My bad, according to the official Bulldog site (thanks Brock!) he had 7 career sacks and 6 passes defensed (2 deflected, 4 picks).

Good post htis,


I still think Bell has way more upside than AD - no shock there. Ideally I would like to see Savaii and Dalton stuff up the middle - which would do wonders for either KM or KF to play MLB.
IF Bell is most effective at OLB, stick with him there, We just brought in a headhunting safety and if Wesley gets back to his form of his 1st two years it will be nasty run defense with a lot of pop. Throw DJ in pursuit from the weakside and I think this defense's ability to swarm is tremendous.
If Jared Allen or Hall can offer a viable pass rush it could be great. Has anyone else read that the Sporting News ranked Warfield as the 3rd best press coverage corner in the league. Him and Surtain with Bartee, Woods, or Sapp used in nickel and dime packages i think is more than servicable. (every team facing Oakland is going to give up chunks of yards with that WR corps)

My starting D

SS S.Knight
FS Wesley
CB Surtain
CB Warfield
WLB DJ
MLB Mitchell / Fox - depending on TC
SLB Bell
DE J.Allen
DL Savaii
DL Dalton
DE Hall - Hicks will get it and maybe improve w/ some decent LB behind him... not holding my breathe?


I'd like to pick up a CB to cover Warfield for those 1st four games and this is a must I feel b/c if they eat it in the beginning of the season they will be dead in the water and very tough to make ground.

That said - if they can address this I think they can easily go 2-2, even 3-1 in the 1st four. I think the home games over a distinct adv. and Denver is a sinking ship... who knows...

The problem is that Fox isn't a MLB...he's only 235 pounds. Johnson is 240, Bell is 250, Mitchell is 250.

Bell should be in the middle, but if Fox is one of our 3 best LBs and playing him in the middle is the only way he gets out there, I'm all for it.

Doesn't Dan Morgan weigh in at about 235?

I still can't believe Mitchell is 250. He just never looked that stout to me.

I agree.
He looks closer to 240 to me.

Morgan is 245.

well Junior is a beefer guy and if Fox can fill the need it doesn't matter if he's 15 lbs lighter as long as Kawika can't shed a block.

I'm just not for plugging a guy into a spot if it detracts from his ability to make an impact at their "true" position (bell) I realize this is all speculative and Bell might do great in the middle and increase his chances to make sacks bolting up the middle? who knows? But I would not make weight the final determination of his ability to stuff the middle. DJ gets knocked on for "not taking blockers" but we've all watched the highlights of him weaving through blockers to make the tackle - which is the whole point of the D, anyway.

He's listed by ESPN and NFL.com as 253. He's listed by the USF Bulls site at 255.

http://www.lhsilverhawks.com/Assets/...awikablock.jpg

Number 50 for the Chargers is David Binn, their long snapper. He's 6'3", 250 pounds.

Quarterback pressures, while not as good as quarterback sacks, are still important to a good defense.

It's not solely about size, but more about what a guy is athletically suited for. Bell played MLB in college and ILB at Pittsburgh. He's not a 4-3 OLB. Fox is. Fox has played OLB his entire life.

And they will still make up a small fraction of the pass plays that an OLB defends.

Is Bell going to blitz every pass play? No. More often than not, he'll dropping into coverage, which is his biggest weakness.


Oh well. I'm dropping this. Obviously Bell will be the reincarnation of Lawrence Taylor, aided by all the QBs that are dumber than a bag of hammers. He's going to buck all the trends of the last five years in the NFL. :rolleyes:

Gun obviously wants Bell outside.

Top candidates outside include Bell, Johnson, and Fox. Throw in Fujita and Barber for backups. All to play 2 positions. Now we hope he's fine, but Bell is an injury risk. So let's say we use him as a 20down LB. That gets him extra rest and puts a (hopefully) starter quality LB in his place.

Like Still Bell is supposed to be a terrific pass rusher and so-so in coverage. Unlike Stills, he's ferocious against the run. So he's a guy that can do multiple things. Stills is strictly rush-the-passer.

At MLB, we have Mitchell that everyone says is looking pretty good this summer. We also have Mazlowski (hopefully) returning as a pretty good MLB. We also have Scanlon coming back from NFLE with a good resume to indicate he may be more than serviceable. Plus we have deep backup in Boomer is necessary. Looks like we have great depth at MLB, too if Maz makes it back. If none of those guys pan out, we may yet see Bell at MLB.

But strictly by the numbers, looks like OLB is the place for him. At this point, I'd rather see Barber and Fujita let go than the rest of the guys that are showing signs of life.

As every year, River Falls will tell.

The one thing I know is, I see 9 guys vying for 6-7 slots. Somebody is going to get cut that won't make it onto the PS.

I've got a friend who hangs with Fox and apparently the coaches have been on Fox about adding some more mass, especially in the legs. Don't know if the MLB situation has anything to do with that or not.

Also if playing Bell in the middle means we can get our best LB corp out there then by all means we need to do it.

What LB position did Bell play in college?