Scouting Report: Chuck Darby

by Tom Kowalski
Thursday June 05, 2008, 5:04 AM
CHUCK DARBY
2008 Scouting Report

Another one of those former Tampa Bay/Tampa Two players who once played for Rod Marinelli, Darby should bring some consistency to the defensive tackle position. No, he's not going to make the eye-popping plays that Shaun Rogers did, but Darby will bring two things that Rogers didn't - a non-stop motor and mistake-free discipline in the system.


While Rogers could be a hugely disruptive force, there were also too many times when he'd freelance and leave his one-gap responsibility - leaving his teammates vulnerable.

Darby is very strong against the run and uses his knowledge of the system to get the most out of his ability. He's not productive as a pass rusher, though, and will likely be replaced on passing downs. While Darby is light on his feet when it comes to executing stunts and twists, he simply hasn't been able to master pass-rushing counter moves to improve his effectiveness.

Darby suffered a torn patella tendon last season and missed the last half of the year, but he was durable before that. Darby has been taking part in all of the off-season workouts so there's no lingering issue with the knee injury.





MY THOUGHTS
The funny thing that most people have been beating this guy up about is that he is injury prone but has mainly one injury in his career. The big part that we lose by having Darby instead Rogers is pass rushing but how many games did he just not show up at all? Rogers is an unbelievable DT when he wants to be but only when he wants to be. Darby isnt a star but look at some guy's who just over achieve by going all out on every play. Almost every player will take a few plays off but Darby has always been known as the player who never takes plays off. So I look at it this way, when that center or gaurd takes a play off Darby will take advantage of it.