I'll admit that I don't watch college football at all. But come the offseason I start looking up prospects. I looked into Dion Jordan a lot, and I didn't like him. I said this before he was picked by the Dolphins so its not me hating on them. In the games that I watched on YouTube, I barely saw him cover anyone like everyone is saying he could. The guy had no interceptions, and 1 pass deflected. Now, unless he's the Revis of the LBs, I would think that if he is so good at covering slots and TEs, he would have a pick or two, or at the very least a few more passes deflected.
I think this puts the Jets in an odd situation. It kind of reminds me of everything that Giants have been through with Mathias Kiawnuka. They drated him at DE, moved him to LB, moved him back to DE, had him play some DE/DT (thanks, Bill Sheridan!), moved him BACK to LB and now he's presumably back on the line. This not only makes for an ugly sentence, it makes for an ugly career. Kiwi's potential almost certainly hasn't been realized and the positive impacts he has made for this team have been limited. I'm hoping he stays DE and is allowed to do what he does best. Obviously we need to wait and see what he does with Coples, but I hope Rex sticks to the "let him do what he does best" approach the Giants are hopefully embracing with Kiwi. Rex is aggressive and Coples is good at pass-rushing. I think it'll work.
Thing about the Giants is, they play a 4-3. Making the transition from DE to OLB completely different than the transition in a 3-4. DeMarcus Ware played 3-4 OLB last season, now this season he'll be playing 4-3 DE, so he's doing the same thing pretty much. He's still rushing the passer from the edges, but now he'll always have his hand in be dirt.
Read the article about the 4-3 Under defense on GGN. In that D we will see Couples as the "Predator" who rushes the passer from the weak side either upright or 3 stance. He won't really be playing LB per she.
Been thinking about this some more and I have major doubts about the move. Coples was a tweener coming out of college because he didn't have the speed and elite quickness to play on the outside in a 4-3. Nobody saw him as a particularly good DE because he was going to get swallowed up by the good tackles and shut down. I think the move is to resolve the three people who do similar things issue in Wilkerson, Richardson and Coples. The Jets want to be able to put all three on the field at the same time but Coples really wants to be in the position Richardson is going to be in. Really Coples doesn't want to be in a 3-4 at all. He's not a fit in the front. He's too small to play in the front three and he's not fast enough to play as a LB. I'm thinking the Jets best move with him at this point is probably to have him bulk back up to 290 and play DE. It's the closest he comes to fitting in the 3-4. The Jets have more talent at the 3T than any team in the league with Wilkerson, Coples and Richardson all having really strong potential in that role. Mo Wilk can probably play the nose also or strong side end. It's actually amazing how many really talented guys the Jets have inside on defense. Now if they could just find a couple of ends to go with that. BTW, if this comes across as a criticism of the Jets talent acquisition it's not. The Jets are one of the few teams that could have an interior defensive lineman go down next year and lose basically nothing in the process.
I think we need to keep in mind RR knows what he is doing. What if Cope is stunting inside from the DE position? Or they are concerned more with setting an edge to contain mobile qbs and run plays? There are plenty of guys that roll up big sack numbers but get gouged in the run game in the process and give up first downs. I'm going to eagerly wait and see how this potentially formidable front gets used.
Having Coples rush to the inside on a stunt after lining up outside will probably happen but it's not an ideal situation to promote as a standard. You need to get outside pressure from your OLB. Otherwise you're relying on nickel and corner blitzes to provide that as the Jets have done for years now. As to whether or not Coples is going to be able to set the edge as an OLB, the question is basically going to be the same as it would be at 4-3 DE. Can Coples hold up one-on-one vs NFL tackles and pulling guards? If he can't do that then he can't set the edge effectively in a 3-4 or a 4-3. Coples has a rep as a good defender against the run but it's not clear he can set the edge for an NFL defense.
i just watched the jets talk live with quinton coples and he said he believed the whole plan since he was drafted was to become an OLB. like when rex drafted him, he knew that one year they'd convert him to an OLB. i guess if it was part of the plan all along that makes me feel more comfortable
not sure about this planned move....funny i wouldn't blink an eye if i read that the steelers were taking a DT/DE and moving him to OLB.
If anyone can make this work, it's Rex. I believe this is a good move and will help our pass rush a lot.
