Switching to a 3-4 D? How would it work for us?

No way this happens.

 

The only people who, IMO quite easily, fit this are Witherspoon at OLB (because of his pass rush) and Jason Jones (but at DE).

 

DL already undersized 'speed' guys. If you enjoyed watching the LBs flail in coverage in 2010 you would love the misconverted DLmen in 2011.

Bottom line from what the Titans have on the roster now vs what would be desired to run a 34. Zero DTs could remain DTs, possibly Marks and Jones could move to DE - possibly but they would be useless at LB so its either DE or UFA. Fact is all the DTs are too small for todays NFL and they either convert to DE - and I think they are all too slow or else they would already be DEs - or they would be useless.

DEs that I think could move to LB, Inside or Outside, are .... nobody. All too slow and I suspect would be usless in coverage.

Bottom line I don't think more than 1 or 2 of the LBs should be retained if Titans go to 34D. 2011 would be a mess from the D, but it really would not be any different than 2010. I would welmcome the changeover if it meant getting rid of the selfish front 7 guys and getting a whole new group of bigger stronger guys that were willing to play for the team first instead of going balls to the wall after SACs and totally ignoring any other aspect of DL play.

 

I'm not sure Jason Jones would be great as a 3-4 End. A 3-4 end lines up across from the OT and is responsible for the gaps on each side. Big difference from a one gap Dt in our system.

 

How would it work for us? It wouldn't. We have enough holes to fill in the defense we've been running for the last 20 years.

 

I agree with what has been said, it wouldn't work with the players we have right now. We would almost have to change the entire front 7 to make it work. You can be creative in a 4-3, Greg Williams has shown this in his career, and the Bears have been at times very creative this year. The problem we had is Cecil was for the most part very vanilla. Ron Rivera went from a 4-3 to a 3-4 in San Diego and did fine, I don't see why Mangini couldn't go from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and accomplish the same thing.

 

Also, Mangini has used the 4-3.

 

You're right, I forgot he ran it with the Jets one season....