well Shedder, that took a little bit, and as my friends have told me enough times, I could be completely wrong.  I made educated guesses based on what I know about the roster.  I’m not being hard on you at all.  Just give it a try yourself and maybe you have ideas others haven’t thought of on the board.  Again, welcome to the group.  We’re not all salty all the time.

 


 Very good analysis. I’m thinking/wondering if they are looking ahead a bit in some spots to push some cap money ahead and roll into next year. In that case I see Epaneza displacing Murphy on the DL rotation. JMO  now linebacker is definitely a little worrisome as it appears thin behind the starters. I’m hoping and thinking Joseph comes in and takes over and is a pleasant surprise. I’m guessing this is one area Beane will be monitoring the waiver wire non stop looking for some better depth . Other teams facing some cap issues may be more inclined to let someone go in a cost savings that will benefit us a la Winters. 

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6 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said:

Big daddy O-Town in the house.  How is practically my neighbor to the East?  I’m open if you and Putin want to change anything.  I just took my usual blind stab at it.  Did a little hw., but I’m actually looking forward to some people giving us their take as I could learn something.  If you noticed, I put Jefferson sometimes going inside and sometimes outside as he did this in Seattle pretty well.  Butler could maybe pop outside at times as well as both are versatile.

Doing well in the Otown . Lives in Clearwater for a few and enjoyed it. The Mrs and I are wanting to go back for weekend in Ybor as soon as this stuff dies hopefully!! 

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Left End:

Starter: Mario Addison

Backup: AJ Epenesa
 

1-Tech:

Starter: Harrison Phillips

Backup: Vernon Butler

 

3-Tech:

Starter: Ed Oliver

Backup: Quinton Jefferson

 

Right End:

Starter: Jerry Hughes
Backup: Trent Murphy 

 

Practice Squad:

DE: Darryl Johnson

DT: Vincent Taylor
 

Weakside Linebacker:

Starter: Matt Milano 

Backup: Corey Thompson

 

Middle Linebacker:

Starter: Tremaine Edmunds

Backup: Corey Thompson/ Tyler Matakevich 

 

Strongside Linebacker:

Starter: AJ Klein

Backup: Vosean Joseph


 

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Easy on him Chandler bud.  You’re 100% right of course, but we were new at one time.  I said the same thing, and yes, he will learn.  I honestly don’t post a lot of links and probably should, but I do my best to think through a response To a question like his one.  I personally really liked Dkollidas’s breakdown.  He went farther than me on the practice squad choices.  Well done DK.

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1 minute ago, machine gun kelly said:

Easy on him Chandler bud.  You’re 100% right of course, but we were new at one time.  I said the same thing, and yes, he will learn.  I honestly don’t post a lot of links and probably should, but I do my best to think through a response To a question like his one.  I personally really liked Dkollidas’s breakdown.  He went farther than me on the practice squad choices.  Well done DK.

The only reason the ‘thread’ is still alive is because quality contributors saved it with with quality input.

 

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Concerning the DL, I think the rotation will be as such


starters-

RE jerry

DT Ed

DT Phillips 

LE Murphy 

 

Coming off the bench

RE Addison

DT Jefferson

DT Butler

LE epenesa


first off, just because Murphy is starting, doesn’t mean he’ll get starters minutes.  We’ll see lots of substitutions and different alignments.  


I feel that McD likes to have speed on the right and power on the left for the most part.  Murphy, Epenesa and Jefferson will get most of the snaps at LE, while Jerry and Mario will split the duties on the right side.  Both players have primarily played RE in their careers and both prefer to rush from the right.  Pass rushing from the opposite side can have an inhibit their effectiveness as a pass rusher (see Shaq Lawson.  He was pretty good on the right side imo. Not as effective on the left).  on obviously passing downs we can see Mario and Jerry on the field at the same time, but I really think that they’ll be tag teaming on the right more often than not.

