This article talks about this just from the NFL side of things, but definitely relevant to college football as well. Pretty crazy that just 1/3 of all defense snaps were in formations considered the traditional base defense of 7 DL/LBs and that only 10% of the plays the Cardinals ran on defense last year had that combination.
Seeing smaller and smaller guys play what used to be similar roles to that of the 250 lbs LB. We have definitely seen that at KU where the past few years most of KU's LBs have been in the 230 lbs or lower range in addition to having the NB in their base package.
The end of the article makes an interesting point about these 3 and 4 wide offenses not going away, but somewhat contradicts that statement by saying teams like the Titans sticking with smashmouth football to take advantage of these smaller guys on defense. I have wondered if that would be a smart thing to do in a league like the Big 12 - everyone preparing to stop the spread, but would a power football team with 320+ lbs OL and 260+ lbs TEs and 250+ lbs FBs work? I think you could argue it could...
Seeing smaller and smaller guys play what used to be similar roles to that of the 250 lbs LB. We have definitely seen that at KU where the past few years most of KU's LBs have been in the 230 lbs or lower range in addition to having the NB in their base package.
The end of the article makes an interesting point about these 3 and 4 wide offenses not going away, but somewhat contradicts that statement by saying teams like the Titans sticking with smashmouth football to take advantage of these smaller guys on defense. I have wondered if that would be a smart thing to do in a league like the Big 12 - everyone preparing to stop the spread, but would a power football team with 320+ lbs OL and 260+ lbs TEs and 250+ lbs FBs work? I think you could argue it could...
