I'm very happy to hear that he's motivated again and wants fans and staff to trust him on Sundays. I think that he will be a heavy contributor to our team this year, while Brown is eased back into the lineup. I'm expecting big things from him this season. I also have to say that I'm very happy that he has gotten his life together as whole, with a fiancee and children.

I was impress with Jason Allen last year. He showed me that he has the ability to be a difference maker in the defensive backfield by forcing turnovers but I wasn't too happy at times when teams ran the ball against us. He blew some plays such as the one against NE, where Maroney blew right past the line and Allen took a bad angle, ended up completely missing the ball carrier. However, I am happy about his progress this off-season. I think he can be a good player with the defensive scheme being simplistic.

I LOVE Langford and Merling. Merling is a huge guy who has a great wingspan that enables him to bat down passes thrown. Langford is an enormous man. He's listed at 6'6 and 287 pounds with quick feet. I expect him to be a very good player for us. He has picked everything up so quickly and has been impressive in camp.

 

I am going to be interested to see how we handle the DE situation this year. It seems to me like we have two pairs of starting caliber ends (Roth/Starks and Langford/Merling). And I'm not even including Holliday in that list. I can only guess that we're going to try to get the best front seven on the field for each situation on each play. We certainly will be able to give the opposing offense a plethora of different looks.

 

I'm curious, does anyone know how Rod Wright is doing?

 

I've heard that Rod Wright has played the DE and DT spots. He's shown quickness and gotten in the backfield a few times. He should be on the 53 man roster imo.

 

I hope Wright is on the final roster, he is a parcell's prototype Dlinemen, but with Merling and Langford and Starks, he will have a tough time sticking.

Maybe Soliai and Dotson go to the practice squad?

Or maybe Wright is stashed on the IR?

 

He's been impressive in camp so my guess would be that they really like him. His progression may be the reason they are testing out Roth and Holliday at the OLB spots.

I doubt Soliai goes on the PS. Soliai will have to spell Ferguson because as you may have noticed, he is having trouble in the heat. Also, Soliai has been impressive in camp, dropping the thirty pounds and then showing good work ethic unlike in the past. Dotson could go though. I haven't heard one thing about him. I think he will get cut or go on PS as he was a late round and developmental pick.

On the roster, we have 10 defensive linemen. Those two DT's are Anthony Toribio and Ferguson. Toribio isn't likely to be here so we're down to one DT. Then at the DE listed spot, we have Soliai, Langford, Holliday, Merling, Wright, Roth, Starks, Dotson and Moses. I think Soliai is a DT and not a DE but he can play both. I would list him as a DT so thats two total DT's, him and Ferguson.

Defensive Ends:

Langford
Holliday
Merling
Wright
Roth
Starks
Moses

Defensive Tackles

Ferguson
Dotson
Toribio
Soliai

Take away Toribio as he is likely to be cut imo and your down to three. Dotson may be on the PS and your down to two defensive tackles.

Looking at the DE spot, we have Moses whose been converted to OLB. Is he there full-time or just in packages as a situational pass rusher? We'll say he sticks at OLB so take him off the list. Then you have Vonnie and Roth who may play some OLB for us, not extensively but still may play it in packages ala Moses. I think we could be keeping 3 defensive ends on each side of the line because they are talented and we basically have a surplus of Defensive Ends. You can't move these guys to the PS or they will get picked up via waiver wire so you keep 'em. If we do indeed keep the three linemen on each side, Wright sticks with the team then.

You also have to remember that Sparano hasn't settled on a defensive scheme yet. He's expected to do that next week. I think it was CK who said that our scheme could very well end up being a 43.

 

That would be a impressive young dline Alen1, all of them are athletic and mobile and large.

Jay Ratliff with the Cowboys was a 7th round pick, a fmr DE who they converted to a fine NT, that could be what they have in mind for Dotson or maybe even Torribio.

 

Yeah, I can see us keeping 6 total Defensive Ends. I know it seems like a lot but they are very talented.

Yeah, I find him an interesting NT. He's 6'4 and weighs 298. He seems undersized to play the spot but is productive. Rod Wright is 6'5, 300. Maybe they could do something with Wright.

 

i was under the impression that starks can play both de/dt so imo we would probly see starks giving fergy a breather rather than dotson,toribio or soliai atleast for this year as it will probly be roth,holliday as the starting de's with langford and merling getting most of that rotation then we have a few of the hybrids like moses and wright playing some lb and some de. we certainly do have a very interchangable front 7 this yr and will be very interesting to watch it grow into a consistant top 5 defense again.

 

Your correct, Starks can play both the tackle and the end. He's very versatile. I think you'll see Soliai out there spelling Ferguson more than Starks. That's where Rod Wright's spot worries me. If they do use Starks at both spots then that could be a farewell to Wright.

I agree that we have an interchangeable front seven. Roth could still lose his job to possibly Langford, who has been very impressive in camp and has grown the most since off-season program according to Sparano. The thing that gets my attention is Holliday at the OLB spot.

 

From everything I've read so far about Langford, he sounds like a beast..:yes: