Durant agrees to terms with Cowboys

[AsthmaField]

I think they may see enough in him and not enough value from a trade partner to just try and convert him but I'm not convinced they can be successful.

You know, they might... but even as a backup he is taking up a roster spot that could go to a player more like Sims, who is a much better special teams type than Wilber. That is one of the things they said when making the switch - that it puts better athletes on your special teams.

I even think Wilber could fit in a 4-3 as a standard SLB. We've certainly had others who were worse athletes out there. He actually is a bit more agile and fast than Spencer who often dropped back into coverage for us in our 3-4. But I don't think this is what Kiffen wants based on the other LB signees and the ditching of Connor. He wants supreme speed at LB.

I agree that Kiffin wants OLB's like Sims/Durant. I would too. Change of direction, coverage, and getting to the sideline in a hurry are necessities.

Our OLBs (Durant, Carter and Sims) are faster than our Safeties (Church and Matt Johnson).

:laugh2:

That's true. Kind of funny.

 

[Doc50]

If we want to trade him it makes sense to do it ASAP so he can integrate with the new team. Kiffen should probably make his mind up about whether he can convert to OLB or DE in his schemes.

I think they may see enough in him and not enough value from a trade partner to just try and convert him but I'm not convinced they can be successful.

I even think Wilber could fit in a 4-3 as a standard SLB. We've certainly had others who were worse athletes out there. He actually is a bit more agile and fast than Spencer who often dropped back into coverage for us in our 3-4. But I don't think this is what Kiffen wants based on the other LB signees and the ditching of Connor. He wants supreme speed at LB. Our OLBs (Durant, Carter and Sims) are faster than our Safeties (Church and Matt Johnson).

Really? Faster than our safeties?

That's impressive for the LB's, but an indictment for the safeties.

I hope the draft brings us what we need.

 

[DFWJC]

IF they can stay on the field, I feel good about the LB group.

 

[DFWJC]

Really? Faster than our safeties?

That's impressive for the LB's, but an indictment for the safeties.

I hope the draft brings us what we need.

Matt Johnson is a pretty fast safety (4.52), but Church is no blazer.
Maybe he meant relatively speaking, our LB group has more speed for LBs than our safeties do with other safeties.

 

[xwalker]

I have been saying for a while now that Wilber just doesn't fit in this defense. He's too tall and lacks the movement skills for a Kiffin 43 OLB, and he's too small to play DE for us.

Albright is in the same boat... but he's big enough where he might be able to play some DE (ie. Ware's backup on the weakside).

It doesn't surprise me at all to see us bring in a 6-1 230 lb guy... which is about right for a 43 OLB.

Seattle is a Kiffin type defense. Their starting SLB is K.J.Wright. Wilbur compares favorably with Wright.

K.J. Wright
Height: 6033
Weight: 246
40 Yrd Dash: 4.75
20 Yrd Dash: 2.65
10 Yrd Dash: 1.65
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 20
Vertical Jump: 32
Broad Jump: 10'00"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.46
3-Cone Drill: 7.26

Kyle Wilbur
Height: 6036
Weight: 249
40 Yrd Dash: 4.73/4.64
20 Yrd Dash: 2.69
10 Yrd Dash: 1.60
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 25
Vertical Jump: 33 1/2
Broad Jump: 09'09"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.31
3-Cone Drill: 7.11

 

[xwalker]

I have been saying for a while now that Wilber just doesn't fit in this defense. He's too tall and lacks the movement skills for a Kiffin 43 OLB, and he's too small to play DE for us.

Albright is in the same boat... but he's big enough where he might be able to play some DE (ie. Ware's backup on the weakside).

It doesn't surprise me at all to see us bring in a 6-1 230 lb guy... which is about right for a 43 OLB.

Chicago, another Kiffin style defense, had Lance Briggs as their starting WLB. Wilbur compares favorably with him also.

Lance Briggs
40 Yrd Dash: 4.75
10 Yrd Dash: 1.66

Kyle Wilbur
40 Yrd Dash: 4.73/4.64
10 Yrd Dash: 1.60

 

[KDM256]

Love the move and the fact that we're adding quality depth to our LB core. Might not be the big splash fans like to see during the offseason but this was a great pickup and will better our team next year...

 

[Ultimategamer5567]

I see Garrett's "process" finally coming to be. Good deal.

 

[Kristen82]

Our OLBs (Durant, Carter and Sims) are faster than our Safeties (Church and Matt Johnson).

Should have a contest to see who's more injury-prone.

 

[Echo9]

Guess I should have said we lost nobody that we wanted to keep.
To me if you no longer have something that you did not want to keep in the first place, it is not a loss.
I would think Jenkins at the right price may have been ok though, but was getting the inpression that they thought the locker room was better without him.

I agree 100% :laugh2:

 

[Echo9]

Wilber is quite a bit different than Albright. Wilber ran 4.73 in the 40 at the Combine and 4.64 at his pro day. That is actually not all that bad for an OLB. OTOH, you could try and bulk him up a bit and transition to DE as I believe he was a fairly physical player and was supposed to be Spencer's backup due to his ability to play the run.

