And Swilling had 85+ sacks in 9 years of playing OLB, which is what he was. He took FA money at the end of his career to go play for Oakland, which ran a 4-3 and put him at DE as a pass rusher. In other words, Nos 100% proved my point on Zimmerman/Munoz(by the way, it's crazy talk to say a team wouldn't draft a 2nd great tackle and switch his position as needed, guys like Larry Allen and Bruce Matthews played all the OL spots). These players are supposed to be judged at their peak, and in his peak years, Swilling was an OLB, as was DWare, who plays DE now. Now, I won't necessarily knock you for playing Swilling at DE, but you have to admit, it would be hypocritical of you to knock Zimmerman at RT if you plan to play Swilling at DEOr about as long as Swilling played DE? Or Faneca playing RG? To me(and I know everyone is different), it comes down to the believe ability of the player in the position. For instance, Zimmerman was a HOF player, but if he were drafted to a team that had a 3rd year Anthony Munoz, do you think he would be the starting RT or the backup LT. RT of course. However, if Mark Stepnoski were drafted to a team that already had Mike Webster, John Hannah and Randall McDaniel, he would be stuck playing backup C, as he doesn't have the frame or physical ability to play the position
I'm not missing the point, I believe you are. Zimmerman never played RT because he was the best LT on his team, but had he played with a superior LT, he would have played RT. Your boy Swilling played the first 9 years of his career at OLB. When he went to Oakland, he didn't play DE because they thought it was his natural position, they played him there because they ran a 4-3. Oakland didn't play him at OLB because 4-3 OLB is a different role, and a 4-3 end and 3-4 OLB have a similar skill set. If WLK were going to play Zimmerman at center, it might be a little different, or if it were a RT switching to the tougher left side, but Zimmerman was a HOF LT, RT would be cake for him. I do understand your point, but we could get technical on every player in the draft. At WR, do the teams in this draft have 3 #1 receivers or a true #1, #2 and #3? I'm guessing whoever took Michael Irvin didn't follow up with Alvin Harper and Kelvin Martin LOL
It's a loophole and you know it. When voting comes, you'll want Swilling judged in large part for what he did as an OLB....or do you want him strictly judged by what he did as a DE in 3 years, which was an average of 7 sacks and 20 tackles per season?
Always has been
