Playing Orakpo at LB Will Only Benefit Him in the Long Run

[Gregpeck99]

I disagree. Rak is way to light and short to be an every down DE ... especially in the NFCEast where he will go up against 350-lb. behomeths who have had the benfit of weight room work for 3-4 years or more. There is a reason why Rakpo fell to 13 ... but all you Kiperites don't wanna see it. He is a tweener ... and probably will max out as a third down situational pass rushing specialist cause he is too inflexible and stiff (muscle bound) to be effective in coverage. The Skins erred in not darfting the BPA (Macklin) and now will pay the price ... double so because Mak is on a Division foe. I wanna scream .... Bahhhaahhahhh!

[panel]

My question I want to pose is this: About 9 years ago, we drafted a young LB in the first round who was a physical freak, and used him at both LB and DE throughout his career.

How does Orakpo compare to Arrington? What does he do better? Worse? What kind of career will he have in comparison?

My take is this: Orakpo has better strength. Arrington had better athleticism and speed. Orakpo will be a natural DE playing OLB and Arrington a natural OLB playing DE. Will Orakpo be the guy Arrington was back in 2002? What kind of fit will he be?

I'd be interested in getting everyone's take on this.

I wouldn't bet that Arakpo has better strength, Arrington won the NFL strongest man Competition one of his years here.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

i cant believe some of you guys are banking on daniels performing this year. hes a dinosaur. a 36 year old coming off of two major injuries, and somehow hes better suited to play DE than a stud 22 year old whos very fast, very strong, and perfect size for a DE.

all this orakpo cant play the run nonsense is retarded. hes never even been given a chance to play the run. everyone thought carter couldnt do it either and hes been fine stopping the run, plus hes smaller than orakpo.

[Warpath11]

I disagree. Rak is way to light and short to be an every down DE ... especially in the NFCEast where he will go up against 350-lb. behomeths who have had the benfit of weight room work for 3-4 years or more.

I agree with this part of your quote hence why he is at LB instead of a full time DE. As you said he needs to add a lot more bulk if he is to play full time DE in this league. I can see him moving over to RDE after a few seasons (and Carter probably gone) of a NFL offseason/nutrition program. If he were to start at DE right away he would be nothing more than a pass rush specialist on 3rd down, as you point out.

IMO the first two years of his career he will be a SLB with his hand in the dirt on obvious passing downs and blitzing occasionally from his SLB position on early downs.

[Dick Edds]

The goal of this is to get the best possible 11 players starting on your defense.

Bingo, this is a temporary solution to our weakness at SAM ... once we sign or draft another suitable SAM, Orakpo will go to DE full time. It cannot hurt to have him on the field regardless of where he is. We need to be creative and start disguising our defensive packages, just like the last Philly game. Too many are arguing over the semantics of a 4-3 vs 3-4 ... it's football, and Orakpo is a beast and probably the most gifted player athletically on the defense other than Landry. He is not too small, that's absolutely redonkulous.

[DGREENHULK]

Chris Wilson would be a better fit at OLB.. Let RAK put his hand in the dirt and rush the passer

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfceast/0-10-34/Redskins--Orakpo-is-open-to-change.html

this is on the front page of the NFL section on espn. orakpo is a DE, has been his whole college career. what the skins are doing is stupid.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

oh, and so we can finally put an end to all the stupid "hes not big enough to be a DE" garbage i keep reading, here we go:

andre carter: 6'3 252lb

brian orakpo: 6'3 262lb

trent cole: 6'3 270lb

juqua parker: 6'3 250lb

justin tuck: 6'5 274

osi umenyiora: 6'3 261lb

yet somehow orakpo isnt big enough to stop the run? doesnt look that way to me. and he has said he'd like to gain 10 pounds which would make him one of the biggest starting DEs in the NFC east.

but thats right, lets put him at linebacker. so what if he hasnt covered runningbacks and tight ends before, its super smart! besides, we didnt really need a pass rush anyways.

[Rocky52Mc]

oh, and so we can finally put an end to all the stupid "hes not big enough to be a DE" garbage i keep reading, here we go:

andre carter: 6'3 252lb

brian orakpo: 6'3 262lb

trent cole: 6'3 270lb

juqua parker: 6'3 250lb

justin tuck: 6'5 274

osi umenyiora: 6'3 261lb

yet somehow orakpo isnt big enough to stop the run? doesnt look that way to me. and he has said he'd like to gain 10 pounds which would make him one of the biggest starting DEs in the NFC east.

Hmm, I guess BLC just forgets **** randomly? You know he's most likely gonna get a ton of 3rd down at DE, where he can go all out, and where DE's can be most productive rushing the passer and he won't have to second guess run or pass, you do know that playing LB will benefit him in his youth and that he's capable at switching at anytime? Seriously man, I'm sick of your whining and ****ing. Try to have a productive conversation for once.

but thats right, lets put him at linebacker. so what if he hasnt covered runningbacks and tight ends before, its super smart! besides, we didnt really need a pass rush anyways.

