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The "Should We" Thread


MKnight82

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4 hours ago, Doc Draper said:

Hasn't anyone posted that we should trade for Aaron Donald? Come on we need this to put the 3/4 six feet under permanently 

what do you think it would take? Id consider sending Kirk there now because he's going there next year anyway 

This is actually a fantastic idea. I'd be all for doing this and throwing in a 5th as well.

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13 hours ago, Doc Draper said:

Hasn't anyone posted that we should trade for Aaron Donald? Come on we need this to put the 3/4 six feet under permanently 

what do you think it would take? Id consider sending Kirk there now because he's going there next year anyway 

Just because would trade for Donald doesn't mean that we would change systems. The Rams defensive coordinator is Wade Phillips and of course he runs the same version of the 3-4 one-gap defensive system that we run most of the time as he invented the defensive system. 

Also, we wouldn't change our defensive system now after we spent the entire offseason running a different system. It would affect more than just Donald, it would affect our 3-4 OLBs as well. Although, I can easily be sold on the argument that Kerrigan and Smith would be better as 4-3 DEs than 3-4 OLBs but they'd each have to put some weight back on that they've lost the last several years so they could play 3-4 OLB and that isn't just going to happen immediately.

Anyways, that isn't happening right now, no way!

I read a story in the offseason where Donald was going to be their 1-tech NT on passing downs/nickel and the 3-tech when they are in the system and Brockers was going to be the NT in the base. Ill try to find it. 

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-why-rams-scheme-change-wont-affect-aaron-donald

"Today’s 3-4 defenses are very different animals, and predominantly one-gap systems, just like the 4-3. The NFL is generally a one-gap league these days, and there is very little two-gapping deployed as the league has trended towards smaller, quicker players across the board. Gargantuan nose tackles of the past like Ted Washington, Gilbert Brown and Grady Jackson have been eased out in favor of more athletic players that can move down the line, rush the passer, and not just occupy space. Sub 300-pound defensive tackles are not uncommon, and you will even find 3-4 nose tackles that barely tip the scales at over 300 pounds.

The real driving force behind the adjustments in scheme is the passing game. The NFL is a passing league and now lives in nickel defense, not base. Most teams run with three wide receivers on offense instead of a fullback or second tight end, so defenses have countered with an extra defensive back. Last season, base 4-3 and 3-4 defenses combined (with just four defensive backs on the field) accounted for only 27 percent of defensive snaps, while nickel defense (five defensive backs) was at 55 percent, and dime (six defensive backs) another 10.

What used to be your every-down defense is now being used on average only a quarter of the time. Even if two teams have dramatically different base defensive alignments, they are in sub packages far more often, and those sub packages are much more uniform in structure. Base defenses can see significant differences in alignment, but while the 55 percent of snaps the league spends in nickel defense breaks down into a few different personnel groupings, most of them are essentially different ways of achieving the same alignment.

The same thing is true for interior defenders, too. Aaron Donald is known as a 3-technique defensive tackle, or “under-tackle” in a 4-man defensive-line scheme. 3-technique is simply the name of the defensive-line technique that sees a player lined up over the outside shoulder of the guard, ready to attack the gap to his outside. Most pass-rushing defensive tackles primarily play in that specific technique, but so do most pass-rushing 3-4 defensive ends. Calais Campbell, in Arizona’s 3-4 scheme, plays more 3-technique than any other technique—and more than many defensive tackles—but is listed as a defensive end on the roster. Donald’s alignment distribution in 2016 almost exactly matches that of Denver’s defensive ends, Derek Wolfe and Jared Crick.

The defense that Wade Phillips runs does have some eccentricities compared to other systems in the league—they tend to stay in base defense longer than most teams and then leap straight to six defensive backs, bypassing the nickel packages of five DBs altogether. Even in base defense, though, it is very much like a 4-3 scheme from an alignment standpoint.

