His first years in the 4-3 he was a lot more active then people remember, when we initially switched to the 3-4 he got relegated the more coverage spot and didn't get back to playing the run stopping spot until 2012.

I think you're suffering from looking at history through rose colored goggles. Hawk played for 3 years in a 4-3 defense and in his best year only had 4 STFs. 4 STFs is not impressive at all by any means. Good ILB's are putting up 8-10 a year. Hawk has only gotten over 5 three times in his career.

We switched to the 3-4 in 2009. Hawk was only in the league 3 years before that. He's spent that vast majority of his career in the 3-4 so I think it's fair to judge him as a player based off what he has accomplished over the last 6 seasons rather than gloss over it to highlight his first 3, 3 season. In fact, at least statistically speaking, Hawk's STFs and tackles both climbed in the first year of the switch.

I mean, even last year Hawk put up 13 TFL (highest for a 3-4 ILB in the league) and 5 sacks (tied 3rd highest). He may not be an official "thumper" but he was a lot more active then people give him credit for.

Ummm what? Hawk had half a sack last year and only 1 TFL. I have literally no idea where you came up with those other numbers.

Lumping Barrington in with Spikes/Burfict is silly, sure the three of them might be called "thumpers" but Spikes/Burfict are infinitely better players.

I agree. You'll get no argument from me. I do not understand why everybody hear is so high on Barrington. We've been ignoring the ILB position for years just sticking late round draft picks in there and it shows. I hope TT goes out in the draft and finds a suitable guy to fit in there. I was hoping we would sign McClain, but it looks like the Cowboys picked him up yesterday unfortunately.