Dude, I'm pretty sick of your whining and ****ing. It's been tainting all the quality threads. Can you just have a productive talk and stop acting like you're a damn coach? Playing LB will benefit him in his youth more then playing full time DE, and with him playing a good amount of time at DE on 3rd downs, he'll barley be second guessing the run and just straight up pass rush to his highest ability which is pass rushing. 3rd down is where DE's can be superb in the production category as well. You need to stop looking at this franchise like every damn move we make is filled with bull****.

[Chiefinonhaze]

Dude, I'm pretty sick of your whining and ****ing. It's been tainting all the quality threads. Can you just have a productive talk and stop acting like you're a damn coach? Playing LB will benefit him in his youth more then playing full time DE, and with him playing a good amount of time at DE on 3rd downs, he'll barley be second guessing the run and just straight up pass rush to his highest ability which is pass rushing. 3rd down is where DE's can be superb in the production category as well. You need to stop looking at this franchise like every damn move we make is filled with bull****.

I agree, he sounds like a broken record. I think i've seen that list of DE's height and weight 50 times. BLC, you have to understand that we are not permanantly placing him at DE. Nobody has said that, so for you to assume it is a misunderstanding on your part. He will be rushing the passer from the LB position as well. He will probably get reps at DE too, considering that is the position he played in college.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

Dude, I'm pretty sick of your whining and ****ing. It's been tainting all the quality threads. Can you just have a productive talk and stop acting like you're a damn coach? Playing LB will benefit him in his youth more then playing full time DE, and with him playing a good amount of time at DE on 3rd downs, he'll barley be second guessing the run and just straight up pass rush to his highest ability which is pass rushing. 3rd down is where DE's can be superb in the production category as well. You need to stop looking at this franchise like every damn move we make is filled with bull****.

wow, cry much? because i think our coaching staff is acting stupid by plugging him into a position he doesnt play? im glad youre willing to just think our staff does everything right 100% of the time, sadly i think we make mistakes. and this is a huge one.

orakpo needs to learn how to be a 3 down DE. you dont draft situational pass rushers with the 13th overall pick. were making a big mistake not having him lineup with his hand in the dirt on every play.

and this franchise makes a lot of stupid moves. its the reason we are consntantly mediocre. some of you happen to enjoy being mediocre, i on the other hand would like to see better.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

I agree, he sounds like a broken record. I think i've seen that list of DE's height and weight 50 times. BLC, you have to understand that we are not permanantly placing him at DE. Nobody has said that, so for you to assume it is a misunderstanding on your part. He will be rushing the passer from the LB position as well. He will probably get reps at DE too, considering that is the position he played in college.

dont know where you saw it, ive never posted that list to my knowledge.

and im not misunderstanding anything. hes being treated as a linebacker which i dont like. you guys can cry all you want that im unhappy about it, but ill continue to voice my displeasure about it. i was so excited that we finally drafted a defensive end, only to find out a few weeks later hes going to be our starting SLB. im not gonna sit here and say "greg blache knows what hes doing so im ok with it". just because hes a coach doesnt mean its going to pan out. remember when we moved todd wade to guard and everyone just said "joe bugel knows way more than everyone on this board does". let me know how that worked out.

you cant just plug guys into positions theyre not familiar with. expecting orakpo to learn how to cover guys in one summer at an NFL level at a spot hes never played is dumb no matter how you slice it.

[Rocky52Mc]

wow, cry much? because i think our coaching staff is acting stupid by plugging him into a position he doesnt play? im glad youre willing to just think our staff does everything right 100% of the time, sadly i think we make mistakes. and this is a huge one.

orakpo needs to learn how to be a 3 down DE. you dont draft situational pass rushers with the 13th overall pick. were making a big mistake not having him lineup with his hand in the dirt on every play.

and this franchise makes a lot of stupid moves. its the reason we are consntantly mediocre. some of you happen to enjoy being mediocre, i on the other hand would like to see better.

First of all, no one's crying at you, it's more of communicating to you and saying please stop it with the constant negativity that you bring to this board. If the Redskins had the type of consistency that you bring to this board with your negativity we probably would have won a Superbowl somewhere along this 1997-2008 era.

You fail to see the points that are clearly made, if we made a ton of great decisions as a franchise then I wouldn't have wrote something like "you need to stop looking at this franchise like every damn move we make is filled with bull****." ... if you want me to spell it out for you basically I'm saying sure this franchise makes mistakes, but just because they do doesn't mean that every single move we make is a mistake. Blache is sticking this guy where he's going to be productive the MOST this season, and you know what? It's better for him and it's better for the team and if you can't realize that while you still continue to type the crap you do then I'd assume you just are plain ol' stubborn and can't be a reasonable and open minded person.

