AlexGreen#20 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 29 minutes ago, Fox_NFLs_GG said: Depending on Gary's progress, he belongs at OLB. I would say Z Smith would be a better ILB. Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spilltray Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 WTF? What is the fascination of trying to shove edge rushers into an off ball LB position? The only time it's sort of made sense was Clay Matthews, but he was a completely different body type. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgwingman Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 But what are you supposed to do with Gary? It's not like they're planning on pulling the Smith Bros off the field to put him in. You've gotta manufacture ways of getting him on the field. Gute already had signed both of the Smiths, I wonder why he felt the need to draft Gary as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox_NFLs_GG Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 41 minutes ago, AlexGreen#20 said: Why? If Gary actually develops into a pass rusher, Z Has proven that he can cover, play on the DL, tackle, and Rush the QB. This defense needs a Ray Lewis style MLB and there isn't many of them these days. Z. Smith is the closest thing that they have to that. Remember that Pettine is running a variation of the defense that the Ravens first won a Super Bowl with. Ray Lewis was their MLB/ILB. Upon that they need to upgrade the DL too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spilltray Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 5 minutes ago, Fox_NFLs_GG said: If Gary actually develops into a pass rusher, Z Has proven that he can cover, play on the DL, tackle, and Rush the QB. This defense needs a Ray Lewis style MLB and there isn't many of them these days. Z. Smith is the closest thing that they have to that. Remember that Pettine is running a variation of the defense that the Ravens first won a Super Bowl with. Ray Lewis was their MLB/ILB. Upon that they need to upgrade the DL too. Except Smith is not a lateral in space guy at all. He can spot cover sure, but there is absolutely nothing about his skill set that makes you want to take him off the ball and play in space. He's not in any sort of way a Ray Lewis type other than he's a good football player and Z played for the Ravens. If Gary develops great! You have 3 edge rushers and can easily rotate them all to create matchups and keep them fresh. That is an asset not a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox_NFLs_GG Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 (edited) 23 minutes ago, spilltray said: Except Smith is not a lateral in space guy at all. He can spot cover sure, but there is absolutely nothing about his skill set that makes you want to take him off the ball and play in space. He's not in any sort of way a Ray Lewis type other than he's a good football player and Z played for the Ravens. If Gary develops great! You have 3 edge rushers and can easily rotate them all to create matchups and keep them fresh. That is an asset not a problem. Actually his build is. Non stop motor. He is good (not great) with lateral coverage. Edited February 7, 2020 by Fox_NFLs_GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spilltray Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 I honestly have no idea what you are watching that you think Z looks in any way like he could be a good LB. Edge? Sure DE? Sure. Off ball mid field LB? Do you think he could play S too? It just doesn't play into his strengths as a player in any way. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexGreen#20 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 56 minutes ago, Fox_NFLs_GG said: If Gary actually develops into a pass rusher, Z Has proven that he can cover, play on the DL, tackle, and Rush the QB. This defense needs a Ray Lewis style MLB and there isn't many of them these days. Z. Smith is the closest thing that they have to that. Remember that Pettine is running a variation of the defense that the Ravens first won a Super Bowl with. Ray Lewis was their MLB/ILB. Upon that they need to upgrade the DL too. When? Preston Smith was the drop backer this year? Z probably didn't drop 25 times this entire year. This defense does not need a Ray Lewis style linebacker. It needs a pair of cheap and solid ILBs. Z Smith at no point in his football life has been asked to read blockers and fill gaps. That is an entirely different skillset. