I think that's true to some degree as the game has changed, and it's more evident at some positions than others where the staff is trying to hold certain positions to lower weights so they can maintain speed. Certainly at ILB we have embraced that with at least the WILL. DL as well, even though ARob and Reed were both huge they were very, very quick for their size and the rest of the guys behind them are a a bit smaller. OLB has held pretty steady with guys between 250-260 at Jack and around 240 at SAM, I would suppose because those guy often have to tangle with the OL or TE right on the line. In fact if williams is telling the truth that he weighs 260 now he's another who has added 30+ pounds.I did miss those guys. Still sticking with my point, though. Bama isn't bulking up the LBs like they did in the past and is trying to get quicker guys. Players' initial weight and playing weight suggests that.
Like someone else said, I think the move for Evans makes a lot of sense so he can use the skills he's got instead of getting tangled up right on the LOS, then he can always drop down as a third down pass rusher in certain packages.
The reality is, as often as many of us and the media default to it, we really are not a 3-4 team any more, even though we still go through a lot of drills like that to start practices. We run way more nickel than anything else. In our nickel it can be either a 3-3 or a 4-2 with the same guys on the field because of the way we play the Jack. Most often it's a 4-2, so the jack is more-or-less a DE and that's why we see them be bigger. The Mike is about the same, perhaps just a bit smaller than it used to be. The will, which practices as and ILB, is more like and OLB in a 4-3, and so we're seeing that get a bit smaller and faster (CJM, Foster, and I predict RE).