Defensive Line Thread

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by philosoraptor:
I mean we still do the big end thing on base downs with Arik.

Using a bigger end and having a designated big end position aren't the same. And I wouldn't be surprised with Saleh departing that Kocurek slowly moves away from Armstead as a base end.

I don't know. They really like playing run in 1st and 2nd downs. The keys to that were Buck and D.J. Those 2 guys could play run and rush the passer from inside so you didn't have a huge drop-off in base and were almost impossible to run against. It set up so many 3rd and longs.

I just don't see them moving away from premiere run defenders on the edge, early downs.

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by NCommand:
True dat.

D.J. Jones says that he doesn't see much changing along the defensive line even after Robert Saleh's departure because the D-line was Kris Kocurek's show

— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) March 23, 2021

Kocurek is wide 9 4 life. f**k run defense; get the damn QB.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Just need one more speed rushing (turbo) ER.

LDE/W9: Arik Armstead; Samson Ebukam, Dee Ford & Alex Barrett
2i: D.J. Jones; Zach Kerr, Darrion Daniels & Josiah Coatney
3T: Javon Kinlaw; Kevin Givens & Kentavius Street
RDE/W9: Nick Bosa; Jordan Willis & Daeshon Hall

Agreed. People may hate Ford but we know what we need for this line to be at its best. I'll never forget him chasing down Kyler Murray by himself. Will it be Roche? Will it be Ojulari? Stay tuned.

Also considering that Street played edge in college, I'm surprised that they have him permanently inside.

Originally posted by cciowa:

Originally posted by Bay2Bay9erAllday:
I'm starting to worry about our pass rush. We don't have any legit guys opposite of Bosa. Plus Bosa is coming off a major injury, lost Hyder to Seahawks, Ebukam is not an Edge (AA 2.0 type skills), and not even going to mention Ford.

you should be worried. at least we have an elite secondary that.... oh wait

Damn, you're right. Now, I'm terrified.

Originally posted by Bay2Bay9erAllday:

Originally posted by cciowa:

Originally posted by Bay2Bay9erAllday:
I'm starting to worry about our pass rush. We don't have any legit guys opposite of Bosa. Plus Bosa is coming off a major injury, lost Hyder to Seahawks, Ebukam is not an Edge (AA 2.0 type skills), and not even going to mention Ford.

you should be worried. at least we have an elite secondary that.... oh wait

Damn, you're right. Now, I'm terrified.

double negatives make a positive

Not retaining Hyder makes me think a pass rusher has to be taken in the first two rounders. No way they're drinking Dee Ford Kool-Aid, especially with Bosa coming off a big injury.

I think we have a real good Dline group right now. I'm confident that Bosa will come back better than ever (fortunately, if an ACL tear is going to happen - you want it to happen early in the season, which his did).

the big unknown is Dee Ford. If he is healthy, we will be elite again on the Dline, especially with a healthy DJ Jones and more experienced Kinlaw.

our CBs are okay, the real worry is depth. Varett and Mosley are a respectable lineup, it's after them that I'm worried - especially the slot. We need to resign K. Williams.

If we don't go QB in round 1 I'd like us to invest more in the trenches. Maybe to OL in the first and DL in the second.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by philosoraptor:
I mean we still do the big end thing on base downs with Arik.

Using a bigger end and having a designated big end position aren't the same. And I wouldn't be surprised with Saleh departing that Kocurek slowly moves away from Armstead as a base end.

I don't know. They really like playing run in 1st and 2nd downs. The keys to that were Buck and D.J. Those 2 guys could play run and rush the passer from inside so you didn't have a huge drop-off in base and were almost impossible to run against. It set up so many 3rd and longs.

I just don't see them moving away from premiere run defenders on the edge, early downs.

