Karlos Dansby should stay at ILB. Here is why.

[Shogun]

For the eleventy billionth time, here is my official stance on the 'Karlos-to-OLB' movement....

Karlos Dansby is a great linebacker and would be much better suited for the 4-3 defense where he can probably play all three linebacker spots and be just as productive. He is an above average pass rusher and a good blitzer as he has shown through out his career, but the BIGGEST negative Dansby has that offsets his top talent is his inability to shed blocks. If he didn't have this problem, he would already be considered one of the elite LBs of the game. In the 4-3 defense, block shedding isn't as big of an issue because of the four down linemen and Dansby normally is weakside to begin with so his main job would be to cover anyway.

Unfortunately for Karlos, the Cardinals have moved into a 3-4 defense and for his position sifting through trash is a requirement. He does not have that extra lineman protecting him from those big offensive tackles, so putting him outside would take away from him in run defense, coverage before he could even get out of the gates. So I ask again, if a player’s biggest problem is getting through blocks why would you encourage putting that player in a position that would require him to take blocks constantly?

Another blow against the Dansby-to-OLB campaign is that he lacks pass rush moves. Pass rush linebackers worth their salt have some sort of pass rush repertoire. Karlos gets his sacks through pure effort. If he’s engaged, he bull rush or bust. Dansby jumping the snap isn’t going to work so well outside like it does inside because he’ll be going right into an offensive tackle and we then we go right back to the aforementioned problem.

Here is a recent excerpt from Mitch where he gives some reasoning behind this thought....

Now let's look at the OLBers...the Steelers want smaller more pudgy guys to leverage the corner...which is fine...but in this hybrid, what I want is an edge attacker on each side who brings speed and height...so as to not only pressure the QB, but to disprupt the passing lanes. This is exactly why Karlos Dansby, with his speed and height, belongs on the outside. Dansby is better suited, IMO to play the weak side as he can have a simple assignment to rush that edge as fiercely as he can.

First of all, Dansby plays with no leverage - and does not display enough show of understanding leverage to make me believe that he could play outside. Rushing the passer with no pass rush moves and little idea of how to use leverage is asking to be rendered ineffective. Secondly, having those 'edge attackers who bring speed and height' are rare. Merriman's and Wares simply do not grow on trees and Dansby is nowhere near the athletic freaks those two men are, so it's unfair to try and compare them. A big reason by 3-4 teams employ taller ends is to disrupt said passing lanes.

Karlos is listed at 6-4. Here are the linebackers on the team: Laboy - 6-3, Berry - 6-3, Chike - 6-5, Haggans - 6-4. Hell, Iwebema is 6-4. I really don't think that Dansby's height is going to be some new defensive dynamic if he's put out there. He's right on par with the rest of the group.

Aside from voluntarily burning the $9Million guaranteed cash you've given him by putting him in such a position, to give Dansby Predator responsibilities would undermine his greatest asset - his coverage ability. He is by far the best cover linebacker on the team and one of the best in the league period. That inside WILL needs to be able to cover a sizable chunk of the field while the inside SAM is sticking his head through trash and the Predator is constantly attacking the QB. Dansby's sideline-to-sideline athleticism allows him cover for Laboy's incessant overrunning of plays and Hayes' priority of plugging lanes. His current WILL position is really not unlike his previous WOLB position in the 4-3, which makes this movement even more confusing to me.

Just because we play an attacking one-gap form of the 3-4 defense does not mean that the defensive properties and positional requirements can simply be thrown into the wind. The 3-4 defense is not the same as the 4-3. But on ASFN they are most certainly are for God knows what reason. The same thing with the stupid talks of moving Adrian Wilson to inside linebacker.

The End...?

 

[football karma]

best of luck with this Shogun

the board has CPSD -- Compulsive Position Switch Disorder. A strongly held belief that virtually all of the Cardinals starters are being played in the wrong position by the coaching staff.

The board would sooner voluntarily stop breathing.

Next you will tell us that Adrian Wilson shouldnt be a linebacker.

 

[joeshmo]

Another note - Willie Mcginest was on NFL Total Access last night and he and Mayock got into the disscussion about 3-4 OLB. Who they are, what skill sets they need, the prospects in the draft and so on. Mayock asked Willie what is the number one characteristic that a coach, GM, or scout looks for in a 3-4 OLB. Just like the article on what the Steelers look for, Willie said the first thing they look for is if the guy can leverage the edge and take on blockers to support the run game. They want a guy who can stay on the field all three downs, someone that can leverage the edge in the run game is quality number one, then someone that can rush the passer with their hand down on 3rd down is secondary.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

best of luck with this Shogun

the board has CPSD -- Compulsive Position Switch Disorder. A strongly held belief that virtually all of the Cardinals starters are being played in the wrong position by the coaching staff.

The board would sooner voluntarily stop breathing.

Next you will tell us that Adrian Wilson shouldnt be a linebacker.

Usually we are right.

Big to G - check
Rolle to S - check

 

[earthsci]

Usually we are right.

Big to G - check Under performing tackle moved to guard - check
Rolle to S - check Under performing CB moved to S - check

Now the discussion is moving the Captain of the defense and the Pro Bowl safety, not a couple of under preformers.

 

[cgolden]

best of luck with this Shogun

the board has CPSD -- Compulsive Position Switch Disorder. A strongly held belief that virtually all of the Cardinals starters are being played in the wrong position by the coaching staff.

The board would sooner voluntarily stop breathing.

Next you will tell us that Adrian Wilson shouldnt be a linebacker.

You forgot that every offensive lineman is playing out of position. Levi and Gandy should be guards, Wells should be a center and Lutui should be on the sidelines. Who plays tackle? Who cares....

And don't forget about my personal favorite move that should be made, Boldin to a RB/WR role where he carries the ball 10-15 times a game.

 

[SuperSpck]

Good discussion thread, Shogun.

To be fair, we (the "poster") were right about Big and Rolle. It buys some leeway.
When talking about Levi, a lot of the positives and negatives are similar of that to Big.

After taking a much-too hard look at Levi this offseason, I think that he'll be fine at RT, but I do also think that he's got enough speed and good footwork to make a dynamite pulling guard, his up field work is exemplary.