defensive line prospects

Steelers had Donald in for a visit last week. http://thesteelersfans.com/2288/report-pitt-dt-aaron-donald-pre-draft-visit-steelers/

 

To the point - Is Aaron Donald too good to pass on at #15?

Now, I am a BIG scheme guy, I think it absolutely matters. Because of this, I labelled Donald as a pure 4-3 DT and really didn't scout him much other than the occasional Pitt game I am have seen over the past few years. After reading some of the posts lately, I decided to do some more homework.

As wardismvp put it:
"What did the Emperor use to say,
football is really not that difficult,
You block and you tackle. can you beat
the man in front of you?"

Can Aaron Donald succeed, regardless of what scheme he is put in? Can you put him somewhere along a 3 man defensive line and have him succeed?

Now I don't think you can put him over the center and ask him to hold his ground against 2 blockers play in and play out. But does our defensive scheme predicate that the NT has to play it this way so the ILBs can make the plays? Can we let Aaron Donald just play the run on his way to the QB like he did at PITT?

This is definitely a situation where a local kid starred playing HS football in Pittsburgh and then committed to PITT where he dominated for 3 years. Its not as if the Rooneys/Colbert/Tomlin/Lebeau haven't been paying attention. they know who this kid is and what he is capable. If they think he could be a star, would they really pass on him if he were available because of scheme?

Since I labelled him as a 4-3 player and because I thought it made too much sense for him to go to Chicago, he's been kind of off my radar. Looking at the Chicago situation, I started to think that maybe it isn't such a slam dunk that Donald ends up there. They brought in Jay Ratliff last year and re-signed him for 2 years. They then brought in Jared Allen & Lamarr Houston as DEs while also having former 1st round pick Shea Mclellin. They have made SERIOUS commitments to the DL, would they add yet another 1st round pick to it?

I was a big Ziggy Hood fan from his days at Mizzou. I also thought he was un-blockable at the Senior Bowl. Despite this, I absolutely hated the pick when the Steelers drafted him because I thought it was a bad decision from a scheme perspective. That turned out to be absolutely the case. Now that Ziggy is off to a 4-3 team, we will see if the scheme argument is true, or if Ziggy is just an average football player at the NFL level.

I still have Mike Evans and Justin Gilbert firmly entrenched as my top options for pick #15. Now there is a good chance that both of them could be gone. I then would set my sights on an ILB ala CJ Mosley or Ryan Shazier. The former a more complete LB while the latter offers up a potential game changer.

After watching much film on Aaron Donald this weekend, I have to add him to the mix. In my opinion, he is just TOO GOOD to let scheme get in the way. The fact he is a local kid plays a factor too (and I live in Canada). I think that is important for the Rooneys. If he is the pick, I say bring him in and just let him play football. We let Troy just ball out on the backend, why not let a DT do it on the front end? Let Aaron Donald play the run on his way to the backfield. When Jay Ratliff was in Dallas, he was not the prototypical NT, yet he succeeded and went to 4 pro bowls. Perhaps Donald could have similar success.

 

OK, on the Donald discussion, I have been one of the people cautioning that scheme fit matters. In response to SC NB's note about Jay Ratliff being successful as a nose tackle in a 3-4 defense as a 1 gap penetrator, that was in a pure 1 gap scheme. The Wade Phillips 3-4 scheme is a 1 gap scheme all around. It's designed for ALL of the defensive linemen to play 1 gap, and for the ILBs to each have their own gap responsibilities. In fact, there's quite a bit of discussion among Texans followers about Romeo Crennel bringing in his 2 gap scheme, and what it's going to do to JJ Watt who has absolutely thrived in Phillips' 1 gap scheme. Our base defense is a 2 gap scheme where each lineman covers 2 gaps, and the ILBs flow to the ball (protected by the 2 gap linemen) and do not have individual gap responsibilities. It's not about 3-4 vs. 4-3, it's about a 1 gap skill set vs. a 2 gap skill set. A few years ago we drafted a 1 gap guy in the 1st round (Hood) and tried to convert him into a 2 gap player. While he wasn't awful, he never came close to living up to his 1st round draft status. I think it would be a mistake to draft Donald and then try to convert him to a 2 gap player to fit the scheme. I also question the staying power of an odd scheme that utilizes a 1 gap scheme inside with the nose and ILBs, and a 2 gap scheme with the DEs. A third option would be using Donald as a sub package guy only (when we shift away from gap control and to pass rush penetration). Is it worth spending pick #15 on a guy who would pretty much play only in passing situations? Maybe, considering how good he is, but I'd prefer to go another direction with that high of a pick.

Therefore, I think that if we pick Donald, it should be as part of a fundamental scheme shift. Such a move would have risks. How would that impact everyone else? How would Timmons be with 1 gap responsibilities? How about our other players? I'm not sure, although I do think that Heyward might be even better in 1 gap scheme because he has better explosion than power.

IF I really thought that LeBeau was ready to shift to a 1 gap shame, I'd be all for picking Donald and putting him right in the middle of our new 1 gap defense. However, does anyone really see that tiger changing it's stripes? I would fine it hard to believe. Donald is such a good player that I wouldn't hate the pick even if I knew we were staying in a 2 gap scheme, but I would be prepared for him to be used mostly in sub packages because as good as he is, he simply doesn't have the mass to hold 2 gaps against NFL interior linemen. And, if there's one thing that would really be a crime, it would be trying to "bulk" Donald up into a 2 gap player, and risk the quickness that makes him special - and if we do draft him, I fear that's what we would try to do (just like we did with Hood).

 

Elvis-

You are pretty much summing up all of my fears about the Donald pick. You really don't have to look any farther than the failed Ziggy Hood experiment to see how the difference between 1 gap and 2 gap works. My theory is that to some degree, personnel will dictate t hat.

Great example on the Texans. Do you think for a second that if they switch to a 2 gap and JJ Watt's numbers fall dramatically and they are losing that the owner/GM/fans are going to tolerate the defensive changes?

I do believe that even last year, we saw some more 1 gap principles out of our DL. If you were to add Aaron Donald to the mix, I think that would even allow for it more.

Obviously the Steelers (Rooneys) have a penchant for wanting local talent on the team. If Donald is there at #15, which is questionable but yet still possible, there is going to be some internal debate on him for sure.