A lot goes into defending the run well and the Seahawks failed at most of them for all but a brief stretch during the middle of the 2022 NFL season. Since then, Seattle’s front office has totally turned over their defensive line rotation and has made stopping the run a clear priority.
Yesterday we began to see the fruits of that labor, as the defense dominated the team’s first padded practice of the year – especially against the run. Having better defenders (especially ones named Bobby Wagner) certainly helps, but scheme is a huge part of the effort and every team needs vets who understand how every piece fits together.
After practice, Wagner did a great job of explaining run fits and how defenders have to adjust them based on what the offense shows in an easy way to digest, per Mike Dugar at the Athletic.
“Let’s say you have an A or B gap, they’re not going to just line up and come right at you… They’re going to move a guy, they’re going to motion a guy and all those motions change your gap. You have to know what your gap is after that. Sometimes, they’ll motion to put the nickel into the fit and now the nickel has a run gap. Or they’ll move the tight end and make the outside guy have to fold back in…. There’s different (things) the offense does to mess with your run fit. Being mindful of that, being able to communicate that with everybody and just being on the same page, I think that’s the biggest emphasis.”
Wagner doesn’t seem like he’ll be done playing the game anytime soon. However, being able to explain a thing like run fits this well could make him a great in-game analyst like former Seahawks tight end Greg Olsen, who’s become the best in the business since Tony Romo’s decline.
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