Understandable. But nobody runs on first downs anymore and we play so many mobile QB's in our division. Andy Reid exploited big AA on the first drive of the Superbowl. Big active boys inside, speed rushes at 9. And heavy rotation. I have a feeling Ryan is more attack-mode too so I could certainly see the speed rushers eat into those LDE snaps. In fact, per Ebukam, they told him straight up they expect him to be an every down ER. That might be the first evidence in a shift. Saleh was ALL about the thic boys and bull rush. And we still gave up 1,800+ yards a year in run defense...in short...it didn't matter. Maybe Ryan sees that and how successful attacking Kyler, Goff and Wilson was.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by philosoraptor:
I mean we still do the big end thing on base downs with Arik.

Using a bigger end and having a designated big end position aren't the same. And I wouldn't be surprised with Saleh departing that Kocurek slowly moves away from Armstead as a base end.

I don't know. They really like playing run in 1st and 2nd downs. The keys to that were Buck and D.J. Those 2 guys could play run and rush the passer from inside so you didn't have a huge drop-off in base and were almost impossible to run against. It set up so many 3rd and longs.

I just don't see them moving away from premiere run defenders on the edge, early downs.

Understandable. But nobody runs on first downs anymore and we play so many mobile QB's in our division. Andy Reid exploited big AA on the first drive of the Superbowl. Big active boys inside, speed rushes at 9. And heavy rotation. I have a feeling Ryan is more attack-mode too so I could certainly see the speed rushers eat into those LDE snaps. In fact, per Ebukam, they told him straight up they expect him to be an every down ER. That might be the first evidence in a shift. Saleh was ALL about the thic boys and bull rush. And we still gave up 1,800+ yards a year in run defense...in short...it didn't matter. Maybe Ryan sees that and how successful attacking Kyler, Goff and Wilson was.

Great points. I agree. Just looking at the free agent signings, Demeco has bolstered the nickel defense. I dont see a free agent linebacker signing anywhere. (We do already have a good LB corps so that kind of makes sense) but to your point about teams passing more than running. You can stop a run with the nickel defense, but you do have to guess more. I think Demeco is taking the right approach in bolstering the nickel defense at the expense of the base defense. Underlying that approach may be the confidence that Kyle has in his offense, now that he has a lot of pieces in place to have a high octane passing offense.

Originally posted by the_dynasty:
Not retaining Hyder makes me think a pass rusher has to be taken in the first two rounders. No way they're drinking Dee Ford Kool-Aid, especially with Bosa coming off a big injury.

this HAS to be the plan

Originally posted by cciowa:
this HAS to be the plan

No it doesn't.

Originally posted by illinois9er:

Originally posted by cciowa:
this HAS to be the plan

No it doesn't.

Ebam is supposed to have a bigger role here than he did with Rams, that's why he chose to sign with us. I expect him to play DE quite a bit.

Originally posted by TheGore49er:

Originally posted by illinois9er:

Originally posted by cciowa:
this HAS to be the plan

No it doesn't.

Ebam is supposed to have a bigger role here than he did with Rams, that's why he chose to sign with us. I expect him to play DE quite a bit.

Even if EDGE is high on the list I don't like the idea of pigeon holing yourself into one position. Besides, we're trading up for a QB

Originally posted by illinois9er:

Originally posted by TheGore49er:

Originally posted by illinois9er:

Originally posted by cciowa:
this HAS to be the plan

No it doesn't.

Ebam is supposed to have a bigger role here than he did with Rams, that's why he chose to sign with us. I expect him to play DE quite a bit.

Even if EDGE is high on the list I don't like the idea of pigeon holing yourself into one position. Besides, we're trading up for a QB

No we're not, we're staying at #12 for Mac Jones.

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by illinois9er:

Originally posted by TheGore49er:

Originally posted by illinois9er:

Originally posted by cciowa:
this HAS to be the plan

No it doesn't.

Ebam is supposed to have a bigger role here than he did with Rams, that's why he chose to sign with us. I expect him to play DE quite a bit.

Even if EDGE is high on the list I don't like the idea of pigeon holing yourself into one position. Besides, we're trading up for a QB

No we're not, we're staying at #12 for Mac Jones.

He won't be there @ 12