If Frank Clark Is Ready To Start

Is there a chance Mebane and/or McDaniel gets released?

It would free up 11 million this year if the Hawks release Mebane+McDaniel+Kearse.

I will be staging a stage one bonewa if he can beat out either of those veteran studs.

Clark is a DE and has nothing to do with Mebane or McDaniel. Should we release Willson because we drafted Lockett? Anyways, why so eager to get rid of them? What do we so desperately need the money for?

All three play different positions. Mebane is a NT with pass rushing upside. McDaniel is a three technique with very little pass rushing upside. Clark is a LEO DE. If he starts, it will be in the nickel defense.

Most likely to be released is probably McDaniel, followed by Mebane . . . Carroll talked up the Rubin acquisition today, although Rubin was not very good against the run last season. Williams could also be re-signed at the expense of McDaniel or Mebane. If Hill improves against the run, he could start ahead of McDaniel.

hawknation2015":1kf4gt5g said:

All three play different positions. Mebane is a NT with pass rushing upside. McDaniel is a three technique with very little pass rushing upside. Clark is a LEO DE. If he starts, it will be in the nickel defense.

Most likely to be released is probably McDaniel, followed by Mebane . . . Carroll talked up the Rubin acquisition today, although Rubin was not very good against the run last season. Williams could also be re-signed at the expense of McDaniel or Mebane. If Hill improves against the run, he could start ahead of McDaniel.

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Thank you. Still learning and this post is helpful. :th2thumbs:

Additionally, with the high rotations we like to employ with the defensive line guys, I don't see us honing down very many guys; more like upgrading to those who compete and win the positions, which the proven guys will likely continue to do.

razor150":ll2hqlar said:

Clark is a DE and has nothing to do with Mebane or McDaniel. Should we release Willson because we drafted Lockett? Anyways, why so eager to get rid of them? What do we so desperately need the money for?

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This could have been said so much nicer and conducive to real conversation. Why not just say "They play different positions so it probably wouldnt matter. What are you hoping to spend the money on anyway at this point?" (though I can think of an obvious answer to that question...)

Not to get preachy, but many of us can probably stand to be less combative as an immediate reaction. The OP in this thread is admittedly new to football..

Vetamur":1l705dy6 said:

razor150":1l705dy6 said:

Clark is a DE and has nothing to do with Mebane or McDaniel. Should we release Willson because we drafted Lockett? Anyways, why so eager to get rid of them? What do we so desperately need the money for?

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This could have been said so much nicer and conducive to real conversation. Why not just say "They play different positions so it probably wouldnt matter. What are you hoping to spend the money on anyway at this point?" (though I can think of an obvious answer to that question...)

Not to get preachy, but many of us can probably stand to be less combative as an immediate reaction. The OP in this thread is admittedly new to football..

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It wasn't meant to be combative, but reading it I can see how it would come a crossed that way. I could have left the Lockett and Willson part out.

I'm a broken record on this, but Mebane is still a very, very good player. The degree to which fans on these boards don't appreciate him makes me seethe. I blame fantasy football and stat hound culture.

nanomoz":3bxm6auy said:

I'm a broken record on this, but Mebane is still a very, very good player. The degree to which fans on these boards don't appreciate him makes me seethe. I blame fantasy football and stat hound culture.

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100% agreement!

Tell me again why releasing Mebane is a good thing to do?

massari":3koh87fe said:

Is there a chance Mebane and/or McDaniel gets released?

It would free up 11 million this year if the Hawks release Mebane+McDaniel+Kearse.

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I'm failing to see what Clark has to do with mebane, mcdaniel and kearse?

Tech Worlds":3hgg1w3l said:

Tell me again why releasing Mebane is a good thing to do?

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I think some care more about the cap number rather than the personnel for some reason. How cutting mebane makes us better, I'm just not sure

Tech Worlds":3ttmgyxw said:

Tell me again why releasing Mebane is a good thing to do?

