One of the conversations I've seen popping up here in recent weeks is the inside linebackers. Specifically, people are wondering why it's (almost) always Corey Mays/Demorrio Williams or Derrick Johnson/Jovan Belcher and not mixing the pairings.
Some have said that DJ and Williams would be the best combination.
Todd Haley would disagree (as stagdsp beat me to talking about).
"There’s a big difference," Haley said when asked about the difference between the weakside and strongside inside linebacker positions. "There’s a big difference in the type of player we’re looking for from a physical stature. I think there’s a big difference.
"I think there are more strongside inside linebackers that can play the other side if they have a certain skill set than weakside inside linebackers that can come over and play the other side. The strongside linebacker has to take on a lot bigger bodies a lot more of the time."
So DJ couldn't move over and play strongside?
"I’m not saying that he couldn’t," Haley said. "I would say Derrick has the skill set to be that weakside inside linebacker and it’s a very nice fit for him."
If that translation wasn't clear enough, here it is again.
"I would say that would be more unlikely that that scenario would happen."
Check out Todd Haley's full press conference at the Mothership and also check out Josh Looney's story on the subject. There's a lot of discussion and details in there.
(H/T stagdsp for noticing this first. I wasn't able to make Todd Haley's press conference this morning.)