Is it time to switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3?

Do you have any suggestions?

I think if we had another dominating zero-tech NT our defense would be much better. I'd still be worried about our Pass rushing OLBer and the depth at that position which is what got me considering the switch in the 1st place. I just don't see staying in the 3-4 because that's what we've done for such a long time as reason enough to remain.

To me as I sit here, in order to stay in the 3-4 we must acquire a true NT either in the draft or via FA. In the draft you have one true NT that has the potential to be better than what we already have and that's Louis Nix and that would require us spending our 1st rd pick on him. We'd also must invest in another OLBer with the 2nd pick and hopefully he works out. FA is not a viable option for either position.

Without a 3rd rd pick fixing the 3-4 would be costly since we also need to address the CB/Safety/WR positons before the 5th rd IMO.

We need our defense to return to a top 3 defense overall regardless of scheme and I'm trying to figure out which direction would be best.

Cajun-

 

NFL Playoffs: 3 Out Of the 4 Teams Left Are Running 3-4 Defenses, this would seem to validate that the 3-4 is dominating offenses more than the 4-3 this year..........

 

For awhile we were the only 3-4 team in the league, and we dominated.

 

I do believe The Broncos & the seachickens employ the 4-3 defense. The patriots a few years back wanted to switch back to a 4-3 and brought in albert Haynesworth and others to make this happen. They ended up staying in the 3-4 but in 2012 they used both but mostly the 4-3. Since Wilfork has gone down they're almost completely 4-3 now. Now the 49ers do use a 3-4 but its a hybrid as they use the princibles of both schemes and Aldon Smith lines up at the DE position often.

Hugesnack is right, in 2001 we were the ONLY team using the 3-4 and our dominating defenses over the years has encouraged other coaches to switch. I think the NFL teams today are split about equally on who runs a 4-3 or a 3-4.


Cajun-

 

we ran a lot of the 4 front this year. two down (heyward,ziggy)( heyward,keisel) and JJ and worilds or Woodley. more of a 46 with troy doing what he does.

as for other teams running the 3-4 now, yes a lot switched back to it. a lot of the reason we don't get all the LB'ers anymore. it runs in cycles. we have pretty much stayed with it while other teams got away from it and are now back to it. DL's scheme isn't the problem. getting the players to fit it is more of a problem.

 

This!! I'm not an advocate of either scheme. I'm a fan of a dominating defense and we've lost that. Teams don't fear our defense and that needs to change. My question is how do we do that and one must keep in mind our current roster and with the draft and FA around the corner our potential roster and what direction do we go scheme wise/or our base set. We do run different sets so our current roster could run whatever set DL decides on.

Cajun-