I think the Redskins should Go to A 3-4 Defense.

[LandrySlice]

it just is really confusing for the opposing qb, and seems like it allows you to get more pressure with 4 speed LBS. No one seems to wanna answer my question about Peppers or Haynesworth, only 2 more weeks till Free agency starts!

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by LandrySlice

it just is really confusing for the opposing qb, and seems like it allows you to get more pressure with 4 speed LBS. No one seems to wanna answer my question about Peppers or Haynesworth, only 2 more weeks till Free agency starts!

Answer: no on both. Either guy will probably take most if not all of our FA money and we in all likelihood will address a couple of needs thru FA. We should look for value players though that will be a challenge because of the supply and demand.

The need for a DT seems less pressing as we review the oline situation and the LB corp.

[BeastsoftheNFCeast]

I believe the 3-4 is going to go downhill the more teams transition to it (which is what is happening). I believe a big success of the 3-4 is that the teams draft players that 3-4 teams value more than 4-3 teams so they get more value for their pick when the 4-3 teams pass over them. Also its a defense that is not seen as much so offenses are not as familiar about what to do.
However, nobody can deny its success in recent years, so it is important to ask if the Redskins switch, would it give us the same success?
I believe that it is not in the Redskins best interest to do so. Not because we dont have talent currently on our roster (between Evans, Daniels, Golston, Griffin, and Montgomery we could find 3 players to fit the DL, Rocky, Fletch, Blades on ILB, Washington, Taylor, Carter at OLB), but because of our salary cap situation I believe we NEED to cut JT AND either griffin or Washington (maybe both). Doing so I believe will either definitely completely screw over our OLB's or will cripple our LB's and DL enough to make a very week front 7. We do not know who will do well in the 3-4 and we need to have enough options to give us security...a defense is only as strong as its weakest player.
And we cannot buy players to fit our system because I believe that our O-line is the number one priority right now. Due to poor performance and an ancient age, we need to get young talent on the OL NOW.

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

I believe the 3-4 is going to go downhill the more teams transition to it (which is what is happening). I believe a big success of the 3-4 is that the teams draft players that 3-4 teams value more than 4-3 teams so they get more value for their pick when the 4-3 teams pass over them. Also its a defense that is not seen as much so offenses are not as familiar about what to do.
However, nobody can deny its success in recent years, so it is important to ask if the Redskins switch, would it give us the same success?
I believe that it is not in the Redskins best interest to do so. Not because we dont have talent currently on our roster (between Evans, Daniels, Golston, Griffin, and Montgomery we could find 3 players to fit the DL, Rocky, Fletch, Blades on ILB, Washington, Taylor, Carter at OLB), but because of our salary cap situation I believe we NEED to cut JT AND either griffin or Washington (maybe both). Doing so I believe will either definitely completely screw over our OLB's or will cripple our LB's and DL enough to make a very week front 7. We do not know who will do well in the 3-4 and we need to have enough options to give us security...a defense is only as strong as its weakest player.
And we cannot buy players to fit our system because I believe that our O-line is the number one priority right now. Due to poor performance and an ancient age, we need to get young talent on the OL NOW.

That's similar to what I said earlier, most notably the Skins have passed on a lot of 3-4 OLB/DEs in years when we drafted defense high, e.g. Merriman & Ware in 05. I know that those guys didn't fit the mold of our 4-3, neither did guys like Woodley, who was rated high at one point, then dropped to the 2nd round.

Teams that play the 3-4 well seem to be getting great production from these tweener guys. I think they're as much or more key to it than the nose tackle. btw, J. Ratcliff of Dallas isn't that big but he's quick & strong. Maybe he's not a good example of a 3-4 NT but he's the only smaller one I can think of that's any good.

[BeastsoftheNFCeast]

Originally Posted by freddyg12

That's similar to what I said earlier, most notably the Skins have passed on a lot of 3-4 OLB/DEs in years when we drafted defense high, e.g. Merriman & Ware in 05. I know that those guys didn't fit the mold of our 4-3, neither did guys like Woodley, who was rated high at one point, then dropped to the 2nd round.

Teams that play the 3-4 well seem to be getting great production from these tweener guys. I think they're as much or more key to it than the nose tackle. btw, J. Ratcliff of Dallas isn't that big but he's quick & strong. Maybe he's not a good example of a 3-4 NT but he's the only smaller one I can think of that's any good.

I do believe a big nose tackle is a key cog. All the teams that have success have a key cog nose tackle. (look no further than the ravens and steelers) But it's just one of the pieces of the puzzle, the tweener OLB's are also a key ingredient. (btw, I wouldnt use anyone from dallas as an example...their defense might put up sacks, but point wise they are terrible.)

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by freddyg12

That's similar to what I said earlier, most notably the Skins have passed on a lot of 3-4 OLB/DEs in years when we drafted defense high, e.g. Merriman & Ware in 05. I know that those guys didn't fit the mold of our 4-3, neither did guys like Woodley, who was rated high at one point, then dropped to the 2nd round.

Teams that play the 3-4 well seem to be getting great production from these tweener guys. I think they're as much or more key to it than the nose tackle. btw, J. Ratcliff of Dallas isn't that big but he's quick & strong. Maybe he's not a good example of a 3-4 NT but he's the only smaller one I can think of that's any good.

Not sure whether that has been noted here before but that seems very insightful to me. Not to say these "tweeners" don't/can't make great LBs in the 4-3 system but I think they're passed up as OLBs in the 4-3 system cause maybe they're seen as being a little too big to be effective in coverage or something. That's just a guess.