The acquisition of DT John Henderson is another indication the 4-3 will remain the primarily alignment for the Raiders. Henderson played as a 4-3 tackle and has not played nose tackle. There had been some speculation that with the acquisition of Kamerion Wimbley, a 3-4 strong side linebacker, and with the shift of Trevor Scott to weak-side linebacker, along with the selection of Alabama 3-4 inside linebacker Rolando McClain, Oakland could play in a 3-4. That would leave room for Thomas Howard, a starter since his rookie season in 2006. However, the Raiders have played 4-3 in all open media sessions, and although they could tinker with a 3-4, it appears they won't make a philosophical change. Source: USA Today
Are you serious? I wouldnt want that butt on my team. Im thinking oakland my ease into the 34. Without a great NT it doesnt work so well.
Lamarr Houston. Not really a NT. They've been using him strictly as a strongside DE though so Seymour and Kelly will probably be on the inside rotating with Henderson somehow. Shaughnessy is the weakside DE and I think Seymour and Kelly will rotate at DE a bit too. Or at least I wouldn't be surprised if they did a bit. **********Automerged Doublepost********** With Seymour and Henderson available in the middle along with McClain, our run defense improves a lot. Our pass rush should be a lot better too with Shaughnessy starting to step up and Seymour in the middle at the 3-technique. When Henderson steps in at NT, McClain will be able to wreak havoc in the pass rush too. Scott is awesome at weakside LB too and Wimbley has a decent pass rush. Wimbley should help the run defense on the strongside. It just depends on Houston playing DE. That improved pass rush and run defense will help our defensive backfield a lot too.
