Shutdown LBs are hard to come by because they need to be big enough to hold up against the run while being fast/fluid enough to cover TEs/RBs. Julian Peterson and Patrick Willis, in their primes, are two of the recent examples in my mind of LBs who have the ability to cover man (guys like Brooks and Lewis IMO, were good man covers, but exceptional zone cover linebackers)

 

As a young defense (and with so many changes roster wise), I don't expect this team to be shutting offenses yet. I think the crazy possibility here is versatility. Teams struggle defending offenses with a tremendous pass receiving RB or TE. CBs often are too small to take on TEs, and LBs are often too slow to cover TEs, much less receiving RBs.

 

The selection of Ramsey and Jack makes us uniquely capable of covering these specialized weapons with our base defense (once Jack makes it there). Ramsey is a guy who can cover receivers, backs, and TEs. Jack can cover backs, TEs, and receivers (to a lesser extent). NFL is very much about match-ups and finding your passing weak link.

 

With two players capable of defending any offensive position, it will be more difficult for offenses to target a weakness of our defense due to the versatility of these two players.

---