no surprise here examine the 7 planks of the rebuilding process: 1) build from the trenches, build from the draft 2) turn over every rock & examine every acorn strewn beneath the trees 3) big is better & fast is good 4) brutal & smart: they like ex-captains & smash in the mouth types that play through pain & injury 5) no character or ego problems on the team, no distractions from football 6) turn over the bottom third of the roster every rebuilding year 7) you must not only contribute to the team but consistently develop & live up to expectation the NewRegime seldom will ever deviate from these principles & are Machiavellian in their application Matt probably went wrong on 5, 6 and/or 7. anyway you look @ it, really wasn't much of a surprise. obviously, they think Taylor has a couple of years left in him. I think Wilson, J. Allen, Dotson, GinnJr, Fasano & Moses could be next with the possible rifting of Porter (he needs to continue his play from last week through out the rest of the season) & Brown (depending on contract demands & Williams) P. Turner, P. White, Murtha & Nalbone could be on the chopping block as early as the end of the next training camp (unless they get a legitimate opportunity to make their bones this year) there will be no dead weight on this team & decisions will be made w/o hesitation or sentimentality Competition is the Elixir of Success! We will Contend in 2010!
Yeah, Merling would definitely have to make a major transition to be able to pull off the move. I remember Matt Roth playing the first several games last year at SAM at 285lbs, and I'd argue Merling is just as good an athlete in his current weight as Roth was at 285lbs and less. I'd have to do some searching to pull up that old article (think it's on my old laptop, which I had to go Office Space on a while back) - perhaps tweaking it some, but I'm currently working on one I'm hoping to post sometime today.
That's what I was wondering when I first read someone suggesting he could be moved to OLB. In fact, I distinctly remember thinking "damn...he looks big" in the Carolina game. Matter of fact, I was wondering if they might be grooming him for NT?
we've enough quality OLB's we need a NT & to remain strong @ DE the Ross vacancy will be filled by either Wake or Anderson
I have seen a poster I really respect (I'll keep him namelss as I'm not sure his current thoughts) hint that it was a possibility as well. Jay Ratliff project redux?
Yeah, you're correct here. The heaviest 3-4 SAM backer I can think of is the Ravens' Jarrett Johnson who floats in that 275-285lbs range like Roth did, but most the guys (Merriman/Phillips, Adalius Thomas, LaMarr Woodley, Bryan Thomas, etc) are all in that 260-265lbs range I believe.
an athletic acquisition with serious potential, former Lions defensive end Ikaika Alama-Francis @ 6'5" & 290 lbs, have we found a NT ? more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikaika_Alama-Francis
It's funny to accuse a 290 pounder of being too light, but that's awful tall and awful light for a NT.
Perhaps they move Starks to DT for the rest of the year and Alama-Francis rotates with Merling/Langford/McDaniel at DE.
they acquired him to fill a need. my guess is they try him @ NT. height can be an advantage if you play close to the ground, easier to reach over or between to snatch a QB or get in the air to deflect over the middle passes. if they want him bigger, he can always gain ten to twenty pounds @ that height in muscle.
I think Alama-Francis has the potential to be a pretty good rotational DE for us, especially if say, Merling is groomed to be a Jay Ratliff-esque NT for us. Having another "Tony McDaniel-ish" player in Alama-Francis surely wouldn't hurt.
I understand Soliai will play this week...is he all better or still hurting? I guess everyone on the line is hurting at this point.
I will go on record and say that this was a HUGE mistake. I know that we don't know everything that went on during the preseason with the lies and such, but he was playing better every week this season. Only positive is maybe more playing time for Wake. Still, we replace a good Matt Roth on the field with a special team body. Not sure if I like that at all.
well count me as one who thought he was better suited for OLB but that would have meant dropping ten pounds as a rook. Instead the front office decided to turn him into a DE and had him gain weight. IMO a good DE but not a great DE. Would they consider turning him back into a OLB? I dont think so. I think what this move signals is 1) they are happy with Cameon Wake's potential 2) we are drafting a OLB in the draft
Definitely agree with those two points. I wouldn't mind seeing Jerry Hughes in aqua in orange next year. Even though he's not an OLB, I would love to see Rolando McClain here next to Crowder if he declares.
I was both surprised and not surprised by this move. Miami has capable players at this position and Roth just wasn't getting it done when he came in. I'm just glad that New England, Buffalo or the Jets didn't pick him up.
I think who cares about Matt Roth. We are obviously going to make an improvement on that position. Additionally, we have been pretty good against the run this season mostly witout Roth. For NT we should some how trade for Shaun Rodgers from Cleveland. He is a beast.
My response to this is simply..... Whatever. First of all no one ever said Roth was going to be a Pro Bowler or "spectacular". So What? If you're expecting to build a team full of "Spectacular" players don't hold your breath. All top teams need solid positional players to that contribute consistently. That's Roth. He was a very solid situational OLB playing on early and short yardage downs. With your conclusion, you're also completely ignoring the FACT that Sparano lauded Roth's play last year as "making them look ingenious" if I remember correctly and that Sparano raved about his play coming off IR against Tampa Bay. If you think there really isn't more to this story than meets the eye you're calling the man you're using as a reference to support your view a liar.
i think we are happy with Wake's performance to date .... it has been discussed at length during the season whether he could play every down. that's still to be seen, but his progress as a pass rushing specialist is going better than expected at this point. the combo of JT, Wake, and Anderson give us some flexibility at OLB ... makes both Roth and JP expendable not sure that we'll draft an OLB, as i still believe that we will sign Merriman in the off season, given his level of discourse with his current FO ... this also allows us to concentrate on ILB ... where we need more help than on the outside.
I am officially on the McClain bandwagon for the area in the draft I believe we will be selecting. The thing I like most about the kid is his football IQ. Making the defensive reads and calls for a NFL style Bama defense.
http://www.profootballfocus.com/by_...e=r&runpass=&teamid=-1&numsnaps=25&numgames=1 I'm MADD as hell. Anyone can say what they like but, look at what he did last year. You do not cut VG players. IF there was something else going on, behind closed doors, that's all well and good. However, don't tell me Roth was cut because he was the worst LB we had. That is foolish.
we need an ILB & NT to complete/shore-up the defense & a WR, (maybe a TE) to round out the offense look to the next draft & up-coming free agency not too bad for year two would not be overly concerned about the new deletion & acquisitions to the roster it is the official policy to turn over the bottom third creating maximum competion, exposure to new talent & potential
