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The upgrades to this group that JRob has made have been amazing. Think about where they were just a few years back. Right now, Woodyard is a backup ILB. Our starters (unofficial) are Wake, Evans, Brown, and Landry. Finch is the kind of backup OLB that may as well be a starter. Correa looks good to me, too. Woodyard has been a decent starter who is now going to be a backup but can rotate in without a huge dropoff, really. It's pretty amazing, and they are the key to this defense.

 

However, once Simmons is healthy and ready to play on the DL with Casey? Wow....that front 7 should be about as good as any.

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The OLB group still leaves a lot to be desired, Which could easily be answered if Landry and Finch step up in their second years and becoming household names. From an outsider perspective though we have a 37 year old and 2 sophomores that didn’t put up even average sack numbers a year ago

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That's the thing about JRob, he addresses every position group, constantly.  He's also very shrewd in his methods.  We complain about what may be one of his special talents.  He looks for long range value.  Evans is now looking like a great player, but he fell because of his groin injury.  Landry, top five pick who had injury hampered senior year.  Simmons.  JRob plays the long game, like he knows he has to field a team next season.  Then he's constantly looking to improve the depth and hits with guys like Finch.  He's studying the entire draft, the waiver wire and next years players, so his personnel ends up all talented.  Genius.

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15 minutes ago, Soxcat said:

Actually the OLB group is about as good as we could ask for.  Our best two players are only in their 2nd season.  Wake will be a great rotational guy and is better than Morgan or Orakpo.  Evans could start there if needed and will be available in passing situations when he would normally come off the field anyway.  So we have quality and quantity.  Correa is somewhat of a JAG but I hope someone like Andre Walker or Robinson can step up. 

 

From the inside yes, it’s a better group- from the outside those 2 guys you mention only accumulated 6 combined sacks and that 37 year old Wake coming off his worst sack number me since his rookie season. 

 

Again im with you it feels like we are ready to have year 2 jumps with some explosive players but from the outside we have an aging vet in Wake and 2 unproven guys that had low sack #s last season. I sure do have a ton of hope for Landry myself. 

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2 minutes ago, TWR said:

From the inside yes, it’s a better group- from the outside those 2 guys you mention only accumulated 6 combined sacks and that 37 year old Wake coming off his worst sack number me since his rookie season. 

 

Again im with you it feels like we are ready to have year 2 jumps with some explosive players but from the outside we have an aging vet in Wake and 2 unproven guys that had low sack #s last season. I sure do have a ton of hope for Landry myself. 

Someone posted (NINE I think) the qb pressure numbers for Orakpo and Morgan and they were like awful.  No chance the OLB group is anywhere close to as bad.  They have nowhere to go but up.

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9 minutes ago, rns90 said:

Someone posted (NINE I think) the qb pressure numbers for Orakpo and Morgan and they were like awful.  No chance the OLB group is anywhere close to as bad.  They have nowhere to go but up.

No doubt, they only combined for 2 total sacks as well. I never said that the group wasn’t improved, i said from the outside it could still be perceived as an unproven group leaving a lot to be desired. Let us not forget both players we are hoping make that jump were also in the same rotation of players that put up putrid numbers.

 

Landry by all accounts looks primed to be a real threat off the edge l- just hoping he makes that year 2 jump we greatly need him to make. 

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OLB has a chance to be good, but I agree that it’s an unproven group right now. 

 

ILB is probably the best it’s ever been here. We have two starters who could be pro bowl material and a 3rd guy who could start for a lot of teams.

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What I like about our OLBs is the youth. Finch and Landry may have only had 6 sacks between them last year, but they were backups. Landry showed some elite pass rushing skills. He needs to be consistent with his reads and responsibilities. That's my biggest worry with him (and Finch). They ARE young, but that also means that they will be learning on the job and we should have them for a few years, as they grow. Landry has some abilities that can't be taught. His ability to lean and keep his balance and strength are incredible. That's why I'm excited.

 

I mean Evans is a second year player, too, but people seem excited by him (for good reason). Brown is the only truly proven starter in the sense of showing he can do it for a full season. Well, Wake, but I think of Wake as the veteran who probably won't play the whole game. I think they rotate him out a good bit to keep him fresh.

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I believe it was when I was watching the Colleen Wolf(e?) segment with Joe Thomas there was a crawl showing the defense by position groups and rankings. Cornerbacks were #9, safeties were #8. Linebackers were ranked #3. Edge was a separate category as was defensive line (20, 17 IIRC).

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OLB has question marks, but plenty of upside. It’s just tough to judge this early with the OLBs being either older or inexperienced.

 

ILB looks excellent.

 

Also, the DLine play will impact how they look, too. That complicates matters.

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