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenrik Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 1 hour ago, pgwingman said: But what are you supposed to do with Gary? It's not like they're planning on pulling the Smith Bros off the field to put him in. You've gotta manufacture ways of getting him on the field. Gute already had signed both of the Smiths, I wonder why he felt the need to draft Gary as well. If Gary continues to develop, then he spells sub for the Smiths on any 1st down or short yardage situations. Pettine hit gold with Za'Darius rushing from multiple spots (mainly inside). This continues to be a great pass rushing package. Preston & Gary on the outside and Za'Darius on the inside. Gary will continue to develop and the out for both Smith's contracts will be 2022. This maybe off topic but the most well rounded teams do not always win. SF was probably the best well rounded team but they were beat because KC biggest strength (passing game) matched up great with SF biggest weakness (secondary). Same reason we handled Seattle. Their biggest weakness was their oline and we handled them until Russel started to scramble every play. We won a lot of games not because we were a better overall team, but because our biggest strength was pass rush. Specifically up the middle. We dominated Minny twice because our biggest strength matched up with their weakest position (IOL). You'll still win a lot of games with a well rounded team but you still need to have strengths. If Gary can improve this off-season and hopefully surgery is still the plan than this pass rush could get even better. Imagine if we could add another defensive lineman that has some pass rushing skills or more on Clark's level an overall great defensive lineman. Scary. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegas492 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 1 hour ago, pgwingman said: But what are you supposed to do with Gary? It's not like they're planning on pulling the Smith Bros off the field to put him in. You've gotta manufacture ways of getting him on the field. Gute already had signed both of the Smiths, I wonder why he felt the need to draft Gary as well. Last year Fackrell got 400 snaps as EDGE 3. Gary got 200 snaps as EDGE 4. No reason to think Gary can't see 400-500 snaps as Edge 3 next year. You can't have enough pass rushers. Now and for the future. Look. I didn't like the pick either. But I do get why it was made. I didn't like his usage this year either, but it was done with a long term plan in mind. That much is easy to see and the staff has said as much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegas492 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 1 hour ago, Fox_NFLs_GG said: If Gary actually develops into a pass rusher, Z Has proven that he can cover, play on the DL, tackle, and Rush the QB. This defense needs a Ray Lewis style MLB and there isn't many of them these days. Z. Smith is the closest thing that they have to that. Remember that Pettine is running a variation of the defense that the Ravens first won a Super Bowl with. Ray Lewis was their MLB/ILB. Upon that they need to upgrade the DL too. I don't recall watching him cover anyone. P did that. Not Z. Z's got two great attributes. Hands and tenacity. His best spot is EDGE and DL rusher. Use those hands and motor. Let's not put him in space and ask him to read plays. His job should simply be to disrupt the play. AG was right...get two steady ILB's behind the line and let them use their brain. Let's let Z use those hands and motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packerraymond Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 2 hours ago, Fox_NFLs_GG said: Depending on Gary's progress, he belongs at OLB. I would say Z Smith would be a better ILB. Yes move the leagues most efficient pass rusher to a non premium, non rush position. There really isn't a nice way to respond to this. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 16 minutes ago, Packerraymond said: Yes move the leagues most efficient pass rusher to a non premium, non rush position. There really isn't a nice way to respond to this. "Lol" would have been more efficient 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Fussnputz Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 We forget that Gary had a significant injury when we drafted him. That along with learning a new position kept his snaps down. When the season ended Gary commented that he was pretty sure he would not need surgery. Doctors are telling him the injury has healed well enough on its own. I expect next year, with a healthy shoulder, and a year of learning the new position, Gary will break out. I also watched some of the first Minny game, and was surprised at how sharp and crisp everyone looked compared to how they looked at the end of the season. 17 weeks is a long grind. Having Gary to rotate with the Smiths will keep everyone fresher for the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexGreen#20 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 1 minute ago, Mr. Fussnputz said: We forget that Gary had a significant injury when we drafted him. That along with learning a new position kept his snaps down. When the season ended Gary commented that he was pretty sure he would not need surgery. Doctors are telling him the injury has healed well enough on its own. I expect next year, with a healthy shoulder, and a year of learning the new position, Gary will break out. I also watched some of the first Minny game, and was surprised at how sharp and crisp everyone looked compared to how they looked at the end of the season. 17 weeks is a long grind. Having Gary to rotate with the Smiths will keep everyone fresher for the playoffs. Gary did not have a significant injury when he was drafted. Y'all gotta stop lying about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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