Drafting Curry at #2 concerns me for one reason

[rNemesis]

I was reviewing a thread from a couple of days ago or like a week ago when Bernie from twitter was talking about Aaron Curry and how he can play the MLB spot for the rams and that he is a strong possibility at #2. Then I reviewed the thread about Will Witherspoon ( our current starting MLB) and how he was told by coaches that he will no longer be playing MLB; he will be moved to OLB. I feel that is a GREAT move for WIll because he was probably playing out of position and is now moved back to his natural position where he played for the Panthers. However, this concerns me for Curry. Who said he could play MLB when he was an OLB in college? Why should we draft him and then have him play out of position and don't get his full potential? If I'm wrong and he can play MIKE or SAM then I'm all down for it, but if not then I dont feel good about doing that.

[BarronWade]

This is what i use to say to argue why we shouldnt get Curry. But i got blasted.

The thing is that we have a need at both MIKE and SAM so if Curry is playing out of position we move him back to his original position at SAM and get another MLB.

[rNemesis]

But why do we have a need at SAM? Don't we have Will Witherspoon for that?

[IzzyHigh1212]

No...Will plays the weakside...

[BarronWade]

Izzy got it covered

Witherspoon will play the WILL spot (lol) ANd i guess either trade pisa or make him do back-up work

[Ramblin` Ram]

Curry indeed i believe only played outside LB before and mostly the Strongside..but the Strongside position played at Wake Forest isnt the same as the kind of SAM that usually plays in the NFL.
the SAM used in Wake Forest doesnt attack the QB in the same way..he does occasionally but is more of an all round LB ...the all round LB in the NFL is the one who plays MLB!
Curry could be trained to be more of a NFL SAM than he is now..but he`s really closer to a MLB with his overall skill set so he should play at MLB!
Aaron is indeed a rare case..he has the thickbodied build of a MIKE with the speed of a WILL.
i know we need OT help but the fact that we havent made any new additions to our defensive front 7 means we should see 3 new additions perhaps more in the draft and second wave of free agency...
we have a chance of getting our hands on the future much needed leader of our D and the most serious draft prospect to be a contender for a hall of fame career since we drafted Pace 1st overall in `97!


p.s. i do think Chris Long will become an eventual Famer contender but id rate Curry an even higher prospect than him and Chris like Aaron may have to,made a slight adjustment from the position he played in Virginia ( a 3-4 end to a 4-3 end)

[Dominating D]

Brian Urlacher did not play MLB in college. Are the Bears not getting his full potential? Curry will have more oppurtunity playing MLB and with his talent and altheletic ability it's a good fit...

[Azul e Oro]

Brian Urlacher did not play MLB in college. Are the Bears not getting his full potential? Curry will have more oppurtunity playing MLB and with his talent and altheletic ability it's a good fit...

123 tackles, 5 sacks,12 PDef,5 INTs, 1TD.

That's the production that Urlacher provided in his best stat year. Pretty awesome stuff until you know that The Bears were 7-9 that year.Urlacher's impact didn't even solidify his defense as a team; 24th vs the run, 27th vs the pass...

Their OTs...dunno who they were but 43 sacks given up, 30th in run O,15 in pass O... doesn't sound too good to me.

Moral of the story:

A great LB doesn't alone doesn't have that big an effect on team performance or success as a whole but a weak O-line is crippling.

Better to divide our resources over several spots on the D to improve the whole.These 2nd-4th round guys don't need to be world beaters; just as good as they should be for their draft position. That alone will make a huge difference.

We have potentially a very good O-line with the addition of a top new OT. A unit that will affect much more of the team positively than any LB. Longer and more consistently.

OTenze: the new draft supplement that actually makes your team bigger, for longer, and higher performing all around.


EDIT: just looked up Da Bear OTs for that year..John Tait,Fred Miller, and John St Clair....hmmmm there's something familiar about a couple of those names...something old and painful...

[Dominating D]

123 tackles, 5 sacks,12 PDef,5 INTs, 1TD.

That's the production that Urlacher provided in his best stat year. Pretty awesome stuff until you know that The Bears were 7-9 that year.Urlacher's impact didn't even solidify his defense as a team; 24th vs the run, 27th vs the pass...

Their OTs...dunno who they were but 43 sacks given up, 30th in run O,15 in pass O... doesn't sound too good to me.

Moral of the story:

A great LB doesn't alone doesn't have that big an effect on team performance or success as a whole but a weak O-line is crippling.

Better to divide our resources over several spots on the D to improve the whole.These 2nd-4th round guys don't need to be world beaters; just as good as they should be for their draft position. That alone will make a huge difference.

We have potentially a very good O-line with the addition of a top new OT. A unit that will affect much more of the team positively than any LB. Longer and more consistently.

