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2014 Defensive Prototypes: The D-Line
Sam Monson | April 23, 2014
We’ve hit that time of the off-season again. With the NFL Draft put back to the beginning of May the pre-draft talk is growing ever-more ridiculous as people scramble to fill the time until Radio City Music Hall goes live.
We hear each year about the various techniques that prospects project to in the NFL and it’s easy to get lost beneath all of that jargon while in reality they’re all talking about the same few positions we know and love.
Football can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it, and where one man will talk about a nose tackle, the next guy will talk about a 0-technique. Whether you want to label players by their position or specific techniques the traits and skills of that individual remain the same and we can get lost down the rabbit hole making things more complex than they need to be.
Why are there even a load of different techniques to begin with? For years in football everybody was lined up more or less the same way in the trenches. You lined up directly in front of your blocker, and any given play was essentially a series of Oklahoma drills (if you don’t know what these are, Google it, you won’t be sorry!) with the runner just trying to find a gap that opened up with a successful block. It was barely organized chaos.
The better, stronger man won most of the time until coaches worked out a way around that physical advantage. If you didn’t have the biggest, strongest guys in the land, get guys who are quicker or faster. You can then shade them into gaps rather than directly in front of a huge man tasked with halting their progress. Instead of trying to read and react while engaged in a wrestling match, defensive linemen could attack; penetrating the line of scrimmage and attempting to stop the play deep in the backfield before it ever got going.
Different defensive fronts call for linemen to be arranged in varying patterns along the line of scrimmage. The aim of each is the same – account for each gap along the line that the running back could potentially burst through. The difference between 3-4 and 4-3 isn’t simply how many guys have their hand in the dirt (or turf), but where they are deployed.
To try and codify things, a numbering system was devised to differentiate the various alignments for defensive linemen. In fact, several seem to have developed, all similar but with a couple of minor differences where a coach couldn’t just go with the flow somewhere along the line. Below is the numbering system we’ll use to illustrate things. It’s the most widely accepted system and the one several NFL people have told us we should be using. For those using a different system – apologies!
The numbering essentially begins head-up over the center, and works out toward the line of scrimmage in either direction. The numbers can designate a head-up alignment over a blocker, or shaded to the inside or outside shoulder. So let’s take a look at the major techniques used in the NFL and identify a prototype player for each, starting with that middle spot.
0-Technique (3-4 NT) – Dontari Poe
The age of the massive 3-4 defensive lineman has passed. Fewer and fewer teams are using the old two-gap system and man-mountain linemen are growing thin on the ground. Most teams that run the 3-4 in today’s NFL are doing so within the realms of a one-gap system, rather than asking their linemen to occupy multiple gaps. Vince Wilfork’s injury means the torch has passed for at least a season to Chiefs NT, Dontari Poe.
Poe is a throwback to the glory years of monstrous nose tackles. He would sit happily in a photofit lineup alongside Ted Washington, Keith Traylor, Jamal Williams, Gilbert Brown and others and not look out of place. What’s most remarkable about Poe though is that he is an every-down force for the Chiefs. Playing at well over 330-pounds he was on the field last season for a mind-blowing 1,004 snaps in the regular season to lead all defensive tackles, he played another 59 in the playoff loss to the Colts.
Poe has the physical bulk to play two gaps, occupy a pair of blockers in the middle of the defense and free up players around him to make plays. He also has impressive quickness and the power to push the pocket from the middle and influence the plays even in sub-packages which today’s prototype needs to be able to do.
The modern 3-4 nose tackle can’t just be a massive space-eater. He needs to be able to affect an offense in sub-packages and on passing downs as more than just a sink hole for blockers. Poe can be that guy and for now he is the new prototype for the position.
Alternative Prototypes: Dan Williams
1-Technique (4-3 NT) – Brandon Mebane
The first of our prototypes that remains unchanged from 2013. The 1-technique does much the same job as the 0-tech, except that he is shaded between the center and one of the guards, and is rarely expected to control two gaps. They are, however, expected to command the double team from the center and guard lined up over him, and thus free up other defenders to be, at worst, one-on-one with their blockers.
For years this prototype was Minnesota’s Pat Williams, who was so good at this job for the Vikings that he could actually play two gaps even though it wasn’t in the defensive scheme and wasn’t his assignment. Brandon Mebane is that guy for the Seahawks within their unusual shifted defensive front. Mebane is the power force for them against the run, the man tasked with defeating a double team and clogging up the interior, forcing the run out towards the perimeter and extending it laterally.
With Seattle being blessed with an abundance of linemen he hasn’t played in sub-packages as much as a player like Poe, but that isn’t to say he can’t do it. He has shown the ability to generate pressure and push the pocket in the past.
A prototypical 1-technique doesn’t just look great against the run himself, but allows players around him to reap the benefits of that extra occupied blocker. He can improve an entire run defense.
