How confident are you about these Linebackers?

RS12

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fI'm not. Jaylon likes freelance and gets caught out of position too often. I am in wait and see mode about LVE but generally speaking neck issues in football arent a positive. Sean Lee is a thousand in football years. My guess is the reserves play a lot this year.
 

buybuydandavis

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Lee was a great player, and I think he can still be in spots, but he is a major injury risk. LVE is coming off a major injury and did not play well last year. Smith is an absolute wild card. Should be great. Can be great. I think is issue is that he is a flake and too distracted to be a really great NFL LB.
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Injury risk is high and this group is an injury or 2 away from being a major liability. I am very surprised the position was not sured up to in the draft and I expect it to be big focus for the upcoming draft.

Jaylon is my biggest injury worry. He looked off all year, got worse as the season went on, and his contract is injury guaranteed through 2022.

If LVE doesn't work out, it will be sad to lose someone with so much potential. But with Jaylon, we'll get screwed on cap too.
 

Hadenough

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I'm not that confident because of the injury to LVE. That injury could shorten his career and he may not play as hard into contact. There was another LB a couple years ago that showed promise but he was injured and than retired.
Smith will be the best of the group and Lee is a rotational backup. I always thought Thomas was a solid blue chip player who should be on the field more.
 

aria

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Those falcons defenses had no talent and ravaged by injuries
For 3-4 years and he consistently got worse every year. The Eagles and several other teams have had half their starters out on defense and managed to do better than bottom 5 of the league ever year, and IIRC the Falcons were dead last or second to last one year.

We’ll see, I hope you’re right and I hope he learned something from that experience.
 

Hennessy_King

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For 3-4 years and he consistently got worse every year. The Eagles and several other teams have had half their starters out on defense and managed to do better than bottom 5 of the league ever year, and IIRC the Falcons were dead last or second to last one year.

We’ll see, I hope you’re right and I hope he learned something from that experience.
Go look up those rosters and come holla at me. Trust me after the hire I said the same thing and then looked at what he had to work with.
 

Doomsday101

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I think if LVE is healthy along with Jaylon then this LB core is pretty strong.
 

CouchCoach

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LB corps is in a tie with the secondary and the DL better be solid or this could get out of hand.

Every offseason, too many here overvalue the talent on the defense and I don't know if that's just Pollyanna wishful thinking or posters challenged with evaluating defensive talent. They jump to conclusions that some rookie or FA is going to solve the problem or rest it all on a DC that wasn't even that in his last two stops.

The scariest thing about this LB corps is the depth with two of the starters being injury questions. And the 3rd one sure as hell looked frozen too many times last year and his lower body not responding to his mind fast enough.
 

xwalker

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Inspired to do something because Ranching asked for it, I wanted to get your insight on this LB group. All great defenses need a stellar group of LBs. The Ravens had Lewis, the Giants had LT and Banks, the Steelers had Lambert, the Bears had Singletary...I could go on.

Right now the Cowboys have Bernard, Gifford, Lee, March, Smith, Thomas, and LVE on the roster. Lee, Smith, and LVE are probably the starters and Smith and LVE are mostly on the field when they go nickel which will be the majority of the plays. IMO Thomas is probably next up.

This group is by far the scariest on the current roster. You could make a case for S but given the depth at CB and a couple of guys that could probably play S if need be I am less worried about that position.

Lee was a great player, and I think he can still be in spots, but he is a major injury risk. LVE is coming off a major injury and did not play well last year. Smith is an absolute wild card. Should be great. Can be great. I think is issue is that he is a flake and too distracted to be a really great NFL LB. Thomas played well last year but he is just above a JAG in my opinion. The rest are camp bodies, ST guys, and JAGs not suited to play major defensive snaps.

Injury risk is high and this group is an injury or 2 away from being a major liability. I am very surprised the position was not sured up to in the draft and I expect it to be big focus for the upcoming draft.

I see big issues coming at LB this season. Your views are appreciated.

It's all about the DL.

Nolan likes to go with big fronts.

