Laron Landry and Brian Orakpo: Faces of Organizational Failure

[L J]

funny w/ the comparison on Carter vs the Gnats....hello, every DE/DT facing the Giants line gets shut down this year-

Great sack by Rak yesterday- and would have had another one if Jeremy Stevens hadn't held him.

 

[Bulldog]

Carter hasn't fared that well against the Cowboys either. The Cowboys line just mashes him in the run game and by the third quarter there is no fight left on that side of the defense.

Carter is a great athlete. But he has one move. He can be stopped by a veteran tackle that plays good positional technique.

Carter isn't a guy that is going to bust a double team or get around a quality LT.

As long as he is playing against a younger OL or a veteran that is mediocre, he will look convincing.

But, again, where is he in the big games against the better teams?

 

[Whiskeypeet]

Landry was drafted as and projected to be a SS. Because of Sean Taylor's tragic demise Landry was switched to FS, a move most thought would be temporary until Washington could draft, trade or sign a legitimate FS. Here we are 3 years later and Landry is still playing 20 yards off the ball and people are still asking why Laron has not played up to the potential of a former #6 overall draft choice?

Does anyone have anything that substantiates this? I was having a discussion on the other site regarding LL's natural position. LL was a FS for most of his time at LSU.

http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=174956

I can't seem to find anything that discusses him being projected at SS or being a "natural" SS. Is this even true?

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Does anyone have anything that substantiates this? I was having a discussion on the other site regarding LL's natural position. LL was a FS for most of his time at LSU.

http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=174956

I can't seem to find anything that discusses him being projected at SS or being a "natural" SS. Is this even true?

LaRon played FS at LSU, against much lesser opposition. He was projected to SS because he did not have the coverage and ball-hawking instincts that an NFL free-safety needs. Recovery speed only gets you so far against the elite-speed of NFL WRs. In college, he could make up ground when he bit on double-moves, cause WRs for ULL aren't that fast.

 

[kirbster]

This thread is from October. Since then Orakpo was selected for and played in the Pro Bowl, and has otherwise received accolades for a stellar rookie season. Anyone still want to claim that he was misused this season?

 

[Lanky Livingston]

This thread is from October. Since then Orakpo was selected for and played in the Pro Bowl, and has otherwise received accolades for a stellar rookie season. Anyone still want to claim that he was misused this season?

Yeah, but he struggled at times in coverage. His stellar stats came when he put his hand on the ground, where he should have been playing all season, and the original point of the thread. He might have broken the rookie sack record if he'd been playing DE all season.

 

[riggins44]

I am curious to see how we use Orakpo this year. With Landry I feel most of the problem is his lack of discipline and wanting the highlight hit.

Just feel Orakpo puts the time in learning and studying and Landry doesn't. Orakpo always seemed to be prepared and progressed each week. Landry kept getting beat the same way each time and teams would set him up.

 

[Hog Fever]

I think both of these guys were playing out of position this past season. With all due respect I don’t use the Pro Bowl as any true gauge of productivity. It’s simply a popularity contest. The best players get passed over all the time and guys go who have no business being there. You hardly hear and grumbling about it because nobody cares about the Pro Bowl.

But back to the question; why would the coaches play these guys out of position? There is a simple answer for Orakpo. He has elite talent and they wanted to get him on the field in some capacity. We had a log jam at DE especially before Jarmon got hurt. I don’t think you’d get too much argument from folks that he was at his best with his hand on the ground rushing the QB. He was exposed in coverage and it seemed clear to me that he was a little uncomfortable in that role regardless of what he might have said about the switch. What would he say anyway? He’s a rookie who wants to play.

Once Andre Carter moves on Orakpo will take the RDE spot, book it. I think we’d be wise to try to move Carter while he still has some value to speed that process up a bit and maximize our return. That might be tough but the upcoming draft always holds possibilities. Releasing Carter is not going to be a good option as I think the accelerated contract money even in an uncapped year would be high (although to be fair I haven’t looked at the numbers recently).

Landry is a different story and far more puzzling. Here is a guy who loves the big hit and has the size and ability to play near the line of scrimmage. Those are SS skills. He also shows weakness in all of the areas you need a FS to show strength; cover skills and angles in tackling. The only logical guess I can take here is that the coaches don’t have a better option at FS. Still it seems in doing this that you make both positions weaker. Honestly I think FS is one of the toughest positions to fill on a defense. we'll see what the new staff does with these guys.

 

[Cycleans]

My problem with landry at either position is he sucks at tackiling. His "Big hits" don't cause many turnovers as well.

 

[servumtuum]

This thread, and similar threads with unanswered questions, is one of many reasons I'll be watching the Allen/Shanahan FA/draft strategy closely. Would it, for example, be a huge surprise if we draft a FS, or pick one up in free agency in order to move Landry to SS? Or perhaps snag an OLB to move Orakpo to RDE? Or is there indeed some truth to the 3-4 rumors-in which case God only knows what direction things may take. The next couple of months could be very interesting-and very telling.