First, I seem to remember some people saying that we often have alignments that mimic a 4-3, where one of the OLBs comes up to the line and put’s his had on the ground. So I could see something like this working.

The other point is that Aaron Smith wasn’t back for the playoff game, yet our run D stepped up that game and shut them down. That tells me that they could actually have a decent run D without Smith in there. The rest of the players just have to step up and make it happen. There may have been some adjustments made for that game as well. So, we at least have the ability to stop the run, whether it always happens or not. I also have some hopes that at least one of these UDFAs can show something and help us out.

If McFarland is able to play for us, we could have half decent depth. He’s not the usual 3-4 DE type, but he’s a big body and could play well against the pass and run. I don’t think Tomlin cares about the 4-3 as much as people say he does, and our personnel lines up more with the 3-4. You’re right that we might have better depth at DT playing 4-3, but it’d be the pass rush and the LB’s that suffered there. Timmons could play WLB, but I doubt Harrison is enough of an athlete to play WLB or MLB. Also, there’s no guarantee that Woodley and Keisel could generate enough pressure playing rush ends every down.

As things are now, one of the biggest problems with our lack of depth is a lack of a good DL rotation. Hampton isn’t exactly Mr. Stamina, and Keisel wore down by the end of last year. Against our schedule, they are going to be tired unless Eason, McBean, and/or Booger play well enough to earn time in a rotation.