Malcom Smith or Bruce Irvin?

Lets pretend we had to make a decision on who to keep. Irvin has improved and considering this is his first year at LB he has played well.

Smith has been a beast for most of the year. He has 3 picks in his last 4 games.

Who do you like more going forward?

Would you rather let KJ Wright go and keep the other two? Since KJ Wright will be due for a bigger extension.

I'm not ready to give up on Irvin, but he had a terrible NFL Championship game.........so it definitely seems like his learning curve is taking longer than it should.

On one of Kaepernick's long runs, Irvin bit down about as hard as you can bite down on a read option play, which allowed Kaeperstink to run for like 25 yards. So it wasn't surprising to see that he didn't get very many snaps after that.

I cant remember the last time Irvin did something.

When you are talking about the production you would like to see out of a player chosen with the 15th pick, its hard to not be pretty underwhelmed with Irvin at SAM backer. I doubt there have been many, if any SAM linebackers ever drafted that high, and Irvin is not exactly setting the world on fire as a SAM linebacker. He makes a tackle here and there and at times he seems to know what to do, but he's making no impact plays and he makes his fair share of mistakes.

In the 1st STL game he did have 8 tackles, 1 sack and 1 interception, so he can still make plays as a SAM. Not sure where the playmaking has gone in the second half of the season.

As for the question, to me, the ideal like up seems to be Wagner at MLB, KJ (when healthy) at SAM and Malcom Smith at WLB. Smith is so fast and he really seems to have a knack in coverage to follow the ball and be in position to make plays. He's playing really well. I'd love to see Irvin come in as the spinner and get a couple blitzing chances.

Missing_Clink":20eeoqxr said:

As for the question, to me, the ideal like up seems to be Wagner at MLB, KJ (when healthy) at SAM and Malcom Smith at WLB. Smith is so fast and he really seems to have a knack in coverage to follow the ball and be in position to make plays. He's playing really well.

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I would agree that is the best LB setup for base. However the broncos don't have a stellar running game and Irvin does well covering the TE and flares. I think I would give Irvin a lot if reps as a result.

Irvin's INT was because of Thomas. Before the play, you can clearly hear Thomas yelling at Irvin to watch the wheel route. Sure enough, here comes the wheel and a free INT. Would not have happened unless Thomas diagnosed it and told Irvin.

Irvin has been underwhelming. If you're a mid first round pick, you're expected to be a difference maker. He seems more like a guy who just sets the edge to funnel stuff back inside and be a spy for mobile QB's like Kap. I don't see us resigning him. I do see us resigning Smith and having him be our full time SAM.

Happypuppy":2psb1fpn said:

I would agree that is the best LB setup for base. However the broncos don't have a stellar running game and Irvin does well covering the TE and flares. I think I would give Irvin a lot if reps as a result.

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Maybe true, but that doesn't change the fact that we wasted a high 1st round pick on a player who's primary job is to come in passing situations and help cover TE's.

Sorry, but by the end of a player of Irvin's class, he should have more than 40 tackles and 2 sacks this year.........even if his position did change. I get the sack part, but he should have WAY more than 40 tackles.

At this point I would keep Smith. He has just made more plays and seems to improve the more he's on the field.

Smith is a free agent and Irvin has 2 years left on his deal so it's not really an either/or situation.

If Smith gets starter money somewhere else he's gone.

Smith is signed through the 2014 season anyways...

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/seattle-seah ... olm-smith/

Smith is a play maker. Irvin is not (yet). Since this was his first season playing OLB, I'll give Irvin another year to see if he can push it up.

smith

How long did it take ? something like three years for Malcolm Smith to develop into the player he is today. Bruce Irvin has the size,speed,and potential to be one the best in the league so yeah stick with Bruce Irvin is my opinion.

SAM LB position doesn't utilize Bruce Irvin's strengths. He's not rushing the passer as much. He's young and learning a new position. He'll be fine. I'm giving him a pass because he is trying to learn a position he's unaccustomed to. Growing pains. He's a piece of the #1 defense in the NFL so he's not that bad. I don't see any reason to make a decision between the two at this point. Both aren't breaking the bank and have big upside.

I hate these kind of threads.

Smith's been money. I agree that Smith at Will and KJ at Sam seems to be the best configuration we could hope for. But Bruce has such amazing raw ability. He could arguably be the best athlete on the team. He hasn't really done anything horribly wrong out there as the Sam (that long Kap run was on a lot of guys, not just him) but Bruce's strength is really rushing the passer. We need to be getting him into situations where he can do that, but I've been really surprised at the lack of creativity in putting him in blitzing situations. I suppose he's the odd man out in a very deep stable of pass rushers. When we can put Clem, Avril and Bennett on the field at the same time, we dont really need to roll out any hocus pocus package to get Bruce involved.

So if you put a gun to my head the day before the Super Bowl, I'd pick Malcolm but I think it would be a HUGE mistake to give up on Bruce too early.

Smith 100%. Irvin is practically invisible out there.

Bruce did not have his best game against the Niners as he did lose contain at times, but that does not mean I am ready to give up on him as a LBer. However, I would like to see Smith on the field more with KJ and Bobby as they seem to do pretty good together.

Considering Irvin is bigger, faster, and longer than Smith, I'll take Irvin againstan offense that has two big 6-3 recievers and a 6-5 athletic TE.

Either way though, Wright isn't at full strength, I hope they continue to mix it up. Make Irvin rush the passer, play Wright at all spots, Smith can play both OLB spots.

Hell, send all 4 out there in a 3-4 look, with Bruce, licking his chomps and eyeing Manning the whole way on the line, only to drop into coverage and have Wagner come in on a delayed zone blitz
after Bryant, Mebane, and McDaniel force double teams.

It doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be many. Keep Manning thinking.

This is Irvin's first year playing a new position, way too early to judge his as a LB

Sgt. Largent":2izk81bc said:

Happypuppy":2izk81bc said:

I would agree that is the best LB setup for base. However the broncos don't have a stellar running game and Irvin does well covering the TE and flares. I think I would give Irvin a lot if reps as a result.

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Maybe true, but that doesn't change the fact that we wasted a high 1st round pick on a player who's primary job is to come in passing situations and help cover TE's.

Sorry, but by the end of a player of Irvin's class, he should have more than 40 tackles and 2 sacks this year.........even if his position did change. I get the sack part, but he should have WAY more than 40 tackles.

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Why don't you cry about it to Dan Quinn?


In which he would respond: #1 Defense

Manning is tough to get to. In the Superb Owl I would throw Irvin in as an occasional pass rusher that has not been game-planned for.