What to do with Arthur Brown

[Ravens1991]

Another option would be to transition to a 4-3, that way we could protect Brown on the weak side and Smith in the middle. Suggs at LDE Ngata and Canty inside with Doom on the right.

 

I love transitioning to a 43 mainly because I feel it is best for the NFL today. I feel our 2 gap 34 in outdated. But we would need more depth in the dline to make it happen. Someone who can penetrate and get into the backfield to make it work. I don't see us addressing that in the draft so we will have a 34 next year IMO.

[BloodRaven]

I love transitioning to a 43 mainly because I feel it is best for the NFL today. I feel our 2 gap 34 in outdated. But we would need more depth in the dline to make it happen. Someone who can penetrate and get into the backfield to make it work. I don't see us addressing that in the draft so we will have a 34 next year IMO.

 

The 3-4 isn't outdated, you just need special players to run it well.

[Ravens1991]

The 3-4 isn't outdated, you just need special players to run it well.

I think having your entire dline just gobble up blocks is. I feel its best to have as many natural pass rushers as you can since it is such a pass heavy league. And if you can shoot a gap and get to the backfield to get the QB or a RB why would you have them taking up space.

[JoeyFlex5]

Another option would be to transition to a 4-3, that way we could protect Brown on the weak side and Smith in the middle. Suggs at LDE Ngata and Canty inside with Doom on the right.

brandon williams would be a much better 4-3 DT than canty based on size alone, canty just isnt beefy enough for that, excellent front man on a 3-4 though

[JoeyFlex5]

I personally think it's more valuable to have 2 mlb's who are good in coverage, even if they were to lack a bit in the run defense department, than to have one good in coverage and one good against the run.

Plus, I think you're underestimating both of their ability's to play the run. And if Rolando McClain un-retires he will work in rotation with them and see action on obvious running downs. I hope he does come back - he's still young, seems to have his head screwed on right, probably continued to train with Saban and the 'Bama boys, and will finally be in a scheme that suits his talents. He would be a totally unexpected benefit. Kids got all-pro talent and is still the same age or younger than than a lot of our draft picks from the past 2 years.

---

Somewhat unrelated, but did anyone have the feeling that Ozzie played a hand in McClains "retirement." I have a suspicion that Ozzie had a heart-to-heart with him and convinced him that he should sign with the Ravens, take a year off to get his mind right, finish school, and by retiring have the option to come back to the Ravens, get paid and re-claim his career.

Either way, I'm happy for him and excited to see him possibly come back and achieve his potential in purple and black. I'm rooting for his return bc I think he's still got it.

i think its more valuable as well, we need to hope our DLine can either make the stop on run plays, or at least clutter up the line enough to slow them up and let our LB's make the play, if you have either of ur ILB's weak on coverage, then it is an area to exploit through the entire course of a season, if jameel mcclain is in at the mike backer, and daryl smith is dropping into zone from the will, on say, 2nd and 5, then its not a obvious type of down, jameel drops into a zone and gets abused on a play action for a big play, where if we had 2 coverage guys, the threat of the run is there, but the instinctive coverage guys wont normally bite as easy on a play fake, and a guy like arthur brown would have the closing speed to make up for biting on the fake and get back into his zone much quicker. 

 

the run stopping thumpers are somewhat overrated in this pass happy league, and if we can find a true FS and move elam to SS and let him hunt, then we wont need to worry about having a run stuffer at ILB, he has the ability to wreak havoc in the run game as well as any decent ILB. 

 

i think the obvious keys to allowing us to use 2 faster, agile ILB's, is depth and beef on the 3 man front, effective edge setting from our OLB's on obvious run downs, and a FS to allow us to use matt elam for what he is best at. if we have those things, arthur brown and daryl smith will absolutely shine

[Corvus]

Our BASE defense is still a 3/4 and I would assume he would still be in the nickel packages as he was last year. With Jameel leaving that second inside linebacker spot, Arthur will get much more playing time this year if he continues to progress, step up, and earn the spot which I am confident that he will.

[Ravensuperfan1]

I'd rather have Arthur starting with Smith than Josh Bynes. Arthur looks to be a solid all around linebacker. And with a year under his belt I hope he can turn into a real playmaker alongside Daryl Smith.

[Puntit]

I may be a little late with this but I feel this point needs to be addressed. I'm happy that we resigned Dayrl but we already have a coverage MLB,Arthur Brown. I don't see us playing Brown and Smith together because we need a good run stuffer. What do you think the solution to this problem is? If we let Dayrl play out his contract without starting brown that's a waste of a pick and a waste of cap. On a personal note I was hoping we didn't resign smith and got Skov or played Brown and Rolando.

The middle is not a one person position. Not all that different than when we had Lewis, Ellerbe and McLain up the middle. We will work brown in as he's ready and where he's ready and still get plenty of use out of Smith. Plus it's a High impact position so odds are somebody will be injured at some point and you need a next man up situation.

[ClintLB8]

Andrew Jackson is now the play for the late round thumper to compliment Smith/Brown.

[GrimCoconut]

Andrew Jackson is now the play for the late round thumper to compliment Smith/Brown.

I really like Jackson as a late round possibly UDFA pick.

[gabefergy]

I really hope his problems in the run game were just because he was small. I know it's an unpopular thing to say but he was terrible against the run. Great in coverage, though.

 

Unless we do transition to a 4-3 base, which is looking more and more likely by the day, I have serious doubts about our run defense. 

Are you talking about Daryl Smith? He was pretty terrible vs the run last year.

 

Brown played a very limited role where he was almost entirely playing on obvious passing downs. He was only in on 19 total snaps vs the run.