Alternate Prototypes: Marcel Dareus
3-Technique (4-3 Pass Rush DT) – Gerald McCoy
The 3-technique is the technique everybody knows. It’s the one position that has transcended coach-speak and actually come close to making it into regular football parlance. Everybody knows the 3-technique is the pass-rushing defensive tackle in a 4-3. He is the guy tasked with bringing interior pressure and wreaking havoc in the backfield.
3-techniques are shaded outside of the guard to one side of the formation, usually isolating them one-on-one with that blocker and giving them the best chance to create pressure. Geno Atkins was the 2013 prototype and in truth could easily still be that guy, but injury in 2014 opened the door for somebody else and it would feel wrong not to acknowledge the great season Gerald McCoy had in some small way.
McCoy lived up to every ounce of his potential in 2014, raining down destruction on offensive lines despite zero help around him on the D-line for the Bucs. He is quick enough to penetrate immediately at the snap and strong enough to exploit that speed and affect both the run and the pass. McCoy ended the season almost twenty grading points better than any other DT in the PFF rankings and came close to emulating Geno Atkins’ 2012 season that I thought was an outlier we wouldn’t see again for a while.
Atkins and fellow 2010 draft class member Ndamukong Suh are both worthy alternatives for this prototype.
Alternate Prototypes: Geno Atkins, Ndamukong Suh
5-Technique (3-4 DE) – J.J. Watt
Another holdover from 2013, the new 3-4 defensive end prototype is J.J. Watt, and will likely continue to be until his career finishes some time down the line. Like the 0-technique, the 5-technique is a position that has undergone some changes in recent years as the league has moved away from two-gap systems.
Traditionally, the 5-technique was a two-gap player. Ty Warren might be the last of the prototypical 5-techniques when it comes to two-gapping. Just like the nose tackle, 3-4 ends were needed to control the blocker lined up over them and be able to stop the run headed through either the B or C-gap to his side of the field.
With the move towards one-gap systems regardless of the number of players with their hands in the dirt the 3-4 DE has become a far more flexible player. Guys like Watt are built like old-school 5-techniques with impressive length and size but they have the speed and quickness to ply their trade at multiple spots along that front.
Watt is the new-look 5-technique prototype. The NFL wants the 5-technique to have that length in order to keep an offensive tackle away from his body and be able to react in space, but he also needs speed and athleticism that they were never expected to possess in the past. At 6-foot-5, Watt has the length (not just height… arm length) to prevent bigger players getting into his pads, but he has the agility to beat them off the snap as well, penetrating into the backfield much like the 3-technique in a 4-3 defense.
Watt has the kind of speed that interior blockers aren’t used to contending with and the kind of power that perimeter blockers can’t handle. That combination he uses to devastating effect all over the line, leaving guards grasping at air and overpowering tackles and tight ends with brute strength.
Alternate Prototypes: Calais Campbell, Muhammad Wilkerson
6- and 7-Techniques (4-3 DLE) – Michael Bennett
The 7-technique is often used by teams running a 4-3 defense on the left side of the defense as the run-stuffing, power end, while the DRE is seen as the pass-rush specialist attacking a quarterback’s blind side. He lines up shaded in the gap between the OT and the TE (if there is one to that side of the formation) and, consequently, often plays the 6-technique depending on how the offense lines up.
His job is usually to set the edge in the run game, but he is also expected to be able to bring his share of pass rush, either beating the tackle around the edge or forcing his way inside a tight end. Since they’re often expected to fight through a double team, battle past a chip, or simply disrupt the release of the TE, the 6- or 7-tech DE is usually a more powerful player than the speed-rushing end, and almost always a better run defender.
Michael Bennett has been an impressive player for a while now but really shone on the bigger stage in Seattle on the way to their Super Bowl win. Bennett can certainly bring his share of pressure but is also a powerful run defender and shows the kind of strength to be able to kick inside and rush as a defensive tackle on passing downs. He has the strength to set the edge against the run but more than enough speed and quickness to hold his own as a pass-rush presence either outside or inside the defensive front, giving his coaches great flexibility.
Alternate Prototypes: Justin Tuck, Carlos Dunlap
9-Technique (4-3 DRE) – Robert Quinn
Last year’s prototype was Cameron Wake, despite the fact that he actually plays on the left not the right side for Miami, and in truth he could still easily be that guy, but he was surpassed and then some in 2013 by Robert Quinn
The 9-technique is the speed-rushing defensive end in a 4-3, and is usually used more in obvious pass-rushing situations rather than as an every-down alignment. The Lions and Eagles have used the famous ‘Wide-9’ alignment in their base defense in recent years, but both have found the limitations of doing that for every snap of the game.
