The NFL is a reactionary league that looks to capitalize on the unique athletes who enter the pros each year. As players become more dynamic and versatile with advanced technology and a year-round focus on training, the NFL will continue to fill up with freakish talents. Among the best athletes available in the 2016 NFL draft is Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee.
Lee is an ideal modern-era NFL linebacker prospect. Some players enter the league and would have been better served had they been part of a different time but not Lee. He represents a new age of player at the position.
NFL offenses are incorporating more spread concepts like the collegiate game to maximize the potential for one-on-one matchups. This is difficult for defenses to slow with pre-snap alignments and forces them to show their hand early. The passer-friendly league has become simplified enough for mediocre quarterbacks to post numbers that would once be considered elite.
The best way that defenses can take some control back and cut down on scoring is to draft more athletes and depend less on sub-packages. In recent drafts, linebackers such as Shaq Thompson and Deone Bucannon went in the first round because the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals saw the value in having defense weapons.
And that is the best way to describe Lee as well.
The former 3-star recruit, per 247Sports, spent just two seasons playing for the Buckeyes after a redshirt season before declaring for the NFL draft. That’s all the…
Continue Reading: Ohio State’s Darron Lee Is Ideal Modern-Era Linebacker
