Click that link on him. He woulda been a top performer at the Combine if he were invited.

ramming a tampon 2 down his throat.

I saw him in OP over the holidays and he was looking crazy skinny. I had the balls to go talk to him and he explained the very odd injury that put him on IR, even showed me his scar from surgery (something to do with his calf). Anyway, he said he would be ready and was looking forward competing for a spot next season.

from the PARADE. Maybe Dorsey?

He doens’t have the coverage skills. He would be a 3rd down/obvious passing situation pure pass rusher at OLB. Although I do hope he can fill that role, nothing about his pass rush skills that he has shown so far leads me to believe he would be a superstar in that position.

That would give him the most chance of making an impact in the 3-4 under/4-3 under

Hard Knocks reference ftw!

I’ve been rooting for Tank since we drafted him – I really hope playing nose tackle allows him to show his strengths (one of which, amazingly, is his strength =) )

He’s built like a Pro-Bowl Nose Tackle…now let’s see if he can grow into one.

in a 3-4 you can have:

the NT line up over center as a 2-gap player
to the strongside (usually) you have a 5 technique end who lines head up over the tackle .
to the weakside (usually) you have a 3 technique tackle who plays over the guards outside shoulder.

This give you an unbalanced three man line, which is where the linebackers come in. the weakside OLB is your rusher (where Tamba Hali fits in). Because you don’t have an end on that side, the outside linebacker is 1-on-1 with t the OT and is like a stand-up end.

If your 3 technique tackle is penetrating, he is occupying the OG, Leaving the WILB free to chase and tackle. This allows you to have rush the OLB like an end because the WILB is flowing to the ball and will help with contain. The SILB is like an extra lineman, if your NT isn’t occupying two blockers, the SILB will have to take on the other OG on running downs. (this is the Larry Foote role with the Steelers, or Levon Kirkland back in the day).

On the strong side, if your 5 technique end is a beast he’ll require attention from the tackle and tight end, and allow the outside OLB more flexibility in the scheme.

That’s my long way of saying that an NT and 3 Tech DT can be in the formation.

:)

putting him in a 2-tech position on the guard, so he could keep the guard off of our ridiculously horrible linebacking corp is what affected Dorsey last season – I don’t know how many times I saw Dorsey lined up directly over the guard, and just sit there and eat G/C or G/T double-teams all freakin’ day.

he does need to be a 3-tech guy.

but that’s where the role of the inside players is so important. If the 3 tech is hitting the gap, his sole purpose is backfield penetration without giving up that single gap. The WOLB is taking the outside shoulder of the OT and protecting outside contain. If he’s holding his ground, the WILB is either free to the ball carrier, taking on a lead back, or taking on a pulling guard. And if the guards pulling, that means the SILB is moving latterly to the weakside to pursue. The name of the game is someone has to beat their block or get upfield penetration fast.

If your NT is good, they can’t pull a guard because your NT is blowing up the Center and they need that guard to double team. If your 3 tech DT is penetrating all the time, they have to help him out with the centre or tackle, either way your WOLB or WILB will have a mismatch or a free shot at the ball carrier.

Let me point out that in a 43 under hybrid (offset line, offset LB’s + a predator/jack) your LB’s are not really playing the standard roles of ILB/OLB. The scheme sets up a “predator/free floating jack” backer that actually has very little responcibility to the run game (Aside from the outside run to his side) and very little pass coverage responcibility (again, only that which comes through his gap). That OLB/Predator is basically a 43DE that plays 2-4 yards off the line of scrimmage. He plays tighter to the line than the rest of the LB’s, but further back than the linemen. His only real job is to rush the QB/RB in the backfield. (unless the defense calls for trickery by having him gap/cover while the CB/Safety plays the blitz). He’s a pass rusher.

The rest of the LB’s may as well change their position names from ILB/ILB/OLB to Will/Mike/Sam. They are going to play classice 43 LB roles. They will beplaying in the same kind of roles a cover 2 back plays in when the backfield is playing zone coverage, and more aggressivly when the backfield plays man to man. So you still need a beast of a player at MLB if you’re going to run a base-zone defense, even though you technically have 4 LB’s on the field.

Try to rethink your question taking into account RedNose’s points about the size/2 gap responcibility of the Linemen and with the knowledge that the roles of the LB’s are not classic 34 roles. Instead they are 43 roles. That should help you envision it.

P.S. : We still need a beast of a MLB that can play a large area of the field, handle the point of attack, call the defense, and play in coverage using a 43 under. - Zach Thomas is a nice transitional guy to teach, but we haven’t reduced our need for a Curry / Maleluga by a long shot.

in fact, I think I liked him at the Arby’s mini-camp last summer and was like “Who is this fat kid?”