Kemoeatu signed

[spudstr04]

http://twitter.com/Adam_Schefter/status/10278842063

Redskins signed DT Maake Kemoeatu, formally of the Panthers, to a two-year, $7 million contract.

Kemoeatu is coming off a dicey Achilles tear with a complicated rehab, so this is a risky signing. But if healthy, Kemoeatu would be a solid nose tackle in the Redskins' new 3-4 scheme.

http://www.rotoworld.com


If he is healthy, this is a great signing. I have heard reports that he won't be ready to go until training camp...that's a long time to wait.

[TigerSkins]

2 years 7mill, but can't run.
I am glad I am not the GM.

[Skeletor]

The guy weighs 370 pounds. He can't run when he's healthy...

[frankcal20]

He's a nose tackle first of all so those guys arn't chasing down anyone. Their #1 goal is to clog the middle so that other's like LBR's can get into the backfield.

Also, outside of OTA's, it's not a big deal that he's working on getting healthy. I've seen what this guy can do and with us only making a two year commitment, I'm fine with it 100% b/c it shows me that they are going to draft someone or bring in a UFA to get young.

[CanesSkins26]

Nothing personal against Komeatu, he is a fine player. i just hate this signing because I think that this change to a 3-4 is a BIG mistake.

[cowboyhater4life]

Nothing personal against Komeatu, he is a fine player. i just hate this signing because I think that this change to a 3-4 is a BIG mistake.

Why do you think moving to a 3-4 is a mistake

[CanesSkins26]

Nothing personal against Komeatu, he is a fine player. i just hate this signing because I think that this change to a 3-4 is a BIG mistake.

Why do you think moving to a 3-4 is a mistake

We don't have the personnel for it. Defense linemen, even ends, in the 3-4 generally are responsible for occupying blockers. Using Haynesworth in such a role is a waste. Orakpo should be playing with his hand on the ground, not as a stand-up lb. Rocky has zero experience in a 3-4. Fletcher is undersized to play in the middle in a 3-4. Carter has stated that playing 3-4 lb is a poor fit for him in that role and he struggled playing that position in San Fran. Both Carter and Orakpo are too small to play 3-4 DE. Overall, our personnel is much better suited for a 4-3.

[BurgundyandGoldfaith]

If Kemoeatu can still be strong in short space I think this gives us the personel to do it. It might be rough for the transition year but I can't watch another season like the past couple. I want turnovers. How many games did we lose by 7pts or less? that's the measure of this team. Jim Zorn kept it close without an O-line or fair share of turnovers. Imagine Shanahan running things, we're not that bad off.

[BurgundyandGoldfaith]

The coaches have already talked about having Orakpo rush he QB 800 times next season as opposed to 400 this past year. Hand down or not, that's what they need to do from any standpoint

[BurgundyandGoldfaith]

Anyone else feel like Shanahan is getting bigger players to compete in the NFC East?

[Skeletor]

He's only signed two new players, hard to identify a trend there...

[SKINFAN]

Fletch is undersized for a 4-3 LB too but he does just fine...

This signing is a good sign that we are moving away from the bending and breaking of the last few years =)

[crazyhorse1]

Nothing personal against Komeatu, he is a fine player. i just hate this signing because I think that this change to a 3-4 is a BIG mistake.

Why do you think moving to a 3-4 is a mistake

We don't have the personnel for it. Defense linemen, even ends, in the 3-4 generally are responsible for occupying blockers. Using Haynesworth in such a role is a waste. Orakpo should be playing with his hand on the ground, not as a stand-up lb. Rocky has zero experience in a 3-4. Fletcher is undersized to play in the middle in a 3-4. Carter has stated that playing 3-4 lb is a poor fit for him in that role and he struggled playing that position in San Fran. Both Carter and Orakpo are too small to play 3-4 DE. Overall, our personnel is much better suited for a 4-3.

I think you are on the money with the above. It's not the time to go to the 3-4, especially when we're having success with the 4-3. But if we are determined to use the 3-4 and nothing can be done about it, it's great to have Kemo. Just hope we get Larry Foote too. We do not have a second lineback for the 3-4 and can't afford to spend a draft pick on one. We need an RB in round four. A lot of people think we can get great RB's in the late rounds. We can't. The fourth round is even a stretch.

