Chargers draft: inside linebackers – U-T San Diego
Inside linebacker is less glamorous than when the Chargers, to much hoopla, selected collegians Billy Ray Smith in 1983 and Junior Seau in 1990.Both Smith and Seau went fifth overall in the NFL Draft, reflecting not only their versatile talents and big-school production but also the job’s importance.NFL teams that couldn’t play smashmouth defense were doomed. Offenses carried blocking tight ends and fullbacks to assist in blasting away. Pity the defense that lacked firepower to hold up, in an age when NFL rules were unfriendly to the passing game.In reality, inside linebacker wasn’t glamorous.It was a concussive, violent job.“As far as I remember the position,” Smith said Wednesday, eight days before the NFL Draft, “I thought it was a pretty brutal place to play, and I was lucky enough to be moved outside in my fourth year.”Smith said he was concussed well over 10 times in a career that went from Arkansas to the NFL. He was a second-team All-Pro three times.Though the late Seau was never listed with a concussion, his former wife, Gina Seau, has said she believes he suffered numerous of those brain injuries in his 20-year NFL career.Today’s NFL players are generally bigger, faster and stronger, and inside linebackers are still tasked with slamming into running backs and fending off blockers.But it’s more of a speed game.Offenses force inside linebackers to defend the pass against several types of athletes.Unlike the old days, the linebacker isn’t allowed to win those matchups with brute force.In fact, he’ll be flagged for merely plucking the jersey of a potential pass-catcher. The highly punitive result will be a first down.If the linebacker can’t turn and run with pass-catchers, he’ll come off the field on third down.There’s no point in taking such a “base” defender high in an NFL draft.All inside linebackers are called on to stuff the run, yet evaluating the smashmouth aptitude of collegians has grown more challenging, Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco said, due to the rise of pass-oriented, spread offenses in college.“So, in a perfect world if you’re looking at inside linebackers,” he said, “you’d find them playing against Michigan State, Stanford or LSU, where you can see them taking on power, taking on a fullback, taking on linemen inside tight quarters. That’s the best of both worlds. If you can’t have that, you’ve just got to project that (aptitude).”Draft outlookInside linebackers may not be on Telesco’s short list for this draft.The two starters in San Diego’s “3-4” defense, Donald Butler and Manti Te’o, are both under contract though 2016 or longer.Telesco drafted Notre Dame’s Te’o 38th two years ago after dealing two picks — a two and a four — to rise in the second round.Te’o missed games each NFL season with a broken foot. He started 15 of 18 games as a rookie, and was playing most third downs by late last year.“Manti has done nothing but get better since he’s been here,” ex-Chargers linebacker Jarret Johnson said after retiring in January. “It’s amazing to see how far he’s come since his first year, especially on the physical side of the ball – his physical mindset. When he first came, he kind of avoided contact and tried to steer around guys and now he’s just going to get it.”
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