I think they'll have to make a decision about where he fits best but I think it is probably at DE.

Now Albright is different because he has the instincts and physicality to play MLB and he is surprisingly good in coverage despite his size because of his quickness and agility (short shuttle of 4.03 and 3cone at 6.98 are both really good for a Lb).

So I think it makes most sense to put Wilber at DE and Albright as Lee's backup.

Take it for what it's worth, but Broaddus mentioned that he thinks the coaches might be looking at Wilbur to move to Weak DE behind Ware now that we have Durant in the fold.

 

[AsthmaField]

Seattle is a Kiffin type defense. Their starting SLB is K.J.Wright. Wilbur compares favorably with Wright.

K.J. Wright
Height: 6033
Weight: 246
40 Yrd Dash: 4.75
20 Yrd Dash: 2.65
10 Yrd Dash: 1.65
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 20
Vertical Jump: 32
Broad Jump: 10'00"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.46
3-Cone Drill: 7.26

Kyle Wilbur
Height: 6036
Weight: 249
40 Yrd Dash: 4.73/4.64
20 Yrd Dash: 2.69
10 Yrd Dash: 1.60
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 25
Vertical Jump: 33 1/2
Broad Jump: 09'09"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.31
3-Cone Drill: 7.11

Chicago, another Kiffin style defense, had Lance Briggs as their starting WLB. Wilbur compares favorably with him also.

Lance Briggs
40 Yrd Dash: 4.75
10 Yrd Dash: 1.66

Kyle Wilbur
40 Yrd Dash: 4.73/4.64
10 Yrd Dash: 1.60

Clearly Wilber can play OLB in this system... but I don't think he is what the team (Kiffin) desires at that position.

Since making the decision to switch to a 4-3 from their 3-4, Dallas has signed 2 LB's:

6-0, 230 lb. Ernie Sims
6-1, 235 lb. Justin Durant

That is a far cry from:

6-4, 246 lb. Kyle Wilber
6-5, 260 lb. Alex Albright (another 34 LB who people are saying can play LB for Kiffin).

People can say that Wilber and Albright will be LB's for Kiffin in Dallas all they want, but the type of LB's the Cowboys are signing isn't the type of player that Wilber and Albright are.

Despite the fact that Seattle has a bigger, slower LB playing SLB and that Chicago has a slower guy playing WLB, history shows that Kiffin prefers players that more resemble a large safety than a 3-4 OLB. In fact, most teams running Kiffin's scheme lean towards smaller, quicker players like Durant and Sims... and away from longer, edge rusher types like Wilber and Albright.

Wright would certainly represent an anomaly much more so than the norm when talking about OLB's for Kiffin style 4-3 defenses.

I mean anything is possible, but I find it highly unlikely that Kiffin would be satisfied with Wilber as a starting SOLB... and the fact that Dallas has used its extremely limited free agency dollars primarily on OLB's that fit my definition of a Kiffin OLB only serves to bolster that viewpoint.

I had similar conversations with people (maybe even you) about Spencer earlier this year. People were saying that Spencer would play SOLB for Kiffin and that he just wasn't big enough for DE. They gave me stats and explained how solid in coverage Spencer was. I heard about how Seattle used a SDE who weighed over 300 lbs. All that is fine and dandy... but history and common sense said Spencer would be an edge rusher for Kiffin. That he would play DE in a scheme that typically used converted LB's at DE... Converted Safeties at LB... and as a general rule valued speed and change of direction over size at every front 7 position.

I argued that it would be silly to have a guy like Spencer dropping back in coverage when his two main strength's are stopping the run and rushing the QB. Why, I wondered, would you want someone like Spencer in coverage when you could have a player like Bruce Carter or Justin Durant covering TE's?

The answer of course is you wouldn't. And I think that's the same answer you get when you ask the same question about Wilber. Would you want Wilber or Durant trying to tackle RGIII in the open field?

When he looks at Durant's agility drills and film of Durant playing football, Kiffin, I think, would rather have Durant trying to do that.

So, while I do understand that it is possible to have Wilber playing at OLB, I don't think he's what Kiffin wants at the position in an ideal world.

 

[riverside4]

Should have a contest to see who's more injury-prone.

That is funny but what if they all got hurt in the contest

 

[Eskimo]

Clearly Wilber can play OLB in this system... but I don't think he is what the team (Kiffin) desires at that position.

Since making the decision to switch to a 4-3 from their 3-4, Dallas has signed 2 LB's:

6-0, 230 lb. Ernie Sims
6-1, 235 lb. Justin Durant

That is a far cry from:

6-4, 246 lb. Kyle Wilber
6-5, 260 lb. Alex Albright (another 34 LB who people are saying can play LB for Kiffin).

People can say that Wilber and Albright will be LB's for Kiffin in Dallas all they want, but the type of LB's the Cowboys are signing isn't the type of player that Wilber and Albright are.

Despite the fact that Seattle has a bigger, slower LB playing SLB and that Chicago has a slower guy playing WLB, history shows that Kiffin prefers players that more resemble a large safety than a 3-4 OLB. In fact, most teams running Kiffin's scheme lean towards smaller, quicker players like Durant and Sims... and away from longer, edge rusher types like Wilber and Albright.

