It's Time to Redefine How We Categorize Positions in the NFL

In life, we try to make things simpler than they are. This is an attempt to save time, one of the few luxuries we all have. The way we approach football is no differently.

Defensively, we've seen schemes all the way from a 1985 Chicago Bears 46 look to the modern Green Bay Packers' one-defensive lineman sub-package.

Still, we've categorized positions in the same way for decades, despite a constantly changing league. Even the highest level of football, the NFL, looks past the nuances of the game for the sake of a simple system. Its tag numbers don't even vary between 4-3 and 3-4 defensive ends, and it doesn't differentiate between the five offensive line spots.

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Here are the official franchise tag numbers from the NFL memo ... pic.twitter.com/v6tZtIR82C

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 2, 2015"

Particularly near the line of scrimmage, this is tricky, as each individual position is so drastically different from each other. At this point, it's safe to assume most people know the difference between a slot and boundary receiver. Slot players are typically quicker than fast and lack that height one wishes a primary target to possess. We, as a football community, have dropped the ball with the rest of the positions.

With less focus on line play, because they don't have fantasy stats, that same fan who can tell you what a slot receiver looks like has no way to do the math on what separates a 1-technique or 5-technique defensive lineman. The best way to split the large groups of players, in my opinion, isn't even defensive end, defensive tackle, etc. You have your fairly basic positions: quarterback, running back, receiver, tight end, cornerback and safety. After that, though, the big units we should be talking about are offensive tackle and interior offensive line on the offensive side of the ball and interior defensive line, edge players and off-the-ball linebackers on defense.

This leads to a lack of confusion regarding players in the 2015 draft class, such as USC's Leonard Williams or Oregon's Arik Armstead. On paper, they're listed as defensive ends, as that's the position they played in their 3-4 defenses at the college level. A 3-4 defensive end isn't the pass-rusher many assume comes along with the word.

Instead, they line up as what's called a 5-technique. Their main job isn't to get into the backfield and penetrate like 4-3 one-gapping defensive ends make their money. They're supposed to play the offensive tackle in front of them, lock out their arms, read the backfield, then when it's time to pounce they ditch their man and go for the tackle. That's called stacking and shedding. Now, a primary run defender sounds more like a defensive tackle than a defensive end in the mind of most, correct? That's the difference between an interior defensive lineman and an edge-rusher.

Even in the unit of defensive linemen, there's a vast difference across the board. There are two-gapping 5-techniques, but there are also three other popular spots for defensive tackles. Probably the most known is a 0-technique, also called a nose tackle. That big body two-gaps like a 5-technique, but instead of playing over a tackle and being assigned the B- and C-gaps, he's lined over the center and is in charge of both A-gaps. This giant player is usually by far the largest human on the field and is essentially supposed to be a block of stone. Washington's Danny Shelton is a great example of this.

The other two notable positions on the defensive line are ones that are dissimilar from the previous two. Where 5- and 0-techniques two-gap, 3- and 1-techniques are told to pin their ears back and get after it more. Three-techniques are sometimes called under tackles, and are smaller, but faster, defensive tackles in a 4-3 defense. With a big body next to them, it allows these players to focus on a single gap, which they can burst through in an attempt for a tackle for loss or sack. One-techniques are larger versions of under tackles, as they have to hold their own at the point of attack between the center and the guard, as opposed to under tackles who line up between the guard and tackle.

One of the highest-rated 1-technique players in the class is Carl Davis, a defensive tackle from Iowa who registered at the combine at 320 pounds but can still pressure passers. An interesting under tackle or 3-technique player is Mario Edwards of Florida State, who, after being an oversized edge player in 2014, dropped down to 279 pounds and projects better inside than out.

To recap, a 0-technique is a nose tackle, the center of a 3-4 defense who two-gaps over the center, while a 5-technique is a 3-4 defensive end, who also two-gaps, but over an offensive tackle. In 4-3 defenses, without that two-gapping background, interior defensive linemen are told to get after the passer. Because of this, 1-technique and 3-technique players need to be more explosive than their 3-4 counterparts but can also give up length since they aren't trying to control offensive linemen at the point of attack, simply attempting to dash into the backfield and create chaos.

Some wish the game was as simple as calling all of these players just defensive tackles, but that's doing football and its fans a major disservice.