The 9-tech lines up well outside of the tackle, and outside of the TE (if there is one to that side of the formation). If there is no TE present, the alignment can look almost ridiculous because of how wide the end is lining up for his rush. This position was typified by Dwight Freeney for years, but the prototypical speed rusher now is Quinn, who is the new standard by which pass-rushing 4-3 DEs are measured.
Quinn has speed and burst off the line in his rush that we haven’t seen perhaps since Freeney was at his best. He can turn the corner on offensive tackles seemingly at will at frightening speed, often closing on the quarterback within 1.5 seconds of the ball being snapped. This speed coupled with the width a 9-technique lines up with causes offensive tackles to over commit to the edge rush, desperately trying to shut off that speed to the outside but in the process opening up a wide door inside for a counter move.
Freeney’s inside spin was always his most devastating weapon, but Quinn has been so unstoppable with his outside speed that he hasn’t really needed to go to the well on his inside move too often so far.
Alternate Prototypes: Cameron Wake
2014 Defensive Prototypes: Linebackers
Sam Monson | April 30, 2014
After updating the defensive line prototypes we move on to the second level of the defense and look at the linebackers. Last year saw a new wave of prototypes for the position and many of them kicked into another gear during the 2013 season and only cemented their status as the definitive prototype for their position. There are a couple of changes, however, with new blood coming in and position switches forcing some moves.
Though linebackers can be arranged into a similar numerical system to defensive linemen (30-technique, rather than 3-technique etc), on any given play they can change their alignment to counter an offense and move between techniques far too freely to confine them to any one technique label.
Instead it is easier to break them down more by scheme than by specific techniques. Even then there will be players that don’t fit into any specific vanilla scheme but are talented enough that coaches find ways to incorporate them into the gameplan, or change their scheme to fit the player – think Von Miller.
So let’s take a look at the 2014 linebacker prototypes:
4-3 SAM Linebacker (OLB) – Dont’a Hightower
Some teams do play just left and right outside linebacker, and you may wonder why there should be a difference between the two, but the reason most teams don’t and instead play strong and weak side linebacker is because most offensive formations are not balanced. They have a blocking strength to one side or the other. To counter that you need linebackers with different skill sets on either side of the formation.
These outside linebackers typically have slightly different responsibilities against the run and pass. The SAM linebacker plays on the strong side of the formation, hence the name, and is usually the linebacker that has to take on lead blockers in run plays, or deal with tight ends releasing into pass patterns.
Because of these roles, strong side linebackers need to be stronger and more stout than their counterparts on the weak side. Not every run goes to the strong side of the formation and so there will be some crossover in skills between these outside linebackers, but typically SAM linebackers need to contend with a more physically demanding game.
Complete SAM backers are becoming rare players to find. The abilities necessary to take on lead blockers against the run and still be able to cover athletic tight ends down the field is working the problem from both ends at the same time. The position is therefore becoming ever-more a two-down player — a run specialist that gets replaced when teams go to nickel defense for a more athletic and fluid player in coverage.
Dont’a Hightower is the prototypical 4-3 SAM in today’s NFL – a stout run defender who is capable – if not impressive – in coverage. The Patriots keep him on the field for third downs, but alternate prototypes like James Harrison have been kept strictly a base-formation presence against the run.
Alternate Prototypes: James Harrison
4-3 MIKE Linebacker (ILB) – Luke Kuechly
The MIKE linebacker is the quarterback of the defense. He has the toughest job of the 4-3 linebackers, because he needs to be able to cover the most ground, whether that is sideline to sideline, or dropping into the deep middle. He also has the role, in most defenses, of calling defensive signals and making sure the defense is lined up in the right place and everybody is singing from the same hymn sheet.
When the Panthers moved Kuechly to the middle he was like a different player. His instincts and ability to flow to the football allowed him to rack up an enormous number of tackles and involve him in plays he couldn’t muscle in on when he was left to one side of the defense. With middle linebackers needing to cover large amounts of ground, they are usually more athletic than SAM linebackers, and they must have the best instincts and feel for the game of all because their positioning depends on the speed in which they can read and react to plays.
Kuechly has the ability and range to flow to the football and is adept at reading and reacting to short passes in front of him. He can still struggle a little to adequately feel danger on routes that went behind him, but once he develops the experience to deal with these passes he will be a complete player and a legitimate All-Pro.
Middle linebacker is also the position that can vary the most depending on specific schemes. In a defense that employs a Wide-9 defensive front, the MLB needs to be a much more aggressive and stout downhill thumper, because he must be able to play off the blocks of free offensive linemen coming at him. Conversely, in a Tampa-2 scheme the ability to drop deep down the field to cover passes is the most important skill, which is why Brian Urlacher was such a lynchpin of the Chicago D during the Lovie Smith-era.
