Hybrid DE/LB to become a position of sorts (1 Viewer)

[Bri]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/footbal...0,2511315.story

The Ravens and Terrell Suggs avoided a grievance by essentially creating a new position, Suggs' agent confirmed last night.

The sides reached an agreement on a one-year franchise tag tender worth close to $8.5 million, which will pay him as a hybrid defensive end-linebacker.

It is believed that the NFL Players Association and the NFL management council are finalizing details to sign off on the compromise.

"His job is to rush the quarterback as a defensive end, and I thought it was unfair that he had to live under the linebacker franchise tag," said Gary Wichard, Suggs' agent. "So, Ozzie [Newsome, Ravens general manager] and I said, 'Let us resolve this as opposed to the attorneys.' I tip my hat off to Ozzie for creating a new franchise tag."

The Ravens used the franchise tag on Suggs on Feb. 19, keeping him off the free-agent market with a one-year tender worth $8.065 million (the average of the five highest-paid linebackers in the NFL).

But Suggs filed a grievance March 5, saying he should receive the one-year tag of $8.879 million for defensive ends because he played more than half his snaps at that position.

(snipped)

 

[Bri]

I'm figuring this is something to remember.

Top LBs make less than top DEs. I imagine this will come up again with some other players so...

 

[Maroney=Sped]

The question, as with Suggs, is what position do we designate them for IDP purposes? I'm having trouble believing that you can fairly call them anything except DE's. Their stats and their actual functions most closely resemble DE's, not true outside LB's who tend to have more tackles, PD's, and fewer sacks. And of course there aren't enough DE-LB hybrids to make that a new IDP position.

Thoughts?

 

[Bri]

If(and it seems they will) and when the NFL and NFLPA sign off on this I imagine there's people in the FFWorld that'll run with it too.

Maroney, I don't think there's anything you can do in FF unless you have 32 hybrids or maybe 24(12 teams in league, each gets a backup). I do figure this could create a stir though

 

[Maroney=Sped]

The offensive equivalent to this is the H-back. It makes no more sense to designate a new position there for FF purposes than it does to designate a new hybrid position. H-backs need to be treated like TE's, and Hybrid DE-LB's need to be treated like DE's.

 

[spec1alk]

I think it is more likely to add a KR/PR position to FF than it would be to add the hybrid position.

How is this hybrid position from a 3-4 OLB?

 

[awesomeness]

The question, as with Suggs, is what position do we designate them for IDP purposes? I'm having trouble believing that you can fairly call them anything except DE's. Their stats and their actual functions most closely resemble DE's, not true outside LB's who tend to have more tackles, PD's, and fewer sacks. And of course there aren't enough DE-LB hybrids to make that a new IDP position. Thoughts?

for most leagues these players (Suggs, Ware, Wimbley, Pace, Bryan Thomas), are given the DE position in most leagues, and tend to be very good DE's to have as they usually get solid sack numbers and above average tackle numbers compared to other DE's who play the position the more traditional way. If theres a league where these players are only allowed to play LB, then there rankings would decrease significantly.

 

[spec1alk]

The question, as with Suggs, is what position do we designate them for IDP purposes? I'm having trouble believing that you can fairly call them anything except DE's. Their stats and their actual functions most closely resemble DE's, not true outside LB's who tend to have more tackles, PD's, and fewer sacks. And of course there aren't enough DE-LB hybrids to make that a new IDP position. Thoughts?

for most leagues these players (Suggs, Ware, Wimbley, Pace, Bryan Thomas), are given the DE position in most leagues, and tend to be very good DE's to have as they usually get solid sack numbers and above average tackle numbers compared to other DE's who play the position the more traditional way. If theres a league where these players are only allowed to play LB, then there rankings would decrease significantly.

All of those players except for Suggs were classified as LB last year by MFL. Bryan Thomas was a DE 2 years ago (placed top 12 I believe in my league). The difference is that those players are in a 3-4 defense vs suggs being in the hybrid 4-6. Those players take more snaps at LB than DE and thus are classified as LB.

 

[awesomeness]

The question, as with Suggs, is what position do we designate them for IDP purposes? I'm having trouble believing that you can fairly call them anything except DE's. Their stats and their actual functions most closely resemble DE's, not true outside LB's who tend to have more tackles, PD's, and fewer sacks. And of course there aren't enough DE-LB hybrids to make that a new IDP position. Thoughts?

for most leagues these players (Suggs, Ware, Wimbley, Pace, Bryan Thomas), are given the DE position in most leagues, and tend to be very good DE's to have as they usually get solid sack numbers and above average tackle numbers compared to other DE's who play the position the more traditional way. If theres a league where these players are only allowed to play LB, then there rankings would decrease significantly.

All of those players except for Suggs were classified as LB last year by MFL. Bryan Thomas was a DE 2 years ago (placed top 12 I believe in my league). The difference is that those players are in a 3-4 defense vs suggs being in the hybrid 4-6. Those players take more snaps at LB than DE and thus are classified as LB.

All 5 of the guys i listed have DE eligibility on ESPN.

 

[bcr8f]

A DE getting LB tackles could be good for fantasy. but not the other way around.