He's 31 and friggin enormous.. haha!

He's 31 and friggin enormous.. haha!

Henderson doesn't offer much pass rush, but he's still very productive against the run...and I definitely wouldn't mind having a real nose guard on the roster. A d-line of Peppers-Henderson-Harris-Idonije would be pretty stout against the run.

I love the idea, just don't see Lovie doing this. Adams is a similar player, though most would say Henderson is better. But the point is, Lovie has only played Adams due to others failing to step up. Lovie just doesn't like to play DL who can't rush the passer.

 

Personally, I love the idea of having one big boy inside, but that just isn't Lovie.

 

Henderson doesn't offer much pass rush, but he's still very productive against the run...and I definitely wouldn't mind having a real nose guard on the roster. A d-line of Peppers-Henderson-Harris-Idonije would be pretty stout against the run.

 

I love the idea, just don't see Lovie doing this. Adams is a similar player, though most would say Henderson is better. But the point is, Lovie has only played Adams due to others failing to step up. Lovie just doesn't like to play DL who can't rush the passer.

 

Personally, I love the idea of having one big boy inside, but that just isn't Lovie.

Yeah, you hit it right on the head. Lovie's always tried to get some pass-rush from the one-technique spot, which (to me) just seems like a contradiction in terms. The one-tech is the one guy on our d-line who gets put in a really bad position on every play, just by virtue of his alignment. Even with a really good player there, you're not going to get tons of pass pressure. But Lovie really seems to want his one-techs to penetrate; even before Adams was in the picture, Tank Johnson wasn't a traditional one-tech either, he was more of a tweener three-technique like Marcus Harrison.

 

Really, though, the one-tech is supposed to occupy blockers, and that's exactly what Henderson is good for. He could take the center and left guard out of the picture, which would put Peppers 1-on-1 with the LT, and would make the RT choose between doubling Tommie or blocking Anderson/Idonije. With a TE staying in to block, you could either double Peppers or free up the RT to double Harris, but if the offense is committing extra blockers against a four-man rush, you're generally doing pretty well on defense.

 

Also, look at our ends for a minute: Peppers, Idonije, Wootton, and Gilbert if he moves out to DE...they're all 6'6" to 6'7" and 270-285 pounds. With Henderson in the lineup, we could actually have some size on the d-line for the first time in the Lovie era. That would fit a lot better with the increasingly blitz-heavy, non-Tampa-2 defense that Lovie's running. I've said it before, but he just needs to be honest about the fact that his defense is in the middle of a transition away from the Tampa-2, and then get some guys who can run the new scheme. Get some corners who can play man, get a free safety who can play Cover-1 or Cover-3, and get some big d-linemen who can tie up multiple blockers so the blitzes get through. If he wants to keep going back to the Tampa-2 on 3rd downs, fine, just rotate Adams and Anderson in. But we need guys who can make the first- and second-down blitzes work.

I love the idea, just don't see Lovie doing this. Adams is a similar player, though most would say Henderson is better. But the point is, Lovie has only played Adams due to others failing to step up. Lovie just doesn't like to play DL who can't rush the passer.

 

Personally, I love the idea of having one big boy inside, but that just isn't Lovie.

 

 

Ha, which of our dLINEman can rush the passer?