Barnett to OLB ? ? ? ?

tromadz

Cheesehead
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
999
Reaction score
3
Location
Chicago
There has been a LOT of talk by my fellow packerforum members about moving Barnett to the outside. He played OLB in college, and when we drafted him, we put him in the middle.

With the drafting of Hawk(an OLB) and Hodge(MLB) ...once again there is talk about moving Barnett to the outside.

The 'Barnett to OLB' debate is an annual event like the 'Will Favre Retire?' drama.

Barnett is now comfortable in the MLB position and led the NFC in tackles. He's been in the middle for THREE years. He has a niche there now. Moving him now would probably do more damage than good.

Our LBs look like this:

AJ HAWK - NICK BARNETT - ABDUL HODGE\BEN TAYLOR

Our LBs went from a point of weakness to a position with depth.

Barnett should(and most likely will...AGAIN) stay in the MLB spot.
 

cheesyscot

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
60
Reaction score
0
Location
peosta
Hodge is a STUD I was yelling for the Pack to draft him in the 2nd round. I can't believe he was around as long as he was. Move Barnett to outside and let his speed kill.
 

C-Mize

Cheesehead
Joined
Apr 27, 2006
Messages
138
Reaction score
0
Location
Texas
I say keep Barnett in the middle. He has had a lot of success their and I think Hodge can adjust to OLB. But we will see prolly after training camp about what McCarthy wants to do with em. I like the depth at LB anyhow. I could see Hodge and Taylor rotating in and out of the OLB spot though.
 

paxvogel

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
507
Reaction score
0
Location
Little Rock, AR
Barnett is the smallest of the three, move Hodge inside where he is best and mover the speed outside. At least try it. Barnett lead in tackles because there was no one else back there and our DL was weak
 

Gopackgo82

Cheesehead
Joined
Oct 13, 2005
Messages
493
Reaction score
0
I think Hodge should be the MLB with Hawk and Barnett as the OLBs. OLB is Barnett's natural position and his speed will really show when he's outside. He's good at MLB, but he can be even better at OLB.

tromadz said:
Barnett is now comfortable in the MLB position and led the NFC in tackles. He's been in the middle for THREE years. He has a niche there now. Moving him now would probably do more damage than good.

I don't know if 3 years experience at MLB is that big of a deal when he's had 3 different schemes in those 3 years. I think he will make the switch back to his natural position just fine.

Hawk-Hodge-Barnett is going to be fun to watch, that's for sure. :D
 

packedhouse01

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 5, 2005
Messages
1,560
Reaction score
1
Barnett doesn't read defenses quickly enough and can't get off of blocks well enough to be a quality middle linebacker. That looks to be Hawks position.
 
OP
OP
tromadz

tromadz

Cheesehead
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
999
Reaction score
3
Location
Chicago
well, whatever works out best. Barnett at OLB, MLB, bench...

whatever helps us win.
 

Zero2Cool

I own a website
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
11,903
Reaction score
4
Location
Green Bay, WI
This is really Barnetts second year. For the first time in his career he isn't learning a whole new system. He's mastering the sytem instead and moving him would be a bad move, I would think.
 

SuperRat

Cheesehead
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
617
Reaction score
0
Hodge is a beast. I'm biased because im a student at the University of Iowa, but still, I just got back to my room to find out we somehow got Hodge in the third round. Amazing value. Barnett, Hodge, Hawk has great potential.
 

TOPackerFan

Cheesehead
Joined
Dec 9, 2004
Messages
2,084
Reaction score
0
Location
Toronto, Ontario
Mike Mayock on NFL Network said that Hodge is strictly a MLB (and a good one), so assuming he's right, I would think this might signal that Barnett will be moving outside.
 

spardo62

Cheesehead
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
559
Reaction score
0
Location
Iowa
I also heard that scouts do not think Hodge projects to either outside position. From what I hear coming out of GB is he will start #2 in the middle behind Barnett. However, they will put their best three players on the field on Sunday and that may include Hodge or Barnett moving to the outside.
 

Weissman1989

Cheesehead
Joined
Jan 14, 2006
Messages
44
Reaction score
0
Someone said earlyier that starting 2 LB rookies would be scary, but in reality Hawk is suppose to be amazing, kinda like a 1 year under his belt. So i would love to see Barnett move to OLB with hawk opposite him with hodge in the middle
 

rabidgopher04

Cheesehead
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
1,467
Reaction score
0
Location
Boston, MA
Popcynical said:
Starting two rookies at LB would kinda be scary.

I dunno.. whatever works best, I'm fine with. It'd definitely be interesting to see Barnett at OLB.

Hawk is kind of like a half-rookie - he's highly talented and will probably make an impact right away. His skills are much more polished than the later round LBs. So, if he starts, it's not that bad. Hodge...perhaps he's a little less refined, but I'm sure he'll pick up our defense very well throughout the season.

Overall, I'm not too concerned if there were 2 rookies out there. As long as they know the scheme and have a nose for the football then I think the Pack will be ok.
 

wpr

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Messages
1,517
Reaction score
0
I look forward to seeing how the coaching staff sorts this out.
Remember just 3 yrs ago people were saying that Barnett shouldn't start in the middle since he was a rookie and he was also learning a new LB position and the MLB is also the "Def QB". They felt was too much to ask from a rookie. If they move Nick to the Will then Hodge would be the dreaded rookie in the middle. Also that would sort of be like having 3 rookies start. At the very least
I think Taylor & Thomas will fight it out for one OLB starting position. Hawk will have the other with Poppinga as his backup once he has recovered from his injury. And Hodge will back up Barnett in the middle. As the year progresses perhaps they will move Barnett to the outside and put Hodge in the middle but I would expect that to happen next year.
 

Packman5

Cheesehead
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
89
Reaction score
0
Location
Milwaukee
no matter what the line up is it will be fun to see these guys hitting brad johnson, grossman, and whoever the lions start at qb
 

porky88

Cheesehead
Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
3,991
Reaction score
0
Location
Title Town
I like Barnett to strong side LB if he can play it. That's something they might want to explore. Hodge is a much better inside LB than weak side and Hawk is pretty much an explosive weak side LB.

For now I look for Barnett to play in the middle and Hawk at weak side. With Hodge being the top backup. I expect Taylor to start at strong side.
 

Members online

Latest posts

Top