Do We Have Too Many DLinemen?

[pfelix73]

I believe that a team can never have too many DLinemen. Always good to rotate them in and out...I am concerned about our linebacking corps. and the depth there.. or lack of it...

Disagree on the 4-3 too. You can do more with scheme in the 3-4.. That's why it's become so popular..

[flippy]

[/COLOR]And WHY? Because I think if Lego has to start, I think it's better to have the better athlete at guard, and leave Lego at center.

Pouncey IMO is wasted as a C. His talent would be used BETTER at guard. If you want to run the ball? You needs guards who can block. Pouncey/Lego/DeCastro inside would be ridiculous.


I also think Lekursky is better at calling blocking schemes than Pouncey.

I'd be ok with Adams, Pouncey, Legs, Decastro, and Gilbert. I'd be a bigger fan of bringing Starks back and making Adams win a job.

[pfelix73]

Agree with you there- Adams needs to win the OT spot. This is gonna be an interesting camp and September. If he starts at LT in the Denver game and gets blown up- then what? Then you gotta move everyone around again...Gilbert to LT, Colon to RT... I doubt 4 preseason games are gonna be any indication on what Adams will do in the reg. season....

They really need to bring in Starks for depth...and competition. Such a no-brainer..

[RuthlessBurgher]

Disagree. He won the job last year only to be moved around again because of all the injuries. Really hasn't been given the opportunity to start at OG. We'll see what happens in camp and down the road.. Colon is, what? only signed for 2012? He isn't the long term answer at LG...

Willie Colon

7/28/2011: Signed a five-year, $29 million contract. The deal included a $6 million signing bonus. 2012: $700,000 (+ $3.8 million "signing" bonus), 2013-2014: $5.5 million, 2015: $6 million, 2016: Free Agent

[URL]http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/3912/player?r=1[/URL]

[pfelix73]

Cool, thanks for posting. Thought he only signed through 2012.

However, looking at the numbers, I wonder if he'd restructure that, because he was signed on OT money and not as a G. He's now the oldest starting OL...

[Oviedo]

Agree with you there- Adams needs to win the OT spot. This is gonna be an interesting camp and September. If he starts at LT in the Denver game and gets blown up- then what? Then you gotta move everyone around again...Gilbert to LT, Colon to RT... I doubt 4 preseason games are gonna be any indication on what Adams will do in the reg. season....

They really need to bring in Starks for depth...and competition. Such a no-brainer..

I totally agree it is a "no brainer" to bring Starks back if Starks can do anything. We have no idea what his health status is after surgery so if they did bring him back he may be on the sideline learning the new terminology and nhelping to coach up Adams.

The Starks over Jon Scott preference is only valid if Starks is healthy.

How the world turns with many constantly criticizing Starks in the past and now so many wanting him back. He was never as bad as many made him out to be and has always been a good, if not great, LT.

[Pops8]

Since we're dealing in hypotheticals...

Woodley would be a DE if the Steelers ever changed to a 4-3...but, he would most likely be an "elephant" type DE...also known in some defenses as a "Leo" or even a "Jack"...that type of DE plays as a standup player who basically plays DE like an 3-4 OLB...

Really, the only differences between LeBeau's 3-4 and most 4-3 Ds are gap responsibility...the players on LeBeau's 3 man line are all 2 gap defenders...most 4-3 D-Linemen are one gap defenders (with the exception of the 4-3 NT, for the most part)...

If you lined up the defense in a 4 man line, with a "Leo" DE, the front would be virtually indistinguishable from a 3-4 front...the difference would be gap responsibilities...

Short story long, the Steelers are most likely going to be spending less and less time in the base defense and more time in special packages, so the base D becomes increasingly irrelevant...

I agree with most of what you say here...I don't normally get into this type of detail on message boards because not many people want to. The money statement is the last one. Teams these days spend so much time in situation driven personnel packages that naming a base is becoming silly. This is especially true at the OLB/DE position. The OLB/DE difference has been getting more and more blurry as flex and multifront defenses evolve. Often the delta is only defined by where the player lines up in response to offensive formation. When I played, the run front was king and it really defined your coverage (which was a lot of m2m). These days coverage is king and it really defines the run front.

[RuthlessBurgher]

I agree with most of what you say here...I don't normally get into this type of detail on message boards because not many people want to. The money statement is the last one. Teams these days spend so much time in situation driven personnel packages that naming a base is becoming silly. This is especially true at the OLB/DE position. The OLB/DE difference has been getting more and more blurry as flex and multifront defenses evolve. Often the delta is only defined by where the player lines up in response to offensive formation. When I played, the run front was king and it really defined your coverage (which was a lot of m2m). These days coverage is king and it really defines the run front.

Versatile players in versatile schemes makes it cloudy when teams want to tag a player (franchise or transition). I'm sure the Ravens would like to give Terrell Suggs the lower LB tender, but Suggs would want the higher DE tender. There are guys like this on offense now too...is Dexter McCluster primarily a RB or WR now? We have a similar player in Chris Rainey, plus we have the TE/FB David Johnson, and folks are already speculating about whether or not we might use Sean Spence as a linebacker or perhaps safety instead.

[Jooser]

When healthy, Willie Colon is a far superior player to Legursky so if Pouncey?Lego?DeCastro is "ridiculous" then Colon/Pouncey/DeCastro should be super ridiculous. Let's all face the fact that Legursky is a good back-up not an NFL starter.

SUPER REDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!! YES!!! that is the best pairing of those two words I've ever seen!!!! nice

[Crash]

Agree with you there- Adams needs to win the OT spot. This is gonna be an interesting camp and September. If he starts at LT in the Denver game and gets blown up- then what?

You leave him out there. Starks gets abused by speed rushers also.

[flippy]

You leave him out there. Starks gets abused by speed rushers also.

Starks was really only abused by Aldon Smith recently. For the most part he's pretty sound and has played next to an underperformer for years that hasn't helped him much.

[Pops8]

Versatile players in versatile schemes makes it cloudy when teams want to tag a player (franchise or transition). I'm sure the Ravens would like to give Terrell Suggs the lower LB tender, but Suggs would want the higher DE tender.

Woah, slow down there tex. I was talking from a schematic and strategy perspective. Don't dirty it all up with money talks now.

[pfelix73]

I don't know how you can leave Adams out there if he's the weak link. It takes time to master that position. Having Starks would at least give us some options. Well, again, should make for an interesting camp this year! I think I'll go up for a day or 2. Missed it the past few years....

[hawaiiansteel]

As long as Casey Hampton remains on our roster, we'll never be accused on being thin at DL.

good point, but Chris Hoke has certainly gotten thin (this pic taken at recent OTAs)

[flippy]

good point, but Chris Hoke has certainly gotten thin (this pic taken at recent OTAs)

Good to see Hokie hanging around. I think he'd potentially make a good DLine coach in the future.