We have holes at DE and LB, in picking a guy up like Orakpo, don't you think the coaching staff (the guys who get paid to not lose their damn job) would put him at a position to succeed at either of the positions he can play while being effective for the Redskins defense? If that hasn't occured to you than you're hopeless.

I know, you want to plug in Colt Brennan for Jason Campbell for his upside..

I know, you want to plug in Brian Orakpo for Phillip Daniels for his upside..

..But when these guys go in and don't perform the way you want them too and they look like damn busts while facing the adversity that our current personnel do every Sunday , what in the world are you going to think? Are you gonna sit on your ass here and hype up the next move that we should make in an endless cycle of a cluster ****? Get with it man, the coaches are making these decisions because it benefits the players and the team.

Hail.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

First of all, no one's crying at you, it's more of communicating to you and saying please stop it with the constant negativity that you bring to this board. If the Redskins had the type of consistency that you bring to this board with your negativity we probably would have won a Superbowl somewhere along this 1997-2008 era.

You fail to see the points that are clearly made, if we made a ton of great decisions as a franchise then I wouldn't have wrote something like "you need to stop looking at this franchise like every damn move we make is filled with bull****." ... if you want me to spell it out for you basically I'm saying sure this franchise makes mistakes, but just because they do doesn't mean that every single move we make is a mistake. Blache is sticking this guy where he's going to be productive the MOST this season, and you know what? It's better for him and it's better for the team and if you can't realize that while you still continue to type the crap you do then I'd assume you just are plain ol' stubborn and can't be a reasonable and open minded person.

We have holes at DE and LB, in picking a guy up like Orakpo, don't you think the coaching staff (the guys who get paid to not lose their damn job) would put him at a position to succeed at either of the positions he can play while being effective for the Redskins defense? If that hasn't occured to you than you're hopeless.

Hail.

im not gonna stop voicing an opinion just because its negative. and youd be insane to think that i think every move we make is a mistake. ive never said anything even close to resembling that, which is what youre making it sound like. just because i think this is a stupid move doesnt mean everything we do is bad.

and im going to disagree again, sticking orakpo at LB is not better for the team at all. its giving him less experience stopping the run from the DE spot, its relying on phillip daniels an injured over the hill dinosaur to produce, and its going to hurt our pass rush just sticking him in there on 3rd down. 3rd down rushers are usually put in only when we KNOW theyre going to throw. it takes away the element of surprise from orakpo, so now when teams see daniels lined up, they can audible to a pass and have all day to throw. orakpo needs to be a constant threat from the DE spot, and making him situational takes that away.

and our staff and obviously you are assuming he can even play LB. where does that come from? hes NOT a LB, never has been. you honestly trust him to cover RBs/TEs as a rookie with NO experience in college with this task? seems kinda dumb dont you think? why take him out of his natural element just because our team is unprepared? if we had taken care of our LB problem, we wouldnt be having this discussion.

im not sure what the staff is doing. either they drafted orakpo and intended to make him a LB, which i think is stupid, or they are just giving him some reps there for situational stuff (which is what i thought at first, although it doesnt seem thats the case now).

the guy is a DE. he was in college, he should be for us. we dont have one, and we havent had a great one in forever. we finally have the chance to potentially get a legit threat at the DE position, and we move him to LB.

and lol at you editing your post to add colt vs campbell garbage in there. really relevant dont you think?

[Rocky52Mc]

im not gonna stop voicing an opinion just because its negative. and youd be insane to think that i think every move we make is a mistake. ive never said anything even close to resembling that, which is what youre making it sound like. just because i think this is a stupid move doesnt mean everything we do is bad.

and im going to disagree again, sticking orakpo at LB is not better for the team at all. its giving him less experience stopping the run from the DE spot, its relying on phillip daniels an injured over the hill dinosaur to produce, and its going to hurt our pass rush just sticking him in there on 3rd down. 3rd down rushers are usually put in only when we KNOW theyre going to throw. it takes away the element of surprise from orakpo, so now when teams see daniels lined up, they can audible to a pass and have all day to throw. orakpo needs to be a constant threat from the DE spot, and making him situational takes that away.

and our staff and obviously you are assuming he can even play LB. where does that come from? hes NOT a LB, never has been. you honestly trust him to cover RBs/TEs as a rookie with NO experience in college with this task? seems kinda dumb dont you think? why take him out of his natural element just because our team is unprepared? if we had taken care of our LB problem, we wouldnt be having this discussion.

im not sure what the staff is doing. either they drafted orakpo and intended to make him a LB, which i think is stupid, or they are just giving him some reps there for situational stuff (which is what i thought at first, although it doesnt seem thats the case now).

the guy is a DE. he was in college, he should be for us. we dont have one, and we havent had a great one in forever. we finally have the chance to potentially get a legit threat at the DE position, and we move him to LB.

and lol at you editing your post to add colt vs campbell garbage in there. really relevant dont you think?

