Yea i had a feeling. Just seems like their are more 3-4 OLB coming out of college now a days then 4-3 DE and that 4-3 DE's get scooped up quickly in drafts.
Parcells sold Jerry on that idea and it turned out to be false. It is just as difficult to get quality OLB in a 3-4 as quality DEs in a 4-3.
In the 3-4 defenses that the Cowboys used (Parcells, Wade, Rob Ryan) it was not that easy to find OLBs. They used Wade's the longest so I'll reference that one.
In Wade's 3-4, the Strong Side OLB was a very complicated position. That player has to play the run, rush the passer and play coverage. The WOLB has to do those things also, but that side gets to focus more on pass rush and less on run defense and coverage. Anthony Spencer was good at all 3, but they couldn't find anybody else to do it. That's why they franchised Spencer twice despite the fact that he was not an elite pass rusher. That position has to quickly determine if he is going to rush, play run contain or drop into coverage. This all has to be done after the snap. This player often has the RB in coverage.
They tried guys other guys at that position and some did OK rushing the passer, but they would make a lot of mistakes trying to figure out when to do what.
The idea was that physically, pass rushers that are not big enough to play 4-3 DE could play 3-4 OLB; however, that meant that you needed a 3-tool player (pass rush, run defense, coverage). Not many players could do all 3.
In Marinelli's defense, the RDE lines up in a similar spot (7-tech) to where a 3-4 OLB would line up, whereas, the LDE lines up in a spot (5-tech) similar to a 3-4 DE.
At RDE, now you have a situation where you can look at smallish but very quick DEs but they don't have to mentally or physically be able to play coverage.
At LDE you can look at college players that have classic DE size, but don't have the elite speed/quickness that would make them early 1st round draft picks.
Just look at the often used starting lineup in 2016.
RDE: Mayowa 6-3, 240 (listed weight). They wanted it to be Randy Gregory (6-5, 235 at draft time).
LDE: Tyrone Crawford 6-4, 285.
As you can see, Mayowa/Gregory don't have the bulk of a classic 4-3 DE and Tyrone Crawford does not have the speed/quickness of classic 4-3 DE.
When I say classic size/speed for a 4-3 DE, I'm talking about somebody like JPP (6-5, 270) who is bigger than Mayowa/Gregory but faster/quicker than Tyrone Crawford.
They Cowboys still have not found that RDE, but they really have not put a lot of resources into it either.
Gregory: (2nd round) Highest pick used on a true RDE.
Mayowa: Cut rate free agent acquisition. He got 8M for 3 years instead of 16M for 1 year like the top pass rushers.
Lawrence: (2nd round) Not really drafted to be a true RDE. I think they ideally wanted him to play LDE but thought he could play RDE if they didn't have a better option.
Hardy: Pay per game free agent, ended up costing about 8M. He was classic 4-3 DE but obviously had character issues.
Jack Crawford: Low cost free agent.
Davis: Low cost free agent.
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