Alternate Prototypes: Patrick Willis, Stephen Tulloch
4-3 WILL Linebacker (OLB) – Lavonte David
David is another player who secured his spot a year ago and only cemented it further with his 2013 campaign. The WILL linebacker is the highlight-reel position in the 4-3 defense. Things are schemed for this player to fly to the football and make plays, and nobody exemplified this more than David.
Generally the SAM is tasked with taking on the lead blocks, the MIKE linebacker fights his way through any remaining blocks and the WILL linebacker gets a free run through traffic to the football. The weak side linebacker is therefore usually the quickest, lightest and most explosive of the 4-3 linebackers.
Teams will sacrifice size in favor of speed, quickness and the ability to cover distance and close on the ball and that’s why you often see prospects talked about as being either a strong safety or WILL linebacker. David was a master of the tackle for loss last season, shooting into the backfield and blowing up plays before they had a chance to get going with his speed and explosiveness.
I have said for years that the perfect WILL linebacker template would look an awful lot like Ernie Sims, who has a fearsome level of speed, athleticism and explosiveness in a relatively small frame, but Sims never had the instincts and ability to read the game necessary to take advantage of his physical gifts. Lavonte David is essentially what that fictional version of Ernie Sims would look like – the new defensive prototype for the position – taking over the mantle once made famous in Tampa Bay by Derrick Brooks.
Alternate Prototypes: Sean Weatherspoon, Vontaze Burfict.
3-4 Outside Linebacker – Justin Houston
3-4 OLB is another position that requires new blood. For years DeMarcus Ware was the prototype for the position but injuries, age and a change in scheme in Dallas before he moved on have all meant that we can begin to look elsewhere. In many ways 3-4 outside linebackers have far more in common with 4-3 defensive ends than they do with any of the 4-3 linebacker spots. Many of the league’s current 3-4 OLBs have at some point in their careers been asked to play 4-3 DEs as new coaching staffs and schemes have come and gone.
They are the primary pass-rushers in that defensive scheme. They are essentially just stand-up defensive ends, the 3-4 began as a way to rush the same number of players (four) as a 4-3 front but without telling the offense which four were coming before the snap. This change meant that while a defensive end may be asked to drop into coverage a handful of times in a season as part of a zone blitz, a 3-4 OLB has to be expected to do it on a semi-regular basis.
Teams still value their pass rush far more than their coverage, and a talented rusher will always have a place in a 3-4 even if his coverage is questionable at best, but our new prototype for the position dropped in coverage just 106 of 724 snaps last season.
With Ware out of the picture at least for the moment the new prototype is Kansas City Chiefs OLB, Justin Houston. At 6-foot-3, 258-pounds, he has the length teams want (height and arm reach) in order to fight off offensive tackles and keep them at a distance, but he also has the speed to turn the corner and influence the quarterback on passing plays.
3-4 OLB is a position in which the textbook player has begun to be chipped away at. Though Houston fits the bill in terms of the body type teams typically looked at, more and more we are seeing teams find a way to utilize talented pass-rushers whether they are 6-4, 260 or not.
Alternate Prototypes: Clay Matthews, Aldon Smith
3-4 Inside Linebacker – Patrick Willis
The 3-4 inside linebacker is similar in many ways to the 4-3 MIKE ‘backer, and Patrick Willis could easily be named the prototype for both positions, having succeeded at both already in his NFL career as the 49ers changed defensive schemes. Willis is the league’s best inside linebacker regardless of defensive front, and the differences between the positions are subtle. Inside linebackers in a 3-4 usually don’t have to cover as much ground as their 4-3 counterparts, since there are two players splitting the field in half, coming forward against the run or dropping back into coverage.
The flip side to that arrangement is they usually need to be more capable of dealing with blocks from offensive linemen getting through to the second level because there are only three down linemen in front of them instead of four. That is made even more pressing by the move away from two-gap defensive systems towards more one-gap attacking fronts.
In an old-school 3-4 scheme the linebackers could rely on giant man-mountain defensive linemen in front of them eating up two blocks each, but today those linemen are smaller, quicker and attack gaps rather than occupy blocks. 3-4 inside linebackers consequently have to be able to attack gaps behind those linemen, plugging holes and stuffing the run at the line of scrimmage.
Just as some teams that run a 4-3 play just left and right outside linebacker, some 3-4 teams will play strong and weak side when it comes to their inside linebackers, whereas some play just left and right side. For the teams that don’t specify, either of the inside backers can be expected to take on the role of the SAM, attacking lead blocks and creating the play for the trail player to make the tackle depending on the point of attack.
Willis is a wrecking ball for the 49ers. He has off-the-charts athleticism and the burst to attack plays both against the run and pass. He also has more than enough strength to take on blocks when he needs to, whether that be in the run game or even coming on a blitz through the middle. Willis is the league’s best inside linebacker by a distance, and remains the league’s prototype.