I see your point and a I know a lot of people are probably thinking..wait..we draft a DE in the first round for the first time in how many years and we stick him at LB? But obviously the scouts and coaches see something in him that makes him play LB. Later on in his career, I have no doubt that he'll probably make the move to DE and play full time there, probably next 1-2 years. Maybe half way through the season, maybe this is just a progression thing. Orakpo does have experience at LB he just wasn't doing it full time.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

I see your point and a I know a lot of people are probably thinking..wait..we draft a DE in the first round for the first time in how many years and we stick him at LB? But obviously the scouts and coaches see something in him that makes him play LB. Later on in his career, I have no doubt that he'll probably make the move to DE and play full time there, probably next 1-2 years. Maybe half way through the season, maybe this is just a progression thing. Orakpo does have experience at LB he just wasn't doing it full time.

ok, now what youre saying even makes less sense. im glad you see where im coming from though. but you seem to think hes going to play LB and then switch to DE in 2 years?

please elaborate on that cause that makes absolute 0 sense to me. unless youre just admitting that our team is plugging him in to the LB spot because we have no other options right now and we'll figure out the LB spot in the next few years, which in my opinion is called "bad management".

and for further clarification, it was the first DE in 14 years, so i hope you see why im so POed with this decision.

[Rocky52Mc]

ok, now what youre saying even makes less sense. im glad you see where im coming from though. but you seem to think hes going to play LB and then switch to DE in 2 years?

please elaborate on that cause that makes absolute 0 sense to me. unless youre just admitting that our team is plugging him in to the LB spot because we have no other options right now and we'll figure out the LB spot in the next few years, which in my opinion is called "bad management".

and for further clarification, it was the first DE in 14 years, so i hope you see why im so POed with this decision.

I think he's a natural pass rushing DE who has the physical gifts to play the outside LB position. He'll probably have a much bigger impact playing the LB position as a young guy learning the NFL game and maybe one day he can adjust to the DE position full time, he could possibly be dynamic at either of the two. I guess it really depends on how he's going to perform, if he's a complete stud at LB, why would they move him? If he's doing more rushing the passer on 3rd downs then covering and tackling at LB, there's reason to eventually move him but at this point in time, his instant production can come from LB. I have no clue what their decisions will be for him in the future, I can just see him adjusting to play the DE position run and pass, that's all.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

I think he's a natural pass rushing DE who has the physical gifts to play the outside LB position. He'll probably have a much bigger impact playing the LB position as a young guy learning the NFL game and maybe one day he can adjust to the DE position full time, he could possibly be dynamic at either of the two. I guess it really depends on how he's going to perform, if he's a complete stud at LB, why would they move him? If he's doing more rushing the passer on 3rd downs then covering and tackling at LB, there's reason to eventually move him but at this point in time, his instant production can come from LB. I have no clue what their decisions will be for him in the future, I can just see him adjusting to play the DE position run and pass, that's all.

you didnt answer my question though. are we playing him at LB because we actually drafted him to be a LB, or is it because we have no other options. ive never heard of a DE that gets broken into the NFL by playing LB then going to DE 2 years later. sounds a little silly doesnt it?

[theboomking]

I agree about the size bit. If Strahan and Umenyiora can play in the 260's, then so can Brian I can bench "515" Orakpo. I don't really want him gaining weight if it slows him down. Just work on run stopping technique and plug him in.

I am okay with him getting some time at OLB this season though. I think he's a full/most of the time DE starting next year.

[Hunter_R]

wow, cry much? because i think our coaching staff is acting stupid by plugging him into a position he doesnt play? im glad youre willing to just think our staff does everything right 100% of the time, sadly i think we make mistakes. and this is a huge one.

orakpo needs to learn how to be a 3 down DE. you dont draft situational pass rushers with the 13th overall pick. were making a big mistake not having him lineup with his hand in the dirt on every play.

and this franchise makes a lot of stupid moves. its the reason we are consntantly mediocre. some of you happen to enjoy being mediocre, i on the other hand would like to see better.

I vill hear no more insinuations about the Redskins staff. Nothing bad happened. Sie werden sich hinsetzen. Sie werden ruhig sein. Sie werden nicht beleidigen das Redskins.

[Box76]

Judging by how fast the Skins made the selection you would think they want him to be the next LT, who by the way started his college career as a DE. Orakpo's power with a head of steam could be exciting. In Blache I trust wherever he lines up at.