 

losing star changes things for Jefferson.  I felt he may have had an outside shot at being the starter on the left side (or played several snaps there), but losing the DT depth may shift him inside more to be Eds primary backup as well as an inside pass rusher on obvious passing downs (which we may see a lot of Jerry, Ed, Jefferson, Mario.  I miss lorenzo rushing from that DT spot).

 

Daryl Johnson= big wildcard.  No idea what to think because we saw two completely different players from him last year.  Started strong and wore down as the season progressed.  Hopefully he got a lot stronger and has made improvements this offseason.  He has a chance to make Murphy expendable but I don’t see it happening.  Super bowl or bust and Murphy isn’t as bad as some here say.  I feel murphy is going to be more effective than johnson in 2020.

 

LB-  Edmunds and Milano will never leave the field.

Klein takes lorenzos spot, playing 25% of the snaps.  Matekavich was paid to be our ST leader, so he’s not going anywhere.  Thompson, Dobson and Joseph are battling for the other 2 depth/ST spots.  Should be an interesting battle.  Would love to see one of the kids step up and take some of Klein’s snaps as the season progresses.

 

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I think Thompson is making this team. If you remember a couple of years ago Bills brought him in as one of their 30 pre draft visits. Then brought him in as a URFA. The Bills Brass has always been very positive about him. Last year they said he can play all 3 backup LB positions. And he plays on all the ST’s. I would be very surprised if he’s not part of the 53.

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6 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

After listening to the series on Movin the Chains by position group, one overarching theme is coaches tend to keep the same number of people at each position.  I trust those guys as they are usually spot on.  

 

One thing about that is it depends on what positions ST players are playing.  If Roberts was kick/punter and a DB the numbers would different than as they are now with Roberts being a WR.  If Roberts had decided to opt out would they have added another WR just to have one for special teams? I do not think so.  

 

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Like, I wouldn’t dare to challenge the great Aid (I say that affectionately), but was impressed they did their hw. On the intact coaching staffs, and it was eerie how consistent year to year a HC will keep almost the same number of players by position year over year.  I’m sure there are exceptions.  The counter to you’re Roberts comment is ok, he opts out, and they slot McKenzie there as he is a gimmick WR, in a pinch DB, and can return kicks and punts.  He has that wiggle about him.  I do appreciate you’re point though.

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I know the Bills like to substitute DL in units and waves but I wouldn’t doubt if they rotate Murphy and Addison a little more on down and distance, run downs and passing downs. With Murphy playing most first and run downs and Addison playing most third and pass downs. I also think because of no preseason that Butler could push Harry for the first unit until they know he’s 100%. 
 

We have a lot of depth and a few different guys that can play inside and out so that also will likely throw off the first and second unit idea, with the coaches matching up our guys against specific OL

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1 hour ago, Paul Costa said:

I think Thompson is making this team. If you remember a couple of years ago Bills brought him in as one of their 30 pre draft visits. Then brought him in as a URFA. The Bills Brass has always been very positive about him. Last year they said he can play all 3 backup LB positions. And he plays on all the ST’s. I would be very surprised if he’s not part of the 53.


Costa, you might be right.  Considering we need 4 backups for QB, LS, P, and K so that leaves 12.  How they divide up will depend.  At a minimum on PS, outside of previously stated we’d need at least one DB, one LB, one DL, one O Lineman, one RB, One RB, one WR, and one TE unless you choose two big WR’s.  So by my St. Francis HS math, that’s 8.  That leaves four slots so that two slots for four the above position groups mentioned.  I’m glad I’m not McDermott and Beane this year.  Talk about tough choices.

 

These poor guys have to make so many decisions thinking of every contingency trying to anticipate every last thing that can go wrong.  It’s mind boggling making me think Of the tube Austin Powers I’ve gone cross eyed.  Wish I knew how to place on these threads if anyone younger than 40 ? wants to send this middle aged guy a step by step on a pm.

 

 

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