OTenze: the new draft supplement that actually makes your team bigger, for longer, and higher performing all around.


EDIT: just looked up Da Bear OTs for that year..John Tait,Fred Miller, and John St Clair....hmmmm there's something familiar about a couple of those names...something old and painful...

I agree if your goal is to be consistently mediocre?

Please name one dominating defense in the NFL that fielded average or below average Linebackers?

Or maybe you will like to try and find a good defense in the league without a top quality MLB leading the team? Every great defense I can remember had a dominate MLB? Urlacher is the anchor on the team that toook a subpar offense to the superbowl. If thats not enough evidence to support the need to get a play maker in the middle then I am wasting my breathe.....

GO RAMS

[richtree]

Curry can handing playing any LB spot, and what is the worst case scenerio?


Worse case we get another LB next season and have 3 studs.

Plus its Spags aggressive , blitzing scheme there are ways to interchange and hide formations.

[txramsfan]

Brian Urlacher did not play MLB in college. Are the Bears not getting his full potential? Curry will have more oppurtunity playing MLB and with his talent and altheletic ability it's a good fit...

That's a good point

[txramsfan]

123 tackles, 5 sacks,12 PDef,5 INTs, 1TD.

That's the production that Urlacher provided in his best stat year. Pretty awesome stuff until you know that The Bears were 7-9 that year.Urlacher's impact didn't even solidify his defense as a team; 24th vs the run, 27th vs the pass...

Their OTs...dunno who they were but 43 sacks given up, 30th in run O,15 in pass O... doesn't sound too good to me.

Moral of the story:

A great LB doesn't alone doesn't have that big an effect on team performance or success as a whole but a weak O-line is crippling.

Better to divide our resources over several spots on the D to improve the whole.These 2nd-4th round guys don't need to be world beaters; just as good as they should be for their draft position. That alone will make a huge difference.

We have potentially a very good O-line with the addition of a top new OT. A unit that will affect much more of the team positively than any LB. Longer and more consistently.

OTenze: the new draft supplement that actually makes your team bigger, for longer, and higher performing all around.


EDIT: just looked up Da Bear OTs for that year..John Tait,Fred Miller, and John St Clair....hmmmm there's something familiar about a couple of those names...something old and painful...

That's also a good point.

Maybe HUb is right, I need to just lay down.

[TekeRam]

Please name one dominating defense in the NFL that fielded average or below average Linebackers?

Or maybe you will like to try and find a good defense in the league without a top quality MLB leading the team? Every great defense I can remember had a dominate MLB? Urlacher is the anchor on the team that toook a subpar offense to the superbowl. If thats not enough evidence to support the need to get a play maker in the middle then I am wasting my breathe.....

GO RAMS

The 2007 NY Giants. I play a lot of Madden, which generally helps me remember a lot more names around the league than I would otherwise, but for the life of me, I can't think of any of their linebackers' names, other than Kiwanuka, who was hurt for the last half of their Super Bowl season or so. They have a very, very good defensive line with depth, and that frees up average linebackers to make plays that the front four don't make themselves. And just by chance, our new Head Coach made that defense, so I bet he can do the same with average linebackers and improving our line. That said, a better linebacking corps would never hurt, and if Spoon really is taking over the weakside, then we have approximately one starter back there, so Curry could make sense. At the same time though, we NEED to shore up our offensive line, specifically the tackle position, or else everything we do won't matter.

Overall, I think it's more likely that Laurinatis is there at #35 than Britton or Beatty is, so I think I lean towards OT then MLB than the other way around.

But, for my own plug for Curry and for all those who say that Curry would be playing out of position, hear me out. Ramblin is 100% correct. Curry, playing the Sam, did not play the same position that he would be as a Sam in the NFL. He does not rush the passer well, and is much more a run stuffing and coverage linebacker. That's why he'd play on the inside in an NFL 3-4, because he does not have the pass rush skills needed of a 3-4 OLB. Now, if Spags hardly blitzes his Sam, then fine, wonderful, he can play Sam. But if he does, then MLB wuld be right where I would want Curry, where he can play sideline to sideline, looking for the screen pass that beats the blitz, or the draw play, or the outside run. I want Curry right there where he can blow all of those plays up, and then also be able to drop back and smoke slot receivers coming across the middle. If we draft Curry, he's meant to be a MLB in the NFL.

[HUbison]

Guys, if the switch from playing LB to playing LB is enough to scare you away from the "best LB prospect to come along in quite some time" (Mayock) or "in the last decade" (Casserly), then that's your choice.

Personally, I think this kid is the kind of centerpiece that defenses are built around.

[HUbison]

The 2007 NY Giants. I play a lot of Madden, which generally helps me remember a lot more names around the league than I would otherwise, but for the life of me, I can't think of any of their linebackers' names

Now, off the top of your head, name their OTs.