Where does DLAW fit?

[Cowboyny]

I don’t think this is being talked about enough. DLaw may not fit neatly into the package that Quinn wants to implement. He’s a good (but not great) player with a bloated contract.

He isn’t a DT. He’s not a 3/4 DE. In the nickel he can be a pass rusher (and of course teams are in nickel a lot) but that’s a situational player making $20m plus per year.

What is DLaw’s cap hit on a trade situation? If it’s a reasonable hit, would the team consider trading him to a full time 4-3 team for a 2nd or 3rd round pick and save his cap hit, in part due to Daks’s massive deal?

I think both Tank and Gregory will be used like Bennett and Avril in Seattle. Tank can play multiple positions and look for the best matchups, where Gregory will be that Edge rusher who can attack the QB.

 

[AsthmaField]

I think for 3-4 accounting purposes he will. In actuality, he'll be a DL.

If Quinn calls the base a 3-4, it will be something like:

DE Odighizuwa
NT Bohanna
DE Urban

OLB LVE
ILB Parsons
ILB Smith
DPR Lawrence

Again, to be clear, that doesn't mean that Lawrence will play like a linebacker. It's likely that he'll shift from side to side as a pass rusher, with the linebackers sliding and the other OLB changing, so that you might have Smith rushing off the other edge or LVE or Parsons.

Do you think that is what they’ll do over using Gregory on the edge?

They’d have the SAM, Mike, and Will and then Gregory as a LEO (pseudo OLB).

 

[jnday]

I don’t think this is being talked about enough. DLaw may not fit neatly into the package that Quinn wants to implement. He’s a good (but not great) player with a bloated contract.

He isn’t a DT. He’s not a 3/4 DE. In the nickel he can be a pass rusher (and of course teams are in nickel a lot) but that’s a situational player making $20m plus per year.

What is DLaw’s cap hit on a trade situation? If it’s a reasonable hit, would the team consider trading him to a full time 4-3 team for a 2nd or 3rd round pick and save his cap hit, in part due to Daks’s massive deal?

He fits in perfectly with the other overpaid players that don’t play up to their contracts. His production took a permanent dive by the time the ink dried in his contract. Players such as himself and Jayon are really hurting the defense by taking up salary cap room that could have went towards paying several good defensive players instead of paying average players great money.

 

[Beaker42]

I don’t think this is being talked about enough. DLaw may not fit neatly into the package that Quinn wants to implement. He’s a good (but not great) player with a bloated contract.

He isn’t a DT. He’s not a 3/4 DE. In the nickel he can be a pass rusher (and of course teams are in nickel a lot) but that’s a situational player making $20m plus per year.

What is DLaw’s cap hit on a trade situation? If it’s a reasonable hit, would the team consider trading him to a full time 4-3 team for a 2nd or 3rd round pick and save his cap hit, in part due to Daks’s massive deal?

Nobody’s gonna trade for his worthless ***. He’s mediocre.

 

[jay94]

Gregory putting up double digit sack numbers would be a great thing but it’s about as likely as a snow storm in July

Would we really want that anyhow? Sure if it gets us to a SB, but otherwise your talking a lot of money.

 

[Jinxx13x]

In the Opposing Qb's face

 

[conner01]

Would we really want that anyhow? Sure if it gets us to a SB, but otherwise your talking a lot of money.

Or a better comp pick if he walks
I’d prefer him and LVE have career years even if it means we can’t keep them and I doubt there is any plan to keep LVE

 

[Hoofbite]

Probably not inside of a Mini Cooper.

 

[Jarntt]

Tank played 60.2% of defensive snaps last year. It won't be very different this year. To put that into perspective, if he played every nickel snap and no base defense snaps he'd about hit that number next year.

I don't care what Quinn or anyone else says. We aren't implementing a defense that doesn't fit our best (at least until we see what Micah is) defensive player and no DC is going to come in here and make him obsolete in the base defense. It's just not happening. I mean how moronic would that be on a team with literally no other top proven defensive players? All of our other guys that we call good players on defense have had pretty much just one good year or are suspended often or are rookies or have some other issue that makes it hard to know for sure that they will have a good year. Call it what you want but if Tank is on one end of the line and puts his hand in the dirt instead of standing up (and he will put his hand in the dirt much more often than not whenever he is on the field) it won't be all that different from what he always does,

 

[Nexx]

DLaw may have to step it up this year and play the run, and the pass. If he can step up and play better against the run and pass then he'll be fine.

ummm.. DLAW's strength is against the run.

 

[plymkr]

ummm.. DLAW's strength is against the run.

Yeah I think you guys are right. I think I'm suffering from PTSD from last season's defense and us getting run all over. Especially at the start of the year. I got a couple plays seared into my brain of DLaw missing his assignment. But I got to remember that Nolan had everyone doing funky things on that defense. Also wasn't DLaw hurt early in the year and got better as the season went on. But yeah I agree, I spoke out of trauma emotional instead of thinking it through.

 

[gimmesix]

Do you think that is what they’ll do over using Gregory on the edge?

They’d have the SAM, Mike, and Will and then Gregory as a LEO (pseudo OLB).

In the pseudo-3-4 looks? Yeah.

