@ltraz
Not specific to DL but general to the defense. Will Miles interviewed Jack del Rio about why he was interested in Grantham while Oakland and why the Bengals were interested this year. Basically said his defense was very similar to a lot of pro defenses conceptually (its a more detailed discussion in the article than I’m summarizing here). That said, I thought you’d like this tidbit:
“Grantham uses a combination of zone and man coverage, which can make Cover 2 resemble quarters, and in doing so, utilizes different tools to enable help defenders where assistance is needed and add pressure where he wants stress. Adjustments are made based on personnel and the opponent. In essence, that kind of scheme is supposed to combat the rise of spread offenses, which have infiltrated the NFL from college. Grantham’s knowledge of how to operate against speed in space as offenses try to stretch defenses horizontally made him an attractive candidate.”
Assuming this paragraph is correct, it seems like Mullen did 1 of 2 things: 1) made a poor choice because the spread offenses aren’t as prevalent in the SEC or 2) made a choice ahead of its time because spread offenses are working their way into the leagues top offenses. Either way, how does that explain Mizzou? That was the only true whipping the good guys took last year. Kentucky was tight throughout. UGA was tight into the 4th. Mizzou decimated us. I dunno, thought you’d find it interesting as a discussion point.
