ILB who is versatile and can cover. I think it is very likely they go with him or that other OT that's projected top 12. If ILB is deep in this draft they will grab one in the second round this year unless it is a can't miss prospect.
Current personnel shouldn't be a major factor when the goal is long term success. It rightfully wasn't a factor when we switched to a 3-4 despite Mario Williams not being a fit. It would affect JJ less since he already plays up and down the line in nickel and dime packages. At roughly this time last year, Watt had 10.5 sacks. 8 of them came when he was playing DT. (Wish I could find stats for the whole season). And coming out of college, he projected well as a DE in either system. And I've heard scouts say the same thing after his DPOY season last year. I don't think you'd find a scout who would say he couldn't be successful in the 4-3. We played in the 3-4 only about 55% of the time last year with the other 45% being spent in nickel and dime (with 4 down linemen) and occasionally playing prevent and only rushing 3. And the growing trend in the league is teams using nickel more and more. It's not like playing with 4 linemen is foreign to Watt or the Texans. Whitney Mercilus, Brooks Reed, and the rest of our ****ty LB corp shouldn't be a reason to stick with the 3-4. We want to replace them anyway? Does it really matter what scheme you're replacing them in? And if Cushing doesn't fit at ILB, he can probably go back to OLB where he played and excelled his first 2 years. People said the same thing about switching to the 3-4 and it wasn't that bad. I think the transition back would probably be even less problematic since the 2 best players that would be affected (Cushing and Watt), can and have played in both systems whereas last time we had to deal with Mario and Demeco not being ideal players at their "new" positions. Again, I'm not saying that we definitely should switch. Just that it shouldn't be off the table and that it's a decision that should be made by the new coach and his staff. Sticking to the 3-4 shouldn't be a prerequisite for getting the job.
I'm not sure if he'll play inside or outside in the NFL. I think he could do either, to be honest. He's good in coverage and a great pass rusher. I said it before, reminds me of a Demarcus Ware in terms of size and measurables.
Always a good idea to stay with your first instict, in terms of potential and talent I'd say he is the 2nd to 3rd best pure pass rusher. He will be a fast riser come draft time.
Problem with that is that we'll be drafting too high to take a RT, and certainly not a guard. If we are picking top 5 I can guarantee we don't go o-line unless we trade back.
The Chiefs just spent the #1 pick on a RT. Yeah, the plan is to move Fisher to LT, but he's playing RT right now. Luke Joeckel was drafted #2 and started playing RT too until Jacksonville traded Eugene Monroe to Baltimore. The real problem with that is that have Duane Brown who's only 28 and is under contract through 2018. Drafting a rookie to play opposite an established vet does make some sense if the plan is for them to move over after a year or 2. With rookie contracts being 4 years, drafting a tackle would probably mean we expect to cut Brown before 2017? Would that really happen? He has shown signs of taking a step back this year and his cap hit is bumping up to $8.5M next year and $9.5M+ in the years after that. I doubt he makes it to the end of his contract because there aren't many Pro Bowl tackles who stay at that level past the age of 30 or 31 and he wouldn't be worth getting paid like a Top 5 tackle at that point. But the timing isn't right to start drafting his replacement. A rookie contract would end a year before Duane's is scheduled to run out, or end at the same time if they think Duane isn't worth what he's owed for that final year. Maybe that's a move you do in 2 or 3 years if the opportunity presents itself. But not this year. Of course, they could draft an OT. Play him at RT for a year, cut Brown after next season and save like $7M. But that's not their style.
Wasn't the Chiefs situation with Albert and Fisher an uncommon one? I thought they gave Albert the tag because they couldn't trade him in the offseason. I don't think we'll be seeing a repeat of guards and RTs going as high as they did this year.
