Chuck Bresnahan has coached with some of the best to ever do it, including Bill Belichick and Nick Saban. His over forty years of football experience include time as a coach and evaluator for the Bengals, Browns, Colts, and Raiders as well as time bringing a coaching perspective to the NFL Officiating Department.
Growing up in a football family and being exposed to some of the game’s greatest minds has profoundly impacted my development as a coach, scout, and executive. Throughout my forty years in football, I have been an integral part of thirteen teams, four executive departments, and nineteen head coaching staffs or department heads, all uniquely their own.
Whether in the college ranks or the National Football League, it became clear that the level of involvement in evaluating players would vary. Not every coach learns how to scout, and very few scouts learn how to coach. Still, some teams would require mastering both responsibilities. I was blessed to coach under Bill Belichick and Nick Saban as a rookie NFL coach in Cleveland, Al Davis over two stints in Oakland, and Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati; if I could not evaluate players, they would find someone who could.
Some of the best advice I received as an evaluator came from coach Belichick and coach Davis. The consensus was to write what “you” see on game tape and be ready to defend your analysis. In both organizations, coaches adhered to very defined positional characteristics. If a player did not meet those characteristics, there had to be other redeeming qualities that must be described and sold.
These coaching and player evaluation experiences come to life when evaluating an inside linebacker. An inside linebacker is the heart of the defense and is responsible for coordinating the defensive front with the coverage element.
They are the quarterback of the defense.
Key Traits
The game of football is ever-changing. The days of 21-Personnel and the “ground and pound” game plans on offense have transitioned to 10, 11, and 12-Personnel groupings emphasizing the passing game. Defenses have countered by emphasizing “nickel” and “dime” personnel over “base” defenses. This has changed the landscape for the make-up of an inside linebacker. Regardless of height, weight, and speed measurements, the position faces an extra nuance because of the dual role in defending the run and the pass. To be successful at this position, an inside linebacker must have a specific skill set or list of traits that can be evaluated:
- High Football IQ
- Ability to master the entire defense and coordinate the defensive front with the back end
- Visual Processing
- Ability to quickly read and react to the run or pass concept
- Ability to quickly identify blocking schemes, route combinations, and protections
- Temperament – Tough with Relentless Effort
- Physicality
- Ability to play sideline to sideline
- Great motor and finish regardless of where the ball goes
- Leadership
- Ability to lead by example and make everyone around you better
Fred Warner taking on a crack block and still making the tackle pic.twitter.com/skc0k1CmL6
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) January 23, 2023
Important Techniques
As a player develops, it is critical to master specific techniques that will improve his level of play and potentially extend his playing career. These techniques, combined with the previously mentioned traits and athleticism, lay a solid foundation for the modern inside linebacker to be successful on all three downs.
- Leverage – Pad Level
- Ability to bend and play “pad under pad” when defeating a blocker
- Hand Placement
- Tight hands help create explosion and separation
- Change of Direction
- Ability to read, react, and change direction while avoiding wasted movement
- Essential to defeating blocking schemes vs. the run
- Essential for breaking protection when blitzing
- Essential to properly execute both Zone and Man coverage responsibilities
- Ability to read, react, and change direction while avoiding wasted movement
Quincy Williams (LB/56) with a nice run through TFL pic.twitter.com/hVVogOXY5d
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) October 16, 2023
The Linebacker Position Has Changed Over
Over the past decade, offenses have transitioned to a high pass-oriented approach to take advantage of the rule changes within the game. As a result, the composition of an inside linebacker has been tweaked but not completely changed. He must be able to not only stop the pass but still, first and foremost, halt the run. The ideal inside linebacker has the athleticism, traits, and techniques to be successful on all three downs.
Love the a22 on the Fred Warner PBU because it shows him processing the vertical, looking to 1 for the in breaker on dagger, then having the range and athleticism to make the play pic.twitter.com/7DRH8ygSt3
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) December 5, 2022
Coaches have an even more significant challenge coordinating with their unit’s talent. They must adapt and adjust to take advantage of their strengths while hiding their weaknesses. At the same time, it is vital that coaches and scouts are on the same page when evaluating players to fit the team’s vision.
The feedback loop of coaching, scouting, and shifts in league trends has led to smaller and faster inside linebackers that can play with extensive range. The days of taking on offensive linemen on first and second down and defending the pass on longer yardage plays are a distant past. Linebackers will continue to be attacked by modern passing offenses, and evaluating a backer’s coverage ability is made a bit easier by the proliferation of the spread offense at the college ranks. Today’s inside linebacker must be able to coordinate the front with the back end, quickly dissect the offensive play, and read and react to the run or pass, all while being the heart of the defense.
SumerScout
SumerSports and SumerScout aim to combine the subjective art of scouting with actionable objective data. In a league where the bottom line is mandatory production, combining hands-on evaluations with advanced analytics helps provide a comprehensive picture of a player. While my job is to grade a player on film, NFL organizations also deserve the best in data-based evaluation as they continue to find the winning edge.
