| With little of substance going on
during these dog days of March — in anticipation of the NFL draft, of course — I
found myself contemplating many issues related to our game, the most prevalent being this: Why
are we dissing the middle linebacker?
It occurred to me that middle linebackers, and maybe linebackers as a whole, haven
taken a backseat to defensive ends, at least on the great pay scale. Defensive ends have
been much more highly sought after on the free-agent market, and their salaries are proof
of that.
But don’t "Mike" players have a tougher road to hoe? Aren’t they
the ones quarterbacking the defense? Aren’t they the ones right in the middle of it
all? And what about the history that surrounds the position? Play a game of word
association with the term "football," and you’re bound to find people whose
response is "Dick Butkus" or "linebacker."
Some middle ’backers have been given their due. The Titans signed Randall Godfrey
to a very lucrative package this offseason. The Dolphins began paying Zach Thomas his
worth a couple of years ago. But for some reason, the appeal of defensive ends has been
greater, and their wallets heavier.
Given that we in the media are allowed the privilege of speaking with those in the
know, I spun the Rolodex and selected a brain to pick. I decided to phone Cowboys LB coach
George Edwards, since I needed his words for another story I was working on — about
middle linebackers, interestingly enough. After about a 10-minute conversation, I realized
I had chosen the right guy for the subject.
I asked coach Edwards if he saw what I saw, that middle linebackers were indeed taking
a backseat to defensive ends.
"Well, Jeff," Edwards said, which made me feel real good, "the thing
that you run into is, you want guys that can play every down. And this game has become
such a matchup-oriented game, especially on third down and 2nd-and-long situations (in
which) a lot of people end up taking their Mike linebacker out of the game.
"So a defensive end or a defensive tackle, per se, they’re going to be in
there every snap. Even at that position, sometimes teams specialize and have a designated
pass-rushing defensive end. But for the most part, those guys are every-down players, and
I think that’s more of it, more so than de-emphasizing the importance of a Mike
linebacker."
Point well taken, coach. In this day and age of the salary cap, teams need to spend
their cash frugally. Why shell out big bucks for a player who comes off the field every
two plays?
But that begs the question: Has football become too specialized?
"I don’t think that," Edwards said. "What I think happens is, if
you’ve got a Mike linebacker who is bigger but yet not as fluid in the open field and
his ability to make plays in space … you can get isolated on receivers or third-down
backs. That third-down back is just like a fifth receiver for a lot of teams. So
you’ve got to look at that matchup and know the abilities of the players that you
have."
So it’s not so much that football is specialized as it is matchup-oriented. I get
it.
Of course, one could argue that it is because of those matchups that the game is so
specialized. But that’s a chicken-or-egg argument for another day. |
