Downsizing

With the growing need for speed, defenses are calling on smaller, faster linebackers to pinball around the field and disrupt passing games

Zach Thomas isn't fudging about his height anymore. Five years ago, before his rookie season in the NFL, he told scouts, coaches and friends--anyone who would listen--that the reports listing his height as 5-11 were all wrong. Damn the tape measure: Thomas insisted he was actually 6-1 or even 6-2, which is like a 12-year-old saying he is old enough to drive.

In those days, fans approached him in bars, guffawing that this stumpy guy was the middle linebacker for the Miami Dolphins. Once, outside a club, someone handed Thomas his keys, thinking he was the valet.

But last week, three days before the Dolphins faced the Vikings in Minnesota, Thomas stood tall in the practice facility locker room as the team's feisty defensive leader--and as something of a trail blazer.

"If I was 6-2, scouts told me I would have gone in the second round instead of the fifth," Thomas says, "But it's great to see other little guys make it in the league. After I came, guys like Dexter Coakley and Dat (Nguyen) had it a little easier."

When Thomas came in the league, Lilliputian linebackers still carried a stigma, even though it was slowly fading. After all, when you think of great linebackers, you think of Dick Butkus stuffing the run, gap-toothed Jack Lambert patrolling the middle or Lawrence Taylor speed-rushing, wrapping up quarterbacks like a praying mantis. Each member of that trio stood at least 6-3.

In fact, of the 14 linebackers in the Hall of Fame, only two--Mike Singletary and Joe Schmidt, an old Detroit Lion--are as small as 6 feet.

Players and coaches both point to Singletary and former Saints and Panthers star and current Carolina linebackers coach Sam Mills as two of the most influential small linebackers who first opened the door for today's gnats. If the 5-9 Mills and Singletary removed the "Scarlett S" from small linebackers, players such as Thomas and Tampa Bay's Derrick Brooks (6-0,, 235) made teams realize their size can actually be a plus.

Today, defensive coordinators use small linebackers like pinballs. The linebackers fly from sideline-to-sideline, disrupting offenses with their agility and speed. They rarely rush the passer because they lack the height and power to beat offensive linemen. But they do cover speedy running backs on pass routes--something a 6-3, 250-pound `backer can't do.

The mantra in today's NFL is Bigger and Faster--at every position. But among linebackers. just being faster can be enough. Six years ago, there were 23 linebackers in the NFL 6 feet and smaller, six of whom were starters. On opening day 2000, there were 42 linebackers 6-0 and under, and 16 were starters.

"It's a trend because linebackers today are asked to do so much more in the passing game than before," says Tampa Bay director of college. scouting Tim Ruskell, whose Buccaneers have three linebackers 6-0 or under, led by three-time Pro Bowl player Brooks. "You have to be faster and quicker because you're covering people. Nine times out of 10 you don't see the 6-5, 250-pound run-stopper who can cover people."

It's not just Thomas. London Fletcher, who is 5-9 1/2, 248, energized the Rams' defense last season and was a key factor in their run to a Super Bowl title. Tampa Bay's Brooks, who terrorized St. Louis in the NFC championship game last season, has been joined in the Bucs' starting lineup this season by Jamie Duncan (6-0, 242). Then there are the old-timers. Atlanta's Jessie Tuggle (5-11, 232) is a 14-year veteran who has been to five Pro Bowls, and Minnesota's Ed McDaniel (5-11, 229) is in his eighth season and has made the Pro Bowl once. Detroit middle linebacker Stephen Boyd (6-0, 242) broke through with a Pro Bowl berth in his fifth season a year ago.

Baltimore has four small linebackers, led by Ray Lewis, who is listed at 6-1 but is closer to 6-0. Atlanta has three under 6-0, led by Tuggle. But no team has downsized its linebacking corps as much as the Cowboys.

Of the six linebackers on the Dallas roster, only starting strongside `backer Darren Hambrick is taller than 6-0. Outside linebacker Coakley, a Pro Bowl player for the first time last season, is 5-10, 228 pounds. Nguyen, starting at middle linebacker, is 5-11 and 231. The other reserves are Barron Wortham (5-11, 245), Joe Bowden (5-11, 235) and rookie Orantes Grant (6-0, 225).

"Hambrick is the Jolly Green Giant, and we're the Sprouts," Wortham says.

When you see Coakley strolling through the Dallas locker room at the team's practice facility at Valley Ranch, wearing a T-shirt and holding a plate of chicken for lunch, he looks like a slightly bigger version of Emmitt Smith.

Or a big linebacker--for high school.

But Coakley runs the 40 in about 4.4 seconds and has tremendous "football speed," too. Depending on who you ask, Coakley or Brooks is the fastest linebacker in the NFL.

"Coming out of college, about 40 percent of teams wanted me as a safety," Coakley says. "But when you have to cover running backs like Marshall Faulk and Warrick Dunn, being 6-5, 250 pounds doesn't get it done."