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It wouldn't be. But if they can re-sign Williams for less, then they are in the same position they were in last season. Carroll was lauding their acquisition of Rubin yesterday. If they need cap space to give Russell and/or Wagner a signing bonus, then Mebane would be one of the first players on the cut list. If they can keep Mebane, and he is healthy, then the defensive line is stronger than it was last year.

nanomoz":2kk42r1z said:

I'm a broken record on this, but Mebane is still a very, very good player. The degree to which fans on these boards don't appreciate him makes me seethe. I blame fantasy football and stat hound culture.

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You should blame the salary cap. Every dollar counts and we have all been clamoring for new contracts for Wilson and Wagner. Something eventually has to give. I don't advocate cutting Mebane but i understand why analysts are focusing on his contract as a casualty.

hawknation2015":k41xcvtu said:

All three play different positions. Mebane is a NT with pass rushing upside. McDaniel is a three technique with very little pass rushing upside. Clark is a LEO DE. If he starts, it will be in the nickel defense.

Most likely to be released is probably McDaniel, followed by Mebane . . . Carroll talked up the Rubin acquisition today, although Rubin was not very good against the run last season. Williams could also be re-signed at the expense of McDaniel or Mebane. If Hill improves against the run, he could start ahead of McDaniel.

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Good Post. Although McDaniel played mostly 5 Tech last year until Williams had to slide over to NT, yea, McDaniel has been our run "stuffing" 3 tech, with Hill providing the pass rush from the 3 tech DT last year.

I don't see them getting rid of Mebane. For what he provides, he still has pretty good value at 5.5 million, if I remember his cap hit correctly. The only reason I can't see Mebane making the team is if his hamstring tear doesn't heal well enough.

Frank Clark has been compared athletically to Chris Clemmons in his prime, but at 271 lbs and much longer arms. Clark is roughly the side of Michael Bennett (maybe 8 lbs lighter and with longer arms), but I haven't heard anything about how good Clark is at sliding inside at pass rushing over the Guard like Bennett can do....so I don't see him making a run at 3 tech DT.

I can see him getting some work right away, kind of like Irvin, but honestly, I see him playing the run a bit more than pass rushing to start. Clark is really good at setting the edge and playing the run, something Irvin just wasn't his rookie year, while Irvin was probably a better pass rusher (both were/are raw). I can see Clark playing obvious run downs at the LEO, and he's going to get more than enough pass rush reps as lots of teams line up in run formations and throw from them, or audible to passing plays out of run sets.

And like Hawknation said, I'd bet that McDaniels is closer to being cut than Mebane. If our younger 3 tech guys show they can develop, McDaniel will be redundant and more expensive.

massari":3ni7drh1 said:

Is there a chance Mebane and/or McDaniel gets released?

It would free up 11 million this year if the Hawks release Mebane+McDaniel+Kearse.

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Why release those guys now? For what? We can afford them and extend RW and Wagner... releasing guys just to release them makes no sense.

Clark took O'Brien Schofield's job. No need to cut anyone to fit him in. Lockett is replacing Walters, who went to Jacksonville. So no need to cut anyone there either.

I guess Rubin could bump off one of Mebane or McDaniel, but I'm guessing they brought him in as depth, not as direct competition. Rubin has been very injury prone, I would be surprised if they viewed him as being more than a rotational guy in 2015.

The way Seattle played the draft this year, going for Lockett over some big WRs, makes me wonder if keeping Kearse is in their long term plans.

Before "hawknation2015" made a perfect response to my noob question, my thought process was that Bennett used to play DT so if Clark had a great preseason at DE, they could have a starting D-line of DE-Clark/DT-Bennett/DT-Hill/DE-Avril and release Mebane (who's 30 coming off injury+makes 5 mill/not much dead cap money) and/or McDaniel (coming off disapointing season+not much dead cap money) to free up money to pay Wilson/Wagner or put towards a new acquisition.

Sorry for the rustled jimmies!

I would bet Clark also gets a little look as an inside rusher from the DT position on 3rd downs, considering his frame and style.