With Aj Edds, Where does Channing Crowder stand????

You can call him the WOLB or whatever you want, Edds is in position to become either the backup MIKE or starting TED eventually. Never has it been stated otherwise. When Ireland states ILB he means he's in the hunt. Edds is not a WOLB in the 3-4 sense at all.

If we play a 4-3 formation perhaps they play him as the WLB as you said, but if Wake is down at the line in the four man set, he's playing a very similar position regardless. If he were forced to play a true 3-4 OLB it would be on strong-side anyway in a traditional 4-3 set with Wake the 4-3 RE.

I have no idea why anyone would put Edds at the 3-4 WOLB in a standard formation. That's pointless. A back can cover him with ease if he blitzes from that spot and the offense won't adjust worth a damn to him.

As for Crowder, I can see the team carry four ILBs into the season with Edds versatility on the strong-side being a factor in the decision. As it stands:

- Edds, Crowder, Dobbins, Danbsy, Wake, Anderson, Moses, Misi, and probably one of the seventh rounders or Torbor will make the squad. One thing to note is that the entire LBing core has been adjusted as promised. The vast majority of these guys can cover or have an ability to cover. There are no Matt Roths, no Porters, and Taylors which will in fact allow the team to play a penetration 3-4 that compares once again to Dallas really. It's not the 5-2 we expected.

 

Dobbins has the inside track on that starting job, if it's indeed up for grabs. It would be a pretty big event if Crowder loses his starting gig. I don't see it happening, at least not to AJ Edds.

I can see Edds backing up competently at either ILB position, but not Edds becoming the starting WILB. That's a big uphill climb. It would be Zach Thomas II if it happened.

 

Hehe I'm not sure it would take a Zach Thomas II. Remember Zach had to beat out Jack Del Rio. All Edds has to beat out is Crowder

 

With the 13 Lbs we have signed and from the draft i believe, Charlie Anderson, JD Folsom, Spitler and Erik Walden will be cut bringing us down to 9 Lbs which is about how many we'll keep maybe cut Torbor or Quentin Moses if they feel the need to trim it to 8

 

Down the line I can see Edds playing ILB, I do think Crowder's days are numbered.

 

I'm not a big Crowder fan either, but the guy is pretty steady. There's a reason no one else has taken his job yet.

 

Steady is one word I would never use for Crowder.

[TABLE="head; width=80%"]Year|Games|Tackles|Sacks|PDef|Int
2009|13|44|1|3|1
2008|15|92|0|6|0
2007|11|51|0.5|0|0
2006|16|60|1|3|0
2005|16|53|0|3|0[/TABLE]

Take a look where other 3-4 Inside backers rate in comparison to him. 717 Snaps and only 44 tackles? That's not steady that's almost a complete non factor. I'll take it one step further. If after drafting this many backers (Including Dobbins) if we can''t replace Crowders lack of productivity we're in deep doo doo

 

I'm not talking about stats. I know he's up and down there. What I'm talking about is the influence he has on defense. To see what I'm talking about, look at the Houston game where he left with an injury. Our defense went from "barely manageable" to "Pee Wee."

As someone who sets the defense, he's pretty good. As a player, he's generally mediocre. Dobbins is equal or a little better despite much fewer snaps, but to really replace Crowder, you'd need Dansby to be a better defensive playcaller and Dobbins to be a clearly better linebacker.

That's a lot of what-ifs that need to fall exactly right.

 

I completely agree our depth at LB inside and out has been in question for a while. Torbor is hot and cold. Sometimes he looks solid other times I ask myself WTF. To me this has little bearing on whether or not one of these new guys can replace Crowder in the starting lineup. This regime loves to insert the young guys if they think all things equal and well lets face it Crowder hasn't set the bar all that high.

I just don't see us drafting this many backers in one draft and the FO not planning on making wholesale changes to the existing group.

 

I agree. Non-existent or unproductive is the word I would use for Crowder. As the other poster states, he seems to do a better job organizing the defense, making the calls and helping against the run than the guys behind him. Having said that, we get next no playmaking out of him, he talks way too much and he needs to step up his game or be gone. Either way, we win.

 

As far as making the calls go. I have full faith that Dansby will be able to handle that as good or better than Crowder.

 

Right, but at the same time, you don't field an all-rookie defense and expect to compete consistently.

Right now, I'd say our starting linebackers are Misi, Dansby, Crowder, and Wake. Edds, Spitler, Dobbins, and McCoy will push the backups for their jobs. Moses, Anderson, and Torbor are all on the bubble now. Crowder, not as much.

 

Well I guess time will tell

 

Exactly. I'd LOOOVVVVVVEEEEE for someone to come in and show Crowder the street; he's not even mediocre, he's really pretty bad. But his communication skills have to be factored into his worth. Again, look at any game where he was out - the D falls apart without him in there.

 

Only if he REALLY improves his run defense

 

I think with the pick up of Dansby, Crowder will be much better. Akin wasn't the best help and with Dansby in the middle Crowder will be much more improved. Edds won't play inside imo and Dobbins is a special teams hero, not a starter.

We will all have to see how this plays out, but if I had to pick a LB to cut it would be either Anderson or Torbor.

 

I don't know how you can come to this conclusion when Jeff Ireland has already said he will.......

 

I guess I missed that.....I was just going by his previously play. I think he would be better suited as a WOLB. His cover skills would be nice on the edge and I just assumed that is where he would play. Either way, he is a nice addition to our LB crew. I think he will come in and challenge our other LB's for a chance to get good playing time

 

Here bro, Follow this link and watch his Day three Press conference. If you haven't watch all the vids they are very informative!

