A.Woods is 318 pounds. He can stop the run and hold up against double-teams.
- Human Log Woods “should “ be able to stop the run, create penetration vs run for tackles losses and occupy two blockers , that’s what the 1 tech role does, but he’s not always as consistent with it, and I didn’t like the way he was so up and down in 2018, playing great at home games... but struggling on the road. that's why i suspect that he’s yet another one of these guys that seems to be decent and serviceable that we’ve had come and go, but never one that is a constant difference maker.That changes the dynamics how teams cannot control and contain him vs run. (in every game)
They really only had 2 games that I would call struggling in run defense. The Rams playoff game and the Colts game.
And we don’t have to draft 1 tech, 4-3 scheme guys in the 1st round, they generally never get drafted in the first. And we see run stuffers drafted in 1st round as projected 3-4 NT.
I don’t see what’s wrong with projecting these type guys at the least in the 4th mid rounds, but the bigger problem is Rod Marinelli does not value and have high regards for exclusive run stuffers..
Most teams have moved away from mega-sized DTs. Only 1 playoff team had a starting DT over 320 pounds. When averaging the weight of the 2 starting DTs for each playoff team together, the Cowboys were 3rd from the heaviest. Chicago has Akiem Hicks who has gotten big over the years (318 when drafted but listed anywhere from 332 to 352 since he's been with the Bears). The Pats retained Danny Shelton who was a backup last season. Even many 3-4 teams are not using mega-sized NTs. The Rams had Suh at NT and he's about 310.
The zone run blocking scheme put a big damper on mega-sized DTs that were tubs of lard that clogged up the middle. The DTs in 2019 that are over 320 are ones with rare quickness for their size. Snacks and Poe have bee that type but I think both have been limited in the past year or two as those types of players rarely remain quick long term.
Covington is a better backup 1-tech than any 4th DT they had last year.
- And he’s a guy that I’m observing to see if he can succeed and be more consistent than Woods, though I see Covington's listed weight as only 305, his bulky frame seems far wider than that. But I wonder if he could end be a pleasant surprised than what many expect.
After the Cowboys signed Covington, he was still listed on the Texans roster and his weight was over 330 if I recall correctly. He played both NT and 3-4 DE there. I think he is probably in a similar weight range with Woods at this point.
The lack of a legit backup 1-tech was a problem when Woods got injured in the playoff game against the Rams. Woods continued to play but they played Reid on a lot of snaps and he was a player that no other team wanted because he was "on the street" during the season and they Cowboy signed him, cut him and re-signed him during 2018. Daniel Ross was benched after the Seattle game. There was no official report on that but he was not on the injury report but was not active in the Rams game.
I hear a lot a references to getting a bigger 1-tech but by picking Hill they are adding size at 3-tech (Hill 308, Crawford 285). They played Hill at 1-tech on several snaps in the Miami game with Woods out. Many of the past 3-techs or 3-tech projects were more DE/DT tweeners like Crawford that would never be an option at 1-tech. The fact that they're developing a "big" 3-tech is a good sign, IMO.
- I‘m not sure I understand why you’re using Crawford as a comparison example to Hill’s weight , when Tyrone is even not the primary starter at 3 tech role ,, that guy is Maliek Collins, who is listed as 310 pounds,.when you a rotation backup. And the game day active numbers are already slim pickings, you should have to learn how to contribute at both DT spots., even though it’s clear they will be better at one role better than the other,. We need the bodies. Just as Maliek once had to fill in at the 1 tech because of a rash of injuries and the lack of depth (Stephen Paea sudden retiring, etc.)
Crawford started the first 7 games at 3-tech DT last season. Collins was out 3 games and was not near-100% until game 8 which is when he moved backing into the starting 3-tech role and Crawford moved back to starting at RDE. Taco had been starting at RDE the first 7 games. Taco played game 8 as a non-starter and was then benched for 3 games until somebody had an injury issue. Crawford continued to play significant snaps at 3-tech even while starting at RDE because he plays base downs at RDE and pass rush downs at DT. Even this season Crawford played significant snaps at DT in game 1 despite starting at RDE. He experienced injury issues in game 2 which limited his snaps and he was out for the Miami game.
