Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
The hand-fighting thing, I guess. Hali was really good with his hands and it helped him overcome having slightly shorter arms.
But Hali won with agility a LOT more than Karlaftis will. Hali got your hands off him then leaned around guys. What Karlaftis will typically do is shed that punch and then go THROUGH them.
I dunno...maybe a poverty Neil Smith? The Chiefs haven't really had a ton of power players on the edge.
Oh wait - Dan Williams. Y'all remember him at all? He had that one really good season and then a couple other pretty solid ones. Wasn't terribly fast or agile but when he was motivated he'd get into a guys body and kind of bully them out of the way.
But it's fair to point out that Williams was at his best when DT was opposite of him. He needed a speed threat on the other side to make teams shade that way or stagger their passing sets. I mean you can't really have one OT dropping into a vertical set and the other playing at 45 degrees or something because there's no pocket that forms.
So with DT out there, teams HAD to get into vertical sets or DT would blow past them. And with the OTs going vertical, Williams would have that room to operate, get them on an island and then push through them.
That's why I think we still BADLY need a speed rusher out there. Clark isn't going to have teams game-planning to ensure they beat a rusher to the spot. Nor will Karlaftis. So they won't rush to get vertical, they'll stay square to Clark and Karlaftis and they'll be able to do more to neutralize power.
Put Hughes out there and teams now have to account for the speed threat and they'll do more vertical sets. And when they do, Karlaftis will be FAR more effective.
We really needed another piece on this DL from this draft, IMO. We've constructed the line in a way that will make it less than the sum of its parts.
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I think with Karlaftis, the question will be if his short-area quickness - the first step, his ability to wiggle - will continue to be enough, paired with his strength, heavy hands, and hand-fighting - for him to unbalance opposing offensive linemen by slowing their step/reaction.
He's very quick initially and was able to use it in college to get guys off-balance and then just brutalize them. If he can continue to progress at those technique items, he's going to be a really good pro. It's the type of package that always gave Eric Fisher fits at LT.
But yes, having a really speedy guy at RE who can force the QB to step up in the pocket (into the power-rushing angles of Karlaftis or Jones) would play up the whole situation.