DL Depth Chart as of Today

[John813]

Curious about Crawford. Wasn't there a report that he suffered another shoulder injury this year?
I would just rotate him at 3 Tech with Collins.

LDE: Irving and Law
RDE: Charlton, Tapper, Mayowa.

 

[Kaiser]

"Starting" is somewhat irrelevant IMO. Players are going to be moved around and subbed alot. Crawford could be the starting base end and sub for Thronton some in passing situations. Most passing situations where he is on the field he is likely to be inside IMO. You will also likely see alot of Irving and Paea inside. Collins most likely gets the most snaps at DT then anyone.

Lots of depth this year

Agree, I think the big factor is David Irving's development. With Taco they will put him at both DE positions and see where and how much he plays. With Irving he could be a backup at either DT or at LDE. But if he improves the same amount next year as he did this year, he could grab the LDE spot and never let go. Lots of moving pieces, just like you say.

In fact, I think you need to smoke some weed to imagine them all.

 

[Trouty]

I agree about the physical gifts. Ive just moved on from him. He just hasn't made that difference yet. Another year goes by. Im just tired of waiting.

Completely understandable. I hate it, too. I will, however, have faith, much like I did for Jaylon

 

[Kaiser]

Curious about Crawford. Wasn't there a report that he suffered another shoulder injury this year?
I would just rotate him at 3 Tech with Collins.
.

He played through an injury this year and they say he is healthy now. But then again, they would say he is healthy even if he isn't so lets wait for training camp to find out the real story.

 

[robjay04]

We still need to draft a DT.

Only if you don't want him to play.

I doubt any 4th or 5th round pick will ever be good enough his rookie season to be on the field. Nearly all of our linemen have position flex so even if it doesn't look like we have a ton of DTs on the roster, we do.

We lost two guys(maybe 3?) to free agency and have already added 4 defensive linemen...only so many roster spots.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Agree, I think the big factor is David Irving's development. With Taco they will put him at both DE positions and see where and how much he plays. With Irving he could be a backup at either DT or at LDE. But if he improves the same amount next year as he did this year, he could grab the LDE spot and never let go. Lots of moving pieces, just like you say.

In fact, I think you need to smoke some weed to imagine them all.

Irving is close to breaking out. He just needs to be more consistent. I could see him being our full time LDE in 2018

 

[darthseinfeld]

Only if you don't want him to play.

I doubt any 4th or 5th round pick will ever be good enough his rookie season to be on the field. Nearly all of our linemen have position flex so even if it doesn't look like we have a ton of DTs on the roster, we do.

We lost two guys(maybe 3?) to free agency and have already added 3 defensive linemen...only so many roster spots.

High upside PS stash type player would be nice late

 

[robjay04]

The main issue with Crawford is his health, then the position he plays. If he is healthy he adds a lot, if he playing through injury he is still OK in run defense at LDE.

If healthy, do you want him starting at LDE or backing up Collins at 3T? I would take LDE.

I guess starting doesn't mean much. Personally I would rather him be a backup but his paycheck likely won't allow that.

He's a serviceable guy, he can be a player on the inside but just a JAG at end, in my opinion.

 

[Nova]

I don't really want Crawford on the outside. He does nothing there. He had his best season when he was healthy and played inside.

Mayowa was our best pass rusher last season and should be outside.

I would actually rather Crawford slim down and play LDE.

I've always thought we mismanaged him. He wasn't really a fit when we drafted him for Rob's Defense, so we had him balloon up to 295ish. And then we left him on the interior with the switch to 4-3 because of his size...?

But he came into the league as a decent strong side DE with pretty nice attributes for the position and good upside.

We've yet to have him really commit to the position that actually got him to the NFL.

 

[xwalker]

So what does our DL Depth Chart look like now?

The big variables are obviously the health of DLaw and Crawford, the development of David Irving and whether Irving or Crawford is at DE or DT.


RDE – DLaw, Mayowa, Taco

3T – Collins, Paea

1T - Thornton, Irving

LDE – Crawford, Taco, Tapper

What if Moore balls out in the preseason?

