Murphy seems like a good player, but I don't really like the concept of taking college DEs and using them as OLBs. That's Nick Perry; Murphy may be better than Perry, but he's still basically the same situation. Clay Matthews is an example of a LB being used as a LB. Most of the good pass rushing OLBs as well as ILBs around the league are like that: successful and athletic college LBs, not converted DEs. We need more athleticism at LB.
Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker
Yeah you're mistaken about a couple of things there...
Murphy was a college 3-4 OLB in college, just like Matthews, not a 4-3 DE like Perry.
But Stanford goes to a 4 man front (just like the Packers) when they put in nickel and Murphy was used as a 4-2 DE then.
Most are listing Murphy as a DE because they think his future in the NFL is as a 4-3 DE, because some have questioned if he's athletic enough to be a 3-4 OLB at the NFL level, while I haven't seen anyone question weather he seems tough enough / physical enough to be a 4-3 DE as those are his strength. I've seen someone some compare him to Justin Smith, thinking he could become a very athletic 3-4 DE like Justin Smith if any 3-4 team was brave enough to try it, as he plays with the same physical style of play and toughness that Smith does. I'm not sure if I'd go that far but I find the idea interesting.
Also Steveishere is right a lot of the best pass rushing 3-4 OLBers were pass rushing college DEs.
3-4 OLB ask guys to read the field, pass rush and the edge to their side. Most college OLBers are 4-3 OLB and most 4-3 OLB aren't used to pass rush or hold the edge nearly as much as 4-3 DEs are. Which makes 4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB sort of the same thing as they're edge guys protecting/attacking the edge... while 4-3 OLB aren't asked to nearly as much.
I looked up the NFL sacks list, and of the OLB with over 8 sacks this last season, I only saw two that I have found were a LB for more than one year in college.
Justin Houston who was a 3-4 OLB in college.
Ahmad Brooks who was a 3-4 OLB in college.
The other 10 (or so) OLBers with 8 sacks or more this last season were on the DL in college.
Problem is most colleges use 4-3 systems instead of 3-4 systems... so 3-4 teams have to look for 4-3 DEs which are used to handling the guy duties but can also pick up the LB system, as most of the 4-3 OLB can't pick up the edge duties.
Aldon Smith - college DE
Robert Mathis - college and NFL DE
Tamba Hali - college DE
Elvis Dumervil - college DE
Terrell Suggs - college DE
Lamarr Woodley - college DE/LB
Von Miller - college DE/LB
Brian Orakpo - college DE
Richard Sherman isn't really a bad character person and as far as I know wasn't coming out of college. We've got guys on the team who were much worse character guys than Sherman anyway.
Originally Posted by: steveishere