I really do feel moving Darrelle Revis to free safety helps on many fronts but allows Revis to be more of a ball hawking defender deep... Revis is a technician when it comes to tackling but he has slowed down considerably and in man coverage as a corner he is a liability... By moving Revis to center field will allow TB & Rodgers to play more aggressively bump n run style man coverage knowing you have a cover safety over the top...
Regardless 3-4 or 4-3 defensive scheme they need to choose one and make it the base the defense... I do feel the players on this roster are capable to run a 4-3 defense but the experience by TB is 3-4... In a 4-3 base scheme our d lineman are good, moving a safety or two to outside linebacker would allow us versatility in coverage as well as speed on the outside... Calvin Pryor basically already lives in the box... Darron Lee is a hybrid Safety/Linebacker from college... Antonio Allen in college ran the spur position... Doing this will allow Marcus Gilchrist to reclaim his true position of strong safety to run alongside with Revis would up his game a lot...
Roberts, Skrine, M. Williams, Juston Burris any mix of these corners who are comfortable in bump n run coverage not worried to be beat deep having a ball hawk like Revis in the back end would make things easier for a coach like Bowles...
In a 4-3 Jordan Jenkins seems to be lost in a role but he is actually a speed rusher at either defensive end spot lining up with Sheldon, Leonard and Mo would allow him to be the "x" factor off the line... This also allows Mauldin a real role rotating with J.J. ... Players like Catapano, D. Simon, Jarvis Jenkins become expendable but they are still in need as depth...
David Harris, Erin Henderson, Bruce Carter in college played in a 4-3 defensive alignment, so adjusting to new roles in a 4-3 is not a big change... Both Henderson & Carter could be used more in nickel and quarters defense because of their coverage ability...
But all in all taking the talent we have a 4-3 base has more advantages to utilize the talent we currently have on this roster this year...
As for a 3-4 base the same can be said for safety coming up to the linebacker role but instead of outside linebacker in a 4-3 they could become the WILL LB role as inside with the MIKE role David Harris is currently in... Keeping Jordan Jenkins/Lorenzo Mauldin as SAM LB, and keeping Darron Lee/Bruce Carter as the RUSH LB doesn't seem practical but with this talent surrounding them it could work...
In the 3-4 the best d lineman should be in a rotation of 4 guys... Mo, Sheldon, Leonard and McClendon... McClendon would be the 4th guy when subbed in would only play his role as NT... The other three can rotate all three positions while allowing us to create matchups... Again the other defensive linemen on the roster will be there as depth but unlikely to play with these 4 guys getting the majority of the playing time...
The secondary can stay the same 3-4/4-3 with Revis playing center field... When teams go 4 or 5 wide we have that safety that can cover a zone and take on 2 or 3 options in the back end over the top of the corners on the field and the safety/linebackers playing underneath... I believe Gilchrist can handle the other 1 or 2 receivers in zone with Revis sharing the coverage responsibilities...
Again this is me, but would hope the coaching staff would make that one change of CB Revis to FS Revis I really do believe he would not only be successful but would allow Bowles to be Bowles in his defensive scheme...
Regardless 3-4 or 4-3 defensive scheme they need to choose one and make it the base the defense... I do feel the players on this roster are capable to run a 4-3 defense but the experience by TB is 3-4... In a 4-3 base scheme our d lineman are good, moving a safety or two to outside linebacker would allow us versatility in coverage as well as speed on the outside... Calvin Pryor basically already lives in the box... Darron Lee is a hybrid Safety/Linebacker from college... Antonio Allen in college ran the spur position... Doing this will allow Marcus Gilchrist to reclaim his true position of strong safety to run alongside with Revis would up his game a lot...
Roberts, Skrine, M. Williams, Juston Burris any mix of these corners who are comfortable in bump n run coverage not worried to be beat deep having a ball hawk like Revis in the back end would make things easier for a coach like Bowles...
In a 4-3 Jordan Jenkins seems to be lost in a role but he is actually a speed rusher at either defensive end spot lining up with Sheldon, Leonard and Mo would allow him to be the "x" factor off the line... This also allows Mauldin a real role rotating with J.J. ... Players like Catapano, D. Simon, Jarvis Jenkins become expendable but they are still in need as depth...
David Harris, Erin Henderson, Bruce Carter in college played in a 4-3 defensive alignment, so adjusting to new roles in a 4-3 is not a big change... Both Henderson & Carter could be used more in nickel and quarters defense because of their coverage ability...
But all in all taking the talent we have a 4-3 base has more advantages to utilize the talent we currently have on this roster this year...
As for a 3-4 base the same can be said for safety coming up to the linebacker role but instead of outside linebacker in a 4-3 they could become the WILL LB role as inside with the MIKE role David Harris is currently in... Keeping Jordan Jenkins/Lorenzo Mauldin as SAM LB, and keeping Darron Lee/Bruce Carter as the RUSH LB doesn't seem practical but with this talent surrounding them it could work...
In the 3-4 the best d lineman should be in a rotation of 4 guys... Mo, Sheldon, Leonard and McClendon... McClendon would be the 4th guy when subbed in would only play his role as NT... The other three can rotate all three positions while allowing us to create matchups... Again the other defensive linemen on the roster will be there as depth but unlikely to play with these 4 guys getting the majority of the playing time...
The secondary can stay the same 3-4/4-3 with Revis playing center field... When teams go 4 or 5 wide we have that safety that can cover a zone and take on 2 or 3 options in the back end over the top of the corners on the field and the safety/linebackers playing underneath... I believe Gilchrist can handle the other 1 or 2 receivers in zone with Revis sharing the coverage responsibilities...
Again this is me, but would hope the coaching staff would make that one change of CB Revis to FS Revis I really do believe he would not only be successful but would allow Bowles to be Bowles in his defensive scheme...
