With the NFL’s volcanic offenses, can’t-hit-them-too-hard rules and bewildered officials, linebackers today aren’t the snarling 250-pound thumpers who used to just give running backs fits.
“Now we have to cover well, too,” Denver’s Brandon Marshall said. “We still have to tackle well. So, you can’t be real light and only playing pass or too heavy and only playing run. You’ve got to be able to do all of it, man.”
Which means finding a sweet spot on the scale so they can run like a gazelle and still hit like a truck.
Today’s inside linebackers not only need to have the stamina to go sideline to sideline, but they also require:
- Sufficient strength to shed 320-pound linemen.