Can anyone shed some light on Merling's ability to fit into the 4-3? Is he better suited in this system? I thought he played 4-3 DE in college? He should be cheap to resign. I only bring this up because of our cap situation. The Fins have about $13-15 mill to spend this year. I don't see them getting more than 2 impact FA's. Signing Solai and Flynn uses most of the available cap space. That means Langford most likely sign with another team. How about a front 4 rotation of Odrick, Solai, Starks, Wake, Mcdaniels, Merling? It's not great but pretty solid IMO. The pass rush would be a major concern but we shold be solid against the run.
Merling is a RFA due to the time he missed with the achilles injury, so we have him this yr. As for the 4-3, it really does depend on what sort of shape he shows up in and how high his motor is running, on the inside his nice short area quickness should serve him well, his problem will be anchoring vs double teams.
The problem that Merling has is that he might be a decent 3-4 DE but that hasn't exactly shown thru yet...He'd be an inside guy in the 4-3, I think. Not agile enough as a DE... Personally, I think they may want to keep Langford and let Soliai go. First, Soliai likely can get more money than what he's worth to us elsewhere and secondly, although Langford might not fit exactly in the 4-3, I don't see us going to a strict 4-3 anyway, giving him opportunities to play here. In a round about way, I guess I'm saying he may be more valuable to us, despite a shift in scheme. Merling is certainly less proven, however he's also more likely to be sticking around... Now, if for some reason, they choose to let both Langford and Soliai walk...then Merling becomes a bit more important to keep around, despite his shortcomings...
I wouldn't expect much. He's not as awful as people like to claim, but I don't know that the 4-3 provides him with any new opportunities unless he slims down and becomes an End, and I don't know what he's shown to expect a lot more from him. He probably shouldn't have been bulked up and asked to play more interior techniques, but that single-handedly isn't going to destroy him.
If the kid would just get his body in the best shape possible, then we could project so much better.. I remember some saying he should drop weight and play outside linebacker..I got a kick out of that one.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the linebacker thing. If you're doing it in the capacity that say, Matt Roth plays linebacker at, what's the issue? Haloti Ngata could play 3-4 OLB if you wanted that kind of thing.
IMO, Merling should have been drafted by a 4-3 team to play end. If anything is going to save his career, this defensive switch gives as good a chance as anything else. I don't have high hopes though.
Merling did play DE in college but I always felt he was going to be a conversion 3-4 OLB or 3-4 Open End (Odricks role in the 3-4) because he never displayed the quickness and overall agility you need from a 4-3 DE. Im not sure this will do much for him if he doesnt get himself in better shape. If he can get a rush upfield and display better hand use I could see him as a DT in pass rush situations....
The big problem with Merling I think is that this team has had a willingness to line up guys in his build as DEs in 4-man Nickel packages. Kendall Langford did it in 2010, and Odrick did it more frequently in 2011... Yet Phillip Merling couldn't get on the field but very barely at the end of this season. That's a problem, especially considering we've got limited reason to doubt our self-scouting in this area.
A traditional outside linebacker in a 34 defense?..Like a Terrell Suggs or Cam Wake? Thats the context I tried to envision when some were making that claim, and because of his body type, lack of symmetry, and poor body fat ratio, I believe that if he had lost 30 lbs, he would not have the quickness or athletic ability to execute those responsibilities.
Not an every-down edge rusher, but someone who has the ability to set the edge and enough athleticism to drop into a short zone. There's a lot of guys who can do that in the NFL, regardless of size or shape, and I think Matt Roth's success suggests you can push the envelope athletically quite a bit.
I'm way out of the loop, but has anyone clarified there is a definite switch that'll take place? From what limited info I've gathered being on the road, it seemed like a lot of people took Ireland's telling his scouts to start looking for 4-3 players in the event of a switch as gospel. Has there been any confirmation of it? I've been stuck on the road in St. Louis and Houston all week with an old Blackberry so I haven't been as up to speed as usual.
Philbin claimed there would be elements of both. Kevin Coyle is a defensive backs coach which doesn't inherently mean he's got a front-7 preference, but he's coached exclusively in 4-3 defenses I believe, even with Dick LeBeau. I think what's more likely they'll be a 4-3 defense with the 3-4 elements being Over/Under shifts with similar personnel packages rather than a "true" 3-4.
Thinking something akin to what Saban ran while in Miami? Or even what the Cardinals had the year of their Super Bowl run? I think you're correct about LeBeau when he was HC in Cincinnati; I don't think they had the personnel to implement the 3-4 when he was running things.
Merling was a 274 lb 43 strong side DE at Clemson. That's his best weight & position IMO, and it's the position he was regarded as a potential top 15 pick prior to injury concern. I felt it was a huge mistake for Miami to have him gain 25 pounds on his [seemingly] already maxed out frame and move him inside. IMO it took away from his strengths (he was fairly quick and agile for a 274 pounder) and catered to his weaknesses (not strong or stout enough as a 34 DE as he was a 43 DE). All this extra 25 pounds did was give him more force behind his movement b/c it wasn't a solid 25 pounds (since his frame was mostly maxed out). Merling might not have been an elite pass rusher, but he was strong vs the run, could make plays in the backfield, was relentless at times, and was a decent enough pass rusher on the strong side to not be a liability vs the pass IMO. Broncos made the same mistake with Robert Ayers.
I think most of struggle to shed a few lbs around the gut. How the hell is he supposed to lose 20lbs in an offseason to play DE?!!
I don't think he was an awful candidate for conversion. Neither was Matt Roth for that matter. It's hit and miss with these types of conversions, but when you hit the rewards are well worth it.(Calais Campbell, Justin Smith).
You neverknow, thing with Merling is the talent is there, and he does flash it on occasion iirc he led all Dlinemen in tipped passes. And whomever said he should have never been asked to put on that much weight was spot on, they did the same to Randy Starks, and both did not turn out very well, the other thing with Merling is his last season as a starter he outplayed Langford per PFF iirc? Ireland, imho, has a fetish over Ratliff, he really wants a NT who can penetrate and disrupt instead of a large run plugger, imo, that desire screwed up Starks and Merling, they put on bad weight, it hurt their movement,
IMO Calais had the size and frame perfect for the conversion with the ability to properly grow into the position (get a little stronger and bigger) w/o losing anything. IMO, b/c of Merling's maxed out frame, all he did was become a partial slob, a fatter version of himself which did him no favors. The added tubbyness gave him more force behind his impact and made him a hair stouter, but he's not the guy I'd want to be "stout" in the first place b/c the "stout" version of Merling is still somewhat lacking in the stout department.
