What will our D front look like?

rpiotr01

rpiotr01

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Here we are, post-draft. Notwithstanding signing a vet later in the summer if someone comes free, we have our players for Mike Pettine's defensive front. I have to say, however, it's still not clear to me what this thing is going to look like. I know Pettine has said he's going to run a hybrid sort of front, but looking at the players it doesn't quite seem to me like a coherent group. How do you take all of these guys and get your best players on the field? What does that look like in terms of alignment? Here's what we have, now what do we do with them?

DL - Wilkerson, Clark, Daniels, Lowry, Adams, Looney

OLBs - Matthews, Perry, Biegel, Fackrell, Gilbert, Donnerson

ILBs - Martinez, Ryan, Burks

My first impression is that, considering how often we played 2 or even 1 DL looks, that's a lot of DL here, even just in terms of numbers. I think you could argue that 3 of the 5 most talented front 7 players right now are on the DL, and that would suggest to me more 4-3 looks, maybe with Wilkerson, Clark, Daniels and Perry down, and CMIII playing off the ball.

But then you look at the OLBs, and besides Perry, none of those guys are hand down types, so what do you do when Perry invariably gets hurt? They're all pretty clearly 3-4 OLBs.

So I don't know, still seems a little messy and unclear to me. We may not know anything for certain until camp comes around, but curious what the board thinks.
 
I think Matthews will be used more on passing downs. Not an every down player anymore, IMO. Beigel and Gilbert will have opportunities opposite of Perry. RP, I think we will switch from 4 DL to 2 or 3 depending on what the opponents O is doing. Get your playmakers on the field until we can rebuild this sucker.
 
I would line up with Wilkerson and Lancaster inside, Clark strong side End and Daniels weak side. I keep Martinez as my ILB to plug behind the 2 big men. Let Burks take the wide side every time so he can use his speed to cut things off... Matthews can roam the other side. Change it up on passing downs Lowery at DE and shift Daniels inside for Lancaster.

You should be able to hold the line vs most OL with that set.
 
dannobanano said:
I've also seen a couple of mentions that he may be more effective as an OL.
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That was my first thought, but then I figured maybe that's just because he's a big white guy that kinda looks like TJ Lang.

I'll say this, he seems very strong and actually pretty quick, and to have the mentality of not just being OK with eating up double teams but actually seeking them out, that's a pretty rare attitude. He doesn't have the same mass, but could be the first time we've had that type of player inside since Big Grease.

Mark I like that alignment, but do you know anything to suggest Pettine is really going to play that much 4-3?
 
rpiotr01 said:
Mark I like that alignment, but do you know anything to suggest Pettine is really going to play that much 4-3?
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He played more 4 man front looks in Buffalo then he did 3 man.... that's where he was a DC last. People keep bringing up the Jets but that was Ryans defense in reality.
 
Is MM still big on the 3-4? Just wondering if he would have a problem with the 4-3.
 
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