They have carried as many as 11 on the 53 in the Marinelli era.

Complete list of DL on the roster:
N/A Charlton, Taco
93 Mayowa, Benson
99 Tapper, Charles
58 Moore, Damontre
90 Lawrence, DeMarcus

95 Irving, David
98 Crawford, Tyrone
96 Collins, Maliek
92 Thornton, Cedric
55 Paea, Stephen

76 Ash, Richard
66 Jones, Lenny

94 Gregory, Randy

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

IMO it's more like:

LDE: Charlton , Irving

1DT: Paea , Thornton

3DT: Collins, Crawford

RDE: Lawrence, Mayowa

 

[xwalker]

I would actually rather Crawford slim down and play LDE.

I've always thought we mismanaged him. He wasn't really a fit when we drafted him for Rob's Defense, so we had him balloon up to 295ish. And then we left him on the interior with the switch to 4-3 because of his size...?

But he came into the league as a decent strong side DE with pretty nice attributes for the position and good upside.

We've yet to have him really commit to the position that actually got him to the NFL.

They need to decide NOW which position Crawford is going to play.

They have yo-yo'd him back an forth from DE to DT back to DE and each time the change happens during the season. He has talked about how he spent his off-season getting his body right for one position and how that made the change difficult. Obviously he wants to be light for DE and heavy for DT. I think he prefers DE based on comments he has made.

It's difficult to really evaluate his play the past 2 years because he injured one shoulder in 2015 and then the other one in 2016.

His salary is guaranteed this season, but if he does not produce at a high level, he is likely gone in 2018.

 

[Alexander]

They need to decide NOW which position Crawford is going to play.

He can, like, do it all. That is the beauty of a talent like him.

 

[Nova]

They need to decide NOW which position Crawford is going to play.

They have yo-yo'd him back an forth from DE to DT back to DE and each time the change happens during the season. He has talked about how he spent his off-season getting his body right for one position and how that made the change difficult. Obviously he wants to be light for DE and heavy for DT. I think he prefers DE based on comments he has made.

It's difficult to really evaluate his play the past 2 years because he injured one shoulder in 2015 and then the other one in 2016.

His salary is guaranteed this season, but if he does not produce at a high level, he is likely gone in 2018.

Agreed. Or at least they need to make a decision after the draft.

I really think he could be a good LDE, and they really should move that way.

Gregory & Tapper's futures are uncertain, and IIRC this is DLaw's last contracted year.

 

[Nova]

He can, like, do it all. That is the beauty of a talent like him.

Among other reasons, this is why I didn't want Adoree Jackson or Jabrill Peppers.

 

[xwalker]

I guess starting doesn't mean much. Personally I would rather him be a backup but his paycheck likely won't allow that.

He's a serviceable guy, he can be a player on the inside but just a JAG at end, in my opinion.

Irving started the final 2 games and the play-off game. Crawford did not start in those games.

 

[Kolemmitt]

I think it will be Taco at RDE, Dlaw at LDE, Collins at 3T, Thornton at 1T

I think this with both Crawford and Irving both getting more time than Thornton in the end. It would be nice to figure out a way to get Collins to start next to either Crawford or Irving, but its likely not to happen.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I don't really want Crawford on the outside. He does nothing there. He had his best season when he was healthy and played inside.

Mayowa was our best pass rusher last season and should be outside.

He was one of the better SDE generating pressure playing last year despite not playing there the first couple of weeks.

SDE do not get a lot of sacks outside of the elite. Nonetheless, Crawford generated consistent pressure with stout run defense.

 

[Nightman]

I like TCrawf0ord at SDE against the run

TCrawford......MCollins.......Paea.............DLaw
Taco................DIrving.........Thornton.......Mayowa
Tapper.......................................................DMoore

 

[xwalker]

IMO it's more like:

LDE: Charlton , Irving

1DT: Paea , Thornton

3DT: Collins, Crawford

RDE: Lawrence, Mayowa

Stephen said Charlton would be RDE.