I beg to differ on this. Staley runs an uneven 3-4 front, which in essence it operates similar to an over under 4-3 front at times. In this type of front, the NT will either hold the 0 tech or strong/weak (over/under) side i1 tech to 3 tech. The job is to anchor that end and create pressure by pushing the pocket to force the action to the other side to be swarm.
In any 3-4 related scheme it is crucial to have a big body to be able to handle the 0tech at times and be able to collapse his side, eat doubles in the A gap to free up everybody else, doing the dirty work to force the action to one side in order to be sustainable. Staley had Aaron Donald with the Rams who plays much bigger than his size. Even teams like the Super Bowl Seahawks that ran an over under 4-3 had Brandon Mebane, always had an even bigger body like Ahthyba Rubin to anchor.
You can run plays with whatever players you want (4-3 personnel,etc), but to run anything that is uneven or 3-4, it is a must to have somebody that is strong enough or big body up front to force the action to either side, otherwise it is just a fugazi; where your guys had to play perfect just to be functional. You can teach technique and all that but there is no replacement for displacement and the relevancy increases as you move closer to the line of scrimmage . It’s just simple physics.
If you want to contain leakage, best not to let them break your dam.
Staley has rarely had a "Big Body" play the NT... he specifically brought in SDJ and Austin Johnson. They specifically drafted Tito. Tito is the strong, big body.
Aaron Donald played the DE position... it would be foolish to try and find the next Aaron Donald... there is only one.
IMO, the DL was doing its job this last year... it was the LB's missing their reads/assignments. Hence, the coach was fired.
I'd draft a pass rushing DT/DE to compliment Morgan Fox (my 1 FA I'd bring back).
You could draft Mazi Smith... but it would take a 2nd to do it. And he'd only be a rotational player with SJD, AJ, and Tito.
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