According to FoxSports.com, Greg Ellis wants out of big D. Should We take a shot? I say yes. Thomas is known to not be the answer at DE Kimo is too old ... Yeah Ellis is 31, but he'll do for 4-5 years probably. Plus...having Ellis start at both ends would be awesome. :grin:
You do realize he wants out because he feels he doesn't have a place there now that they mainly play the 3-4. So what would be the point of moving him from Dallas to here where he'd be in the same situation?
I was just going to say that Suppa Man. He's played in a 4-3 all of his life and dislikes the idea of being a situational player in Parcells system primarily in nickel. He didn't record eight sacks out of the 3-4, he recorded eight sacks out of obvious passing situations when they were in a 4-2 nickel or 4-1 dime.
I guess I wouldn't mind. But why not try Thomas for a season? No longer in Abe's shadow and the kid was a 1st rd. pick. I don't see the need with both Kimo and Thomas on the team. Even if they switch Thomas to LB. Kimo should suffice but I wouldn't belly ache if we did sign him.
Ah.... no. Dallas has been a base 3-4 for some years now, and Ellis is a pretty good 3-4 DE. If they left him alone at DE, he would not be making a stink about his contract.... he believes that if he goes to LB, his market value next year would be hurt, so he wants a financial commitment from Dallas in exchange to agreeing to a position change, in the last year of his contract. Back on topic, if he were a NT....
Greg Ellis will never play LB. He's to big and to old at this point to garner a position change. They may want to move him to a standup stance in 3rd down passing situations but he'll never be switched to an actual LB with any responsibility other than rushing the passer at this point in his career, regardless what the media wants to interpret from what Ellis says or what Parcells might vaguely say. Dallas has not been running the 3-4 for years, they switched to it two years ago as their base defense. They started off hand incorporating it 3 years ago but didn't use it much that season because they lacked the personel. Ellis is merely okay as a 3-4. His problem is for his size he's not really very strong at the point of attack for the 3-4 as in his mind he is always looking to just get to the QB. He's doesn't take care of his responsibilities as a 3-4 DE and struggles a bit which is why when they switched to that base defense his playing time and role on the team diminished. Yes he's unhappy a bit with his contract (but I mean in the NFL who isn't now of days). His biggest problem is the fact his role is diminished and how Dallas is using him. Greg Ellis is what he is, a strong side DE in the 4-3 base. Now yes with any set you can move guys around but primarily that's what he is. His contract knock isn't a terrible one, as he's not a horrible guy, but he is a bit of a nuisance when unhappy (the fact he comes out and voices things a little bit to much). In a team stance he could possibly work out as a pass rush specialist in the 3-4, but he'd probably still complain about playing time and the such. I wouldn't count out that he can't pull that off, but it's not likely at all that he'll be able to play OLB in the 3-4 in anything but passing situations. Personally it's a bit easy to see that he seems to be trying to, without going over the top, to get released, so he can bolt to a 4-3 base team where he can get some more money and much more playing time. Especially since the only chance he has in Dallas/any 3-4 primary team is to become a pass rush specialist. (and please don't cite someone like Vrabel, who is a complete OLB for a 3-4 system, or even McGinest/Wimbley/etc because those primary OLB pass rushers in the 3-4 also handle regular responsibilities well...and while Ware was a DE, he was young and has already spent his learning curve in the NFL to adjust to that position, it's a whole other ballgame when taking a veteran player who's never played LB before and making a switch late in his career...so basically yes, he's just going to be a rush specialist).
Ellis ONLY began to fall out of favor at the tail end of the 2005 season. He didn't start in weeks 14, 15 and 16. He was plugged back in as the starter for week 17. In the past two years, he has been the starter at DE in the 3-4 for 29 out of 32 games, and racked up 94 tackles and 17 sacks. That is hardly a role player.... he has been the starting DE for Dallas. Weak against the run, yeah, I buy that.
The reasons why Ellis wasn't pulled earlier was because Parcells didn't want to stick Canty in right away (first he was a rookie and its parcells, second he was coming off of eye trouble and I believe one other injury which limited him a bit early on when practicing with the team), Ellis when it comes to pash rushing is still fairly decent at it...even if in the 3-4 at end that he can end up washed out a lot, and Ellis started again late in the season because Canty again was nagged by an injury. On top of that games started means nothing in any sport. You can be pulled out right away (hell in hockey rarely do teams start a game with their top lines out, and even in football rotation happens quite a bit now along the line for the most part..and especially in with the situation Dallas had they did it often...so Ellis's GS stat means nothing). It doesn't happen a ton in football but it does at times. When it comes to Ellis he still got a decent percentage of snaps in, even at times late in the season, but like I said there were a few reasons for that. Still, Canty got the majority of the snaps late in the season after he was up to speed and was able to stay in there because of health.
