I'm sure the dumbest fanbase in America are having the worlds largest game of tummy sticks over this but I don't see it being a huge deal.
He's a better fit at LB than S (and lets just forget the CB fantasy) but I think I read somewhere he's also 208 lbs.
I'm sure some dumbass coaches will go out of their way to make him look good by running away from him and letting him use his speed to chase plays down from behind (that mongoloid up in Minny comes to mind) but it won't take long for good ones to just run right at him.
Net result to me is you just took away his best defense against the run which is being 7-10 yards down field and using his athleticism to avoid blockers and replaced it with asking him to stay up in the box where TE's and OL are going to get their hands on him a lot more frequently. Those guys are going to outweigh him by 40-100 lbs. Hell most of the RB's he deals with will be bigger than he is.
I could maybe see it being a bigger deal if he was elite with his physicality(drink) but he isn't. They just haven't seen an elite player on defense up north for so long they don't know what one looks like. Zeke ran over him and JT ran around him. He's good, not great. Like most things related to M football, more hype than anything else.
He's a better fit at LB than S (and lets just forget the CB fantasy) but I think I read somewhere he's also 208 lbs.
I'm sure some dumbass coaches will go out of their way to make him look good by running away from him and letting him use his speed to chase plays down from behind (that mongoloid up in Minny comes to mind) but it won't take long for good ones to just run right at him.
Net result to me is you just took away his best defense against the run which is being 7-10 yards down field and using his athleticism to avoid blockers and replaced it with asking him to stay up in the box where TE's and OL are going to get their hands on him a lot more frequently. Those guys are going to outweigh him by 40-100 lbs. Hell most of the RB's he deals with will be bigger than he is.
I could maybe see it being a bigger deal if he was elite with his physicality(drink) but he isn't. They just haven't seen an elite player on defense up north for so long they don't know what one looks like. Zeke ran over him and JT ran around him. He's good, not great. Like most things related to M football, more hype than anything else.
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