First let me credit Sam Ingro from Buckeye State Sports for filling out my earlier blog references to Marqueis Gray. Sam, who has an actual readership, said what I said about the fullback in a zone-blocking scheme not blocking the same way as a conventional battering ram.
He expressed it better. I will one-up him: A conventional blocking fullback hits the hole, and his target is the guy who fills it after all the other hats are on all the players they can block. He's usually blowing up a safety or a linebacker.
In the hole, these players can "shrink", and get under a tall fullback's pads and deprive him of leverage. He might sort of fall on top of them (if he doesn't flip over them), but it still creates a pile-up that the running back has to slow down and run around.
In the zone scheme, there is no hole, and the fullback blocks in space. Nobody is planted or "squared up". Here a powerful, fast guy who is 6'4" could excel because he has more reach, and it's more about getting in the way, and nudging people; either giving them an extra shove to speed them on their way, or chucking them just as they're trying to change directions to intercept the cutback.
Poor Tony Grossi doesn't seem to get this. No helmets flying off. Nobody on their back.
But Sam also hit what I missed: Gray at fullback as a reciever. A reciever who's almost as fast as Jordon Cameron.
In view of the questions at (outside) wide reciever, it makes a lot of sense for Kyle Shanahan to use a pass-catching fullback.
As I've said before, ignore the labels. Call Gray what you want: H-back or fullback. He may well be one of the better players Kyle has to work with, and he'll find a place for him, period.
Some guy on Rant Sports saw the Gray experiment at fullback. He correctly pointed out that he might be too tall for it. But this writer seemed oblivious to the difference a zone scheme represented, and got downright stupid in concluding that this was Gray's last chance to make the roster.
He can catch and run with the ball. He's the only viable depth behind Cameron for what Cameron does. Why would you cut him, even if he doesn't turn out to be a good blocking fullback?
Duh.
Now Mike Pettine has said that Jabaal Sheard is a "rush" linebacker, and he's putting his hand in the dirt more. Meanwhile, he said that Mingo would be in coverage more.
I told you so. You can quit laughing now.
Pettine runs a hybrid defense, and that's not just lip service. Sheard can't run with tight ends, but Mingo can. This is undervalued, and Mike knows it. Tight ends have killed this defense.
It's not a new concept either. The best passrusher the Browns ever had, Clay Matthews, sometimes lined up in the tight end's face and eliminated him as a reciever. That's because when Hanford and Minni took the wide-outs off the QB's table, offenses started hitting tight ends quick underneath them. Clay took care of that.
Another part of this is Christian Kirksey, who was an outstanding weakside 4-3 linebacker in college. While he will play "inside" a lot here, he can also return to this position in a 4-3.
And if you think about it, this defense might just be better suited for 4-3 than 3-4 anyway, with Kirksey weak, Mingo strong, and Sheard at DE.
Regardless, they'll get their best players on the field, however they have to do it.
Jim O'Neal has the people at every level to match up with any offense, just as Marqueis Gray is one guy who could help Kyle Shanahan attack any defense. (Note on that: He can still play tight end).
Once things shake out, Rubin will mostly be a rotational nose tackle and a defensive tackle. Despite what one clueless writer wrote, these positions are where john Hughes fits. Hughes does't belong at DE.
Armonty Bryant, who pre-draft was tried out at, and considered as, a 3-4 OLB, is being experimented with there by the new regime. Last season, he was retained on the active roster as a defensive end, hoping to build himself up to the size required there.
He's a speed rush guy, who might now even be comparable to Sheard.
Billy Winn and Des Bryant are 3-4 defensive ends or 4-3 tackles.
Per Mike Carrucci, Greg Robertson is responding admirably to Kirksey's challenge inside, and made his own bones as a rookie weakside 4-3 linebacker. According to Mike, he's much improved in coverage. We all may have been a bit premature in burying the guy.
This means better depth at inside linebacker and 4-3 outside linebacker than we'd thought.
Down, distance, opposing tackles, and scores aside, Kevious Mingo is one example. If the opposing team has a dangerous passcatching tight end, he might be covering him, and the look might be more 4-3. If it's a "normal" tight end, it's more 3-4, and he rotates in and attacks most of the time.
If Robertson's apparent improvement is real, both he and Kirksey can be kept fresh in rotation. The venerable Karlos Dansby need not be asked to play every down by any means...it will be very hard to wear these guys down.
4-3 and 3-4 are labels anyway, and the most commonly used defenses will probably have to be nickels and dimes.
How 'bout 4-1, 4-2, 3-2 and 3-3? The new Browns can do all of these easily, and often with the same players. That will help a whole lot vs Pittsburgh's new no-huddle attack.
It doesn't matter who starts, either. Rotations will be heavy, and all of these guys will play a lot.
I keep saying this, but I've got to say it again: Think outside the box.
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