Physical Attributes of a 3 down LB (1 Viewer)

[tonato]

Well being from Europe and having never played myself beside Madden, I'm wondering what kind of physical skills are required for a LB to be considered a potential "3 down LB" with good coverage skills. Is it just pure speed, or a mix of speed, vision and hand skills ?

One can often read that "undersized" LBs get run over easily (read this a lot as a judgement when talking about Curran taking over as ILB, now he is cut so probably there is something about it), but what is on the contrarary required for the guys that stay on the field all the time ?

 

[Jene Bramel]

Well being from Europe and having never played myself beside Madden, I'm wondering what kind of physical skills are required for a LB to be considered a potential "3 down LB" with good coverage skills. Is it just pure speed, or a mix of speed, vision and hand skills ?One can often read that "undersized" LBs get run over easily (read this a lot as a judgement when talking about Curran taking over as ILB, now he is cut so probably there is something about it), but what is on the contrarary required for the guys that stay on the field all the time ?

It's somewhat scheme dependent. A guy that can handle a mix of short zone responsibility and blitzing but isn't quick or athletic enough to drop into the deep middle zones could be an every-down defender in some schemes but not others.A good coverage linebacker needs to be able to quickly read run vs pass, not be fooled by play action, have some understanding and instincts for how to play underneath zone coverage, and be fluid enough to change direction when the route combination or coverage call demands it. It certainly helps if he knows how to make plays on the ball and can be effective as a blitzer as well.