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Is the MLB position dying out?

tarheelpride

By tarheelpride,
in Carolina Panthers

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N1kkadeemuz Newbie

N1kkadeemuz

Posted
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Ran across an article talking about why MLB's are on their way out.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/john_lopez/06/30/linebackers/index.html

What are ya'lls thoughts, especially with us having Beason in the middle? i think we got a rare player in the middle and it'll only help us in the future.

It's true to a degree, as more teams switch to the 3-4 ILB's take over. One dominate defender hawking the middle is gone. For the few teams with base 4-3's though that middle defender has to be gold...like Jon Beason.

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mr beauxjangles Newbie

mr beauxjangles

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...he did have the following to say:

That's not to say there is no place for fierce players like San Francisco's Willis, Houston's Ryans or Carolina's Jon Beason. Teams still must stop the run in order to be successful. And middle linebackers have evolved as well, becoming faster and better in pass coverage without losing tackling punch. But those kinds of talents are rare.

Regardless, I'm not too concerned about John P. Lopez's opinion on the evolution of pro defenses. The day that the middle linebacker position "dies out" is the day that NFL defenses decide that tackling isn't important and/or NFL offenses decide to stop running the ball.

Anyone else want to take up the argument that MLBs are "a dying breed"?

Who the eff is John P. Lopez anyway? Never heard of the guy. Apparently he used to write for the Houston Chronicle and has a radio show in Houston. He has two articles on SI.com. This one, and one about how Mario Williams proved to be a better draft pick than Reggie Bush or Vince Young (thanks for insight, champ). This guy isn't off to a good start at SI.

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Kettle Newbie

Kettle

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i was shocked when in the article he didn't mention beason as being among the top 5 MLB's today

The pictures that are linked from the article show him saying...

He has great instincts, is a big-time finisher at the point of impact and is athletic enough to drop into coverage. And he's just getting started. It's a race between Beason, Patrick Willis and DeMeco Ryans to earn the title of best middle linebacker in the game.
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dimbee Newbie

dimbee

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Ran across an article talking about why MLB's are on their way out.

I didn't interpret the article at all as saying MLB's are on their way out. I garnered from it that the position is evolving from the chase and smash MLB position of old, see their examples of such: Nitzchke, Singletary, Lewis, Butkus, Lambert, Seau, etc...

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Rong Fo Newbie

Rong Fo

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More teams switch to the 3-4, the best MLB players are picked up by the 4-3 teams. Teams adapt to the 3-4, the 4-3 teams with the best MLBs excel, teams start shifting back to the 4-3. Reverse, rince, repeat.

Things change, but things stay the same.

So it goes.

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OneBadassCat Newbie

OneBadassCat

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I'd like to ask a question to those more knowledgeable on the subject. What exactly is the difference between an ILB like Patrick Willis or Ray Lewis, and a MLB(4-3) like Jon Beason? I know the difference between schemes but I hear from alot of people that MLB(3-4) and MLB(4-3) are different positions.

Im guessing a 3-4 ILB has more responsibility to stop the run compared to a 4-3 MLB, which maybe why Patrick has so many tackles.

Does a 4-3 MLB have a more commanding role of the defense? Is he more responsible for reading the offense?

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