 

I might be crazy, but wouldn't it be the SILB?

 

I disagree. Everybody talks about the Houston game, and really, it was just the first half of the Houston game. I think its a case of two things being connected when they arent necessarily related.

But Crowder didnt play the @ Jets game, and the defense played very well. Bad field position the whole first half, and they held it together. JT scores a TD, and if Bess doesnt fumble that punt, we probably win going away. Crowder didnt play @ NE either, and the D was fine without him. Wouldnt say they had a good game, but they didnt have a bad game either.

He's always hurt. He doesnt make plays, but he does make plenty of mental and physical errors. Talks too much. Personaly, I'm rooting for him to be gone unless he makes a miraculous improvement in what his, 6th year? At LB youre normally either good right away, or not at all. Name me a MLB that takes six years to blossom?

 

Actually, I was thinking back to @KC the year before as well as the Houston game. IF someone can take over the "QB" role, then its plausible that one of these new guys, including Dobbins, could move him out, but for a rook to do so, he'd have to be really special. That would be wonderful if it happened.

I guess one advantage is they'll all be learning a new system and put Dansby / Crowder on a more equal footing. And no, Crowder may improve slightly by playing next to Dansby, but I don't expect him to all of a sudden explode into an all pro, or any better than competent, really. He'll continue to take bad angles, put himself out of the play, etc. He just doesn't have good instincts.

 

A run stuffer who gets replaced by Edds on 3rd downs/passing situations. And hopefully a LB on the way out if he has another bad season.

 

well crowder will stand right next to dansby i guess, if not than its gonna be dobbins, but edds has nothing to do with crowder

 

Edds has everything to do with Crowder. He's been stated to be one of the ILBs.

 

Edds hasn't made the team yet.

Let's let him show he even belongs in the NFL before we start a thread talking about him replacing Crowder?

 

Crowder can stand in the food lines after he pays the ticket price like the rest of us non pro athletes.

 

Normally we would but Ireland has already penciled him in as such in the media.

 

Well, for a GM to say such a thing about a player that has yeat to suit up for an NFL practice is more troubling to me about the GM than it is positive about the player.

You simply cannot make such projections about a mid round drafted rookie that hasn't even had his first TC camp snap.

Not trying to be negative, I'm just keeping it real.

 

He probably did it because the guy is the top coverage LB in the draft. Really specific role that this kid clearly excelled at in college.

Lets face it. Crowder's so bad in coverage it doesn't take much to find a replacement for him in the nickel. I remember the days when Channing was the WLB and he ranked dead last in coverage for the entire NFL.

 

It's not like Crowder has set the bar very high or would be difficult to upgrade.

 

Crowder was drafted, made an NFL team and has been decent enough to be a starter. Edds has just been drafted and that's it. Crowder may not have set the bar high but again were talking about a mid round drafted rookie that has proven NOTHING at the NFL level.

For a GM to make such a statement, if Ireland even did, is silly.

 

That's just it bro he hasn't been decent enough. In his best year he still wasnt able to break 100 tackles. Last year 700+ snaps and only 43 tackles. You can't get much worse than than.

Watch Day two Conference. It's one of the first things he says.

 

Crowder isn't going anywhere this season. Next year ?? Who knows. Edds should be in the passing packages replacing Crowder. Dobbins is solid backup for Crowder in the non passing downs. Crowder is a solid two down LBer. Great, no, but also has no clue in coverage. That's where Edds comes in. There will be quite a few more defensive packages utilizing the strengths of the LBers we have. The only one who will be on the field nearly all the time, at this point is Dansby. Misi has a road to climb, but needs to be our everydown SOLB or we will have some issues...the DL is better than last year, even without Fergy, but we'll miss not having an experienced SOLB at times.

I've never been a big fan of Crowder, but I think he stays. Edds and Dobbins are just too much of a question at this point for replacements...

 

why is it silly to expect one of your picks to have an impact in an area that was a blatant weakness. I didn't find anything wrong with the statement. Ireland said Edds has NFL ready cover skills and expects to use him in nickel coverages. Crowder is horrible at covering TE's we all know it. Now we have a guy who is good at it and they expect him to do those things for us. Nothing bad here man.

 

I don't think anyone is saying he will be cut (though I could be wrong) we (I) am just saying he could find himself replaced in the starting lineup.

 

Ireland said he is going to play inside Linebacker, so it does impact Crowder.

Maybe not this year, but Crowders days are numbered.

I see Edds being a special teams demon and taking Crowder's spot in passing downs.

 

It's pretty simple.

Because more mid round picks end up out of the NFL then the numbers that make it. Do I really have to explain the concept of just how unpredictable the success of even early round highly touted draft picks can have their rookie year let alone mid round prospects?

Sure Crowder has serious issues, theres no argument there.
However Crowder has issues as an NFL caliber player.
Edds has not even shown as yet whether he'll be talented enough to get on the field in the NFL.

You can have hope but "penciling him in" as a starter in packages now?
Ridiculous.
It's as simple as it gets.

 

I see what you're saying CR and can agree with your concept, but that just shows how horrible Crowder has been.

 

go back and watch the presser
they didn't pencil him in as a starter in any of the packages
he said they vision him in nickel cover packages
he also said they expect him to come in and contribute in that area
i think you are nitpicking over something pretty small
they just have hopes for the guy to come in and help us where we desperately need help. they obviously feel really good about the pick and they know more than you or i.