Changing postions. Suh to Rams (maybe) to 3-4 def

[JohnTurney]

time have changed and changing from a 4-3 to a 3-4 are not as hard as it used to be since all 3-4 defenses now are one-gap rather than the old 2-gap.

If Suh goes to Rams (which I doubt) he'd have to be a DE or a NT which is a change from 4-3 DT.

Charley Taylor changed from RB to WR
Marcus Allen moved to FB for a couple of years,
Corners have moved to S and S to CB
Guards to tackle and tackles to guards and guards to centers, etc
Some TEs have moved to WR and vice versa
Dome DEs to DT and DT to NTand vice versa.
OLB to ILB, MLB to ILB...

What has been the toughest change of position by a player you can think of?

[John Grasso]

George Fant - starting forward in basketball at Western Kentucky, two games at tight end in football
for WKU, starting offensive tackle for Seattle Seahawks.

[NWebster]

Is it cheating to say Del Shofner??? Probably.

Roy Green, maybe less so as it was far less common to make that switch in his era.

Does Rod Bernstine count? And obviously Troy Brown.

But considering a Suh-type switch, how about Joe Klecko? Does Howie Long going inside and out count? As I think about it - it really is Klecko, isn't it - going back, Stautner was back and forth between End and Tackle. Also a similar type move Curley Culp literally went from 4-3 DT to 3-4 NG, if Suh makes the transition that well we might see him in Canton as well.

Obviously lots of Middle Guards and OLB's went to MLB in the 50's - Dodrill, Drazonovich, Bednarik, Schmidt, etc, etc.

[ChrisBabcock]

What has been the toughest change of position by a player you can think of?

I don’t know if it was actually tough for him but I always thought it was interesting that Earl Cooper switched from fullback to TE before his 4th year. He was second in the league in receptions his rookie year so I suppose Walsh thought tight end was a better spot for him in ‘83 with Tyler and Craig being added to the backfield. The “pass catching fullback” position was probably a decade or so away.

[Rupert Patrick]

Bill Kilmer was more of a RB in his first couple seasons.

[Jeremy Crowhurst]

Bobby Mitchell - he was even "more" of a back than Taylor, then became a featured receiver when he went to the Redskins. Taylor caught a lot of passes as a back, Eric Metcalf same thing, so the move to receiver probably wasn't quite as drastic for them as for Mitchell.

[Jay Z]

Bobby Mitchell - he was even "more" of a back than Taylor, then became a featured receiver when he went to the Redskins. Taylor caught a lot of passes as a back, Eric Metcalf same thing, so the move to receiver probably wasn't quite as drastic for them as for Mitchell.

Did Mitchell never line up as a flanker with the Browns, the way Lenny Moore did?

There was quite a transition to the formal tight end around 1960. Vince Lombardi traded Billy Howton in 1959 in part because both he and Max McGee were not good blockers, and he likely wanted at least one of his ends to be a better blocker. And McGee was the younger of the two. So Howton was traded, and Gary Knafelc started at his end spot. No TE, because Lombardi played a full house backfield for the first half of 1959. Hornung, Taylor, and Don McIlhenny as the other HB. Then in midseason he benched McIlhenny, moved Knafelc to TE, and started Boyd Dowler, so now he had McGee/Dowler as FL/SE or whatever they were. Knafelc was not that big, had started out as an offensive end, and was just selected as the TE. He was beaten out in 1961 by Ron Kramer, who was bigger, but also started as an offensive end. Pete Retzlaff in Philly was much like Knafelc, a former offensive end, not terribly big, who took over as TE because someone needed to do it.

[JohnTurney]

Is it cheating to say Del Shofner??? Probably.

Roy Green, maybe less so as it was far less common to make that switch in his era.

Does Rod Bernstine count? And obviously Troy Brown.

But considering a Suh-type switch, how about Joe Klecko? Does Howie Long going inside and out count? As I think about it - it really is Klecko, isn't it - going back, Stautner was back and forth between End and Tackle. Also a similar type move Curley Culp literally went from 4-3 DT to 3-4 NG, if Suh makes the transition that well we might see him in Canton as well.

Obviously lots of Middle Guards and OLB's went to MLB in the 50's - Dodrill, Drazonovich, Bednarik, Schmidt, etc, etc.

Kelcko played 3-4 end, 4-3 end, 4-3 tackle, 3-4 nose. He played them all, he may be king of change. As far as long, there have been several of the DE in 3-4 base and 40 DT in nickel... Hampton played 4-3 end, 4-3 DT and NT in the 46. Also played a little RDE due to injuries to others one year.

Marchetti played OT...but back in 1950s plenty of guys changed back and forth.

The MGs to MLB are interesting...

[JohnTurney]

Bobby Mitchell - he was even "more" of a back than Taylor, then became a featured receiver when he went to the Redskins. Taylor caught a lot of passes as a back, Eric Metcalf same thing, so the move to receiver probably wasn't quite as drastic for them as for Mitchell.

he's a good example...

[conace21]

Lorenzo Alexander came into the league as a 315 lb defensive tackle. He spent his first few years playing there and defensive end, and even spent some time on the offensive line. Then, when Mike Shanahan came aboard, Alexander lost 75 pounds and switched to linebacker. He made the Pro Bowl in 2016 as a 3-4 OLB. The sheer amount of weight he had to lose made that position change particularly inpressive to me.