Alternate Prototypes: NaVorro Bowman, Derrick Johnson
Follow Sam on Twitter: @PFF_Sam
Sam Monson | April 23, 2014
We’ve hit that time of the off-season again. With the NFL Draft put back to the beginning of May the pre-draft talk is growing ever-more ridiculous as people scramble to fill the time until Radio City Music Hall goes live.
We hear each year about the various techniques that prospects project to in the NFL and it’s easy to get lost beneath all of that jargon while in reality they’re all talking about the same few positions we know and love.
Football can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it, and where one man will talk about a nose tackle, the next guy will talk about a 0-technique. Whether you want to label players by their position or specific techniques the traits and skills of that individual remain the same and we can get lost down the rabbit hole making things more complex than they need to be.
Why are there even a load of different techniques to begin with? For years in football everybody was lined up more or less the same way in the trenches. You lined up directly in front of your blocker, and any given play was essentially a series of Oklahoma drills (if you don’t know what these are, Google it, you won’t be sorry!) with the runner just trying to find a gap that opened up with a successful block. It was barely organized chaos.
The better, stronger man won most of the time until coaches worked out a way around that physical advantage. If you didn’t have the biggest, strongest guys in the land, get guys who are quicker or faster. You can then shade them into gaps rather than directly in front of a huge man tasked with halting their progress. Instead of trying to read and react while engaged in a wrestling match, defensive linemen could attack; penetrating the line of scrimmage and attempting to stop the play deep in the backfield before it ever got going.
Different defensive fronts call for linemen to be arranged in varying patterns along the line of scrimmage. The aim of each is the same – account for each gap along the line that the running back could potentially burst through. The difference between 3-4 and 4-3 isn’t simply how many guys have their hand in the dirt (or turf), but where they are deployed.
To try and codify things, a numbering system was devised to differentiate the various alignments for defensive linemen. In fact, several seem to have developed, all similar but with a couple of minor differences where a coach couldn’t just go with the flow somewhere along the line. Below is the numbering system we’ll use to illustrate things. It’s the most widely accepted system and the one several NFL people have told us we should be using. For those using a different system – apologies!
The numbering essentially begins head-up over the center, and works out toward the line of scrimmage in either direction. The numbers can designate a head-up alignment over a blocker, or shaded to the inside or outside shoulder. So let’s take a look at the major techniques used in the NFL and identify a prototype player for each, starting with that middle spot.
0-Technique (3-4 NT) – Dontari Poe
The age of the massive 3-4 defensive lineman has passed. Fewer and fewer teams are using the old two-gap system and man-mountain linemen are growing thin on the ground. Most teams that run the 3-4 in today’s NFL are doing so within the realms of a one-gap system, rather than asking their linemen to occupy multiple gaps. Vince Wilfork’s injury means the torch has passed for at least a season to Chiefs NT, Dontari Poe.
Poe is a throwback to the glory years of monstrous nose tackles. He would sit happily in a photofit lineup alongside Ted Washington, Keith Traylor, Jamal Williams, Gilbert Brown and others and not look out of place. What’s most remarkable about Poe though is that he is an every-down force for the Chiefs. Playing at well over 330-pounds he was on the field last season for a mind-blowing 1,004 snaps in the regular season to lead all defensive tackles, he played another 59 in the playoff loss to the Colts.
Poe has the physical bulk to play two gaps, occupy a pair of blockers in the middle of the defense and free up players around him to make plays. He also has impressive quickness and the power to push the pocket from the middle and influence the plays even in sub-packages which today’s prototype needs to be able to do.
The modern 3-4 nose tackle can’t just be a massive space-eater. He needs to be able to affect an offense in sub-packages and on passing downs as more than just a sink hole for blockers. Poe can be that guy and for now he is the new prototype for the position.
Alternative Prototypes: Dan Williams
1-Technique (4-3 NT) – Brandon Mebane
The first of our prototypes that remains unchanged from 2013. The 1-technique does much the same job as the 0-tech, except that he is shaded between the center and one of the guards, and is rarely expected to control two gaps. They are, however, expected to command the double team from the center and guard lined up over him, and thus free up other defenders to be, at worst, one-on-one with their blockers.
For years this prototype was Minnesota’s Pat Williams, who was so good at this job for the Vikings that he could actually play two gaps even though it wasn’t in the defensive scheme and wasn’t his assignment. Brandon Mebane is that guy for the Seahawks within their unusual shifted defensive front. Mebane is the power force for them against the run, the man tasked with defeating a double team and clogging up the interior, forcing the run out towards the perimeter and extending it laterally.
With Seattle being blessed with an abundance of linemen he hasn’t played in sub-packages as much as a player like Poe, but that isn’t to say he can’t do it. He has shown the ability to generate pressure and push the pocket in the past.
A prototypical 1-technique doesn’t just look great against the run himself, but allows players around him to reap the benefits of that extra occupied blocker. He can improve an entire run defense.
