Defense if the area of least concern for me. Rex will be ready with the defense. It is the offense which is the reason the Jets have not been to the playoffs.
Pretty much everyone disagrees with you on Jones. http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.co...eelers-draft-Jarvis-Jones-starter-competition http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/4/29/4282988/nfl-draft-2013-jarvis-jones-steelers There's tons of articles stating that Jarvis Jones will not be handed the starting position, meaning he's a project. And essentially all post-draft analysis state the guy was a big time reach for the Steelers.
I disagree that not being handed a starting position equals project. I would think that most rookies aren't just handed a starting position.
If you come in and they are looking to move your position, and you're not starting, you're a project.
No, good organizations make you work for the starting position they don't hand anyone anything. Trust me he will earn it and be starting.
The Steelers haven't had a rookie LB start for them in 11 seasons going back to 2002 and that was Larry Foote who started 3 games due to injury to Kendrell Bell. The year before Bell started all 16 games as a rookie after Mike Vrabel left in free agency and Levon Kirkland was cut before the draft. They signed a 32 year old veteran Mike Jones as a stopgap. Since then the Steelers have drafted 9 LB's including a 1st, 3 2nds and 2 3rds and none of them started as a rookie. If Jones doesn't start for them it will be a normal situation. Larry Foote is going to have to have a bad camp or the Steelers are going to have to give up on Jason Worilds for Jones to start this year. Or Jones could come into camp and blow people away like Kendrell Bell did in 2001. As mentioned above Bell only had one guy in front of him in that camp and he was a vet stopgap free agent.
With the exception of James Harrison every LB the Steelers has started in the last decade has been a moved player, either moved from DE to OLB or moved from OLB to ILB. Their biggest free agent acquisition at LB was also a move, James Farrior moved from OLB with the Jets to ILB with the Steelers. The Steelers look for overpowering physical play at the edges and playmaking ability inside. They avoid college ILB's because those guys are trained to be the glue not play makers. College ILB's are also generally not as good athletes as the edge guys. What the Steelers do is to assemble great talent at the LB position and part of the process is getting a great play making athlete at each position.
From what I read in the two examples you gave is that he isnt being handed the starting job. The pitt coach is quoted saying rookies arent hadned a starting position. That doesnt mean he is a project by any means.
As far as the 46, it helps to understand that Rex runs his 46 out of the 3-4. In Rex's version, the Richard Dent 9tech pass rushing DE would be an "OLB". Coples is being tried out at THIS spot in our 46 looks. Of course he dropped like a stone in the draft bc he isn't very good as an outside rusher, but who cares about wasting his talent, bc we won the draft by getting "value" for Richardson.
That's the Steeler way at the LB position. Everybody they draft is drafted to start 2 years out. For the Steelers at LB the equivalent of project would be "we're going to hone that guy and start him in 4 years". Their norm is to have the guy play his rookie year and start year 2. Given how it has worked since Cowher and LeBeau took over I think they're on to something. Basically they think LB college in talent is not good enough in the NFL. ILB's aren't worth much of anything and OLB's are too small to effectively set the edge in their defense. So they invest a year in molding their ILB's and OLB's from the best college talent they can find, at OLB and DE respectively.
smoke & mirrors. i don't see him playing much (as stated) traditional OLB. He'll get shifted like the rest whether his hands in the dirt or standing over the RT/G/C etc. Call him whatever, he's still a DL.
Jones was considered a surefire top 5 pick before the spine issues came up and the combine. He was a top 5 player in college football, far from a project. If Coples is moving to OLB full time, he most certainly will have to drop back occasionally. Mario Williams is about the same size if I remember correctly, and he dropped back sometimes for the Texans before he went down with the injury. Even if he is a part time OLB and spends the rest of his time on the inside, he is not going to do the same thing every play. Rex is creative as hell.
I missed this or would have responded earlier. In the list above you do not have a single ILB drafted to play ILB or a single OLB drafted to play OLB. I think that makes my point. And Jones is 50/50 to go inside. If Worilds works out into a starter then Jones will replace Foote next year. If Worilds doesn't work out then Jones will stay outside. Hence 50/50. Larry Foote is 32. He's at about the age where the Steelers would draft his replacement. Woodley and Worilds are still in prime and young prime respectively. The open question is whether Worilds can finish the move to OLB. He's getting into the range where it probably has to be this year.
LOLOL Bradway, do you understand the concept of 3-4 versus 4-3. Your point has no relation to Jones. OLB is just a name. No elite college programs ran a 3-4 until recently. You are arguing semantics. They don't move guys bc it's law, they move guys bc up until recently, there were no programs in college running a 3-4, so you HAD to draft DEs and move them. Today Bama, Mich, UGA, Oregon, UCLA, GT, Cal (not certain), ND, and FSU (starting this season), run a 3-4. They don't just do things bc it's a set in stone law of Steeler nation smfh.
This has the same familiar smell that came along with "Cromartie will occasionally play wide receiver."
Was just about to make a Tanny bashing reply about that but then I remembered that one play where Cro ran a go up the right sideline, burned his guy bad, and Sanchez only threw it out of bounds and over his head by a couple of feet so you could actually picture him catching a ball that wasn't thrown by a retard. He probably would've been our best target last year if they kept at it who knows. As to Coples standing up occasionally, why not? He's probably faster than Pace or Thomas, has to be stronger than them against the run and as long as he doesn't lie down and play dead on passing downs he should be able to improve that area slightly over his predecessors. I think this move lets us switch between 4-3 to 3-4 without substituting and makes it generally harder for offenses to exploit matchups since they won't know the formation until just before the snap.