[The Raven]

Are you talking about Daryl Smith? He was pretty terrible vs the run last year.

 

Brown played a very limited role where he was almost entirely playing on obvious passing downs. He was only in on 19 total snaps vs the run.

 

Now that you mention it, Smith wasn't that great against the run either. 

 

Didn't realize Brown only played 19 snaps on run downs, but I guess a few of those 19 snaps stand out to me.

[GrimCoconut]

Brown is really heavily criticized against the run and a lot can be attributed to him not "playing well" when a run was called. If the defensive front is expecting a pass, we saw last year quite a few times the other team audible into a successful run play that left the DL guessing itself and subsequently failing to stop the run. Our DL is very peculiar in that manner. You'd expect them to be a lot better with guys like Williams, Ngata, Canty, Jones, etc. but they just weren't phenomenal at stopping the run when I watched the games. Granted, I missed half the season but that's my opinion from what I saw. The DL plays a big part in stopping the run. it's a reason why Carolina did so well and why Kuechly really shined this year despite being a phenomenal player. Having that much beef up front helps a lot. When guards are getting to the LBs that's an issue.

[ClintLB8]

I really like Jackson as a late round possibly UDFA pick.

 

I feel like he gets drafted. He might slide from the 3rd-4th range he was once in.. but I feel like late 5th to late 6th is his range. The only knock on him is coverage and character concerns.

[MrDelDante]

Maybe look at Preston Brown in the draft as a capable run stuffer? Should be available with one of our comp picks in round 4 if the draft falls right.

[RavensDE]

I think we drafted him to play but if he gets buried on a talented team that is no wasted pick.  The thing is last year the game seemed to move fast for him and he lost many snaps to former RFA and Raven's groomed Josh Bynes who is also very athletic.  I see Brown overtaking Bynes this year, and in a pass happy league coverage LB's shouldn't be overlooked anyway.  The thing is it's not like he's a deficient tackler but he's not mad-man Bart Scott shooting up the hole and he not the player to lead our defense from the MLB spot at this time.  Expect him to emerge and be more productive as well as see more snaps as the #2 MLB / coverage LB, but not overtake D.Smith.  

[Mad Puppy]

What to do with Brown?

Play the guy.

[redrum52]

What to do with Brown?

Play the guy.

That^

[Tenacious Faulker]

I may be a little late with this but I feel this point needs to be addressed. I'm happy that we resigned Dayrl but we already have a coverage MLB,Arthur Brown. I don't see us playing Brown and Smith together because we need a good run stuffer. What do you think the solution to this problem is? If we let Dayrl play out his contract without starting brown that's a waste of a pick and a waste of cap. On a personal note I was hoping we didn't resign smith and got Skov or played Brown and Rolando.  

If anything McClellan and Bynes are the odd men out.  McClain has a lot of conditioning to get back and I don't think that he'll be able to unseat Brown, at least for most of 2014.  He's just going to be exceptional depth and situational in pass plays IF he comes back.

[jdynamite]

I don't like this thought process that Arthur Brown isn't a run-stuffer, thus can't play as much with D.Smith...

Arthur Brown did not play enough to say that he can't play run well, because he has nice quickness and coverage skills he was used more in passing situations during his limited action.

Let's remember the Ravens spent the better part of 4 seasons splitting reps between J.Mcclain, T.Gooden, and D.Ellerbe because ( Gooden stayed injured, McClain was "run-stuffer", Ellerbe "coverage linebacker") this lead to not one of them developing into a full starter. Until year 5 when McClain got hurt and Ellerbe became a full time starter and showed he could now play the run and the pass well.

Last season I would have rather A.Brown take 70-80% of snaps opposite of D.smith, over Bynes, McClain, McClellan to gain much needed playing experience.

Bynes playing wasn't a big deal at first, because is also a young hungry player, but Bynes missed tackles, and had coverage issues early, which is why I felt more snaps could go to A.Brown.

[RavensNation14]

I don't like this thought process that Arthur Brown isn't a run-stuffer, thus can't play as much with D.Smith...

Arthur Brown did not play enough to say that he can't play run well, because he has nice quickness and coverage skills he was used more in passing situations during his limited action.

Let's remember the Ravens spent the better part of 4 seasons splitting reps between J.Mcclain, T.Gooden, and D.Ellerbe because ( Gooden stayed injured, McClain was "run-stuffer", Ellerbe "coverage linebacker") this lead to not one of them developing into a full starter. Until year 5 when McClain got hurt and Ellerbe became a full time starter and showed he could now play the run and the pass well.

Last season I would have rather A.Brown take 70-80% of snaps opposite of D.smith, over Bynes, McClain, McClellan to gain much needed playing experience.

Bynes playing wasn't a big deal at first, because is also a young hungry player, but Bynes missed tackles, and had coverage issues early, which is why I felt more snaps could go to A.Brown.

Arthur and Daryl will get the start for sure and I could see Bynes coming in on goal line formations or something or 3rd and short. 

[tolucaraven]

Brown will be a stud. He is so athletic. Great speed. Just more reps and snaps.

[sflegend89]

Arthur Brown doesn't get talked about enough, dude was flying through gaps on blitzes and was around the ball a lot for his limited action last year. Thought he was a stud coming of college and I think he's going to turn a lot of heads this after learning from his rookie year and getting an increased role on the defense.

[52520Andrew]

I think Arthur Brown is going to have a great year this year. Can't wait to see him in action

[bravensfan52]

Maybe since we played him sparingly he will miss the sophomore slump. Lol I hope he beast this year