Stephen Tulloch

Stephen is a free agent now. Tulloch finished with 159 tackles (2nd in the NFL) this year. He's a great tackler, horrible in coverage though.

What do you guys think.. should we or should we not resign Tully?

Yes, but not for big money. His coverage skills were a part of the defense problem.....especially covering TE's.

We won't ever have a good defense as long as hes here playing every down. He will ask for big money and we shouldn't give it to him. He's one of my favorite players but it's not what's best for the team.

Just look at who his agent is...

I agree with Chapparal.

Number of tackles doesn't necessarily mean greatness, but it shows he's solid enough to stay... just not for big money. I doubt we'd be able to find/afford anyone better.

He's the only LB on the team that we know will play well next season. I wouldn't sign him for big money but if the price is right then yes. I don't see Witherspoon having another good year and not sold on McRath yet even though he seems to be capable of holding down his spot.

Nope. We need Linebackers that will stop the pass, not just the run.

He's a great run stopper and can stick a tackle with the best of them, but his coverage skills are nearly non-existant and he's simply too small to be effective when he IS properly covering.

I'd say let him walk and look for a young gun FA with prototypical size or a guy in the draft.

Not worth any big money.

He's a two-down linebacker, always has been and always will be. It's not his fault he was forced on to the field in nickel and dime because we didn't have anyone else to cover.

The problem is we essentially have two MLBs on the field in our starting lineup. McRath is a converted college MLB and was the first off the field because he's limited in coverage as well. I don't think he played more than ten defensive snaps against the Colts the last week because they played so much 3-wide sets.

As somebody in here said in an earlier thread: he has the heart of a lion but the body of a sheep, and all those holes in the middle of the field were his coverage issues. Need to rebuild the whole linebacking corp.