Collins was forced to play a majority of his snaps in 2017 at 1-tech because of injuries to Paea and Price early in the season. That meant a committee of players at 3-tech DT including Irving, Crawford, Ross, Datone Jones & Lewis Neal. Irving, Crawford & Jones were all DE/DT tweeners weighing about 285. Lewis Neal was 269 in pre-draft measurements and listed at 280 with the Cowboys. Ross was listed as high as 305 but was listed at 290 when he was on the KC practice squad.
The other issue is that the second 3-tech DT plays almost as many snaps as the starting 1-tech DT some years. They have 3 basic ways they use the DTs:
3T & 1T in base
3T & 3T type player at 1T position (pass or run likely)
Two 3Tech DTs both playing 3Tech with a big gap in the middle of the DL (3rd & long or other obvious passing situations)
The issue with Watt was how they used him in college. He played a majority of his snaps in a rover LB roles where he looked like a 4-3 LB that blitzed about 80% of the time. He didn't really even play a traditional 3-4 OLB role. It made it hard to project him to the NFL, especially to project him to 4-3 DE.
Randy Gregory played as a 4-3 DE that his college team actually had more focused on stopping the run than rushing the passer. Gregory had an uncanny ability at his size to get under the pads of OLinemen that outweighed him by a large margin and bull-rush them back into the QB. He put OT Flowers (330 pounds) on skates in college. I think Gregory was over 260 when he played last season
- Lets be honest, if you're seeing 237 lb DE prospect, that normally projects to 3-4 OLB, but apparently Gregory's edge skills was so adept and unique that they couldn't pass him over and was determined to have him, even if that meant transitioning him as a 4-3 DE.
The NFL guys have game film tape on these players, they work him out with the position coaches in pre-draft workouts and 30 day-visits, they get chances to see them up close personally, they should know the differences between how their college coaches choose to use them and how they will be used/projected at the NFL level., and per their own scheme.
And i hope no one can throws me the better get off excuse either,.. because Taco’s tape and get off was as slow off the edge as frozen cold syrup.
Frankly as I’ve said before, If Rod can
project a 237 lb Gregory to be a 4-3 DE the instant he was drafted by the Cowboys, then Rod should have been able to project a 15 pound heavier, 252 pound TJ Watt to be 4-3 DE
Randy Gregory played 4-3 DE in college and his top job in college was stopping the run. I think you mentioned earlier that you want a 1-tech that can anchor even if he is not necessarily a heavier player than what they've had. The same concept goes for Gregory. He was terrific run defender in college as a 4-3 DE and they didn't do anything to protect him (i.e. He was not a 3rd down pass rush specialist). They drafted him because he was a top 10 type talent that dropped to their late 2nd round pick (#60) which was only 4 picks from being in the 3rd round. It was a roll of the dice on the weed issue but with no weed issues he would have been a top 10 pick. TJ Watt was never going to be a top 10 pick.
Weight is not the only issue when projecting college players to the NFL. As I've said previously, TJ Watt didn't really even play as a standard 3-4 OLB. The way they used him in college made it appear that they were protecting him from constantly going 1 on 1 against OTs in the run game. In a lot of their games he really did look as if he was either a 4-3 LB or 3-4 Inside LB blitzing on the majority of plays as opposed to a straight up 3-4 OLB.
The Cowboys failed on Taco because they somehow overlooked his personality (mental make-up) issues. I'm surprised because in the past several years they've put way more effort into those types of issues ever since they drafted Claiborne without ever interviewing him because they never expected to have the chance to draft him.
We still can't put a grade on Taco's physical ability. We saw this preseason that he looks like a different player when he is putting in some effort.
I'm not certain they would have picked Watt if they didn't pick Taco. They actually had Awuzie rated as a 1st round pick and Stephen Jones implied they considered drafting Awuzie with that pick but there were several CBs they like in the 2nd round and thought the would get a good CB if they waited but would not get a good pass rusher if they waited.
the CB in the 1st round discussion wasn’t Awuzie in accordance reports of the Cowboys value board, that CB reportedly was actually Kevin King of Washiington (as reported by sources at draft time) who went eventually picked by GB Packers very early in the 2nd round.
I heard Stephen Jones on the radio say that they considered Awuzie at that pick. They obviously considered Watt and likely the CB King but the player I specifically heard him mention was Awuzie.
Obviously in retrospect with what we've seen from Watt, even if they had to just use him as a pass rush specialist on 3rd downs, that would be better than having to cut Taco; however, Taco didn't fail because of physical reasons. We don't really know how much physical ability he has because his attitude (poor mental-makeup) sabotaged his chances to succeed.