2 NTs in a 3-4?

[scubasteve]

I have a good NT already, but another good one has fallen to me in the draft

Both have a traditional NT build (300+ lbs), so I was curious if one would be capable of playing at DE in a 3-4?

Obviously I can have one focus on losing weight in the offseason, but was curious how feasible a 3-4 frontline featuring (for example) something like Jamal Williams & Vince Wilfork would be?

[dubb93]

I doubt either would be able to lose enough weight to play DE if they are 300lb+ so they would be playing out of position.

If they are studs I don't really know how much it would hurt. I imagine it would be their current bars minus experience reduction at the DE position (could they even learn experience at this position over time?) and then also minus whatever that players penalty would be for swapping to the DE position that you can't even see. Could be huge, could be minimal.

[aston217]

If they have 9 experience at DE I'm comfortable with it sometimes. I'm not totally sure if this is a good or terrible idea.

I've also actually found some veteran DTs and pretty overweight rookie DTs to switch to DE with surprisingly little penalty. You might want to check it out before drafting the guy -- both how much your veteran would convert if you had to do that, and what the rookie would convert at. (It's based strictly on weight for rookies).

[Sef0r]

Just from what I'm seeing in the multiplayer leagues but quite a few GMs have gone back to the 4-3 as you get better pass rush production out of your front 4. In the previous game your stud pass rush god of a WLB could get you 16 sacks and 25+ hurries. That rarely happens in this version.

[redfox000]

Originally Posted by Sef0r

Just from what I'm seeing in the multiplayer leagues but quite a few GMs have gone back to the 4-3 as you get better pass rush production out of your front 4. In the previous game your stud pass rush god of a WLB could get you 16 sacks and 25+ hurries. That rarely happens in this version.

This. I play mostly SP...but I change between 3-4 and 4-3 depending on my personnel. If I have a couple of really good DT's then I switch to 4-3. If I have a bunch of really good LB's and a good pass rushing WLB then I go back to the 3-4.

[Dawgfan19]

I still believe the defensive scheme highly depends on the personnel and getting a good pass rush from a 3-4 front can be very effective in FOF 7. I normally play MP, but I have a SP career running where a 27 rated WLB (79 PRT, 76 PRS, 97 endurance) has three year totals of 54.5 sacks, 80 hurries, 3 pro-bowls and 2 DPoY awards.

And his current cap cost is $3.45M. Getting similar production from a stud DE will cost 3 to 5 times that number. So, the finances need to be considered as well.

[andyhdz]

I have my settings changed to let AI handle depth roster changes and about 7 years into my league my AI coach switched my defense to a 3-4 from the original 4-3. Took me by surprise. An email notifying me of this would have been nice

[AgustusM]

no idea how the game plays but in real life the 3-4 DE are usually playing in a 4-5-6 technique over the Tackle instead of the 7-8-9 over the TE you would see in a 4-3. Because of that I see no problem playing a NT at DE since they are really inside gap players especially on the strong side. I prefer those guys to be big and strong and control two gaps and let the LB flow to the ball.