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J.Cooper Pass Rush 4-3 OLB/DE

+2 HS
BuckeyesRwright15's picture
October 1, 2016 at 10:14am
18 Comments

The one thing these Defense is missing is a Tim Williams at Bama, or Wisconsin's TJ Watt. A stand up OLB whose sole job is to pass rush. I would love for the true freshmen to get on the field strictly for pass rush. Our guys get stopped way too often this season, Lewis and Hubbard while awesome have to set the edge most of the time. If they let coop just pass rush on 3rd down or clearly passing downs, It would makes us potent on defense. His Speed/First step quickness is lethal.

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.

 

https://www.profootballfocus.com/2014-defensive-prototypes-linebackers/

 

 

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