They have a lot of young, talented players at LB but very few- if any- you would consider right now to be every-down players. And to me that's OK. Play guys situationally to their strengths.
As the article points out, it could be Littleton with the biggest weight on his shoulders. Can he captain the defense and make all the calls? Will it be Wilson in the end? I am not a believer in Hager, personally, as more than a ST guy. So I think by September the ILB group is really Barron, Wilson, Littleton and Kiser. It will be interesting to see if Scales makes the team.
Outside, the same. Lots of guys with talent and some have experience. Ebukam and Longacre are the front runners but maybe this Lawler kid- who I liked when they drafted him- can surprise. Given he is missing OTAs and probably the early part of camp Okoronkwo is a guy that probably gets more work as the season progresses but maybe not very much in September.
Better play at NT and just general playmaking by the front three will make the job of the LBs easier but they cannot sit back and think they don't have to make plays. They do. They need an outside rush. They need to hold up inside vs the run. In the end I think it's absolutely going to be "LB by committee" with 8 guys all getting work on a regular basis.
