How will switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 affect great IDP MLB plays? (1 Viewer)

[Qtip Callahan]

I own Vilma and Andra Davis, as well as Eric Barton in another league. Kind of concerned about their value in my leagues switching to the 3-4.

Vilma is talented enough to still put up big numbers, although I think they will decline a bit, but I'm really worried about Davis. He's talented, but certainly not a great talent like Vilma. I could see him really slipping in a 3-4.

3 hours until kickoff! It really feels like Christmas!

 

[Jene Bramel]

I own Vilma and Andra Davis, as well as Eric Barton in another league. Kind of concerned about their value in my leagues switching to the 3-4. Vilma is talented enough to still put up big numbers, although I think they will decline a bit, but I'm really worried about Davis. He's talented, but certainly not a great talent like Vilma. I could see him really slipping in a 3-4. 3 hours until kickoff! It really feels like Christmas!

There has been a lot of good discussion on this (especially Vilma), but since our search function doesn't allow three letter searches it's difficult to find -- I'll see if I can dig some up for you.The short version is that is won't hurt much at all, but the value of the linebackers is even more dependent on the quality of their defensive linemen, specifically the NT.Many LILB do very well out of a 3-4 set (Edwards, Farrior, Davis, Bruschi) so there's really little reason to fear them for fantasy purposes. They'll do better if they're able to beat bigger blockers either with strength or speed and elusiveness. And they'll do better if there's a big, plugging NT in front to command double teams and allow the ILB to stay free of interior linemen as much as possible.I think you're right about Vilma -- to an extent. He has enough talent to "survive" the transition but his numbers are going down significantly without anything resembling a 3-4 NT in front of him. However, his numbers were so far and above the rest of the pack last season (for various reasons) that he could lose a decent percentage of his tackle stats and still finish among the top five backers in many scoring systems.Davis' numbers are likely to improve rather than decline. It's the same system as last year and he's now got man-mountain Ted Washington in front of him. He may lose some value with a better player like DQJax playing alongside and being on the field a little less as the defense improves overall. But I can't see his numbers tanking.The RILB is the one to be concerned about -- unless they are a very, very solid player they'll have less value than a decent WLB in a 4-3 front. Comps are players like Randall Godfrey, Ben Taylor, Scott Shanle, Monty Beisel. Barton will have trouble producing consistent numbers of an LB3 alongside a solid player like Vilma. D'Qwell Jackson should be an interesting case though -- he's a solid all-around ILB with long experience in a pro 3-4 set in college. If anybody can overcome the 3-4 RILB disadvantage it's him.

 

[Jene Bramel]

Discussion of Vilma's 2006 prospects

Discussion of the Belichick 3-4 hybrid

More Vilma in the 3-4 discussion

 

[Qtip Callahan]

Awesome articles thanks Jene.. I guess doing research two hours before kickoff is a little different strategy than you guys who thoroughly were analzying this stuff in April!

Interesting articles on the hybrid 3/4 vs other 3/4s out there. The NT stuff makes sense, but for some reason my brain hadn't made the connection that I need to strongly look at who is at NT when thinking about tackle numbers for the ILB.

I hope you're right on Andra Davis. I need a big year from him..