Joey Porter to the Dolphins

Joey Porter is an excellent pass rusher. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. And I am not trying to detract from his game.

But Joey Porter couldn't play in a 4-3 as anything but a situational pass rusher. You could not only find a place for Adalius Thomas in a 4-3, you could almost play him anywhere from defensive end to strong safety and he'd stand out.

 

By the way, since we're on Patriots signings... They traded for Wes Welker. Given what they gave up, I'd say we can put the Randy Moss talk to a rest.

 

I'm not talking about them as athletes--although Thomas is a pretty good athlete. I'm talking about them as football players. And Porter isn't a complete linebacker. You can't put him anywhere, except on the edge, on a very specific defense. The irony of the "complete linebacker" characterization is that he's not just a pass rusher, he's kind of a one-dimensional pass rusher. All he does is speed rush. Not saying he shouldn't. He's fairly unstoppable at it. But you have serious problems if you give him a third of the field and tell him to drop into coverage.

 

We're going to have to agree to disagree. There aren't a ton of people who would project him to do anything in a 4-3. It would be a disaster, if you ask me. He is SOOOOO situational. They put him at middle linebacker in their dime package for a short time, but this had nothing to do with him being a complete player. They needed one linebacker in there (well, a linebacker not playing defensive end) and if it was a choice between Kendrell Bell and Joey Porter (I didn't live and die with the early 2000s Steelers, so correct me if I am wrong about the options they were looking at; I just remember it being an ugly set of options), they were going with Porter, not because you really wanted him covering anyone, but because Bell in coverage made Porter look like Champ Bailey. Also, didn't they use him as a threat to do anything but drop into coverage, and leave the real coverage up to the DBs in the game? The Steelers never seemed to have any great options for those nickel and dime packages, but didn't they eventually realize how unsuited Porter was to this role, and give it to James Farrior (who wasn't half bad) and move Porter back where he belongs, rushing off the edge?