re: Why does everyone assume Vaccaro is Harpers replacement

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First, I don't play Madden. Second - did you see how much Harper played in the box last year in the second half of games? He was always up at the line of scrimmage. He's been stopping the run all his career so I don't think OLB would be that big of an adjustment. in a 3-4 Defense OLB speed is exactly what we are going to need, and the transition will be asking most of our players to do different things than they've been accustomed to in the past.

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I have seen him coming up in the box all his career. Harper has been good in run support, but also he is using his speed coming up from the safety position. In a 3-4 you hope your big linemen take up blockers, but as an OLB your are going to have big tackles coming to block you. Unless he puts on that 25 pounds you were talking about, and/or develops moves to shed the blocks he is going to spend a lot of time on his back getting direct attention from an Olinemen. If he puts on that 25 lbs it will likely be tough to keep the speed.