We’ve got four options plus Branch and we didn’t add a 1 for 1 or close approximation to AA’s pre ‘25 man cover skills. Most of our backers make more sense in two backer looks where the coverage requirements are more sensible.
Perhaps I’m wish-casting bc I would welcome this development. Am I misreading the tea leaves here?
We are going to convert to a Big Dime Base defense. The BDB will change football forever!
Great way to slide base nickel into the conversation once again, Husker.
We are loaded at NB with dawgs… and would like to see Branch back at NB when he’s back.
4-2-5 makes sense.
Rolder developing in the next year or two should take Barnes spot as LB2.
Won’t pay him a 3rd contract IMO
I think we are for sure playing more nickel this year.
One of our big complaints last year was how often the Lions played their base 4-3. I think a large reason that happened was because Shep was caught trying to go with the “putting the best 11 on the field”. I think the Lions wanted Barnes on the field to rush opposite Hutch, and they can’t take Anzalone off of the field because he is the best coverage LB, so which one sits to play a NB? I think the answer was they just tried to make it work and hoped Anzalone’s coverage skills could kind of cover that need. It wasn’t close, and teams like the Chiefs exploited it heavily.
I think part of the reason the Lions went lighter at LB in this free agency/draft cycle, and signed as many free agents at DB as we did, is the Lions are planning to play lighter and faster this year by playing more nickel. I also think that’s why they trimmed down a bit on the DL and drafted guys who are DL slashers. I think Shep wants to play a more up tempo scheme and turn guys loose who can accelerate the QB’s clock.
We will see it works out, but I think that’s what the roster construction is gearing towards.
That’s a stupendous gif. I’m still chuckling.
On the Mt. Rushmore of Simpson episodes IMO.
I still think depending on recovery Branch may end up shifting into the box as a WLB/NB hybrid and Rolder may shift to SLB replacing Barnes etc. We shall see how well he recovers but it would take advantage of his aggressive nature in the box and minimize potential limitations caused by the Achilles.
BDBDBDBDBD
We better.
Someone posted either Dan or Shep saying why we played so much base the past few years here earlier this offseason and it made zero sense to me…because other teams used nickel to deal with the same problems offenses presented them and got better results than we did.
Like, we didn’t stop the run better than several teams who played WAY more nickel than we did last season.
That quote also included something about how us using heavy personnel is supposed to dictate the personnel that the offense uses. That might have been the dumbest quote I’ve ever seen.
I hope we don’t get killed by a power run game and big TEs if we are playing a lot more nickel. Thats been a big part of our offensive success the last few years. We brought back an under-center power run game against defensive fronts that have evolved to stop the leagues shift to a passing game
.
This is one reason I am surprised that the Lions haven’t looked to add a “big nickel” safety. But… at least they do require all their DBs to be solid tacklers.
Some of the best run defenses in the league are 70%+ nickel.
I DO think those defenses are going to be tested going forward by offenses shifting to more of a power run game. Hell that’s the main reason for the shift, to punish defenses for going smaller. That’s why unicorn players are important for those defenses, but those aren’t easy to find, and when they go out it has an outsized effect on performance.
I will also add that last year was something of an outlier under this FO against the run. Before that it was the one area where I was very confident. 23-24 we were awesome, and I remember we went through damn near a 2.5 year stretch without giving up a 100 yard rusher or something like that (that’s based on memory so don’t quote me). I HOPE last year was the outlier, though the fact that it was under a new DC means maybe it wasn’t. We shall see.
It did seem like we were pretty good against the run early in the season. The second half of the season though it was brutal. The Steelers game was a nightmare. Branch often cleaned up runs before they turned into big ones. Without him some 7 or 8 yard gains were turning into 40 yard gains
If we are going to play more nickel, these db’s better be good tacklers and aggressive. Nothing worse than not being able to stop the run.