[lowtharofthehill]

Moving to a 3-4 is a bad idea. We don't have a single D-Lineman besides our newly signed injured/old player. Haynesworth, Daniels, Carter, Golston - these are all 4-3 lineman. IN addition, Fletcher, Rocky are 4-3 Linebackers.

Orakpo kinda played a 3-4 outside LB last year.

Best Case Scenario we are lacking atleast 2 DE's for a 3-4 right now. Hayneworth, Keamotu, Daniels would be are starters. No real backups at DE. Thats also a very old Line.

What do we do with Carter? He hated playing LB before because he is a DE but is too small for 3-4

Lots of reasons not to switch. But we are so we do need to keep adding players for this system. Im not saying it wont work and there is plenty of time until the season.

[aswas71788]

Nothing personal against Komeatu, he is a fine player. i just hate this signing because I think that this change to a 3-4 is a BIG mistake.

Why do you think moving to a 3-4 is a mistake

We don't have the personnel for it. Defense linemen, even ends, in the 3-4 generally are responsible for occupying blockers. Using Haynesworth in such a role is a waste. Orakpo should be playing with his hand on the ground, not as a stand-up lb. Rocky has zero experience in a 3-4. Fletcher is undersized to play in the middle in a 3-4. Carter has stated that playing 3-4 lb is a poor fit for him in that role and he struggled playing that position in San Fran. Both Carter and Orakpo are too small to play 3-4 DE. Overall, our personnel is much better suited for a 4-3.

According to many NFL experts, London Fletcher is to small to even play linebacker. Don't count him out until it is proven that he cannot do it.

[USAFSkinFan]

send us your old, you tired, your week...

what's happening to our youth movement?

[PulpExposure]

Nothing personal against Komeatu, he is a fine player. i just hate this signing because I think that this change to a 3-4 is a BIG mistake.

Why do you think moving to a 3-4 is a mistake

We don't have the personnel for it. Defense linemen, even ends, in the 3-4 generally are responsible for occupying blockers. Using Haynesworth in such a role is a waste. Orakpo should be playing with his hand on the ground, not as a stand-up lb. Rocky has zero experience in a 3-4. Fletcher is undersized to play in the middle in a 3-4. Carter has stated that playing 3-4 lb is a poor fit for him in that role and he struggled playing that position in San Fran. Both Carter and Orakpo are too small to play 3-4 DE. Overall, our personnel is much better suited for a 4-3.

I agree with your overall point; our defense is built to be a 4-3, and is a successful 4-3 defense. With as broken as our offense is, why overhaul the one part of our team that doesn't expressly need an overhaul?

That being said, a few other things.

1) Haynesworth at DE could actually work out; there definitely are more than a few good 3-4 DEs who actually rush the passer, instead of just eating blockers like an NT (Richard Seymour with the Patriots is one that comes to mind). He's a much better fit at 3-4 DE than 3-4 NT (though, that being said, he's still best as a 4-3 DT).

2) I know I've seen the Fletcher is undersized meme before. However, as aswas said, he's undersized to play in the 4-3 as well. And...one of the finest 3-4 ILBs of all time, Sam Mills, was pretty much the same size as Fletcher. He'll be fine; the guy can play football, period.

3) Orakpo will be fine; he'll play the passrush LB. How many times do you see Demarcus Ware in coverage? How many times do you remember LT, or Derrick Thomas, or Kevin Greene, etc., in coverage? They rush the passer...and that's what Orakpo will be doing.

Carter, well that's much more problematic. He has true value as a 4-3 DE. He has questionable value as a 3-4 OLB.

[Skinsfan55]

Before he had 11 sacks as a pass rushing linebacker (with 1 FF) I might have agreed with putting Orakpo at DE...

I think our personnel can be a good fit... with Haynesworth as a pass rushing end (think Richard Seymour) and Kemoeatu as a big NT we're looking real good on D next season.

[chiefhog44]

Two points...

1) This is like pounding my head into a brink wall people. The move to a 3-4 is not an overnight fix. It'll take three years. Think long term. Yes it doesn't work with the personel on the current roster, but guess what, the current roster won't be here in three years.

