The game is changing and players with it: Edge and linebacker size and speed over the years

The need for speed

The general rules of football have been in place for decades. However, that doesn’t mean that the way the game has played has not changed. Stylistically the way football is played today is starkly different than how it was played even in the early 2000s.

With the combine upon us, it is important to remember that player expectations have changed today. Players who were valued in the early 2000s might be too slow to play against the pass in the modern game. By comparison, the value of some players might be a bit confusing to those who are still using player prototypes from past decades.

To that point, let’s look at how edge and linebacker profiles have changed in recent years.

As shown in these plots, the edge and linebacker players who performed at the combine this year (which typically are the draft’s most valued players at each position) are as light and as fast as they have really ever been.

This makes sense within the context of the NFL being a passing league rather than a “3 yards and a cloud of dust” league. Teams need players who can defend against the pass, thus those are the players that the league values the most right now.

For long time fans of the game, this just means that we need to be willing to change our views of the “ideal” player at each position as the game changes with it. Just because the players we loved watching played or looked one way back in the day does not mean that the “new school” of players are bad or worse prospects or less able to succeed at the next level. Really, it just means they’re different, much like the game is different than it once was.