Might seems like a crazy idea, but follow me here for a minute…
Josh Paschal/Commish at 5T
B Martin/I Buggs at NT
A McNeill/C Covington at 3T
J Campbell/J Houston at SLB
Anzalone/JRM at ILB
Barnes/Rodrigo at ILB
Hutch/C Harris at Edge
I know Jack Campbell’s strength is zone coverage, but imagined both he and Hutch standing up opposite each other (a bit like TJ Watt across from Clay Mathews would have looked)… Mathews 1-2 more sacks in college than Campbell, and Jack never really blitzed. He’s size, power, and fluid athletic profile lends itself to a guy who can read and drop, and likely snare some INT in the flats, and break up a lot of passes to TEs and RBs… He also has the quicks to blitz, and the size it would require as well
I can’t imagine teams running on Campbell, Hutch, Barnes and Anzalone behind McNeill, Paschal and Big B Mart…
AG likes a 4 3, but we didn’t have the right personnel to get after it the way he wanted.
I think this year, we will see a lot of complex & versatile looks.
I admit that I don’t understand defense as well as I do offense…for whatever reason, I can just see things really well on offense.
I do think you are right though. By season’s end, we sill have some exotic looks going on, including what you are talking about here. We have a lot of “tweener” types that can DE/Edge, LB/Edge, DE/IDL…and a defensive backfield to support whichever types of blitz risks we want to employ.
I think you are right.
Thing I found most curious is thinking Brodrick starts over Buggs right away. I love that & I hope you are right. I think he’s got a ton of growing to do, based on what I’ve read, but he’s a workaholic that will give max effort in study and in play.
Campbell is too good of an athlete and too smart to take him away from his MLB spot. His athleticism at that position is going to be rare, especially for a guy his size. Once you combine that with his great understanding of how to quarterback a defense, you know that he’s going to be your guy at MLB for the next 10 years.
I hope to see multiple looks. Some 4-3, 3-4 and even a bit of the 4-2-5 they used a lot last year. The improved secondary and added depth at DL and LB gives AG a lot more tools to be creative with.
Keep teams guessing. Don’t have tendencies. Cause chaos.
Exactly! He was drafted to be the future captain of the defense and middle linebacker, now he might get a few reps on the edge here and there, but that’s about it. We are loaded with edge guys already. Romeo, Hutch, Houston, Harris, Julian, Paschal, Cominsky.
I was thinking the exact same thing as Campbell is built like a rushing OLB. He probably has the capability and may get used there in certain packages when the Lions are way up and in all out pass rush.
More likely Barnes is the specialist for this from the LB crew… He’s not as big as Campbell but is very fast and violent when rushing. His ability to also cover TEs will make him the more versatile defender compared to a Houston/Okwara.
YUP. Kerby, CGJ, Sutton, Moesley, Tracey/Harris or Branch That’ll be base
Rodrigo & Barnes/JRM
Campbell & Anzalone
DL will be a plethora of packages. Mostly Hutch & Romeo/Chuck spelling him. Combo of Cominsky/Paschal on run downs going inside on pass downs when Houston comes in on the edge.
No room for J.Ok… please trade him. I’ll take Matt Corall
We’re going to see every alignment.
We are going to play to the opposing teams weakness. That’s today’s NFL. “Base defense”, means very little these days.
Honestly, our “base defense” is a hybrid of 4-3/3-4/5-1-5.
I don’t know enough about Campbell to say. But I’ll say this…
If he can have a TJ Watt type impact you definitely convince him to play OLB. There’s a reason the Cowboys use Micah Parsons more in that role as opposed to a traditional LB. In todays NFL a TJ Watt/Von Miller type is more important than a Bobby Wagner or Roquan Smith. Only thing that would give me pause is the Lions appear loaded at edge already. Thus making MLB a bigger need.
This.
And we’re not only versatile with our alignment…we’re versatile with players. Captain Jack can play inside, outside edge. Rodrigo can play inside outside. Houston can play edge/off-ball. Pascal can play edge or kick inside. CGJ Nickel our safety. It goes on and on. So you may not know what alignment we are in based on who is on the field. I hope AG is up to the task, now that he has the horses - there’s no excuses this year! Top 3 O, top 10 D.
I think pretty much everyone knows most teams are in nickel most of the time… and that has nothing to do with the front, which is what people are referring to when they talk about the “base” of a defense, Jense 3-4 or 4-3…and yes, a LB is usually replaced with a DB.
I am aware that it is just verbiage And that that verbiage can sometimes be triggering for some people we have discussed this at length multiple times over the years
I’m for getting your best players on the field but I guess I don’t understand why we’d take Jack from his natural position and move him to play on the line. I’m guessing he didn’t do much of it at Iowa from his only 3 sacks in 30+ games.
Sorry Lyon, I’m not understanding why we’d want to do this.
Jack Campbell had 62 pass rush snaps in his senior year, less than 10% of his snaps. Meanwhile Iowa had him in coverage 418 times.
Campbell’s pass rush stats (1 sack in '22) and pass rush grade (mediocre) don’t lead me to think the Lions have any plans to move Captain Jack to edge rusher.