Alternate Prototypes: Marcel Dareus
3-Technique (4-3 Pass Rush DT) – Gerald McCoy
The 3-technique is the technique everybody knows. It’s the one position that has transcended coach-speak and actually come close to making it into regular football parlance. Everybody knows the 3-technique is the pass-rushing defensive tackle in a 4-3. He is the guy tasked with bringing interior pressure and wreaking havoc in the backfield.
3-techniques are shaded outside of the guard to one side of the formation, usually isolating them one-on-one with that blocker and giving them the best chance to create pressure. Geno Atkins was the 2013 prototype and in truth could easily still be that guy, but injury in 2014 opened the door for somebody else and it would feel wrong not to acknowledge the great season Gerald McCoy had in some small way.
McCoy lived up to every ounce of his potential in 2014, raining down destruction on offensive lines despite zero help around him on the D-line for the Bucs. He is quick enough to penetrate immediately at the snap and strong enough to exploit that speed and affect both the run and the pass. McCoy ended the season almost twenty grading points better than any other DT in the PFF rankings and came close to emulating Geno Atkins’ 2012 season that I thought was an outlier we wouldn’t see again for a while.
Atkins and fellow 2010 draft class member Ndamukong Suh are both worthy alternatives for this prototype.
Alternate Prototypes: Geno Atkins, Ndamukong Suh
5-Technique (3-4 DE) – J.J. Watt
Another holdover from 2013, the new 3-4 defensive end prototype is J.J. Watt, and will likely continue to be until his career finishes some time down the line. Like the 0-technique, the 5-technique is a position that has undergone some changes in recent years as the league has moved away from two-gap systems.
Traditionally, the 5-technique was a two-gap player. Ty Warren might be the last of the prototypical 5-techniques when it comes to two-gapping. Just like the nose tackle, 3-4 ends were needed to control the blocker lined up over them and be able to stop the run headed through either the B or C-gap to his side of the field.
With the move towards one-gap systems regardless of the number of players with their hands in the dirt the 3-4 DE has become a far more flexible player. Guys like Watt are built like old-school 5-techniques with impressive length and size but they have the speed and quickness to ply their trade at multiple spots along that front.
Watt is the new-look 5-technique prototype. The NFL wants the 5-technique to have that length in order to keep an offensive tackle away from his body and be able to react in space, but he also needs speed and athleticism that they were never expected to possess in the past. At 6-foot-5, Watt has the length (not just height… arm length) to prevent bigger players getting into his pads, but he has the agility to beat them off the snap as well, penetrating into the backfield much like the 3-technique in a 4-3 defense.
Watt has the kind of speed that interior blockers aren’t used to contending with and the kind of power that perimeter blockers can’t handle. That combination he uses to devastating effect all over the line, leaving guards grasping at air and overpowering tackles and tight ends with brute strength.
Alternate Prototypes: Calais Campbell, Muhammad Wilkerson
6- and 7-Techniques (4-3 DLE) – Michael Bennett
The 7-technique is often used by teams running a 4-3 defense on the left side of the defense as the run-stuffing, power end, while the DRE is seen as the pass-rush specialist attacking a quarterback’s blind side. He lines up shaded in the gap between the OT and the TE (if there is one to that side of the formation) and, consequently, often plays the 6-technique depending on how the offense lines up.
His job is usually to set the edge in the run game, but he is also expected to be able to bring his share of pass rush, either beating the tackle around the edge or forcing his way inside a tight end. Since they’re often expected to fight through a double team, battle past a chip, or simply disrupt the release of the TE, the 6- or 7-tech DE is usually a more powerful player than the speed-rushing end, and almost always a better run defender.
Michael Bennett has been an impressive player for a while now but really shone on the bigger stage in Seattle on the way to their Super Bowl win. Bennett can certainly bring his share of pressure but is also a powerful run defender and shows the kind of strength to be able to kick inside and rush as a defensive tackle on passing downs. He has the strength to set the edge against the run but more than enough speed and quickness to hold his own as a pass-rush presence either outside or inside the defensive front, giving his coaches great flexibility.
Alternate Prototypes: Justin Tuck, Carlos Dunlap
9-Technique (4-3 DRE) – Robert Quinn
Last year’s prototype was Cameron Wake, despite the fact that he actually plays on the left not the right side for Miami, and in truth he could still easily be that guy, but he was surpassed and then some in 2013 by Robert Quinn
The 9-technique is the speed-rushing defensive end in a 4-3, and is usually used more in obvious pass-rushing situations rather than as an every-down alignment. The Lions and Eagles have used the famous ‘Wide-9’ alignment in their base defense in recent years, but both have found the limitations of doing that for every snap of the game.
