Thread: Shea McClellan

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

and hell maybe Brown needs a look at more time and competition.

I hope so and perhaps Emery won't have to look to Otah then.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Soul I don't necessarily disagree on either point; but I don't want my mid 1st round guy getting mauled by the(what shoulda/coulda) been the mid round OT either. If he can get mauled by this rookie like that, wait until a legit OT gets to him. Again it's early on so I'm not taking to much into this either. I want to see them playing on Sundays, but I'd really like to see our 1st pick be a starter and not a part time specialist.

and hell maybe Brown needs a look at more time and competition.

Give it time Ric. He's extremely talented but he's also very raw and James Brown was a much better player in college than his draft status (or lack thereof) indicates. He played LT in college but they moved him to OG at the Senior Bowl because somebody thought he was too undersized for an OT and he struggled a bit with the move. So he got downgraded and slipped through the cracks. We got lucky and signed him as an UDFA. This is the kind of stuff we hired Emery for.

At 270lbs or so McClellin can play as an every down player and my guess is that by next year he will. This year I think the plan is to keep him playing lighter and move him around to gain some tactical advantage so teams can't draw a bead on him and neutralize him. I've been saying all along that he needs to be shifted from left to right and maybe even used to blitz from LB.

The key to finding the way to allow him to be most successful this year while he's still learning is to be flexible in how they use him. That's the smart way to go about it. The worst way would be to set him up for failure as an every down LDE before he has the size and strength for it. Even at 255-260lbs he should still be able to do it once he gets a handle on it at this level.

Mark Anderson had a great rookie year as a pass rush specialist and then for whatever reason they decided they needed to get him on the field more and make him and every down player. Look what happened then. So we release him but other teams see the wisdom in not over using him and he becomes an effective pass rusher again. I'd prefer we not make that same mistake with McClellin.

The game has changed and guys who can penetrate and get to the QB command a premium in the draft they didn't a few years ago even if they are just undersized pass rush guys to begin with. Once the kid learns more of what he needs to know he'll be fine. Some of the best DE's in the NFL (Dumervil, Mathis, Abrahams, Babin, etc.) don't go more than 255-260lbs and they play as every down guys even though they may not have started that way.

I've been skeptical of dude, and wanted Reilly Reiff drafted, still on record of saying that. However, I see this in two possible ways:

1) It's good that they're not pushing him into the fray right away. Getting his reps early as a pass rusher and easing him into full time duty.

2) Israel Idonije may not have to work as hard as initially thought, but at the same time, he's hardly known for a lack of work ethic. It means he's got a little bit longer of a rope, but he still needs to get SOME sacks...

Soul, when it comes to a mid 1st rounder, I don't want to here it takes time; it was very JA esq when Emery stated he was happy Shea played LB instead of DE so their secret was safe; that points to a guy who thinks he's smarter then everyone else, which was an issue JA had and consistantly got him in trouble.

Shea was brought in to be a pass rusher(minimal) this year and should at least be able to contribute that way; I'm w/HB on this one, if the guy cannot outplay a couple mid/late/ufda's even if they have an extra year, then it's a sign(SIGN) that we should have went another direction, maybe we aren't looking to sign a beat down busted up Otah if we had gone Rieff; ecspecially if we had DE's that could do what Shea could anyways.

It's still way to early to tell, I'll give Shea a lot of grief this pre season if he doesn't start looking like a first round pick; but if by next year he's got it together I'll back off. And maybe next season he becomes a fulltime guy; but at some time he has to stop getting beat and start playing; and evntually he needs to be a full time contributor, and it cannot be his 3rd 4th year.

Shea is a rookie and will get to play 50/50 with Izzy. I don't get all the talk that comes with it

I posted this in another thread, but it probably belongs in this one.

McClellin is going to be great for us, but he looks like he needs a year or so in the NFL weight room. He looks like a college player next to the other dlinemen. Maybe part of that is his youthful "look" but I do think he's got a lot of potential to power-up his body. Did I read it correctly that the Bears want him around 255 or so? Man, in a jersey and without pads, he looks like a weakling next to Peppers. Like the "big boys" would be locking him in his locker after pantsing him.