Jimmy Johnson hasn't coached in Dallas in seven years, but his defensive philosophy remains, partly because new head coach Dave Campo was part of his staff. Johnson craved speed and would sacrifice size to get it. Coakley has become one of the best linebackers in the league, in part because of his speed, in part because of his knack for finding the ballcarrier.

When middle linebacker Randall Godfrey left for Tennessee via free agency in the offseason, Dallas replaced him with Nguyen, an instinctive, scrappy player who excelled on special teams last year. It is uncertain whether Nguyen can hold up for an entire season--and whether Dallas' depleted defense--no Kevin Smith, no Deion Sanders--will stop anyone.

But when five of six linebackers on one team are 6-0 or under, it's clear the little guys have arrived. In fact, three of the NFL's top four tacklers in Week 1--Green Bay's Nate Wayne (6-0, 230), 13 solos; Brooks, 12; and McDaniel, 11--fall in the little LB category. Plus, Denver's Al Wilson (6-0, 240) made two interceptions in the opener against the Rams, and Fletcher countered with two sacks. In Week 2, Brooks put up more evidence that he's simply the best linebacker in the league, producing nine solo tackles and two assists in the Bucs' 41-0 trashing of the Bears.

The evolution--or devolution--of the linebacker position is part of an ongoing chess match, in which teams are constantly reading and reacting. Offensive linemen have become gargantuan--most NFL lines average well over 300 pounds--so defensive tackles have in turn become the size of kitchen appliances.

Coaches now use fleet defensive ends like Jevon Kearse--though, granted, no one is actually like Jevon Kearse--who can blow past offensive tackles and into the backfield. Which means quarterbacks have had to become increasingly mobile, and players such as Tennessee's Steve McNair, Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb and Chicago's Cade McNown have emerged.

So why are small linebackers in fashion?

* If you can't beat 'em, don't join them, try something different.

Twenty five years ago, Pittsburgh's Lambert, 6-4 220 pounds, could be expected to engage a 260-pound guard. But today, 300-pound offensive linemen are standard features, like air bags in a new sedan. Many teams have realized that few, if any, linebackers can take on today's 330-pounders, especially because of the liberalized rules that allow linemen to make greater use of their hands. So they don't ask them to.

"When I was scouting 15 years ago, we had a statistic called `take on,' where we rated how well (linebackers) hold the point of attack," Ruskell says. "We don't rate that anymore."

But being short doesn't mean you can't pack a punch--or stuff a running back. The Buccaneers have become so infatuated with small linebackers that their scouts are now leery of guys 6-4 or taller because their center of gravity can be too high. Ruskell likes players with "explosions in their hips."

"Sometimes being small is an advantage," Miami's Thomas says. "I have leverage on these big guys."

But not always. Many teams with small linebackers predicate their defenses on "hiding" their undersized guys bemuse offenses will seek them out to try and flatten them. One reason Miami's Thomas has been so successful is that the team's massive defensive tackles, Daryl Gardner and Tim Bowens, clog the middle. They tie up offensive linemen, allowing Thomas to make plays. In front of every good pint-sized linebacker, there is a Pinto-sized defensive lineman.

"You are seeing defenses use their front four to tie up the defense, and they let their linebackers make the plays," says Ravens director of college scouting Phil Savage. "People have realized that you can only negate a 320-pound guard with speed. Ray Lewis would have no chance going head-to-head against some of these guys."

Another factor: Playing your speedy, small linebacker on the weak side of the offense, on the side opposite of the tight end. Coakley and Brooks play on the weak side, keeping them away from congestion and allowing them to roam.

Coakley says he quickly came to realize the need to play at high speed--and avoid engaging offensive linemen. "I remember going against (New Orleans tackle) Willie Roaf, and he is just so fast off the ball," Coakley says. "After a hit like that, you start questioning yourself. I saw a guy that big and that fast, and thought this is really scary."

* Linebackers today must do more than run-stop and rash the passer. Thanks to rules changes, dating to 1978, NFL teams are passing more than ever. Taylor of the Giants, perhaps the best linebacker ever, revolutionized the position with his speed rush and ability to shed and shred bigger, stronger linemen.

But Taylor rarely had to cover a Faulk or Dunn coming out of the backfield. St. Louis elevated its passing game to new levels last year and has continued blistering defenses this season. In addition to spreading defenses with wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Az-Zahir Hakim, the Rams love to line Faulk up against a linebacker and exploit the mismatch. They don't just send Faulk in the flat. They send him deep.

In the Rams' 41-36 Monday night win over Denver in Week 1, quarterback Kurt Warner completed four passes to Faulk. When Denver didn't have multiple backs on obvious passing downs, the Broncos placed middle linebacker Wilson on Faulk. It was truly a matchup for the 21st century. Wilson at times played Faulk to a draw, stopping two drives with interceptions. One came as he covered Faulk down the sideline step for step into the end zone.

