he did play 5tech his rookie year.. wasn't terrible, but wasn't very good either, especially against the run. dropped weight and made the OLB conversion his second year. we'll get a chance to see how it all unfolds. my bet is that he continues to struggle in his third system, with his third coach, until finding a reduced niche role.
I'm pretty sure you're wrong (in as respectful of a way possible) unless he played it in an extremely limited role. Mo Wilk and Devito both started 15 games a piece. Devito would only come out of the game on 3rd down. Coples started two games. When I'm home from work I'll try to do deeper research on snaps by position.
I apologize Queens it appears as though I'm wrong. As per PFR and PFF Coples split time with Devito at the 5t. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/snapcounts http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nyj/2012-snap-counts.htm I don't think its an amazing barometer for him at this point in his career though. I still say he can be a solid run stopping 3-4 end on a top 10 defense in this league. He's just not a spectacular player.
true enough, he could end up contributing somewhere along the DL.. he's still young in his career. it's just interesting that the general feeling is that he was played out of position, yet there is so many varying views as to what 'his position' actually should be. OLB didn't work too well, but we did also see some 5tech, 3tech, NT (passing situations), 7tech, edge setting, and hand in the dirt edge rushing here. so he is versatile, but he just didn't shine anywhere.
Pace is an OLB. The weakside end in a 3-4 is where be played his rookie hear and notched five sacks on limited snaps. Pace may be slow but at least he's never caught out of position. Really a smart player for this defense.
