FanPost

How Will Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus Work Together?

After the Lions drafted Nick Fairley, the interwebs exploded with sentiments of "OMG Suh+Fairley=doom". But the folks over at Pro Football Focus were not entirely persuaded. In their analysis, they note that Fairley and Suh don't complement each other very well. Both prefer an opportunistic, penetrating style of play, rather than staying at home to hold the line (more on Suh from PFF here). If both play in this style, it might not even make sense to put them on the field at the same time.

This immediately got me thinking -- how well would Dareus and Meatball work together? PFF depicts Williams as a complete defender. That is, he does occasionally get into the backfield to snag a sack or TFL, but also grades out much better than Suh against the run. Everything I've read about Dareus suggests that he plays a similar style, and if anything is biased towards being a stay at home run defender.

So how will Meatball and Dareus play together? Will we see a more aggressive, penetrating Meatball, confident that Dareus has his back? Or will we have two stay at home defenders, presenting a solid front against the run, but relying on a pass rush from the LB corps? Or will they play as a duo of balanced, complete defenders?

Or is this there a better way of thinking about how Meatball and Dareus will work together?

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.