FanPost

Should the Jets move from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense?

I think switching to a 4-3 would maximize the overall talent on our defense by getting Leo, Shelly & Wilk all on the field at the same time.

RE Richardson (26)

DT Leo (22)

DT McClendon (31)

LE Wilk (27)

ROLB Lee (22)

MLB Harris (33)

LOLB Jenkins (22)

Sub: OLB Mauldin (24)

Sub Mauldin/McClendon in certain 3-4 packages.

With the exception of Harris and McClendon, the rest of these guys are all very young to young. I'd like to keep the Leo/Shelly/Wilk trio together as long as I can. Is it possible we can move to a 4-3 base defense instead of a 3-4 with our current personnel? I know this isn't Madden and it wouldn't be ideal in the sense that we don't have traditional 4-3 defensive ends in Shelly and Wilk and that Leo would be playing out of position at DT, but he played well there last season. Very well. They shaded him a ton to nose tackle during that Week 1 game against the Bengals and he ended up with 2 1/2 sacks and 3 QB pressures. And that was without Shelly in that game which would force teams to game plan even more. I'm confident Leo can line up anywhere on the DL and be successful. The kid is an amazing talent. I must admit, I'm sort of on the fence with trading Shelly. On one hand, we shopped him around last year and there didn't seem to be many suitors willing to submit the 1st rd pick we were reportedly asking for. I'm not even sure we'd get a 2nd rd pick and at that point, I think he's a much better player than the 3rd or 4th we would probably end up trading him for. On the other hand, I'm also aware that his lack of maturity at times and his off the field issues have raised red flags making the organization and fan base weary of giving him a long-term contract. That being said, we've shed a ton of cap space and already have enough money to sign some good free agents. If we can keep Shelly and Shelly can keep his head straight and we can find a way to get a bit younger and more athletic at MLB by signing Minter and getting some help for the secondary, I think our defense will be fine. The offense is a completely different story.

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