I see very few front seven players on the Packers defense that couldn't play just as well in a 4-3 defense as they could in a 3-4, and very realistically, they could play better. Especially players like Perry, Neal, Worthy, Daniels, Raji, etc. Players like CJ Wilson may not translate as well, but those types of players aren't exactly indispensable and shouldn't dictate any decisions.

I don't think it will happen, but I do see at least some benefits. Mathews would excel in any system, and he could still primarily be a pass-rusher in passing situations. Besides, he seems to be in a pattern of missing a handful of games a season anyway, so the Packers defense needs to be able to perform without his presence.

For what it's worth ... profootballfocus ratings show B.J. Raji's second best game came against the 49ers.

---

That would be funny if it wasn't downright sad. What happened against the Niners? Did the fat piece of crap actually stumble into the path of the ball carrier and get two tackles instead of his max of one?

I know this would never happen, but I'd actually like to see Raji tried as an O Lineman. He at least couldn't be any worse.

---

Convert him to a full time 350 lb fullback. Perfect for a power running game.

---

The ILBs aren't our "studs" Raji is supposed to be one of our "studs" on the defense. Do you think if it consistently took more than 1 average OL to take Raji out of the play that it would significantly help the linebackers? The Linebackers aren't great but they more or less don't have great talent/ability, Raji supposedly does but he's constantly nothing but a slow blob out there.

On top of that if Raji was any good at rushing the passer he could open things up more for guys like Daniels (whose been getting double teamed quite a bit in pass rush situations). Or he could at least take advantage of opportunities other guys like Daniels are setting up for him.

This D would have been so much better this year (or the last couple) with 1 more legit disruptive d-lineman that should have been Raji but he played miserably all year and screwed the whole team.

Wouldn't work because Lacy would be taking the handoff before Raji got out of his stance.

After reading this thread, I thought I would watch the Bears game on Game Rewind and try to grade B.J.'s performance to see if he deserved all the hate he has been getting lately.
I used my own super-unofficial grading system to measure his performance on each play, and the results were as follows:
Good - 11
Meh - 13
Bad - 7

While I don't expect that to mean anything to anybody, I did notice a lot of things while watching the game just to focus on Raji, and now I feel like I better understand the complaints.

1) He really doesn't look like he's giving a lot of effort when he plays. I'm assuming he is, but I can totally understand that criticism now that I have focused on him. It's weird, because I can't recall ever watching a professional player that looked like they weren't trying.

2) A lot of his best plays (in my opinion) were when the ball went away from him, which really sucks. He pushed his way into the backfield multiple times on run plays, including the Bears first and goal on the one play, but the play was run away from him. So I guess what I'm driving at is when he grades out well nobody notices.

3) He does get pushed back a lot more than I remembered from last year. I thought he was a powerful player in the past, but now it seems like he is kind of waiting for the play to come to him, and that's really disappointing.

4) I don't understand the criticism of him as a pass rusher at all, because he isn't one. I thought he graded out far better on passing downs than on run downs, but his role NEVER seemed to be to rush the passer. In obvious passing situations (such as the Bear's final drive, or third and longs) he wasn't on the field. Period. We often went with an Okie Nickel package utilizing a combination of Neal, Jones, and Daniels. And in the final drive the only D-Line player to see the field was Daniels.


So yeah. I agree that Raji has been consistently unimpressive, but I can't help but think that a lot of the criticism is coming from the wrong place. Blame him for failing at his job of refusing to be moved, but please stop blaming him for not getting sacks and QB hurries, because they just haven't even tried to use him that way, so of course he doesn't get those stats.

---

The sad thing is Chicago was probably one of his best games in weeks. Watch him against CIN, PHI, BALT, MIN2, or DET2 and no he doesn't pass rush that much anymore because he isn't that good at it. If he was he'd be getting used more like Jenkins was. Jenkins and CM3 being next to him was the only reason he ever looked like a decent pass rusher. Those are the guys you give a big contract to, not Raji. He doesn't make anyone around him better. Like I said before, he should have been one of our studs on D this year and if he was I'd bet our defense would have been respectable and we may have even gotten a 3 seed with Rodgers being out. I don't think he's the worst lineman in the league or anything but he's definitely JAG.

Raji's skill set was always as more of a penetrating pass rusher type dude. If he's not looking good, maybe it's because they're not using him in that capacity.

---

His ceiling as a pass rusher may be what Daniels has been this year only that was when he had other dominating players carrying him so it's not even as impressive and that doesn't mean that's how he'd perform this year. He's playing like a slug right now so I don't see him as half as impactful even if he were to just go straight for the QB on every play. He's only had 1 and a half years in his career where he's been good at his job whatever that may have been. He's just a guy and that's it.