Baldinger on the 2026 LB Class

[jfra78]

[strato]

5 hours ago, jfra78 said:

Lol at his hand. I think the guy knows his stuff however many games he started. He is still immersed in the league and the sport. Kind of a boring delivery compared to some people but I think he has substance on his side. 

[bythenbrs]

5 hours ago, jfra78 said:

“Live long and prosper”

[strato]

Gonna drop this in here. 1st half is lots of LB eval/analysis clips, some more off the radar names. Middle is Luke. The back half is a ton of geek analytical mixed with promoting Sumer Sports. May not be for everyone. 
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neBltQ3roiw

Edited Friday at 05:07 PM by strato

[pantherclaw]

I'm a 4-3 guy.  I just dont see this team switching to a 4-3. 

Refuse to lie to myself.  

[csx]

We arent switching. Evero is 3-4 to the core.

Given how 3-4 has been a noticeable characteristic of top defenses recently and we have drafted and signed players fir it  I dont know why anyone would think that's a good idea 

Edited Saturday at 12:48 AM by csx

[ncsfinest21]

I like rodriguez. The fact that he played QB and went to MLB gives him a edge that many LBs dont have and thats the ability to know the play setup and understand the mind of the QB. He will be almost Luke like once he gets comfortable. He would be what the defense is missing.

[PleaseCutStewart]

On 4/2/2026 at 10:03 AM, ForJimmy said:

There is a rumor we might switch to a 4-3 because Phillips and Scourton can easily play DE there and Wharton and DB can be the DTs.  Lloyd can play either and Wallace might be better in a 4-3.  Not that it really matters as we are constantly changing up our formations throughout the game.  Canales mentioned something about changing the defensive front which is where these rumors started. 

We honestly don't even run 3-4 very much. I think we played nickel/big nickel like 60% of our downs last year (and probably like 15% more in dime). 

Now, we do primarily (possibly always) run odd man fronts in all of our sets. So that would be an interesting choice of switch if we decide to run all of our formations out of even fronts next season. I can't see us doing that because 1) many of our current players are built for odd man fronts, and 2) most prospects do best in odd man fronts.

[PleaseCutStewart]

On 4/2/2026 at 3:32 PM, Jon Snow said:

This is the draft to get a good ILB. I agree with Baldy about Rodriguez. He's definitely the best one in this draft. He could definitely start day 1 and I would love to see him in a Panthers uniform. 

There is a lot to love about Rodriguez, but I still worry about him against the run. He will pretty much have to rely on the DL to eat up blocks because I think he is going to have a hard time fighting off blocks and making tackles.

[PleaseCutStewart]

26 minutes ago, ncsfinest21 said:

I like rodriguez. The fact that he played QB and went to MLB gives him a edge that many LBs dont have and thats the ability to know the play setup and understand the mind of the QB. He will be almost Luke like once he gets comfortable. He would be what the defense is missing.

He is definitely the type of LB we need for passing downs

[Jon Snow]

10 minutes ago, PleaseCutStewart said:

There is a lot to love about Rodriguez, but I still worry about him against the run. He will pretty much have to rely on the DL to eat up blocks because I think he is going to have a hard time fighting off blocks and making tackles.

He's the best 3 down ILB and the best coverage LB in this draft. He wasn't in the Heisman discussion for nothing. His only knock is his height but go watch his tape. The kid is a baller and is in the mold of a Panther LB. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

On 4/3/2026 at 5:46 PM, csx said:

We arent switching. Evero is 3-4 to the core.

Given how 3-4 has been a noticeable characteristic of top defenses recently and we have drafted and signed players fir it  I dont know why anyone would think that's a good idea 

I don't have an issue with 3-4 other than we don't have a true NT. You need a monster in the middle and we haven't had that. Evero likes smaller NTs and you can't eat 2 blockers being undersized for the position. 

[PleaseCutStewart]

7 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

I don't have an issue with 3-4 other than we don't have a true NT. You need a monster in the middle and we haven't had that. Evero likes smaller NTs and you can't eat 2 blockers being undersized for the position. 

As long as we have DB, odd man fronts are the way to go for us. We want to line DB up between the guard and tackle (4i-tech) because of how quick he is off the snap and his punch on the guard off the snap. If anyone is wondering why he pretty much has to be doubled (or combo blocked) just about every snap, its because he is lined up in that spot in our odd man front. If we change to an even front, it becomes a lot harder to have DB play the 4i-tech. 

Not sure if I would say Evero likes smaller NTs - I wouldn't call Bobby Brown a small NT by any sense. I think we run a 1-tech NT, so they are usually getting double teamed (or combo blocked) by concept alone. I actually think Bobby Brown did a pretty good job of eating blocks and being positionally sound on most runs at him (not his fault we were rocking ass LBs last year + Wharton being god awful). The bigger problem came on the toss plays/outside runs where DB wasn't able to blow it up in the backfield (i.e., the Bills game).

Lloyd should help with the run D and getting a rangy LB in the draft will definitely help. There are also some good 1-tech DTs (and 0-techs) that can be instant day 1 starters for us in the draft.