Trevor Roach

[SFmajor]

I watched Roach Play at Nebraska.  The 4 minute highlight tape on the original post is just a small part of what he brings to the field.  Roach has a very High Football IQ.  He is able to cover TE's and RB's in the slot on passing situations.  He tackles using his shoulders and hits low.  His size allows for excellent vision of the field and he plays instinctively.  He is a beast on Special Teams and I watched him put a hurt on more than one kick-off/punt returner.   He also played at SLB on a number of occasions. Roach would have started at MLB in 2013, but injured his foot and had to sit out 2013.  He recovered nicely and had a stellar season in 2014 as the starting MLB.   He was actually ranked fairly high for Inside LB's with Sports Exchange on 2015 NFL Draft prospects (21 out of 130 ILBs) available for the draft.  Roach is a product of Coach Bo Pelini's Pro-Style 4-3 Defense.  Five years at Nebraska has prepared him well for the AFC North and the NFL in general.  So far he's held his own and he had a good mini-camp.

NOW, with all of that said, yes there is some competition for the last few slots at LB.  Will Roach grab a spot???  He certainly can bring down some wood and if nothing else he's going to make some guys earn their spot.  He is not a roll-over and will give 100% (+) during training camp.  So, if he has what it takes, but the veterans ahead of him are chosen for the 53 man roster, is Roach a better selection for the PS?   Yes, I think so.  Let him develop some more and have him ready for a call up in the event a LB goes down.  

The only downside to the PS is that if another team needs a LB, then they'll grab him up pretty quickly.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens.