Quote:
Originally Posted by Schneed10
I really don't understand the criticism of Orakpo at all. Not even a little bit. There are not many guys in the league who the offense has to scheme around. Orakpo changes protection schemes.
And why are people assuming he'd like to be a full time pass rusher? He's gotten better in space, I never played football but I would imagine the game is more fun and rewarding when your versatility is put to use.
Good 3-4 outside linebackers are worth a ton of money. It's like a lockdown corner or a stud LT, it's just an expensive position. And there's a reason for that, it's because if you don't have one you're already behind the 8-ball from the jump.
You won't find another player on the free agent market who can make the same impact, and if you want to draft one you need to use a top 15 pick. $10M a season is his floor and he's worth every penny.
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Not so fast my friend...
Rack is not even the best linebacker on this team. I took a look on the NFL stats Lab and compared him first to the linebackers on our team. Brian only had 10 sacks, 1 Interception, 0 FF and 60 tackles. Kerrigan had 9 sacks, 0 ints, 4 forced fumbles, and 66 tackles in a year where Kerrigan admitted that he was hurt.
Ryan Kerrigan to have minor surgery; talks 4-3 - ESPN
Now let's compare Rack to the best player at his position this year... Robert Quinn had 19 sacks 7 Forced Fumbles and 57 Tackles. The second best ranked free agent at the same position is Jason Worilds. He had 64 tackles, 8 sacks and 2 FF. That is not much of a drop off, also Jason is two years younger.
We could also target Michael Johnson who excelled at OLB in a 3-4 system in 2012.
All this to say that we don't need to overpay Brian Orakpo. I would argue that Perry Riley is a more important sign than Rack. Riley is our leading tackler and averaged 79.8 tackles over his four year span on the team.