IMO players are more important than schemes and right now while I think we have realistic reasons to be optimistic about the newcomers’ contribution to improving the defense, none of the rookies have taken a snap in pads in live action against NFL competition – let alone against another team. And we don’t know how the new vets acquired will fit into Capers’ schemes. That works both ways though – while some rookies/newcomers who we think could excel, there will probably be a couple who we aren’t counting on who will excel. My point is at this point we just don’t know.
Having said that, I will be surprised if we see a lot of 4-man DL formations except for short-yardage situations. The reason I say that is I don’t see a lot of DL on the roster who have proven they’re good at both stopping the run and rushing the passer. Regarding individual players IMO: Raji can and we hope/expect Worthy to be able to but beyond that most are adept at one or the other but not both. Pickett and Muir are “run specialists”. Daniels and Hargrove were acquired to get after the passer. Neal and Merling could be good against both but Neal has to get and stay healthy and Merling hasn’t been great rushing the passer so far in his career. Wilson and Wynn didn’t excel at either last year and Guy and Jones are complete unknowns (at least to me). Again all that just my opinion. My hope is they find DL who are good enough in the base to free up the LBs and enough to rush the passer to keep them all fresh, particularly Raji in sub packages.
Another factor which leads me to believe we won’t see more 4-man DLs is Thompson has been acquiring talent for Capers’ schemes for four off seasons now and I’ll bet Capers has played 1-, 2-, or 3-man DL formations 90% of the snaps if not more. The advantage of the 3-4 (and for Capers the 2-4-5) is to get more athletic LBs on the field.
Certainly Capers will be adding new twists to his schemes but it may be difficult for us as fans to discern those changes. From everything we’ve read, I expect an even greater emphasis on stopping opponents’ passing game and that too argues against more 4-man DLs IMO considering the talent on the team. While we could see a new exotic scheme I expect them to concentrate on playing the myriad of schemes already in the play book better and emphasize tackling, tackling, tackling.
