Wasn't Simon a 4-3 guy in Philly and Indy? Also, I don't see a problem with keeping Vilma, Barton, Thomas, and Hobson and still drafting a pass-rushing OLB. Because clearly Kassell and Chatham aren't doing anything, they stunk the place out when they were in. Resing Hobson to a middle range deal and let him and the draftee split time, and the draftee could come in on passing downs. Can't really have too many LB's in the 3-4. Plus, if the rook steps it up, Hobson's contract hopefully wouldnt be too big so we could trade or cut him.
Barton is replaceable. There were times when he was invisible on the field and I can live without his 2 or 3 dumb personal foul penalties a year.
The Colt's GM came out today and promised that Freeney is not going anywhere so we can forget that thought.
He had a miserable year and now he is showing his true colors, he goes for the quarterback on 95% of the plays so he doesn't know very well when the run is coming and that's why he doesn't get many tackles, also I saw a colts game this season where the opposite RB ran through Freeney's side all day long and still Freeney was going for the QB rather than stopping the run.
yeah but hes still 6 years yonger and a huge impact player...I see what youre saying about the 3-4, but other than that the statements arent that contradictory
Barton did not do MUCH better than Vilma. Vilma had 113 tackles to Barton's 101. Vilma also had a fumble recovery and an interception. Barton had neither. The one stat that Barton has over Vilma is 4.5 sacks to Vilma's none. That is because Vilma has superior speed and is great in coverage. Therefore, he drops back a lot, as shown by his 5 passes defensed. An LB was 4th on the team in passes defensed! Vilma had a great season for a 3-4 ILB. Let me give you some stats of franchis ILBs in the 3-4: Player Tackles Sacks FF Recovered Int PD Vilma 116 0 1 1 1 5 Bruschi 112 1.5 0 2 1 6 Farrior 126 4 2 1 1 6 Lewis 103 5 1 1 2 8 Vilma's numbers are gaudy. He is not going to be racking up the kind of numbers he did in the 4-3 but that does not mean that he is less effective. Just effective differently. I have noticed that some posters are doing the same thing to Ellis. Here are stats for 3-4 DEs: Player Tackles Sacks Ellis 58 5 Seymor 40 4 Kelly Gregg 61 3.5 (DE for Balt) Aaron Smith 45 4.5 (DE for Pit) We all need to reassess our expectations for players in the 3-4. To go back to the Barton thing, aren't a lot of posters calling for Hobson to replace Barton anyway? Why the big surprise that we don't want a $3M backup?
See this is where I stopped. When Vilma himself comes out and says he rates his play as a B- and that the run defense was bad, and he has to swallow his pride knowing that poor run D had to come on the ILB. 10 times out of 10 i'll take the player's comment on himself over a fan, unless you're Terrell Owens. Look i'd love to defend Vilma. But the fact is he had an average season. Now, it was his 1st season, he's very young, and he'll have a full offseason to understand it better and hopefully get a true NT in front of him.
Kerney fits fine in the 3-4. He has played in it before as well. Freeney on the other hand does not. This is also not to say that I want Kerney here, but he is an option as he has experience in a similar system.
I think Freeney could be a very good 3-4 OLB... he's undersized as it is and he's a beastly pass rusher.
I think Barton will be here next year. He's too good at this point. We have too many hole to fill. He's a great "Hold the Fort" type Guy. If we let him go he'll be on NE team next year.
This is the NFL we're talking about here. 30 is definitely the downside of the mountain in this sport.
I agree. The Eagles (God do I hate the Eagles!) have made it a team policy not to sign ANYONE 30 or older to anything greater than a 2 year contract. Personally a GREAT idea. At 30 the typical NFL player has played at minimum 7 years, the body can take just so much.
