Thread: Should Ray Edwards make way for Robison?

Interesting article. Not sure I agree with him though I like to see a bit of passion in the players and getting inside the oppositions head.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/3...brian-robison]

Good article and raises some interesting points. I have to agree that I would expected Edwards to make more mayhem than he did with the Williams wall & JA on the same line as him. Definitely a decision point as to whether the Vikes pay the money and take a chance that he will break out fully or let him go and see if he gets picked up elsewhere.

Given his previous prediction about the sack record which never happened then I'm leaning to the ' mouth is writing cheques that the body can't cash ' thought. I know he had an outstanding game against Dallas but that was the only game that I can call to mind where he did punish a team for concentrating on JA.

We shall have to see how this goes

I can't say I disagree with the guy but I don't like the stat he pointed out with the 4.5 sacks from Robison. I am not degrading Robison by any means. In fact, I like his work ethic. However, it is difficult to compare apples to apples between Edwards and Robison. Especially when only going by sack totals. Truth is Robison normally plays on 3rd down passing plays. Most of the time he knows he will be rushing the QB. Whereas Edwards plays on most downs that can be running or passing plays.

That being said, if they let Edwards walk I wouldn't be crushed. I think Robison can come in and do a great job. The only thing I would worry about is Edwards is pretty good about getting his arm up there to block the QBs vision. I don't really know how Robison can do in that capacity.

ejmat wrote:

...That being said, if they let Edwards walk I wouldn't be crushed. I think Robison can come in and do a great job. The only thing I would worry about is Edwards is pretty good about getting his arm up there to block the QBs vision. I don't really know how Robison can do in that capacity.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Robison can lift his arms up above his head.

My concern with Edwards is that he has shown head-case tendencies with his recent comments towards the dictator, ah, I mean Goodell. I am not really a fan of head-case football players on the Vikings.

Head-case fanatics? No problem. I'm a head-case fanatic and I seem to get along just fine with myself.

I think both Ray Edwards and Brian Robison are good players. I think Robison would rack up more sacks than Edwards if he was starting, but I'm not sure that he would hold up against the run better than Edwards.

To me, Brian Robison is the best fit at the right defensive end position. His pass rushing skills are superb and he even looks faster than Jared Allen around the edge. Robison definitely has the potentials to have a double digit sack season and we are lucky to have such a great player as a backup.

Maybe we could use him as a linebacker. He played as a linebacker in college and high school. He has the speed and quickness. Plus, I think he looks more like a big linebacker than a defensive end. I don't know how good he is at tackling in space, but it's worth a try. Many experts projected him as a linebacker when he came out of college.

HEY wrote:

I think both Ray Edwards and Brian Robison are good players. I think Robison would rack up more sacks than Edwards if he was starting, but I'm not sure that he would hold up against the run better than Edwards.

To me, Brian Robison is the best fit at the right defensive end position. His pass rushing skills are superb and he even looks faster than Jared Allen around the edge. Robison definitely has the potentials to have a double digit sack season and we are lucky to have such a great player as a backup.

Maybe we could use him as a linebacker. He played as a linebacker in college and high school. He has the speed and quickness. Plus, I think he looks more like a big linebacker than a defensive end. I don't know how good he is at tackling in space, but it's worth a try. Many experts projected him as a linebacker when he came out of college.

He was a track star (shot put) at Texas as well as a standout football player. His legs are as thick as tree trunks. I've said since the day we drafted him that this guy will be a stud.

I agree about him being a better fit at RE, but I think he'll be great at LE. Personally I'd like to see Robison get more playing time over Edwards, but it's nice to have too much talent at DE for once.

Seems like having #69 on one side of the line and #96 on the other... just makes sense.

I dont like the idea of Edwards being replaced- by anyone. He has done well and in my opinion and he wants to stay here. I also think Robison is a decent backup and would like it to stay that way.
I could be wrong- but doesnt Robison get injured alot? I do remember seeing him on the injury list often!

KevinK wrote:

I dont like the idea of Edwards being replaced- by anyone. He has done well and in my opinion and he wants to stay here. I also think Robison is a decent backup and would like it to stay that way.
I could be wrong- but doesnt Robison get injured alot? I do remember seeing him on the injury list often!

http://www.vikings.com/team/injury-report.html

He wasn't on there once last season... Ray Edwards however was on there a couple times.

C Mac D wrote:

HEY wrote:

I think both Ray Edwards and Brian Robison are good players. I think Robison would rack up more sacks than Edwards if he was starting, but I'm not sure that he would hold up against the run better than Edwards.

To me, Brian Robison is the best fit at the right defensive end position. His pass rushing skills are superb and he even looks faster than Jared Allen around the edge. Robison definitely has the potentials to have a double digit sack season and we are lucky to have such a great player as a backup.

Maybe we could use him as a linebacker. He played as a linebacker in college and high school. He has the speed and quickness. Plus, I think he looks more like a big linebacker than a defensive end. I don't know how good he is at tackling in space, but it's worth a try. Many experts projected him as a linebacker when he came out of college.

He was a track star (shot put) at Texas as well as a standout football player. His legs are as thick as tree trunks. I've said since the day we drafted him that this guy will be a stud.

I agree about him being a better fit at RE, but I think he'll be great at LE. Personally I'd like to see Robison get more playing time over Edwards, but it's nice to have too much talent at DE for once.

I agree with pretty much everything you said there.

I'm just going to expand upon it a little bit. Because I can.

Robison is a phenomenal athlete, as C Mac D said, he was a standout athlete at Texas. He was the Big 12 shot put champion in 2004, finished second at NCAA Nationals in 2006, he only lost by 2 inches, I think.

The guy is explosive, to say the least. At the combine he covered the first 10 yards of his 40 in 1.49 seconds. That's faster than Elvis Dumervil, Jared Allen, Lamarr Woodley, and Will Smith. That's 4 of the top 5 sack leaders in 2009, if I could find Dwight Freeney's 10 yard split it would probably be faster than that too.

That's just defensive ends/linebackers, his 10-yd split is also faster than: DeSean Jackson, and Joseph Addai. It's also only 2/100ths of a second slower than his teammate Percy Harvin and division rival Johnny Knox.

He also recorded a vertical jump of 40.5 inches, better than Sidney Rice and Adrian Peterson(damn, we drafted some athletes in 2007.) Remember Jarron Gilbert? The guy who gave the athlete-appreciative demographic of the internet a collective hard-on when he jumped out of the pool? 35.5 inches. Robison puts him to shame.

Robison put up 27 bench reps at his pro-day. That's only one less than Joe Thomas, and three more than Phil Loadholt, and above average for interior offensive linemen and defensive tackles, who weigh 40-50 pounds more than Robison, at minimum.

I guess his combination of raw explosiveness and strength explains his ability to chuck a 16 pound ball nearly 70 feet through the air. 66'5.25" to be precise, a throw which would have placed him in the Top 10 at the Beijing Olympics.

So we have an Olympic caliber shot putter, with NFL pass rush skills, and a quicker burst than most wide receivers, running backs, and defensive backs, sitting on the bench. McKinnie isn't the only OT with slow feet in the NFL, and he's on the left side of the line... imagine what a guy with Robison's speed could do against some RTs?

Edwards is a very good player, recording 8 sacks in 2009, but I can't help to think that Robison would have had more, a lot more. But can he stop the run at 6'3" 260? A related question is, does it matter? We've been a historically great rushing defense with and without Ray Edwards, would Robison be that much of a downgrade against the run to negate his potential impact as a pass rusher? - I seriously doubt it.