Wright would certainly represent an anomaly much more so than the norm when talking about OLB's for Kiffin style 4-3 defenses.

I mean anything is possible, but I find it highly unlikely that Kiffin would be satisfied with Wilber as a starting SOLB... and the fact that Dallas has used its extremely limited free agency dollars primarily on OLB's that fit my definition of a Kiffin OLB only serves to bolster that viewpoint.

I had similar conversations with people (maybe even you) about Spencer earlier this year. People were saying that Spencer would play SOLB for Kiffin and that he just wasn't big enough for DE. They gave me stats and explained how solid in coverage Spencer was. I heard about how Seattle used a SDE who weighed over 300 lbs. All that is fine and dandy... but history and common sense said Spencer would be an edge rusher for Kiffin. That he would play DE in a scheme that typically used converted LB's at DE... Converted Safeties at LB... and as a general rule valued speed and change of direction over size at every front 7 position.

I argued that it would be silly to have a guy like Spencer dropping back in coverage when his two main strength's are stopping the run and rushing the QB. Why, I wondered, would you want someone like Spencer in coverage when you could have a player like Bruce Carter or Justin Durant covering TE's?

The answer of course is you wouldn't. And I think that's the same answer you get when you ask the same question about Wilber. Would you want Wilber or Durant trying to tackle RGIII in the open field?

When he looks at Durant's agility drills and film of Durant playing football, Kiffin, I think, would rather have Durant trying to do that.

So, while I do understand that it is possible to have Wilber playing at OLB, I don't think he's what Kiffin wants at the position in an ideal world.

I agree with all of the above. The signings of Sims and Durant signals a dramatic shift in the type of player we are now looking for in the new defense. Players like Lemon, Butler and Wilber just don't fit in here at LB anymore. Even Alex Albright who played quite well in relief as an ILB after the injuries to Lee and Carter is a misfit anywhere but at MLB in the new system.

The problem with Wilber from what I was reading on the draft boards is that he wasn't strong enough at the point of attack to play the run. OTs were engulfing him and dominating him in the scrimmages in the post-season bowl games. He is someone who could only play on the DL after gaining a bunch of weight and strength. Even then I wonder if he'll be able to be anything more than an edge rusher in a nickel defense. However, he is a classic tweener with some pass-rush skills and some coverage skills who fits in well as a 3-4 OLB. I still wonder if our best use for him isn't to flip him over to a 3-4 team that was interested in him in the last draft. This draft is a lot weaker at 3-4 OLB types than the deep 2011 draft when Wilber went in early part of the 4th round. Maybe someone would give us a 5th-7th rounder to acquire him in a weaker draft and thereby secure his rights. Otherwise, if we release him he goes to the waiver wire and then you only get a shot at him if all the teams with better draft position decide to pass on him. So this is a very different situation than with vets who don't have to clear waivers in quite the same manner when they are released.

 

[AsthmaField]

I agree with all of the above. The signings of Sims and Durant signals a dramatic shift in the type of player we are now looking for in the new defense. Players like Lemon, Butler and Wilber just don't fit in here at LB anymore. Even Alex Albright who played quite well in relief as an ILB after the injuries to Lee and Carter is a misfit anywhere but at MLB in the new system.

The problem with Wilber from what I was reading on the draft boards is that he wasn't strong enough at the point of attack to play the run. OTs were engulfing him and dominating him in the scrimmages in the post-season bowl games. He is someone who could only play on the DL after gaining a bunch of weight and strength. Even then I wonder if he'll be able to be anything more than an edge rusher in a nickel defense. However, he is a classic tweener with some pass-rush skills and some coverage skills who fits in well as a 3-4 OLB. I still wonder if our best use for him isn't to flip him over to a 3-4 team that was interested in him in the last draft. This draft is a lot weaker at 3-4 OLB types than the deep 2011 draft when Wilber went in early part of the 4th round. Maybe someone would give us a 5th-7th rounder to acquire him in a weaker draft and thereby secure his rights. Otherwise, if we release him he goes to the waiver wire and then you only get a shot at him if all the teams with better draft position decide to pass on him. So this is a very different situation than with vets who don't have to clear waivers in quite the same manner when they are released.

Yes, that is the way I see it too. Dallas might decide to keep him on but I can easily see him either being traded for a late pick or being flat out released. There are plenty of LB's who fit Kiffin's 43 defense and who would, IMO be a better backup that Wilber. And I think he may simply be too weak at this point to play DE, even on the weakside.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

If Wilber and Albright are RE and LEs respectively, then counting LE Spencer plus RE Ware, moving Hatcher along with Crawford to DT having already stacked DTs Ratliff, Bass and Calloway, Dallas can select Best player Available Baby...Draft 2013!

 

[Kristen82]

That is funny but what if they all got hurt in the contest

LOL, that'd be hilarious. I'm picturing them in the trainer's room afterwards all sitting in one giant hot tub (drool..... hboy...