Where's he been, lo these many years?
First, it was acclimating to playing standing up under the Capers constraints of edge and pocket contain with eyes up. That took quite a while. Freelancing or dip and rip to the back of the pocket was prohibited; you'd see it once or twice per year so you know he could do it. Releasing the hounds was pretty deep down in the Capers playbook. Opening up opportunities with line stunts were hard to find. Instead, pocket contain while not balling up blitzer lanes or coming in behind a stepping up QB was the predictable order of the day.
Throughout, it's been a litany of injury, playing injured, injured again, playing injured again, rise, repeat, rinse again, repeat again.
He was healthy enough long enough in 2016 to bull rush and defend the run on his way to a fat contract. Is this a matter of tanking after getting the big bucks? I don't think so. The guy is just highly injury prone. To his credit, he's been willing to play through those injuries.
You have to ask at what p0int do you say the guy will never stay healthy while considering to what extent the cumulative affect of the injuries has had a permanent affect. Tough call given $3.6 mil in cap saving next year doesn't buy much in the way of a 3-4 OLB.
