anthony spencer or ahmad brooks.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

kelsay should be replaced, hes 33, merriman should not be retained imo...

moats, batten, and moore should be our 3 main backup olb.

draft upshaw for the jack
sign spencer

pass rush is vastly improved.

will we do it?

upshaw
barnett
shepp
spencer

moats
rookie
white/rookie
batten/moore

[THATHURMANATOR]

I like this. Although I wouldn't mind keeping Kelsey around.

I think he is a far better player than Moats or Batten.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

I like this. Although I wouldn't mind keeping Kelsey around.

I think he is a far better player than Moats or Batten.

wouldnt you rather have a better pass rusher in spencer? we need to move on and get more athletic at olb... go with the youth as backups

[NOT THE DUDE...]

I like this. Although I wouldn't mind keeping Kelsey around.

I think he is a far better player than Moats or Batten.

[THATHURMANATOR]

wouldnt you rather have a better pass rusher in spencer? we need to move on and get more athletic at olb... go with the youth as backups
Oh wait I was more saying Keep Kelsey and get Spencer as well. If I was to chose one vs the other I take spencer!

[streetkings01]

I think we need to just go back to the 4-3. We have more pieces in place to play the 4-3 then 3-4.

DE's = Kelsay, Batten, Moats, Carrington
DT's = Dareus, Williams, Johnson, Edwards, Troup

The only issues I see are OLB. I think Sheppard can move outside with maybe Morrison on the other side and Barnett in the middle. 4-3 OLBs are easy to find in FA or the draft imo. I think Merriman needs to be a pass rushing specialist only..........if we cant get any production from him doing that then we need to cut our losses.

[BertSquirtgum]

Either one would be a great addition.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

I think we need to just go back to the 4-3. We have more pieces in place to play the 4-3 then 3-4.

DE's = Kelsay, Batten, Moats, Carrington
DT's = Dareus, Williams, Johnson, Edwards, Troup

The only issues I see are OLB. I think Sheppard can move outside with maybe Morrison on the other side and Barnett in the middle. 4-3 OLBs are easy to find in FA or the draft imo. I think Merriman needs to be a pass rushing specialist only..........if we cant get any production from him doing that then we need to cut our losses.

dude, we are not switching again. bring in mangini or nolan or promote wanny, but for gods sake, we are not starting over again.

[OpIv37]

dude, we are not switching again. bring in mangini or nolan or promote wanny, but for gods sake, we are not starting over again.

well, it wouldn't really be starting over. The morons we have now never completed the transition to the 3-4. We are about halfway between the 2. We need 2-3 guys for a legit 3-4, but with 3 or 4 guys, we could easily be right back to a 4-3.

[streetkings01]

dude, we are not switching again. bring in mangini or nolan or promote wanny, but for gods sake, we are not starting over again.Switching again? We played 2010 as primarily a 4-3 and switched back and forth this season. The 3-4 just isn't for us.........Kelsay is out of place in a 3-4. Our d-line looks alot better with Carrington, Kelsay, Dareus and Williams on it compared to just Carrington, Williams and Dareus. If Sheppard can make the transition to OLB our front 7 can look like this.....

DE - Kelsay
DE - Carrington
DT - Dareus
DT - Williams
MLB - Barnett
OLB - Sheppard
OLB - FA/pick

Dareus and Williams creating havoc in the middle would open the rush from the outside. Have Merriman play the same role Maybin is playing for the Jets.

[mysticsoto]

Switching again? We played 2010 as primarily a 4-3 and switched back and forth this season. The 3-4 just isn't for us.........Kelsay is out of place in a 3-4. Our d-line looks alot better with Carrington, Kelsay, Dareus and Williams on it compared to just Carrington, Williams and Dareus. If Sheppard can make the transition to OLB our front 7 can look like this.....

DE - Kelsay
DE - Carrington
DT - Dareus
DT - Williams
MLB - Barnett
OLB - Sheppard
OLB - FA/pick

Dareus and Williams creating havoc in the middle would open the rush from the outside. Have Merriman play the same role Maybin is playing for the Jets.

I personally prefer a 3-4, but there is logic to your post above and our current group seem to fit it better. There's also the possibility of Edwards being let go and Wanny taking over which would also point to moving back to a 4-3.

[EDS]

Didn;t Barnett play outside in a 4-3 earlier in his career?

[Jeff1220]

Williams and Dareus would be sick in the middle of a 4-3. The DE spots would need some work though to generate a solid pass rush.

[streetkings01]

Williams and Dareus would be sick in the middle of a 4-3. The DE spots would need some work though to generate a solid pass rush.I think with a healthy Williams and a more experienced Dareus it helps the DEs a ton as far as one on one matchups go. We had a pretty good pass rush when we had Fat Pat and Adams clogging the middle.

[EDS]

Williams and Dareus would be sick in the middle of a 4-3. The DE spots would need some work though to generate a solid pass rush.

Alternatively, they need a lot of work at OLB in a 3-4 to generate a pass rush. Spencer Johnson can't be worse as a 4-3 DE then he is as a 3-4 OLB. Same with Kelsay.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

I think with a healthy Williams and a more experienced Dareus it helps the DEs a ton as far as one on one matchups go. We had a pretty good pass rush when we had Fat Pat and Adams clogging the middle.

we have not had a serious legit pass rush since the 90s..

43 or 34, we need outside pass rushers, BAD!

[ZAZusmc03]

The thought of a healthy Williams and a 2nd year Dareus has me excited. We still need an outside pass rush really bad, but those two on the field together and healthy should make a fun duo.

[streetkings01]

A 4-3 would def work for us........we can move Barnett to the outside and keep Shep in the middle. Checked out old archives of the Packers mesage board and they were saying that Barnett played OLB at Oregon State in college and was moved inside by Mike Sherman. They were saying that he was projected as a very good OLB in a 4-3 defense due to his coverage skils.

According to that all we need is a couple 4-3 OLBs.

[streetkings01]

we have not had a serious legit pass rush since the 90s..

43 or 34, we need outside pass rushers, BAD!Maybe having Moats, Carrington and Batten with their hand on the ground in a 4-3 would be all the pass rush we need. They were studs as DEs in college........maybe they are better suited with their hand on the ground much like Maybin has been for the Jets?

[Goobylal]

Merriman's 2012 salary ($3M) is guaranteed, so he's not going anywhere. Even if it weren't, I wouldn't cut him now that he's had his achilles surgically repaired, rather than the dicking-around they were doing with it by treating it conservatively.

That being said, I wouldn't count on him solely for a pass rush next year and would add other players in FA and/or the draft. And hopefully he can recruit a good pass rusher to Buffalo, like he did with Barnett.