It's amazing how TT won't usually sign proven free agents but he will snatch up an undrafted unproven rookie FA In a heart beat. No I don't mean a guy who's going to have a high price tag either... There care guys that were to be had and will be available in the next couple if months. Serviceable guys. I hate the Steelers but they generally draft a lb in the fist 3 rds every yr because they know having solid lbs are a staple of the 3-4. The Packers still don't know how to draft lbs for the 3-4. That's why you see all these stop ago at olb like Mike Neal, Nick Perry, Julius Peppers, etc. guys who played on the line NOT true lbs. Then you wonder why they look unnatural in coverage and out in space.
The 3-4 does not typically require much in the way of coverage skills from the OLBs. This is certainly the case in Capers' defense.
The job typically requires covering the flats and short zones, roughly the area between the hash and the sidelines to around 15 yards depth. Every once in while, the guy might get caught in isolation on a bad defensive call and have to run down the field. Secondarily, they function as a twist on the signature Capers' zone blitz...dropping into hot read lanes on blitzes, particularly when a DB is coming off the corner.
If I recall correctly, Peppers had something like 35 coverage snaps last year according to PFF. That amounts to about 2 drops per game on fewer than 5% of his snaps, while getting 2 picks out of the bargain.
A couple years back, I recall reading around mid-season that Matthews was dropping about 6-7 times per game, about 10% of the downs. I think that's about as high as it ever gets in this defense.
The optimal OLB in this defense is a guy (1) who can rush the passer, (2) hold the edge in the run game, and (3) has "zone awareness", i.e., being able to read the QB, read the play, and be aware of who's coming into the zone and where they're heading. I have a hard time seeing a player balancing these roles better than Peppers.
Perry on the other hand, has shown himself to be merely a bull rusher, good at the point of attack, while having poor zone awareness.
The Packers have invested a ton at the position...Matthews' pick and Matthews' and Peppers' contracts, and first and second round picks in Perry and Neal. If the #3 is not quite up to snuff it's not from lack of trying, as THX noted. Peppers age is an issue. There's is reason to think a pass rush specialist to be developed into a 3-down player would have been on the draft agenda; I'll give you that.
The pass defense at the LB primarily falls to the middle backers. It's the reason some of us thought Thompson should have taken Kendricks at #30 to bring some glue to this array. Instead, they went with Ryan...he shows good zone awareness (as I wear out that phrase) and I reckon they figure his 4.65 speed will come to bear on the occasions where he's caught having to run the seam or peel out on a wheel route. What I don't see is that 40 time showing up in sideline-to-sideline run pursuit...but you can't get everything in the 4th. round.
