(05-18-2019, 05:16 AM)Caldrac Wrote:

(05-17-2019, 07:08 PM)Jags02 Wrote: Well said.

The phrase "nearly completely ineffective" defines my expectations for Ryan in coverage. I see Ryan strictly coming in at MLB for short-yardage situations or likely running downs. Maybe he'll even start when we play Henry and the Titans.

The only thing comical about all of this is that a few key words were overlooked. No one is saying Jack should or should not play the Mike position. I think we're just all kicking our tires here in mid-May. And there's still plenty of time left for adjustments to be made. Regardless of what Jack feels or says doesn't mean things won't be moved around. Key word folks... if.....IF "(introducing a conditional clause) on the condition or supposition that; in the event that, or, despite the possibility that; no matter whether."

IF.... Jack struggles inside then it's pretty obvious they'll make a move or realign the LB positions. Same thing that happened with Bryan last year when he didn't really show enough to justify leaving him at DE as a rookie so they've decided to kick him back inside at DT to off set the loss of Malik Jackson this off season. 

There's a lot of scenarios that could change the course of the starting defensive and offensive unit this summer during training camp, preseason, etc. What if Jacobs is horrible at Will or Sam? What if Williams doesn't pan out at Will or Sam? What's easier to fix moving forward? 

Having two inexperienced backers on the outside with a former 7th RD pick entering his 2nd year (Jacobs) and two rookies trying to learn the playbook (Allen, who will probably be moved around more than anything and Williams) with a 2nd year starter inside in Jack? Or having Ryan with experience inside, Jack on the outside with his abilities and experience? And maybe just one rookie to worry about which can be heavily rotated to keep it interesting? 

It's ignorant to rule out the possibilities of change or changes throughout the course of the next few months and throughout the actual regular season. 

Except for the fact that if you move Jack to Will, you're now making it 3 question marks at LB instead of the possible 2... Really there's only 1 main question mark at LB right now and it's the Will. The Sam will sort itself out pretty easy imo.

Jack has never played WLB in the NFL, so now hes got to learn a new position, again. 1st question mark.

Ryan is coming off a knee injury and hasn't played in a 4-3 in the NFL. How fully healed will his knee be? How quickly can he adjust to life at MLB, in a pass happy league, as just a run stopping LB? It'll highly likely be ugly for the 70% of the time we're on Defense, in Nickel. 2nd question mark.

Who wins the SLB job? Jacobs? Allen? A mix of them? Somebody else? 3rd question mark, but like I said above, it'll sort itself out just fine.

You move Jack and you're doing more harm than good. Now if it's week 12 and we've only won 4 games and the Defense is god awful and struggling simply because of LB play, then maybe you think about making a change going forward. Which was the case for Bryan moving back inside to DT. They didn't do it until late in the season, when the season was already lost.

---

(05-18-2019, 01:32 PM)Caldrac Wrote:

(05-18-2019, 12:29 PM)JackCity Wrote: what part of Jacks skillset makes you think he's a better fit at sam

Jack has a good enough skill set to fit anywhere in the LB group. Hell, he's probably still good enough to line-up in the backfield on offense and put in work at RB. My line of thinking for this year was just pretty much outlined above. 

With Telvin Smith out of the picture for this year and possibly for good. And with two rookies, one of which is probably going to be asked to play everywhere this year with Allen's size and speed at DE and OLB. And then Williams, a guy who may or may not have a hard learning curve ahead of him coming up from Murray state... 

I just think they might want to look at putting more experienced players into the starting line-up to minimize any potential holes, gap assignment / mental errors, etc. That's not to say that Jack can't get it done. I think he can get it done inside or outside. I just think for this year we may have to mix it up a bit more because of the sudden news with Telvin and just the lack of overall experience. 

They currently have 11 LB's on the roster. Depending on how they build up the depth this summer at that position and how many they carry will obviously be determined down the road this summer. 

But it's going to be A LOT to ask of two rookies. Allen I think we'll see more action at DE over LB to begin with but they still have him listed at DE/OLB. So it'll be interesting to see what happens with him. I think Jake Ryan will have a more important role than people realize this year. 

And the idea that he'll be slow coming off an ACL at the age of 27 is comical to me as well. Since, you know the guy we're talking about right now in Myles Jack had to do the very same thing coming out of college and he seems to be doing just fine. 

All I know is that the biggest complaints and concerns last year on defense were people being caught out of position a lot. That's WITH guys like Telvin Smith, Barry Church and Tashaun Gipson running around back there on defense. This year we're now relying on Harrison at SS who flashed but ended up on IR. We're relying on Wilson at FS who has some experience but not a ton. We're going to be relying on Taven Bryan in his 2nd year after an underwhelming rookie season to fill the shoes of Malik Jackson and keep pushing the pile and pocket backwards. 

And we're still relatively young in general at the LB position. Which, again, circles back to this topic with two rookies now in the picture. All of a sudden, guys needing to know their assignments, guys with experience and knowing when to be where and how to stay disciplined just went up even more through the roof. 

Campbell is also not getting any younger. And he's been dinged up here and there in the past. Not enough to keep him out of a game but certainly enough to slow him down for a bit. This could be a very down year on defense if we're not careful with the personnel we have on this roster. CB seems to be the only truly set position with Ramsey and Bouye. But if one of them goes down for any extensive period of time? 

Ryan is coming off of his 2nd ACL injury actually and No Jack wasn't coming off of an ACL injury when he came out of college. It was a Meniscus injury. Jack is also only 23 years old, going into his 4th season. Being 19-20 years old coming off a Meniscus injury isn't the same as being 27 years old and coming off your 2nd ACL injury.

---