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The Case for Drafting Ed Oliver


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First off, he's a beast.  Pairing him with Geno for a few years has the potential to be a devastating interior line.  Lawson and Dunlap on the outside with Oiver and Atkins in the middle, on paper we should be able to get to the QB with those 4 leaving 7 in coverage.  Then, when Geno retires you still have a young guy on the interior to continue building your defense around.  With today's offenses getting the ball out quickly, interior d-line has as much, if not more value than the edge rusher.  You can scheme around edge rushers by getting the ball out quickly, or chipping with a back or TE.  It's much harder to do that with an interior defender.  If Ed Oliver is on the board, we really need to consider this option.

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3 minutes ago, WRAPradio said:

First off, he's a beast.  Pairing him with Geno for a few years has the potential to be a devastating interior line.  Lawson and Dunlap on the outside with Oiver and Atkins in the middle, on paper we should be able to get to the QB with those 4 leaving 7 in coverage.  Then, when Geno retires you still have a young guy on the interior to continue building your defense around.  With today's offenses getting the ball out quickly, interior d-line has as much, if not more value than the edge rusher.  You can scheme around edge rushers by getting the ball out quickly, or chipping with a back or TE.  It's much harder to do that with an interior defender.  If Ed Oliver is on the board, we really need to consider this option.

Guy is fairly light don't you think?  6-3 275 for an interior d lineman??  Atkins is 25 lbs heavier and 3 inches shorter.  

 

Besides, we need 3 down linebackers who can cover TEs and RBs way more than another pass rusher.  The short passing game KILLED us last year and those are very quick completions where our d line never had time to get close to the QB. 

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16 minutes ago, SF2 said:

Guy is fairly light don't you think?  6-3 275 for an interior d lineman??  Atkins is 25 lbs heavier and 3 inches shorter.  

 

Besides, we need 3 down linebackers who can cover TEs and RBs way more than another pass rusher.  The short passing game KILLED us last year and those are very quick completions where our d line never had time to get close to the QB. 

 

Agree on all of those points; I'm just trying to generate conversation that goes against the conventional wisdom.  Honestly though, I could be talked into this.  The defensive line is the most important part of a defense and while it's the strength of our D, a lot of times they under perform.  On top of that, Carlos and Geno aren't spring chickens.  Getting some good youth in there would be huge now and hopefully for the next decade.  Oliver is a bit light, but he's super strong.  Houston played him at nose tackle for a lot of the season.  He's a great run defender and a really good pass rusher.  The scary thing is he can get even better as a pass rusher.  Right now it looks like he's masted the bull rush b/c of his strength, but if he can develop a finesse move or a couple of counter moves he'll be dominant.  Put him next to Geno and that will be a tough duo for any offensive line to deal with.  IF (and that's a big IF) we can sigh Kwon Alexander in FA, I'd feel a lot better about this pick.  Even if we don't sign an OT or LB in FA (which would be a major disappointment), I promised myself after the Levi Jones pick that I'd never be upset about drafting OL or DL because of the importance of the position. 

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If I remember correctly Ed weighed in at 287. I certainly wouldn’t hate the pick. I also think it’s now highly likely he’s gone by 11. Lastly, this draft is not deep at OT and LB, at least if you want to get a guy in 2 if you take Oliver at 11. 

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Of the DTs I see in this draft, I think Dexter Lawrence is the guy who holds the most value to the Bengals. Oliver might have played a nose tackle at Houston, but the pro game is a helluva lot different than the college game is at that position. Centers and guards in this league would eat his lunch.. 

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2 hours ago, bengaled said:

Of the DTs I see in this draft, I think Dexter Lawrence is the guy who holds the most value to the Bengals. Oliver might have played a nose tackle at Houston, but the pro game is a helluva lot different than the college game is at that position. Centers and guards in this league would eat his lunch.. 

