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So I was looking at our roster and I really think that it would be beneficial to switch back to the 4-3. I think we have the personnel that with a couple of good signings we could be right back to being a very good defense. Let's say in the offseason (and I know this is looking ahead pretty far) we:

1. Tag-and-Trade Greg Jennings.
2. Cut Driver, Hawk and Woodson.
3. Use that money to sign corner Tracy Porter and safety Doshon Goldston.
4. Draft safety T.J. MacDonald in the 1st.

We could be looking at:

DE: Perry -
DE: ? -
DT: Raji - Worthy
DT: Pickett - Daniels

OLB: Matthews -
MLB: Bishop - Smith
OLB: Francois -

CB: Tramon - House - Bush
CB: Porter - Shields - Hayward
S: MacDonald - Burnett
S: Goldston - Jennings (or one of the other young S prospects we have)

I think Raji would generate a lot of pass rush and Clay would obviously be a beast when it came to blitzing in the 4-3. Perry is more suited to be a 4-3 and obviously you'd have to sink some picks into DEs. But I really think that makes our defense look a lot better than what it does right now.

I'm by no means giving up on this season or anything. I'm just curious what people think of the idea.

Now that so many teams have gone 3-4 its harder to find 3-4 OLBs that can do it all. It may be easier to find a stud 4-3 DE than 3-4 OLB.
Neal could possibly play DE opposite Perry?
No way Francois starts. Maybe Walden?

wouldn't even have to dump Capers as hhe's coached both. I like Dom and would keep him.

Interesting but won't happen.

eagle13 wrote:Now that so many teams have gone 3-4 its harder to find 3-4 OLBs that can do it all. It may be easier to find a stud 4-3 DE than 3-4 OLB.

I agree with this.

Neal could possibly play DE opposite Perry?

Yeah, he'd definitely be worth giving a try.

No way Francois starts. Maybe Walden?

I actually like Francois. He's really good in coverage, IMO. I think that's very valuable with the insane TEs coming up in the NFL these days.

Not going to happen. I also don't understand why you think we are going to cut Woodson.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt wrote:Not going to happen. I also don't understand why you think we are going to cut Woodson.

I don't understand why you think I think this is going to happen. It's a suggestion and a topic I am curious about... because I think our personnel could fit a 4-3 better.

Newz wrote:

PkrsBcksGphsMqt wrote:Not going to happen. I also don't understand why you think we are going to cut Woodson.

I don't understand why you think I think this is going to happen.

You either want them to cut Woodson or you think they will. Otherwise, why would you suggest it?

Either way, they're not cutting Chuck unless he suffers a catastrophic, Collins-like injury.

humanrefutation wrote:You either want them to cut Woodson or you think they will. Otherwise, why would you suggest it?

Obviously in this scenario I would like them to cut Woodson... that's why I posted it. That doesn't mean that I think it's going to happen though.

Clay Matthews loses a sizable chunk of value as a player by having him be a 4-3 OLB where he isn't rushing the passer nearly every down.

The 3-4 scheme isn't the main problem for the defensive struggles, it's much more talent related. Any offensive or defensive scheme needs talent to make it look good. Hell, i think McCarthy is an upper-tier offensive mind, yet the 49ers were 30th in offense the year before Ted hired MM.

If or until Perry becomes a consistent pass rusher, Matthews is alone among the linebackers who is a good pass rusher. Our talent at ILB with Bishop out is terrible. Besides the struggles Smith/Hawk had vs the run last week, AJ is awful at blitzing and Smith doesn't seem that adept at it either. Given how 3-4 teams like to blitz their ILB's more than 4-3 teams do, Capers is handcuffed by having Smith/Hawk in the middle. We also have serious question marks at both corner and safety.

For as great of a GM as Thompson has been, he clearly has done a better job at drafting offense than defense. Letting Jenkins walk was a very big mistake, the defense has missed him badly. Raji has declined for whatever reason after looking like he'd become an elite NT/DT. It goes without saying what a blow it was losing Collins.

I'm fine with staying a 3-4 defense, Ted simply needs to supply the unit with better talent. Hopefully the most recent draft class starts showing itself well as the season goes along.

We'd have to trade Clay for some form of comparable talent on defense. He wouldn't be a bad 4-3 LB, but we'd be wasting a lot of his talents.

This would be really dumb. Clay is by far our best defensive player and in a 4-3 he would just be some guy, maybe not even an every down player. 'And we cut our 2nd best defensive player in Woodson? So the reasoning is simply because Raji and Perry might be better in a 4-3? Go play some more Madden or something.

Love the gif.

JayMKE wrote:

This would be really dumb. Clay is by far our best defensive player and in a 4-3 he would just be some guy, maybe not even an every down player. 'And we cut our 2nd best defensive player in Woodson? So the reasoning is simply because Raji and Perry might be better in a 4-3? Go play some more Madden or something.

Von Miller plays in the 4-3 right now and is a very comparable player to Clay Matthews.

Guess he's "just a guy" too.

Von Miller probably would be a better fit in the 3-4

JayMKE wrote:Von Miller probably would be a better fit in the 3-4

Well he's just a guy in the 4-3. I mean, he barely even makes an impact. Does anyone even know who that guy is?

Clay is a tremendous all around player and would stand out in any system.

Newz wrote:

JayMKE wrote:Von Miller probably would be a better fit in the 3-4

Well he's just a guy in the 4-3. I mean, he barely even makes an impact. Does anyone even know who that guy is?

Are you still arguing that we should switch to the 4-3 or are you just arguing for the sake of it?

emunney wrote:Clay is a tremendous all around player and would stand out in any system.

I like how he told me to go play some Madden after telling me Clay Matthews would be "just a guy" in a 4-3 system. If by "just a guy" he means still one of the top 5 OLBs in the entire NFL... then he has a pretty good point.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt wrote:

Newz wrote:

JayMKE wrote:Von Miller probably would be a better fit in the 3-4

Well he's just a guy in the 4-3. I mean, he barely even makes an impact. Does anyone even know who that guy is?

Are you still arguing that we should switch to the 4-3 or are you just arguing for the sake of it?

I do think we should switch to the 4-3, yeah. I don't really think it's going to happen, but I think it'd be a better fit for the personnel we have.

Are you still in favor of cutting Woodson too?

PkrsBcksGphsMqt wrote:Are you still in favor of cutting Woodson too?

In this scenario, yes... because I'd want to be able to acquire the players that I listed. We could also ask him to take a pay cut as well. Or if we could acquire them while keeping him on the roster and extending other valuable players, then yeah... I wouldn't mind keeping him around.

I'm not cutting him because I think he's terrible or something like that. I'd rather just inject the defense with some youth and talent that's going to be around for a while.