3-4 vs 4-3:  Linebackers

Schemes, placement, assignments….all things that can be taught. You can’t teach God given ability…if a guy is a true player, a true athlete, he can probably learn any position.

So to me, 34 or 43 are just that..they don’t define a player.

When your system is implemented as strictly as it is now being in KC, you draft to fit the mold & profile that works within the system. Case in point: Tyson Jackson. There were freakishly more athletic players available to us in last year’s draft but Pioli got the guy that was going to be a piece to his puzzle. He’s not looking for obtuse, ill-fitted pieces – he’s looking for perfect fits.

that’s it’s easier for a profiled 3-4 player to adapt to a 4-3 scheme than it is the other way around.

I think that he can play in a 3-4; however, he is projected as an ILB not an OLB in the 3-4. That would have made your Spoon and Washington picks redundant (even tho we do need two ILBs). Spoon lacks the pass rushing ability and toughness more or less to play on the outside. He would me more of a playmaker in the middle when he can play zone coverage, line people up in their right place, and use open space to make plays

Size, speed, coverage ability, etc

3-4 LBs are generally Big, around 250lbs
Because there is one less DL on the field, there is more beef in the LB corps

Pro personnel guys have clear categories that they put players in. So, even if you or I think a player COULD play a different spot…it doesn’t happen that way in the real world

If Rolando McClain is sitting there in the 2nd Round …

… I’ll be the most surprised person on the planet

You’re implying that it’s either one extreme or the other, that they’ll either succeed in a scheme switch or they’re not worth drafting. The real deal is this: early round picks are too expensive to not get right, regardless of scheme.

When most analysts talk about the “not fit for scheme” players, they’re talking about 1st rounders and early-mid second rounders. Teams are dumping so much money into these guys that they want to make the difficult transition from College to Pro as easy as possible. Switching schemes/positions adds more pressure to these guys, and if he fails, it sets the whole team back.

Plenty of guys playing in their exact scheme fail miserably and cost their teams a good chunk of change. Most teams have to think long and hard before deciding to pick a guy who isn’t a good fit for the scheme they’re running. So while you see it as the ability to switch schemes or not (your poll), I contend that it’s too much about money for most teams to take the risk.

There’s plenty of outliers to that statement, sure. Aaron Curry was considered able to play both, and McClain is this year’s. However, you saw how Laurinitas and Maualuga dropped last year. Teams want to be sure, which is why the “safer” picks happen more often.

Team speed is huge in this league. What’s also huge is huge. And with so many teams looking for DEs who have quicks, there’s a lotta call for Ss who can play LB, but who are mediocre in coverage, and those teams, who start by not being huge find themselves needing their regular LBs able to cover, so they don’t give away anything obvious, because that S is always going to need zone help when he’s not mopping-up for a D-Line that ain’t big enough.

So these teams go around in circles, going big at S and small at LB.

The straight-ahead implementation of the 3-4 is with as much (or more) stout than most of the league’s 4-3’s (an intimidating front 5), but backed by secondaries staffed with COVERAGE guys. They stay away from both 230-lb LBs AND 230-lb DBs, for the most part. They’re less proud of the fact that their LB can cover TEs and RBs in the pattern and more proud of the fact that they can single up in the secondary more often, and still be stout enough to run nickel, and not fear the run, because their front 5 bring as much as any front 4, and then some.

1. Most people forget that Baltimore won their only Super Bowl while playing a 4-3. Ray Lewis was the the MLB while playing behind Tony Siragusa and Sam Adams. He’s still a great player and has been for the past decade as they played a 3-4 front and he was next to Bart Scott.

2. There isnt a clear-cut height/weight standard for 3-4 linebackers. Demorrio Williams played some MLB in Atlanta’s 4-3 when Keith Brooking was injured, yet he also played some 4-3 OLB. Atlanta later tinkered with a 3-4 and Williams played both inside and outside in that alignment as well. He’s just 230 lbs. Further more, Donnie Edwards played 4-3 OLB both times in KC but played 3-4 ILB in San Diego. At just 228, he wasnt your ideal weight either that fans think a player must have.

3. To build on point 2, look at Denver’s 3-4 last year with Mike Nolan. Wesley Woodyard was a ILB at just 212 lbs, yet former Colts DT Darrell Reid played OLB at 290. Moving from DT to linebacker is unheard of to most fans.

4. The reason Aaron Kampman struggled to adapt to being a OLB in Caper’s 3-4 is because he admittedly feels more comfortable rushing with his hand on the ground. It’s a bit uncommon because most enjoy rushing from a 2-point stance because their first step is quicker, they can see more of the field, and they have their hands free to fight off blockers. It probably is due to his college assignments at Iowa because they run a weird-ass 4-3 in which their ends are much bigger than their tackles. He probably just became comfortable with his hand on the ground in college and prefers to continue playing that way. But either way, there’s no guarantee that Jared Allen would excel in a 3-4 scheme.

5. For those who wrote about linebackers having to cover, you get that in any scheme. Cover 2 out of a 4-3 is really easy for the OLBs because they just basically stand near the hashes and wait for the ball to move, yet the MLB has a difficult task of covering the deep middle. If a team runs two streaks along the sideline, the MLB has a ton of area to cover, which is why you often see a huge miss-match like a slot receiver torching the MLB. Now in a 3-4, the OLBs have a difficult time because they often get matched up with tight end or running back, and these OLBs arent your typical linebackers. Instead of your 240 lb guys with speed, these are your 260+ guys trying to cover a tight end or a back in the flats. You get problems with either scheme.

6. From my personal coaching history, I prefer 4-3 over 3-4 for this main reason: you can mask lesser talent much easier in a 4-3. In a 4-3, you really just need a great right end (to apply pressure to the quarterback’s blind side and hopefully force single blocking for the other three guys on the defensive line), a solid MLB (because he is essentially the QB of the defense- he makes all of the calls for the defense), and one shut-down corner you can trust to take away half of the field. That is 3 great players you need to build your defense around and the other 8 can be average.

Now in contrast, a 3-4 alignment requires so much more. Your nose tackle must be elite because he is responsible for clogging both ‘A’ gaps (the space between the center and the guards). Your ends are also critical because they’re each responsible for clogging both a ‘B’ and a ‘C’ gap (B = space between guards and tackles/ C = space between tackles and the tight end if there is one). If the ends can draw a double team, then each OLB can rush freely to the QB. If the end doesnt do his job, then each OLB needs to be able to fight off a blocker to reach the QB. If they consistently rush freely, then extra blockers are needed in the form of a TE or RB to help pass protect, which means less possible receivers. Both ILBs need to have that “sideline-to-sideline” speed because the have a lot of ground to cover with the OLBs rushing. A 3-4 also needs a great corner like the 4-3 does, but the 3-4 requires a great safety too because many times the offensive line gets to the second level to block the linebackers and you need a safety to come up and plug a running lane.

The rewards of a 3-4 are great, but it is MUCH more demanding on the players than a 4-3. The assignments are extremely difficult to perform. The wear and tear it does to a linemen’s shoulders is scary. But, if you have 8 or 9 great players, it can be amazing (like the Steelers) because you can disguise your blitzes and coverages so much easier.

I could go on for days about why I prefer 4-3, but I hope the length of my explanation for 3-4 defenses is enough to make you realize that it is much more complex and requires basically 8 or 9 studs opposed to just 3.