Yeah I remember when everyone took it as a foregone conclusion that Seau would be cut, and everyone kept figuring their own little salary cap plans for the phins just assuming that the old man would be gone...but I said it back then, he was the only linebacker on our roster with any kind of size to his name. Unfortunately, I also predicted that Saban would extend an olive branch to Sammy Knight, and that plain just didn't end up happening. I'm still not sure why though, Knight is a field-roaming hard hitter with tons of ball skills and instincts, good size but marginal speed. Maybe the money turned him off.
Seau gave some nice insight though. He will play ILB in both the 3-4, AND the 4-3. What does this say about Zach? To me, it means that Mark Dell'Erba (guest columnist at phins.com) wasn't blowing smoke up our butts when he outlined for us the new Saban D which people were calling a 3-4 but is really a 4-3 (or maybe even a 5-3?)...he said that he would have Zach Thomas playing at weakside linebacker, so that he could drag and make reads, while Junior played true middle, and Spragan would play an "over" position at SSLB.
People really should re-visit this column...
http://www.phins.com/articles05/3-4defense.php
I think it has become obvious that the mystery player at true MLB, is now a combination of both Junior Seau and Channing Crowder, who can also back Zach up at WSLB. Taylor will play mostly down in a 3 or 4 point stance (although don't be surprised if he plays up every now and then, not often, but situationally), he'll almost exclusively get to line up way wide of the offensive tackle...which is a definite plus for him. He's always been like a linebacker on the DL anyway he always makes so many tackles and mows down people from the backside in pursuit. From a wide position he'll get to do that more, without getting tied up.
My only question with the defense that this columnist outlined, is who will play as #91? I'm not sure who on our roster has the number 91 (maybe Holliday?), it use to be Jay Williams' number, and I'm assuming he has #95 Tim Bowens rotating with Larry Chester at the nose tackle position, but the position of RDT strikes me as really important. I'm guessing that Kevin Carter will be involved in a healthy rotation into that position with either Matt Roth or David Bowens relieving him and playing LDE. But that would mean Tim Bowens and Larry Chester never see the field at the same time unless we need the added beef.