Linebacker is another position like this. You hear inside and outside linebackers being listed often, but outside linebackers can be very different. In a 4-3 defense, there is a weak-side linebacker, a middle linebacker and a strong-side linebacker. A weak-side linebacker, also known as a "Will", is typically an undersized but athletic defender who excels in space and chasing down plays from behind.

For example, Washington's Shaq Thompson. A middle linebacker, also known as a "Mike", is a phone booth player who doesn't need great range, as he's playing in limited space, but needs to be able to burst laterally and diagnose plays quickly, similar to Miami's Denzel Perryman's skill set. The final type, a strong-side "Sam" backer, is a bigger defender who almost looks like a defensive end and needs to be athletic enough to cover tight ends on a regular basis, as he'll be lining up over them; that's close to Mississippi State's Benardrick McKinney.

So, listing players as outside linebackers can be tricky, as a Will is undersized, but a Sam is more times than not the biggest linebacker in your starting lineup. And that's just a 4-3 team's linebackers. A 3-4's is similar, with the Will being kicked inside, like UCLA's Eric Kendricks played at the college level, and a pass-rushing outside linebacker added onto the field. Clemson's Vic Beasley is an example of a pass-rushing weak-side linebacker. In a 4-3 defense, he's probably too small to put his hand in the dirt at 246 pounds, but from a standup position, rolling through space, he's very valuable.

We, as the media, grade on a national level, but each individual team grades for just themselves, meaning these specific roles are emphasized much more in their evaluations. For example, a 4-3 team may have Beasley completely off its board because he's a poor fit for what it wants to do, while a 3-4 team could have a top-15 grade on the player.

The last position of misconception I'll touch on is the offensive line. Most know the difference between tackles, guards and the center, as they're stationary positions which line up in the same spot every offensive snap. There is a big difference between the left and the right sides, though.

For tackles, the largest discrepancy is feel for space. A majority of the time, an inline tight end is going to line up on the right side of the formation rather than the left side. What this means is two things: First, the left tackle, who is blocking the blind side of the quarterback, is going to be solo more often, and, secondly, the right tackle is going to be playing in more of a booth with the tight end on the outside of him. This is why the difference between right and left tackle is still big in today's NFL, despite people making the argument that there are quality rushers coming from both sides, and that, therefore, they're equal.

There are left tackle-only players, who excel in space but don't have the anchor to fight power-rushers in limited ground. One that comes to recent memory was Eric Fisher, who was the first overall selection by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013. He ended up playing on the right side of the line to start his career in Kansas City, and the results so far have been way below standard for a selection of his caliber. Where players lineup, even on the offensive line, matters.

One issue I have trouble rationalizing, but is said often, is that when a tackle's feet are bad, he should move inside to guard. On the interior of the offensive line, everything is closer, which means you need to be quicker and able to function faster. This is one reason sloppy feet in a booth, as they call it, is an even larger issue inside. Tackles like T.J. Clemmings of Pittsburgh get a bad rap for their footwork, but most don't realize their clunky feet will only cause more problems if they kick in early on in their careers. Imagine him losing the battle in three steps and letting his man go. At least if he's at tackle, a quarterback might have the time to adjust on the fly before he makes up ground. If a guard blows an assignment due to footwork, that defender is in the passer's face instantly.

The last point I want to make on the offensive line is the differentiation between the two guard spots. It's not a giant deal, but left guards tend to pull more on power plays, as the ball typically goes more to the right than the left, following the direction of the tight end, the strong side. Because of that, right guards are typically the immensely obese maulers, while the left guards are the light-on-their-feet linemen. Laken Tomlinson of Duke is a big right guard, and Josue Matias of Florida State is a specimen of a left guard prospect for 2015.

The more you study the game, the further one separates themselves from the labels of defensive end, defensive tackle, outside linebacker, inside linebacker and offensive line. Those are broad strokes that cannot detail the painting of roster construction. For that, you need to focus in on specific roles on a football field, extracting the colors you need from the draft class from a much smaller, but more efficient, pool.

So next time you're looking at needs of teams in a mock draft, don't just look at defensive linemen as one big group. Find out if a team is looking for a 0-, 1-, 3-, or 5-technique, and see if the selection is realistic. Only then will the draft process become your canvas.