DE/OLB or 3-4 Nose tackles

[Droopy03]

I want to say I love what Madden has done this year but I wanted to know if I was missing something or not. I agree with all the roles this year but one thing I didn't see or I missed is the DE that is able to be a OLB in a 3-4 defense coming out of college or the big NT for hte 3-4 defense.

I have always been upset with not being able to draft a DE coming out of college and making the player a 3-4 OLB if he has the rush ability or agility.

Does anyone know if this type of player is in the game becasue this is hugh for a 3-4 defense?

[PGaither84]

The only thing i saw confirmed was 3-4 style DE's. However, that news is nothing special. A lot of 3-4 ends are/were DTs in the 4-3.

I too would like to know about moving a 4-3 end to OLB and having his Man/Zone coverage skills progress.

[Droopy03]

Quote: Originally Posted by PGaither84

The only thing i saw confirmed was 3-4 style DE's. However, that news is nothing special. A lot of 3-4 ends are/were DTs in the 4-3. I too would like to know about moving a 4-3 end to OLB and having his Man/Zone coverage skills progress.

This is big for me. I wonder if anybody has or can get the answer for us.

[LiquorLogic]

Quote: Originally Posted by PGaither84

The only thing i saw confirmed was 3-4 style DE's. However, that news is nothing special. A lot of 3-4 ends are/were DTs in the 4-3. I too would like to know about moving a 4-3 end to OLB and having his Man/Zone coverage skills progress.

It's great that they're finally distinguishing 3-4 DEs from 4-3 DE. It might be possible that 3-4 OLB will be able to make the transition to the 4-3 because they have good pass rush ratings, but who knows about 4-3 DEs making the switch to the 3-4, or how their coverage ratings would progress.

[tap11]

And just as important, in my opinion, is whether 3-4 teams will draft / sign 3-4 players. Otherwise it will require me to control all 32 teams yet again.

[poppin_fresh]

I'm just assuming here, so feel free to criticize me. Since they differentiated between 4-3 DE's and 3-4 DE's this year, wouldn't it make some sort of sense that they distinguish between 4-3 OLB's and 3-4 OLB's? I mean, I would hope that thought crossed their minds...

[imskykid]

This has always been one of my main issues with franchise mode. CPU 3-4 teams don't draft for their scheme and you see a lot of them sign 250 lb DEs to play the 5 technique and 5'11" 230 lb OLBs.

Hopefully with the new player roles and GM logic, they will draft and sign free agents appropriately. If not, we can always take advantage of the ability to edit players now. It will be really nice if we want to switch 4-3 DEs that we draft to 3-4 OLBs... we can just up some of the pass coverage abilities to make it more realistic of a transition and not have our 1st round, 85 ovr DE drop to 60 ovr when we switch him to OLB.

Ultimately, what I think should happen, is a couple of new position classifications for hybrid 3-4/4-3 players. Every year in the draft there are players like DeMarcus Ware and Richard Seymour who are versatile and play different positions according to what scheme they're in. This happens in free agency too, for players like Chris Canty who played DE in the Cowboys' 3-4 but switched to DT with the Giants.

Players like this should be categorized as DE/OLB or DT/DE. That way, when a 3-4 team signs a hybrid DE/OLB, they automatically default to OLB (i.e. someone like Aldon Smith via the draft or, say, Dwight Freeney via free agency). Vice versa, if a 4-3 team signs the hybrid DE/OLB, he would default to DE.

There should also be two separate depth charts that value different ratings for OLB, DE, and DT depending on whether you are controlling a 3-4 or 4-3 team. That way, if you run a 3-4 and try plugging a 5'11" 230lb 4-3 OLB into your lineup, he will be rated lower than the 6'4" 255 lb DE/OLB hybrid since the ratings that make a player good in the 4-3 depth chart aren't as good in the 3-4 depth chart. Same goes if you try to plug someone like Mario Williams into a 4-3... his OVR would take a hit, whereas in the 3-4 where he would be rushing the passer, his ratings would be better than 4-3 backers.

But, the ability to edit players in Madden 12 will make it a lot easier than before to manage all the teams that run different schemes without making all the personnel moves for 32 teams.

[imskykid]

I'm curious if we can edit not only ratings, but also height and weight? This would be helpful when a 3-4 CPU team drafts a DE that has the attributes of a run stuffer, but is not of prototypical size. Instead of shaking your head because the Steelers spend a 1st round pick on a 6'2" 245 lb DE to play in their 3-4, hopefully we can go in and edit him to be 6'5" 299 lbs to make things a little more realistic.