Defensive coordinator

[HPF Bob]

On the surface, Mario would seem like a perfect 3-4 end because of both his size and his quickness but the position wastes his true talents. The d-lineman in the 3-4 are primarily lane cloggers who free up the LBs to make the plays. The good ones still make some plays on their own but their chief job is to tie up traffic so others can get the glory.

Mario puts such pressure on the pass rush that he'll draw an automatic double team on every play, which will be a guard and a tackle in the 3-4, instead of a tackle and a TE/RB in a 4-3 or sometimes just single blocking by the tackle. Mario also has a problem of wearing down as the season goes on, which I feel would only be worse if he had to play on a 3-4.

He's also not a good candidate for an OLB in the 3-4 because he lacks the true speed to be effective trailing a back in pass coverage or pursuing the play and would only be useful as a pass rusher.

As for trading him...ouch. We'd need at least a pair of #1s in return and I just don't know who we'd draft that would make up for losing him. In my opinion, we are better off making him a major piece of a 4-3 defense instead of trading him or converting to a 3-4.