2) Can you imagine when Hanesworth comes off the DE spot with Rak coming off his edge? Who's the offense going to put up to stop them both? The RB? HA!

[HarleyHog]

2) Can you imagine when Hanesworth comes off the DE spot with Rak coming off his edge? Who's the offense going to put up to stop them both? The RB? HA!
_________________


THAT's what I'm thinking

[CanesSkins26]

1) This is like pounding my head into a brink wall people. The move to a 3-4 is not an overnight fix. It'll take three years. Think long term. Yes it doesn't work with the personel on the current roster, but guess what, the current roster won't be here in three years.

If our defense was bad I could understand the switch. However, we have a very good defense so what is the point of this switch?

[yupchagee]

1) This is like pounding my head into a brink wall people. The move to a 3-4 is not an overnight fix. It'll take three years. Think long term. Yes it doesn't work with the personel on the current roster, but guess what, the current roster won't be here in three years.

If our defense was bad I could understand the switch. However, we have a very good defense so what is the point of this switch?

Right. It aint broke, don't fix it.

[fleetus]

You guys are getting too worried about this change. Changing to a 3-4 doesn't mean they'll have to do everything differently. Yes, a traditional 3-4 is a two gap system where the NT and two DE's each cover two gaps. (as opposed to only one gap responsibility in a 4-3. But you can play one gap in a 3-4 too. Steelers do it that way and we have Haslett, former Steelesr DC and Spanos, former Steelers LB coach. So I doubt we're going to stick to the base 3-4, two gap system. In a one gap 3-4, instead of lining heads up over a tackle, the DE's line up just inside the tackle and attack one gap. (or the outside gap, whichever) Then a LB (QB has no clue which one) will cover or fill the other gap. Of course, you can mix it up, two gap and one gap assignments to allow multiple blitzes or coverages. Having three big DL's that can cover two gaps occasionally is a luxury most 4-3 teams don't have. Add one or two 260lbs OLB's and you really have some meat up front in a 3-4.

I expect the coaching staff to take it easy on Haynesworth and let him rush one-gap most of the time. This is good for Haynesworth, because it will mean almost no change in how he plays football. Daniels should be solid on the other side and he may play more two gap than Haynesworth. With his strength, I think he's better suited to the 3-4 anyway. Fletcher is superman, he'll be fine. Orakpo will probably get to rush the passer more as a 3-4 OLB.

Switching is not without concerns obviously. Carter isn't a good fit, so he needs to be traded. I'm not sure how Rocky will do. NT is crucial and right now we are hoping a gimpy Kemo or untested Monty will get the job done. Other than that, I think the defense will be better once they get some playing time to learn the system.

[Paralis]

I think people are getting too worked up even about Carter not being a good fit. He wasn't, in SF, that one year with Mike Nolan. But he's a different player now, and Haslett's a different coach, and it's all a question of how he's used.

If you look at Wade Philips' defenses in SD, not only did the ends play a lot of one-gap, but you didn't see Merriman and Phillips (or Foley before he got shot) spending a lot of time in coverage--their defense was arguably as much a 5-2 as it was a 3-4. And I expect we'll see a lot of that here. Carter's a better edge player than anybody else we can put in his spot, and there start to be serious depth concerns if they let him go because behind him, Orakpo and Wilson at OLB, there's basically a huge sucking vacuum.

No, I don't buy Lorenzo Alexander playing well in space. He's basically the Skins' Dan Klecko.

I don't know how I feel about Kemoeatu, but I'll assume until it's reported otherwise that any signing bonus/guaranteed money is contingent on his passing a physical at some point during training camp (the broncos had a similar situation with a player last year, iirc). Would have rather seen the Skins take a look at Jamal Williams, since it seems like his injury concerns can't be any worse than Kemo's, but whatever. 3-4 or 4-3, we needed another guy in the tackle rotation who wouldn't get pushed around by Dallas, and he fits the bill.

[USAFSkinFan]

Before he had 11 sacks as a pass rushing linebacker (with 1 FF) I might have agreed with putting Orakpo at DE...

I think our personnel can be a good fit... with Haynesworth as a pass rushing end (think Richard Seymour) and Kemoeatu as a big NT we're looking real good on D next season.

None of those plays he made came from the linebacker position...