It’s often stated that football is a cyclical game. Ways of thinking rise, fall, rise again, and fall again. Despite this unavoidable truth, ideas change as they resurface. Integrating lessons learned from previous cycles, tactics that return do so in modified form. Some evolutionary outcomes cannot be fully rewound, even as they are countered. As we discussed last year, offenses in the sport have encountered a problem. Defenses have adjusted to offenses that can spread them out. Previously, teams never invested enough, whether it be through the draft, free agency, or recruiting, in nickel and dime DBs to field those positions on every play.
12olution Revisited: The Rise of the “Joker”
