Kuechly vs wagner

[BigMeach]

It's amazing how quickly perspectives can change in the NFL. Wagner's a beast and will only get better.

 

[hawker84]

Kuechly is the best in the biz.... Wagner definitely in top five, maybe top 3 IMO.

 

[Hasselbeck]

Sorry but Wagner isn't close to Kuechly .. Wagner is a great player no question but Kuechly is on his way to a HOF career.

 

[Tech Worlds]

Keuchly is a WLB posing as a MLB. His college tape complaint that he gets a lot of tackles downfield was legit early on. He put on weight to get up to 238 for the draft and his arms aren't that long. He has problems at the POA and that continues to this day. Even today in this game you saw him driven back and try to go around blocks and it hurt him. This was REALLY easy to see when Keuchly was a rook. Even in his rookie game against the Hawks he was put on his back 3 times. That wasn't uncommon. In his sophmore offseason, Carolina drafted two of the most talented DTs in the draft and they've generally tried to keep Keuchly clean, where he's at his best in space.

Wagner is a different LB. He's in the mold of a true actual +Mike LBer. When PC got here Tatupu was really excited at first until he had that first call with PC where stated that he'd have an A gap in that 4-3 Under. Everyone has to be responsible for a gap. Obviously Tatupu was tough enough to handle that, but having en emphasis on that slowed down his reads and his lack of strait line speed; already slowing from many hard seasons, really caught up with him.

Enter Wagner post Heater.

This is a guy who can do that same thing, that same emphasis of plugging a gap with power and length, and still have the athletic ability to get back in coverage and make a play on the ball because of sheer explosiveness. Not unlike Bowman is or was in SF. These guys are the real true elite Mike LBers in this league. They don't really have a weakness.

Now, if you were asking me if I'd want Kuechly or Wagner at WLB.....that'd be a better question. Keuchly has elite understanding of angles in space, which is where a WLB really shows his value in basically any type of 4-3 defense.

If I'm picking a Mike where I don't know what style of defense is going to be, I go with Wagner in an extremely easy decision because of scheme diversity. The only backer I MIGHT consider; depending on season, I would consider over Wagner would be Bowman, but I don't really know how much that horrific injury really hurt him in the long run. Keuchly in a Hawks uni wouldn't be nearly as impressive to what he and Thomas Davis have the luxury of in Carolina.

Thanks for this. It's exactly how I see it.

 

[vin.couve12]

You want a true Mike that can do everything, then Wagner and Bowman are basically your guys. Keuchly and Willis were guys who shined more in space, away from the trash of the strong side. This is even true for Wright. Kuechly and Willis are much more the same LB than is Wagner and Bowman.

They are different LBs.

That is NOT; howeveer. a limitation of Wagner or Bowman. That are merely tough enough to play in those A gaps and can put that emphasis in their game. The other two just aren't as effective in that regard.

 

[chris98251]

Wags doesn't have the protection Kuechly has, Ray Lewis even looked mortal when he didn't have his guys up front keeping them off him. It's not always just the player but the cast supporting them.

 

[Ozzy]

How about CJ Anderson running Kuechly over for the TD? It doesn't change the discussion all that much but I thought of this thread when I saw it.

 

[LawlessHawk]

Getting a good chuckle out of the "not even close" comments... lol