okay, but if he's that much better in the 3/4 we should trade him and get something for him because, all the reasons you gave aside, he doesn't play very well for us. totally replaceable in fact.

i always thought that weaver (lining up across from the opposing LT) was in the spot generally counted on for sacks. reason being that LT are generally better pass blockers than run blockers. mario usually being against the RT i always just figured that was a good spot for him because he is a good run defender on top of his pass rushing. i could be totally wrong though.

of course i would love to see more sacks but more pressure and getting the qb rattled would be great.

i've never had a grasp on earl. he never really stuck out to me pre-injury and it's not like i can just go ask him how good he is so...i don't know what to expect. i do think c.c. brown is about to be moved down the charts a spot or two though. i wonder how long of a leash will demps gets? his play seemed pretty inspired last year so we'll see if he's really that good/intense on the field or if it was a fluke.

it is what I saw a lot last year as well with Mario at LDE, but this year sounds like our LT Duane Browne is going against Mario which would make Mario RDE and Weaver the LDE on run plays , that is a change seems like from last year. there will likely be exceptions no matter who lines up where.

I too think the two Brandons will make it interesting for Safety and DB positions, atleast I hope so as they have good size (speed?) for DB's. Seems Earl is always projected as starting safety but gets nicked up a lot, if he stays healthy might be good, don't know for sure.

Seems coaches want to be faster and healthier on defense, good, but what does that mean for some of the older and previously injured guys? some of their leadership of older guys likely needed as we have many young guys still.

Weaver has always been a LDE for us lining up across from the RT. Mario would occasionally slide over to that spot on pass rushing downs, but their base formation was Mario at RDE and Weaver at LDE. Weaver played DT on passing downs, but if he ever lined up at RDE against a LT it was rare.

Typically teams put their best pass (speed-think Freeney) rusher at RDE (QB's blindside for right handers). That's why LT's are so important....they have to be able to keep up with the speed rushers to protect the QB's blind side. Mario is good against the run and a lot of people feel that we would be better off having a speed type rusher (Colvin on passing downs) to play the right side of the D-Line and let Mario work from the right.

Earl was being graded out as a first rounder, but had a knee injury and concerns about his health killed his grade. Thats how we got him so late in the draft, and it seems the injury concerns arent totaly unfounded.

The college injury was to his knee. His injury with the Texans was a lis franc foot injury. Not seeing how the two are connected.

that's the logic i'm basing my thoughts off of, i just can't get my lefts and rights figured out :D. for some reason i remember weaver taking a bunch of snaps from RDE or possibly it was somebody else and i'm just kind of far away sitting in the upper level....anyway.....i think mario from LDE + a speed rusher would be great and it suits mario's strengths well. or just get a clone of mario....say isn't julius peppers about to be a free agent?

It's possible Weaver did, but I don't think it was very many. Kalu played all over the line and he lined up there sometimes. I seem to remember Cochran maybe taking a few snaps at RDE. This was usually on passing downs.