 

He wouldn't play the nose here (assuming we stay in a 4-3).  He'd essentially play Geno's spot, but in nickle, he'd lineup right next to Geno with Lawson and Carlos on the edge.  Now if we're going 3-4 I'm not sure how all of that translates.  I'd think he'd be a DE which, IMO, would be a waste of his talent.

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6 hours ago, bengaled said:

Of the DTs I see in this draft, I think Dexter Lawrence is the guy who holds the most value to the Bengals. Oliver might have played a nose tackle at Houston, but the pro game is a helluva lot different than the college game is at that position. Centers and guards in this league would eat his lunch.. 

I wonder if Lawrence is going to take a Billings-like fall?  He was a projected top 20 pick that fell because he was seen as a pure nose, despite a solid Combine performance.  And Lawrence only did one 40 and got hurt.

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Harry Downer here...  Can't find it now but saw a mock draft for us within the last few days that had us getting Oliver.  It mentioned that he can be lazy and unmotivated and will need some sort of spark at the pro level to get him to his full potential.  

Just throwing it out there FWIW.

Still trying to find my source.  Will post when I do.  If I do, find it.

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10 hours ago, spicoli said:

I understand how much time we spend in nickel in today's NFL but do we even know what base we're running yet?

I'm intrigued by Oliver, I'm just not sure he's a fit..

 

 

Geno isn't going to play forever.

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Harry Downer here...  Can't find it now but saw a mock draft for us within the last few days that had us getting Oliver.  It mentioned that he can be lazy and unmotivated and will need some sort of spark at the pro level to get him to his full potential.  
Just throwing it out there FWIW.
Still trying to find my source.  Will post when I do.  If I do, find it.

Playing next to Gene Atkins should be all the motivation a guy needs.


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Don't mind Oliver. But when I look at the PFF scores and people's play, I think we are far more likely to luck into a second DT than we are to luck into a top LB. If we get Oliver I will get on board. If Devin White or maybe even Devin Bush are there I think you have to take one. 

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13 hours ago, spicoli said:

I understand how much time we spend in nickel in today's NFL but do we even know what base we're running yet?

I'm intrigued by Oliver, I'm just not sure he's a fit..

 

 

He had said that the base will be 4-3, but also that they will mix it up. 

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On 3/5/2019 at 1:19 PM, WRAPradio said:

 

He wouldn't play the nose here (assuming we stay in a 4-3).  He'd essentially play Geno's spot, but in nickle, he'd lineup right next to Geno with Lawson and Carlos on the edge.  Now if we're going 3-4 I'm not sure how all of that translates.  I'd think he'd be a DE which, IMO, would be a waste of his talent.

So you're admitting we really don't have a place for him, aside from when we're in the nickle, right?  I agree he'd be a tremendous asset in the nickle, just am concerned teams would play smash mouth style, limiting his value to us as a top ten pick. We need a 3 down player for that investment, I think.

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6 minutes ago, bengaled said:

So you're admitting we really don't have a place for him, aside from when we're in the nickle, right?  I agree he'd be a tremendous asset in the nickle, just am concerned teams would play smash mouth style, limiting his value to us as a top ten pick. We need a 3 down player for that investment, I think.

 

Hed play next to Geno in the nickle which is probably close to 70% of the snaps. 

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16 minutes ago, WRAPradio said:

 

Hed play next to Geno in the nickle which is probably close to 70% of the snaps. 

Just my humble opinion but I sill thing we need a 3 down LB way before we add another stud to the dline.  Lets see how FA works out first I guess. 

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3 hours ago, T-Dub said:

Just so long as we don't draft an OT.   Nobody buys OL jerseys and besides we already have an OT on the roster.

Your sarcasm...sometimes it's so annoying, and other times I just laugh my ass off. I'm laughing hard this time!

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4 hours ago, WRAPradio said:

 

Hed play next to Geno in the nickle which is probably close to 70% of the snaps. 

Or so you think. A good case could be made if you put that hypothetical grouping on the field, teams would run the ball 70% of the time and eat the clock all game. They'd have success at doing that too.

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