Marinelli loved undersized DLines.

Nolan runs a multiple front.

Marinelli was more predictable than Garrett...
 

xwalker

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Seeing how they only have 8 LB's on the roster, this is a big concern to me. They had 9, and released Covington.

LVE coming off and playing on a high career ending injury risk is huge, even though they and he say he is 100%.

Jaylon needs to get back to 2018 style. However I blame part of last year, not only LVE playing injured, but the lame coaching staff seemed to have changed up the defensive philosophy some, or were in disagreement and it reflected on the field. Jaylon's role seemed so much different than from 2018.

Lee finally played 16 games in 2019 but I think was still banged up a little, and he played well, but even he can only do so much. Can he do that again.

Thomas, is fine as a fill in for some plays here and there, and maybe even to play a few full games, but is not the every week for a full season player.
March looks lost on the field at LB play a good part of the time but is kept for ST's play.
Gifford, in his 2nd year, coming off an injury. Is he injury prone as Lee? I need to see more from him just before saying he is the next good LB in waiting. Did he make the team for lack of better talent from TC?

After that they have 2 UDFA players in Bernard and Kamura. Either one may take the place of March's place and even Gifford.

But only 8 LB's, very questionable to me. Now if they plan to use a few DE's at LB now and then in. the hybrid type looks, could be why. As can Smith and Gregory and Anea, which I believe partly why he was drafted besides being BPA and great value at the pick. But how often will they employ that style defense.

They never carried more than 7 LBs on the 53 in the Marinelli era. Some years it was 6.

Nolan will use players like Aldon Smith, Randy Gregory if available, Anae, etc. at SLB in some personnel packages.

He'll offset any coverage deficiencies by using 2-deep Safety alignments.
 

plasticman

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It's not an elite unit when you wince every time a LB is on the ground. If the injury list is a relevant document regarding your LB squad, you got problems at some point in the season.

They're great when they are all healthy.....I suspect.
 

DuncanIso

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The LB'ers will be fine.

Our LB coach doesn't have a lot of experience. I think McCurley has been an assistant since 2014.

Couldn't Jerry find someone else???

#SLee is the leader anyways.
 

Daillest88

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Won’t even talk about Jaylon, but if LVE neck is good to go , with these big bodies upfront. These linebackers will be as good as 2018
 

DuncanIso

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Won’t even talk about Jaylon, but if LVE neck is good to go , with these big bodies upfront. These linebackers will be as good as 2018

I worry about LVE...neck injuries usually end careers in the NFL.
 

DuncanIso

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It's all about the DL.

Nolan likes to go with big fronts.

Marinelli loved undersized DLines.

Nolan runs a multiple front.

Marinelli was more predictable than Garrett...

Nolan and Marinelli do have something in common.

Both are washed up.
 

beware_d-ware

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All comes down to health. If healthy, I think Jaylon and LVE are the best LB tandem in the league (think 2018). But 2019 shows just how low their floor is as well. Joe Thomas and Malcolm Smith looked better than both for 2019.
 

SSoup

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Big downside since we're not deep and some of the key guys are prohibitively old or injury risks.

Big upside if the new defensive tackles live up to their reputation and it turns out that our linebackers all blow up playing behind serious, physical DTs like that.
 

InTheZone

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How confident? Less than a 5 out of 10. I've about written off Smith, need LVE to prove to me he can actually make a tackle and Lee won't be around forever.

I'd be glad for LVE and Smith to prove me wrong.
 

Floatyworm

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As soon as Richard moved LVE from the middle....that's when our problems began. Getting him in the right spot is gonna do wonders for this defense.
 

ondaedg

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Honestly, the entire group is big fat ?.......but a ton of potential. LVE is the wildcard IMO......his play as a rookie not lifted the LBers but the entire defense. He was that good. What's interesting is last year Jaylon had a career year stat-wise but little or no impact on the overall defense. In other words, LVE plays anywhere close to his rookie season, everything else with this unit will fall in place.

Ya Jaylon racked up 87 tackles 8 yds beyond the LOS.
 
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