The Steelers live off of their linebackers and they do everything they can to make sure that the corps is always the strongest part of the team. They do this mainly by taking good college athletes at DE and OLB and converting them to OLB and ILB respectively. They almost always give the new guys a year to settle in to the culture while they are making the positional shift and only start them in their second year on the team. They're not afraid to cut a guy and then reacquire him a year down the road if their needs have shifted in the interim. They've even found All-Pros doing this as in James Harrison. There are some indications that this process is beginning to break down for them at this point. Several of the guys they have drafted recently to play LB have been iffy and caused them to re-sign vets that they might otherwise have let go. They did something interesting this year, which was to draft a 3-4 OLB in Jarvis Jones to try to play OLB for them. There's still a good chance they use him inside but it's an interesting departure for them to actually draft a guy to play the position he played in college. In theory it lets them play him more this year than they normally would. This probably means they think Jason Worilds isn't working out. Now they go into camp with Foote, Worilds and Jones in a loose competition with the latter two in direct competition and see what happens.
The Steelers recently, in the last decade, have been a middle-middle defense. They are strongest right up the middle and in the middle layer of the defense. Their defensive All Pros since 2001: Jason Gildon OLB, Kendrell Bell ILB Joey Porter OLB None James Farrior ILB, Joey Porter OLB, Troy Polamalu S Joey Porter OLB, Troy Polamalu S None James Harrison OLB, Troy Polamalu S James Harrison OLB, Troy Polamalu S, James Farrior ILB James Harrison OLB, LaMarr Woodley OLB James Harrison OLB, Troy Polamalu S Troy Polamalu S None The Steelers take LB's and turn them into All Pros. They do this by having a very coherent defensive plan, giving the LB's multiple chances to win the job but almost never just handing it to them, and making sure they have the best possible athletes playing the roles assigned to them.
Farrior. That's one guy I wish we didn't let go of. We jettisoned him right after he led the team in tackles. Brilliant!
He did it in a contract year; prior to that, his existence on the team was underwhelming to say the least. At the time, it didn't seem to make sense to pay out for a player that could have been a one year wonder, but hindsight and the Steelers disagree.
http://www.ganggreennation.com/2013/5/26/4363446/ggn-chalkboard-4-3-under-defense Coples as the "Predator:" The last man on the field and most important by far to this defense the predator guy. He's the DE on the weak side (and usually blindside of the QB.) This guy is pure pass rush specialist. This guy must be without a doubt a pass rushing extraordinare, who is the best at what he does. Don't expect too many drop backs with him, he's going to rush the QB. This guy plays like a 4-3 DE but lines up like a 3-4 OLB. He's basically going to be your leading sack person. Coples would be my best fit, or Wilkerson/Barnes could also be used. Basically this is a position where depending on the team you can play matchup. 4-3 Under Summary: Totally different responsibilities and personnel is being used than a 4-3. Among them: Strong side DE must be bigger and handle double teams than a 4-3 DE but better pass rusher than 4-3 DT. This defense spreads the responsibilities from linebackers to lineman, rather than put the responsibility only on the lineman (4-3). It requires the ILB's to be primary tacklers on the run. It does not require excellent line play like the 4-3 or two good DE's. This requires a 3-4 NT. In no way do the linebackers have anywhere near the responsibilities sideline to sideline as a 4-3.
good post morey. that sounds exactly like the personnel rex has been acquiring. i am not worried about coples. i think he will have an adalius thomas like career at a minimum
The question is whether or not the Predator is a 250-260 lb speed guy or a 280 lb all-around player? The problem I have with Coples at ROLB/RDE is that he's not a speed guy. He isn't going to get to the QB very often through a block when lined up at the 5 or outside of that. There's just too much distance to cover and he's not going to beat anybody to the outside with a quick move and then get to the QB a step or two later. Where he's going to be effective rushing the passer is inside, where a quick move puts him on the QB in that very short sequence and drops his target.
Coples ran roughly a 4.69 to 4.78 40 in his many attempts to establish his speed leading into the 2012 draft. This is very impressive for a DT. He is a fast DT. Dwight Freeney, who is probably the best edge rusher in football over the last half decade, ran a 4.4 to 4.48 40 in his combine year. Von Miller, who is great from the edge for the Broncos, although he lines up all over the place, ran 4.42 to 4.49. DeMarcus Ware ran 4.56 to 4.65. You do get guys now and then who are slower and still manage to make a big impact. Elvis Dumervil ran 4.7 to 4.79 on his way to a 5th round pick. However he's a smaller guy at 5'11" 260 and he presents more of a challenge to block as a result of that. There are leverage, visibility and quickness issues that much larger OT's have to deal with when they are trying to contain a guy with that burst in that size package. I just don't see Coples as being a lot more than a lumbering guy on the outside of the defense and I think at the weight he carries playing out there puts a lot of physical stress on him as well.
Coples is bigger than all those speed rushers, he's actually really quick for his size. Can't his increase in size make up for his lack of elite speed?
