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Great article
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In the final days of his playing career, Chuck Smith decided he would make his football life outside the NFL. During the 2000 season, he was on the Carolina Panthers’ injured reserve and at home watching television when he came across a feature about an independent quarterback coach for NFL stars. Smith had an epiphany: He could become that kind of guru for pass rushers. He turned to his wife and said, “If the most important person is the quarterback, the second-most important must be the only guy who can get to him.”
Smith launched a business, D Line Inc., before he even retired. It aimed at teaching the pass rush techniques he had studied since youth, and at first he found receptive players but skeptical franchises. NFL coaches, Smith recalled, believed his methods placed too much emphasis on individual moves at the expense of sound team defense.
“In the beginning, man, people thought I was crazy,” Smith said. “I was looked at as kind of like a bad person because I was going around saying, ‘You need to learn how to pass rush.’ Everybody was like, ‘No, we need to focus on the run!’
Smith is now back in the league, and his path underscores the primacy of the pass rush in the modern game. The Baltimore Ravens hired him this offseason as their outside linebackers coach, giving them access to the kind of intellect that has helped pass rushers take over recent seasons, with a crescendo having arrived this fall. Despite quick-passing offenses designed to avoid sacks, the NFL’s sack rate this season is its highest in 25 years. Rapid progress in athleticism and sophistication has turned a defender’s assignment into a career unto itself.
“Pass rusher is now just a position, really,” Smith said.
From coaching to training to the field, pass rushing has grown more specialized, emphasized and incentivized. Teams for years have used consultants, most famously martial arts specialist Joe Kim, whom the Cleveland Browns hired in 1992 to help train rushers. But in recent seasons, as players have gained access online to pass rushing methods and moves, teams have begun to democratize their coaching ranks and bring those techniques inside their building. This offseason, three NFL teams hired coaches who previously worked with pass rushers as paid, independent trainers.
As the Ravens hired Smith, the Seattle Seahawks plucked BT Jordan away from Michigan State in March. Jordan had for years worked with NFL players while running Brandon Jordan Trench Performance. Days later, the Denver Broncos hired longtime college coach Jamar Cain. Jordan and Cain received the novel title of pass rush specialist. They are the first, but they will not be the last.
“Give the NFL five years,” Smith said. “Every team is going to have a guy who’s just a pass rush coach. Not a specialist — he’s going to have his own office. In the next five years, every NFL team and every college team will have a pass rush coach getting paid just as much or more than the top coaches on the staff.”
With horizontal passing games built on space, screens and quick passes — and infused with analytical insights into how destructive sacks are to a drive’s chance at success — offenses are designed to prevent sacks with greater intent than ever. This season, teams are averaging 10.7 yards per completion, the lowest mark in league history, while the NFL’s completion percentage of 65.2 is the highest ever...........
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In the final days of his playing career, Chuck Smith decided he would make his football life outside the NFL. During the 2000 season, he was on the Carolina Panthers’ injured reserve and at home watching television when he came across a feature about an independent quarterback coach for NFL stars. Smith had an epiphany: He could become that kind of guru for pass rushers. He turned to his wife and said, “If the most important person is the quarterback, the second-most important must be the only guy who can get to him.”
Smith launched a business, D Line Inc., before he even retired. It aimed at teaching the pass rush techniques he had studied since youth, and at first he found receptive players but skeptical franchises. NFL coaches, Smith recalled, believed his methods placed too much emphasis on individual moves at the expense of sound team defense.
“In the beginning, man, people thought I was crazy,” Smith said. “I was looked at as kind of like a bad person because I was going around saying, ‘You need to learn how to pass rush.’ Everybody was like, ‘No, we need to focus on the run!’
Smith is now back in the league, and his path underscores the primacy of the pass rush in the modern game. The Baltimore Ravens hired him this offseason as their outside linebackers coach, giving them access to the kind of intellect that has helped pass rushers take over recent seasons, with a crescendo having arrived this fall. Despite quick-passing offenses designed to avoid sacks, the NFL’s sack rate this season is its highest in 25 years. Rapid progress in athleticism and sophistication has turned a defender’s assignment into a career unto itself.
“Pass rusher is now just a position, really,” Smith said.
From coaching to training to the field, pass rushing has grown more specialized, emphasized and incentivized. Teams for years have used consultants, most famously martial arts specialist Joe Kim, whom the Cleveland Browns hired in 1992 to help train rushers. But in recent seasons, as players have gained access online to pass rushing methods and moves, teams have begun to democratize their coaching ranks and bring those techniques inside their building. This offseason, three NFL teams hired coaches who previously worked with pass rushers as paid, independent trainers.
As the Ravens hired Smith, the Seattle Seahawks plucked BT Jordan away from Michigan State in March. Jordan had for years worked with NFL players while running Brandon Jordan Trench Performance. Days later, the Denver Broncos hired longtime college coach Jamar Cain. Jordan and Cain received the novel title of pass rush specialist. They are the first, but they will not be the last.
“Give the NFL five years,” Smith said. “Every team is going to have a guy who’s just a pass rush coach. Not a specialist — he’s going to have his own office. In the next five years, every NFL team and every college team will have a pass rush coach getting paid just as much or more than the top coaches on the staff.”
With horizontal passing games built on space, screens and quick passes — and infused with analytical insights into how destructive sacks are to a drive’s chance at success — offenses are designed to prevent sacks with greater intent than ever. This season, teams are averaging 10.7 yards per completion, the lowest mark in league history, while the NFL’s completion percentage of 65.2 is the highest ever...........
