A couple of things.
1. Cameron Wake is a superb athlete with a lot of strength, balance and burst. If you take his hands out of the dirt and give him enough reps I'm sure he'd be fine. And you can always put his hand in the dirt on occasion even though he has literally the same exact responsibilities in the 3-4 that you would normally give Joey Porter.
2. Lamarr Woodley showed up at the Combine 6 feet, 1.5 inches.
3. Demanding height in your outside linebackers is all about dominating the tight end and the quarterback. Height and wingspan combined with a player that naturally reads the quarterback's eyes is a deadly combination. A taller player is just a more imposing player. It's not ALWAYS right but no single draft strategy is always right or even obviously right. But this is the strategy Parcells has adhered to for a long time and he's built plenty of winners so...I'm not gonna call him a fool over it.
4. Nobody will trade us anything significant for Joey Porter in the off season, regardless of how popular the 3-4 has become. He's old, having a sub-par year and he's a very highly paid man. Bad combination.
5. Trading Phil Merling would not at all be "astronomically stupid" IMO...but, at the same time he's young, he can play in the rotation, relatively inexpensive, and he keeps his mouth shut. If we were to trade him, it would really have to be a thing where someone came with an offer we just couldn't refuse, like a first round pick or a high second rounder. Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense because what exactly does trading valuable young depth like him for an even younger player accomplish? I don't believe Merling will ever be a career starter for this team but I can't say as I'd be surprised if somehow it still ended up working out that way. He's got about as much chance of making that happen as a third round draft pick would. Not all of them pan out, look at Pat Turner (so far).
5. Not the biggest fan of Norwood, or Kindle.
Like many here, I love Wake. He's one of my very favorite players in the league. I'm confident he'll be our starting WSOLB next season. I'm worried that Hughes doesn't have the bulk to be a SSOLB, and that's kind of why I'm so high on Graham. If we can add a few pounds to Hughes, though, he does remind me of D. Ware. With those players [Hughes/Graham (know there's the height issue) and Wake] on the edge - assuming we get a decent DC - and some added help inside, I think our D will be well on its way.