St. Louis isn't the only team relying on backs to catch passes. The Colts selected Edgerrin James in part because of his hands. The Giants are using a two-headed and two-method approach this year. Ron Dayne runs between the tackles, and nimble Tiki Barber runs wide and catches passes in the flat.

In finding a great cover linebacker, speed is everything. "I was a 4.8 guy, and that was average," says Ravens linebackers coach Jack Del Rio, a linebacker for four teams from 1985 to '95. "Right now that would make me very slow. The average now is 4.6, and some guys are running 4.4s."

* Defenses aren't just reacting to the passing game, they are reacting to winners. "Jimmy said it best: Speed kills," says the Cowboys' Wortham.

Johnson's philosophy of sacrificing size for speed--of moving safeties to linebacker and linebackers to defensive end--has caught on. NFL scouts also noticed that in the college ranks, Nebraska's dynasty in the mid-'90s was started after then-coach Tom Osborne began recruiting better athletes at the skill positions, plus linebacker.

"Whoever wins, the other 30 teams take a look," Del Rio says. "The league works in cycles, and right now speed is the hot thing."

Though there always will be room for big, strong, pass-rushing linebackers--Washington's LaVar Arrington is 6-3, 250 and was drafted second overall this year--the stigma against undersized linebackers has eroded. Mills and Singletary helped, but it was Thomas, Coakley and Brooks who have convinced coaches and general managers that 5-11 isn't too short.

"Coaches now realize that these guys come in all shapes and sizes," says Broncos linebackers coach Larry Coyer.

The downsizing trend should continue. Seven linebackers 6-0 and under were drafted this year, and six of those were selected in the top three rounds. Players such as the Broncos' Ian Gold (6-0, 223), the Lions' Barrett Green (6-0, 217) and the Bills' Corey Moore (5-11, 225) will have a shot at making an impact in nickel defenses this season. Green, currently sidelined by an ankle injury, has the potential to become a major force.

Miami reserve linebacker Larry Izzo is 5-10, 228, and has watched more of his small linebacking brothers enter the league. But he still sees NFL teams make what he considers mistakes, placing too much emphasis on size. He points to 6-3, 255-pound Andy Katzenmoyer, an inside linebacker for the Patriots who arrived in the NFL last year with great fanfare.

"But who would you rather have?" Izzo says. "A Katzenmoyer with the perfect size, or a guy like Zach?"

RELATED ARTICLE: Rams' Fletcher measures up with speed and intensity

There was a time when London Fletcher fibbed about his height. The rest of the NFL knew better, but coming out of John Carroll University in 1998, Fletcher was listed at 6 feet as a Rams rookie.

Only in 1999, after winning the starting job at middle linebacker for St. Louis, did Fletcher resort to truth in advertising. He had his listed height changed to 5-10. Which is close enough to his actual height of 5-9 1/2.

Fletcher's lack of height plus the fact he played for an NCAA Division III school help explain why he wasn't drafted. To this day he has carried a chip on his shoulder about being unwanted on draft day.

"I always look at myself as an outsider," Fletcher says. "That will always remain in my heart, the fact that nobody wanted to take a chance and draft me."

Athletic enough to earn a Division I basketball scholarship to St. Francis (Pa.) as a point guard, Fletcher returned home to Cleveland to play football for John Carroll. He was named Division III linebacker of the year as a senior.

The Rams had him timed in an astounding 4.38 seconds in the 40 coming out of college. Fletcher was so fast, he returned kickoffs for John Carroll.

Rams general manager Charley Armey was so intrigued, he arranged a private workout for Fletcher and instructed Billy Campbell, the scout who worked out Fletcher, not to tell anyone about it.

Still, even Armey had somewhat modest hopes for Fletcher when signing him as an undrafted free agent right after the '98 draft. "I think you can be a fine special-teams player," he told Fletcher.

Without blinking an eye, Fletcher replied: "I'm going to be a starter in this league."

Not only has he become a starter, he has become one of the best middle linebackers in the NFL. Fletcher registered a team-leading 138 tackles, three sacks and five pass breakups last season, playing 63 percent of the team's defensive plays.

This season he'll be on the field a lot more because he's playing in the Rams' nickel defense. Fletcher was a Pro Bowl alternate last season hut undoubtedly has some early votes this season after a sterling effort (9 solo tackles, two sacks) in the Rams' season-opening victory over the Broncos. He has developed into the vocal leader of the defense, providing an emotional intensity that had been missing on past Rams teams.

Fletcher may be short, but he's not small. He packs a wallop at 248 pounds. His days of running a 4.38 are gone, but he probably still runs a 4.5 and has exceptional pursuit skills.

--Jim Thomas

Steve Harrison is a writer for the Miami Herald.

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