When looking at the alignment distribution of Wolfe against Donald last year, the only difference between the two is a small spike for Wolfe in the 4-technique spot, the technique that plays head up over the tackle (the original 3-4 two-gap style alignment we mentioned earlier). There will be plays where we see Donald lined up in this spot, but Wolfe played there less than half as often as he played in the 3-technique spot that Donald usually occupied, and even in that alignment, he is going to be tasked with shooting a gap and defeating that tackle with quickness and hand speed rather than trying to eat up space and two-gap either side of him. In Phillips’ scheme, it is more of a disguise measure than it is a statement of two-gapping intent.

We are going to see Aaron Donald and the rest of the Rams’ defense lining up in a new defensive front under Wade Phillips in 2017, but if you can look beyond how many players have their hand in the ground, operating from a three-point stance, you’ll see that the alignment of those players has changed little despite the shift from 4-3 to 3-4. That once was a seismic shift that required a complete retooling of your defensive personnel to make it work, but in today’s NFL, it’s just a different way to shuffle the same cards. Aaron Donald may now be labelled as a 3-4 defensive end, but he will be the same destructive force as an interior defender as he has been over the past couple of seasons."

Beyond all that, I wouldn't trade a qb who is a top 10 caliber qb even for a defensive talent like Donald. 

 

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22 minutes ago, Doc Draper said:

Even if the QB is a one year rental? Get something for him and Donald is an all pro and young at a position of need. I'm all in for Colt in 17 lol

It's still up in the air if Cousins will leave or not and if the Redskins will even allow him to leave without getting good compensation for him next offseason. 

If I were the GM, I would play this season out with Cousins as the QB and hopefully we have another average or even better season. If we don't have a season that's above average and both sides decide to part ways next off season, then I'd trade him for a guy like Aaron Donald and maybe we'd even get more than Donald back in that trade. I wouldn't do it now, right before the season. 

If Colt is our starter, it's a downgrade in the most important position on the field and while I'm sure Colt can be near an average starter, it would really hurt our entire team. Beyond that, we don't have a #3 qb because we didn't keep Nate Sudfeld. So,  if we traded Kirk now, we'd have to somehow find a competent back up to Colt and while there are a few guys out there I'm sure some in this fan base would be fine with re-signing, I think half of the fanbase would be against it or more and I don't think our HC would want that type of qb back on our roster because he wants a pocket passing qb.

I'll also add that if Colt McCoy is our starting qb next year, I'm not sure we have any chance of re-signing Terrelle Pryor. Of course we could franchise him but we may have to use the tag on Kirk to get any compensation for him, it's just a real messed up situation.

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I don't believe it's "up in the air" concerning Kirk. They refused to pay him $20M a year and then refused to pay him $24M a year. There is simply no way in hell this team is going to pay Kirk $30M a year. This most likely will be his last year here and if Bruce tags him again he should be fired on the spot for his stupidity. 

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59 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

I don't believe it's "up in the air" concerning Kirk. They refused to pay him $20M a year and then refused to pay him $24M a year. There is simply no way in hell this team is going to pay Kirk $30M a year. This most likely will be his last year here and if Bruce tags him again he should be fired on the spot for his stupidity. 

Well I still think that we'll transition tag him - if we don't get a long term deal done - and then match the other teams offer to keep him. 

Also, not sure if you or anyone else has thought about this but can't we transition tag Kirk, say we are going to match another teams offer - whether it's SF, LAR, Denv, the NYJ orJags  - and still work out a trade with that team?

Sure, we wouldn't get two 1st round picks like if someone signed him after we franchised him and we didn't match it but we'd still get compensation back and probably pretty good compensation like a 1st round pick or another teams good starter and maybe a mid round pick as well.

I mean take Doc's idea about trading for Donald because Donald wants a long term deal and the Rams don't look like they're going to give him one until next offseason or when he becomes an UDFA.

Even under the transition tag, we could call up the Rams after they offer Kirk a LTD he will accept and tell that we are going to match his deal but we'd be willing to work out a trade for Kirk and then trade him to LA for Donald and a mid round pick.

Oh and by the way, Donald reported to the Rams today and passed his physical. He's not going to play tomorrow, but it's almost certain he'll play next week and the entire season with the Rams.

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