You are spending the 20th pick to obtain a versatile defender who can play inside or outside, defend the run, contribute on special teams initially, rush the passer, cover tight ends and running backs out of the backfield and spy on quarterbacks who can kill you with 20-30 yard scrambles like Kaepernick and Wilson and never leave the field.
Some of the best coverage of Jimmy Graham last season was by Aqib Talib, who stands 6'1".
Talib is a CB, not a LB. It goes without saying that he spend most of his career defending vs the pass and a good portion of the time vs WRs who were bigger than he is. Shazier hasn't.
Ok, you are advocating drafting a swiss army knife at #20 when the value is in drafting a machete. If I want a complete LB, I will draft Van Noy in the 2nd round. The value is in an edge pass rusher be it at DE or at OLB. Yes, Shazier has the speed to be an effective rush LB, but he lacks the size to set the edge of the defense consistently. In a 3-4, your edge rush LB rarely drops into coverage because you want him to be rushing the QB, setting the edge or sealing off the cutback lanes. He will be dropping into coverage a handful of times per game.
Because of this, why does it make sense to give up something that a player has to do often (set the edge vs the run) in favor of gaining a skill (playing in pass coverage) that he will do very few times per game?
We need players for the front 7 of our defense who can play the run, create pressure on the QB, and make plays in the backfield without being protected or having to rely on other players. Tuitt fits this profile better than Shazier does.