The 9-tech lines up well outside of the tackle, and outside of the TE (if there is one to that side of the formation). If there is no TE present, the alignment can look almost ridiculous because of how wide the end is lining up for his rush. This position was typified by Dwight Freeney for years, but the prototypical speed rusher now is Quinn, who is the new standard by which pass-rushing 4-3 DEs are measured.
Quinn has speed and burst off the line in his rush that we haven’t seen perhaps since Freeney was at his best. He can turn the corner on offensive tackles seemingly at will at frightening speed, often closing on the quarterback within 1.5 seconds of the ball being snapped. This speed coupled with the width a 9-technique lines up with causes offensive tackles to over commit to the edge rush, desperately trying to shut off that speed to the outside but in the process opening up a wide door inside for a counter move.
Freeney’s inside spin was always his most devastating weapon, but Quinn has been so unstoppable with his outside speed that he hasn’t really needed to go to the well on his inside move too often so far.
Alternate Prototypes: Cameron Wake
2014 Defensive Prototypes: Linebackers
Sam Monson | April 30, 2014
After updating the defensive line prototypes we move on to the second level of the defense and look at the linebackers. Last year saw a new wave of prototypes for the position and many of them kicked into another gear during the 2013 season and only cemented their status as the definitive prototype for their position. There are a couple of changes, however, with new blood coming in and position switches forcing some moves.
Though linebackers can be arranged into a similar numerical system to defensive linemen (30-technique, rather than 3-technique etc), on any given play they can change their alignment to counter an offense and move between techniques far too freely to confine them to any one technique label.
Instead it is easier to break them down more by scheme than by specific techniques. Even then there will be players that don’t fit into any specific vanilla scheme but are talented enough that coaches find ways to incorporate them into the gameplan, or change their scheme to fit the player – think Von Miller.
So let’s take a look at the 2014 linebacker prototypes:
4-3 SAM Linebacker (OLB) – Dont’a Hightower
Some teams do play just left and right outside linebacker, and you may wonder why there should be a difference between the two, but the reason most teams don’t and instead play strong and weak side linebacker is because most offensive formations are not balanced. They have a blocking strength to one side or the other. To counter that you need linebackers with different skill sets on either side of the formation.
These outside linebackers typically have slightly different responsibilities against the run and pass. The SAM linebacker plays on the strong side of the formation, hence the name, and is usually the linebacker that has to take on lead blockers in run plays, or deal with tight ends releasing into pass patterns.
Because of these roles, strong side linebackers need to be stronger and more stout than their counterparts on the weak side. Not every run goes to the strong side of the formation and so there will be some crossover in skills between these outside linebackers, but typically SAM linebackers need to contend with a more physically demanding game.
Complete SAM backers are becoming rare players to find. The abilities necessary to take on lead blockers against the run and still be able to cover athletic tight ends down the field is working the problem from both ends at the same time. The position is therefore becoming ever-more a two-down player — a run specialist that gets replaced when teams go to nickel defense for a more athletic and fluid player in coverage.
Dont’a Hightower is the prototypical 4-3 SAM in today’s NFL – a stout run defender who is capable – if not impressive – in coverage. The Patriots keep him on the field for third downs, but alternate prototypes like James Harrison have been kept strictly a base-formation presence against the run.
Alternate Prototypes: James Harrison
4-3 MIKE Linebacker (ILB) – Luke Kuechly
The MIKE linebacker is the quarterback of the defense. He has the toughest job of the 4-3 linebackers, because he needs to be able to cover the most ground, whether that is sideline to sideline, or dropping into the deep middle. He also has the role, in most defenses, of calling defensive signals and making sure the defense is lined up in the right place and everybody is singing from the same hymn sheet.
When the Panthers moved Kuechly to the middle he was like a different player. His instincts and ability to flow to the football allowed him to rack up an enormous number of tackles and involve him in plays he couldn’t muscle in on when he was left to one side of the defense. With middle linebackers needing to cover large amounts of ground, they are usually more athletic than SAM linebackers, and they must have the best instincts and feel for the game of all because their positioning depends on the speed in which they can read and react to plays.
Kuechly has the ability and range to flow to the football and is adept at reading and reacting to short passes in front of him. He can still struggle a little to adequately feel danger on routes that went behind him, but once he develops the experience to deal with these passes he will be a complete player and a legitimate All-Pro.
Middle linebacker is also the position that can vary the most depending on specific schemes. In a defense that employs a Wide-9 defensive front, the MLB needs to be a much more aggressive and stout downhill thumper, because he must be able to play off the blocks of free offensive linemen coming at him. Conversely, in a Tampa-2 scheme the ability to drop deep down the field to cover passes is the most important skill, which is why Brian Urlacher was such a lynchpin of the Chicago D during the Lovie Smith-era.
