Quote (Benny21 @ Jul 15 2015 08:16pm)
I've said for a few weeks now (at the disagreement of some other Raiders fans ^_^) that I think Khalil will play with his hand in the dirt more, so yes more like a 4-3 DE like you say. I've read that he's bulked up quite a bit, but that's literally said about every single player in every offseason lol. The curious thing about our defense is that we have tremendous versatility in the front seven. We have 4 LB's (Mack, Curtis Lofton, Malcom Smith, Sio Moore) that can and should start and get a lot of snaps. Obviously some guys are situational as Curtis is a primarily 1st/2nd down run stopping LB and Malcolm is better in coverage so he's a third down guy. That said, we have the ability to switch to a 3-4 as we can put Tuck and Mario Edwards at DE, and put Dan Williams or Jelly Ellis at NT.
I anticipate we'll still be primarily 4-3, though I don't think us running a hybrid front with some frequency is out of the question at all. If/when we do go 3-4, I think Mack will line up as the stand up edge rusher. Either way, with his hand in the dirt as a DE or stand up edge rushing OLB, I think he will have an absolutely amazing year. He got only 4 sacks last year, but every metric indicates that those numbers will go way up the next few years.
They very well could run some type of a hybrid 4-3, from time to time, like we run. We're a 4-3 front, but it's basically a 3-4 in base. Our Leo (RDE) is basically a tweener, but he plays with his hand in the dirt. He lines up wide though sometimes in a 5 tech, but mostly a 9 tech (so he can try to always be 1 on 1 with an OT), depending on the down and distance. In our base, our Big End (LDE) is a 5 teching 2 gap run stopper first. Very similar to a LDE in a 3-4. Our Nose is a 1 tech.
Us running with 4 on the DL gives us the ability to keep a 3 tech on the field, as well as our Leo, so there's usually always 2 rushers on the field (obvious rushing downs are obvious though lol). We rarely blitz and just get our pressure with our 4 man line. It's very similar to the scheme Seattle runs. If you can get consistent pressure with just 4 guys, that leaves 7 guys back. Extremely effective if you can consistently get that pressure with just 4 guys. Which we did a pretty good job at it last season being tied at 6th in the league in sacks (45 sacks). Despite playing from behind in most every game.
We were in nickle about 60% of the time last year and I'm sure it'll be similar this season. Poz and Telvin Smith will be the LBs in nickle (Dan Skuta will be our OTTO in our base[sam backer basically]). They said they were looking at Mack as our Leo last year. Most important traits for our Leo is speed and length. Weight isn't as much of a big deal as it would be if we were running a standard 4-3 base, which is why they usually go after those tweener types.
Mack definitely has that versatility where he could easily bounce out wide with his hand in the dirt, in a 4-3. Where Moore, Malcom Smith and Lofton are more of your typical 4-3 backers. I could definitely see you guys popping him out wide for some extra pass rush at DE, without losing too much as far as your guy's LBs go considering you still have those other 3 guys who could slide right in no problem.
Your guy's team Defense is definitely one of the more interesting ones for me this coming season.
This post was edited by Hako on Jul 15 2015 09:53pm