I think Gregory could split time with Lawrence in the 3-4 looks, but so could Basham. I guess we could have Gregory out there along with Lawrence, but then we'd only have two true linebackers on the field. I won't be surprised if that's mixed in some, though, as we offer a variety of looks.

The one thing I can't see us doing is playing Lawrence as a 3-4 DE. He's excellent against the run for a 4-3 end, but that would be asking a lot of him and take away from his strengths. I guess we could play him more as a 4-tech, but he's better on the outside shoulder of the tackle than straight up.

There's a lot of mixing and matching we can do, but I think in the 3-4 front we want those three down linemen to be big and long I also think we want to have Lawrence on the field as much as possible, so I can't see just playing him in nickel and essentially eliminating our best lineman from a formation.

 

[gimmesix]

Yeah I think you guys are right. I think I'm suffering from PTSD from last season's defense and us getting run all over. Especially at the start of the year. I got a couple plays seared into my brain of DLaw missing his assignment. But I got to remember that Nolan had everyone doing funky things on that defense. Also wasn't DLaw hurt early in the year and got better as the season went on. But yeah I agree, I spoke out of trauma emotional instead of thinking it through.

He was essentially playing on one leg for part of the season.

 

[CWR]

DLaw may have to step it up this year and play the run, and the pass. If he can step up and play better against the run and pass then he'll be fine.

Dlaw plays the hell out of the run typically. That is an important element to his game. He gets pressures and draws protection. What he needs to do better is close the deal and get more sacks. Hopefully with Gregory and Parsons to worry about maybe Dlaw takes advantage.

 

[AsthmaField]

In the pseudo-3-4 looks? Yeah.

I think Gregory could split time with Lawrence in the 3-4 looks, but so could Basham. I guess we could have Gregory out there along with Lawrence, but then we'd only have two true linebackers on the field. I won't be surprised if that's mixed in some, though, as we offer a variety of looks.

The one thing I can't see us doing is playing Lawrence as a 3-4 DE. He's excellent against the run for a 4-3 end, but that would be asking a lot of him and take away from his strengths. I guess we could play him more as a 4-tech, but he's better on the outside shoulder of the tackle than straight up.

There's a lot of mixing and matching we can do, but I think in the 3-4 front we want those three down linemen to be big and long I also think we want to have Lawrence on the field as much as possible, so I can't see just playing him in nickel and essentially eliminating our best lineman from a formation.

We’ll have to wait and see I guess. I think the only time that Lawrence might do that would be if he somehow plays LEO in the heavy run defense. That would be the only chance because I don’t think they’d ever put him at SAM LB… which will be the other on ball LB (even though the LEO technically isn’t a LB) in the 34 looks.

Otherwise, I think that Gregory (or possibly even Parsons) will be playing the LEO spot to rush the QB, with one of LVE, Parsons, or Smith as the SAM.

I actually think that Lawrence has a better chance of playing some 3 technique from inside than he does of being a stand up LB.

Bohanna at the 1or 0 tech, with Lawrence and Odighizuwa as three tech’s and Parsons at SAM with Gregory at LEO.

Honestly though… we simply won’t know until we see what they do.

 

[AKATheRake]

He fits as a top 5, 4-3 LDE. This year.

Nonetheless, DLaw is huge on the cap this year and the next two. Next year he turns 30 and is a highly possible out year if he doesn't perform on a very hefty, contract that's almost impossible to perform to that level. $27,000,000 on the cap next year and $29,000,000. Better taking the hit next year and clearing it all if this guy doesn't do 15+ sacks which he won't.

He's a good player, really is. But nobody is worth that at DE anymore.

Look to see us as more of a 3-4 team next year. $4-3 team this year.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I don’t think this is being talked about enough. DLaw may not fit neatly into the package that Quinn wants to implement. He’s a good (but not great) player with a bloated contract.

He isn’t a DT. He’s not a 3/4 DE. In the nickel he can be a pass rusher (and of course teams are in nickel a lot) but that’s a situational player making $20m plus per year.

What is DLaw’s cap hit on a trade situation? If it’s a reasonable hit, would the team consider trading him to a full time 4-3 team for a 2nd or 3rd round pick and save his cap hit, in part due to Daks’s massive deal?

Here we go again. If a scheme can’t a accommodate quality talent then the scheme sucks. Let me guess.....his arms aren’t long enough?

 

[jay94]

As long as we can pay a player like Zeke everyone more talented him should be paid, I will say I believe Lawrence is actually underrated on this forum. He's borderline elite vs the run, he has no help from the interior either.

 

[plasticman]

Lawrence had 5 sacks in 2019, 6.5 sacks in 2020. He missed one game during those two seasons combined.

This season he will count 25 million against the salary cap unless they restructure.

Lawrence is pretty intelligent. He understands the situation. I do believe he will get far more help this season.

 

[Beaker42]

I'm not a huge DLaw fan his contract is too much but in terms of players on the defensive side showing up to ball out he's not someone I'm concerned with. He is our best defensive player

That’s like saying he’s our tallest midget. He’s sucked ever since he one-armed the FO into giving into his contract demands over surgery. He’s a JAG.