Football 101: Explaining the “Wide 9” technique on defense?

Earlier today, we wrote about Kris Kocurek and what the defensive line coaches addition means for the San Francisco 49ers draft. Let’s take a deeper look at what “Wide 9” even means. Here’s a list of “techniques” to reference.

So when you hear somebody reference “Deforest Buckner plays 3-tech”, they’re saying he is lined up over the outside shoulder of the guard. You’ll see the “4i” or any “i” designation in the graphic above. That’s just letting you know a player is on the inside shoulder of the offensive lineman.