http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDNdZ9WrtTk Just look for the D lineman with the White Penn State helmet. Did we draft a guy we are going to fatten up and play NT or did we draft a DE for the 3-4. I am think DE not DT, but I don't know squat. Thoughts?
soliai is NT for 1st and 2nd down. Odrick is NT for 3rd down. He'll sub in for Starks and Langford on other downs as well. I think we're making too much of what 'title' he's going to have. He's going to be on the field, and that's all that matters.
Merling can't play inside like Odrick. Hence why several people on this board think Merling should be moved to OLB. Not that i agree with that, but merling is definitely suited for the outside game.
Truthfully, I think we all want him to be our NT of the future but thats most likely wishful thinking. The Dolphins took the highest rated player on their board and that was Odrick. And Odrick is a natural 3-4 end who can move inside on passing downs. It is what it is, I guess. Id be really surprised if we didnt take a natural NT to shore up the middle of the line tomorrow or Saturday (Owens, Troup, Joseph, Cody).
This guy is going to push Langford...hes going to be a much better pass rusher than Langford or Merling. I like the pick. I think hes going to be better than Merling and AT LEAST on par with Langford. I predict he will get more sacks than either one of these guys has gotten in so far. DE is a critical position. We had two good ones, 1 avg one. I think now we'll have three good ones. Thats the way to build a good football team.
I definitely understand why some are just 'meh' with this pick. I am pretty good with. Remember that Sparano coached (the South team) in the Senior Bowl. The South's Oline got destroyed, and Sparano had a front row seat to watch Odrick dominate the Guards. Remember in the Senior Bowl you can't blitz and you can't run D Line stunts. It's pretty much straight up beat your man as D Lineman. I watched the game last night and Odrick destroyed John Jerry the gaurd from Ole Miss and did very well against Mitch Petrus of Arkansas. You see Odrick get penetration over and over again. He has a good variety of moves and is seems strong at the point of attack, but I agree he isn't a DT. He seemed to do 'okay' against the double team run blocking. So I think we definitely run him at DE and maybe move him to NT for passing situations. The two guys he abused at the Senior Bowl. While I am not 'in love' with the pick. I think he becomes our best or second best ( Starks ) DE on the roster almost immediately. And is actually going to provide us some decent pass rush pressure from out base 3-4 formation, especially if he is playing against the Right Tackle. But I am definitely not overly knowledgeable about many things, much less D Line evaluation. EDIT: I love the trade down. I think we really need a number of players not just 1 stud. So getting Odrick AND whoever we pick at 40 versus the 1 player we would have got at 12. I think I am going to be okay with that.
I haven't looked at Langford's pass rush. You might be right. Langford is averaging 2.25 sacks a year currently. I think Odrick will do better than that. By how much? Don't know. Hopefully he can get into the 6 - 8 range at least.