Alternate Prototypes: Patrick Willis, Stephen Tulloch
4-3 WILL Linebacker (OLB) – Lavonte David
David is another player who secured his spot a year ago and only cemented it further with his 2013 campaign. The WILL linebacker is the highlight-reel position in the 4-3 defense. Things are schemed for this player to fly to the football and make plays, and nobody exemplified this more than David.
Generally the SAM is tasked with taking on the lead blocks, the MIKE linebacker fights his way through any remaining blocks and the WILL linebacker gets a free run through traffic to the football. The weak side linebacker is therefore usually the quickest, lightest and most explosive of the 4-3 linebackers.
Teams will sacrifice size in favor of speed, quickness and the ability to cover distance and close on the ball and that’s why you often see prospects talked about as being either a strong safety or WILL linebacker. David was a master of the tackle for loss last season, shooting into the backfield and blowing up plays before they had a chance to get going with his speed and explosiveness.
I have said for years that the perfect WILL linebacker template would look an awful lot like Ernie Sims, who has a fearsome level of speed, athleticism and explosiveness in a relatively small frame, but Sims never had the instincts and ability to read the game necessary to take advantage of his physical gifts. Lavonte David is essentially what that fictional version of Ernie Sims would look like – the new defensive prototype for the position – taking over the mantle once made famous in Tampa Bay by Derrick Brooks.
Alternate Prototypes: Sean Weatherspoon, Vontaze Burfict.
3-4 Outside Linebacker – Justin Houston
3-4 OLB is another position that requires new blood. For years DeMarcus Ware was the prototype for the position but injuries, age and a change in scheme in Dallas before he moved on have all meant that we can begin to look elsewhere. In many ways 3-4 outside linebackers have far more in common with 4-3 defensive ends than they do with any of the 4-3 linebacker spots. Many of the league’s current 3-4 OLBs have at some point in their careers been asked to play 4-3 DEs as new coaching staffs and schemes have come and gone.
They are the primary pass-rushers in that defensive scheme. They are essentially just stand-up defensive ends, the 3-4 began as a way to rush the same number of players (four) as a 4-3 front but without telling the offense which four were coming before the snap. This change meant that while a defensive end may be asked to drop into coverage a handful of times in a season as part of a zone blitz, a 3-4 OLB has to be expected to do it on a semi-regular basis.
Teams still value their pass rush far more than their coverage, and a talented rusher will always have a place in a 3-4 even if his coverage is questionable at best, but our new prototype for the position dropped in coverage just 106 of 724 snaps last season.
With Ware out of the picture at least for the moment the new prototype is Kansas City Chiefs OLB, Justin Houston. At 6-foot-3, 258-pounds, he has the length teams want (height and arm reach) in order to fight off offensive tackles and keep them at a distance, but he also has the speed to turn the corner and influence the quarterback on passing plays.
3-4 OLB is a position in which the textbook player has begun to be chipped away at. Though Houston fits the bill in terms of the body type teams typically looked at, more and more we are seeing teams find a way to utilize talented pass-rushers whether they are 6-4, 260 or not.
Alternate Prototypes: Clay Matthews, Aldon Smith
3-4 Inside Linebacker – Patrick Willis
The 3-4 inside linebacker is similar in many ways to the 4-3 MIKE ‘backer, and Patrick Willis could easily be named the prototype for both positions, having succeeded at both already in his NFL career as the 49ers changed defensive schemes. Willis is the league’s best inside linebacker regardless of defensive front, and the differences between the positions are subtle. Inside linebackers in a 3-4 usually don’t have to cover as much ground as their 4-3 counterparts, since there are two players splitting the field in half, coming forward against the run or dropping back into coverage.
The flip side to that arrangement is they usually need to be more capable of dealing with blocks from offensive linemen getting through to the second level because there are only three down linemen in front of them instead of four. That is made even more pressing by the move away from two-gap defensive systems towards more one-gap attacking fronts.
In an old-school 3-4 scheme the linebackers could rely on giant man-mountain defensive linemen in front of them eating up two blocks each, but today those linemen are smaller, quicker and attack gaps rather than occupy blocks. 3-4 inside linebackers consequently have to be able to attack gaps behind those linemen, plugging holes and stuffing the run at the line of scrimmage.
Just as some teams that run a 4-3 play just left and right outside linebacker, some 3-4 teams will play strong and weak side when it comes to their inside linebackers, whereas some play just left and right side. For the teams that don’t specify, either of the inside backers can be expected to take on the role of the SAM, attacking lead blocks and creating the play for the trail player to make the tackle depending on the point of attack.
Willis is a wrecking ball for the 49ers. He has off-the-charts athleticism and the burst to attack plays both against the run and pass. He also has more than enough strength to take on blocks when he needs to, whether that be in the run game or even coming on a blitz through the middle. Willis is the league’s best inside linebacker by a distance, and remains the league’s prototype.
Alternate Prototypes: NaVorro Bowman, Derrick Johnson
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