Alright, lets go ahead and start preparing this defense. We’ve looked at some reasons you might want to run the 4-2-5 Defense, and some reasons you might not want to run the 4-2-5. Today I’m just going to look at the base alignment, without getting too deep into the issue of Safety adjustments.

The safety adjustments are going to depend greatly on what becomes the base coverage, and I’m not totally sold on what that will be. The first thing, to me, is to have a coverage to base everything off of. The 4-2-5 starts very naturally as a Cover 3, which would be your base c out of a 4-4 as well.

For the base front, we’ll have two Defensive Ends, two Defensive Tackles, and two Inside Linebackers. We’re not going to flop anyone of those front guys, because the positions are all pretty similar. We might need to flop the Ends, with the Strong End taking downblocks from the Tight End and occasionally the Weak End being asked to be contain-responsible, and maybe drop into coverage more through zone blitzes. I’m going to try to avoid that as long as possible, and teach everyone everything.

The weakside End is always in a 5-Technique, while on the strong side we’ll start off in a 7-Technique, inside shade of the Tight End. Obviously with no TE, both Ends play a 5-tech. The Tackles are easier to flop, so if there’s only one big hoss then he’ll play the 3-tech and we can stick a wrestler-type kid down at the weakside Nose in a 1-technique. But again if it is not necessary, then we won’t flop them.

Off the top of my head, I can think of no good reason to flop the two backers. They’ll just be left and right – we’ll call them Lion and Ram (Left & Right), but really there is no distinction. They line up in 30-Techniques, which is outside shade of the Guard and at linebacker depth. Their reads are the same, and all they have to know is whether they’ve got a lineman in A-gap or B-gap. The other gap, left open, is their responsibility. [Read more...]

I talked about reason that the 4-2-5 Defense would be a good switch, from my perspective. But its no secret that I like the 4-3 Defense, so there are a number of reasons I would not switch my defense. Of course, switching is going to depend on what you’re running. I’ll cover a few different scenarios throughout this. And this is all leading up to a discussion of how I would install and run the 4-2-5, if I were going to do it.

This post is not bashing the 4-2-5, don’t get me wrong. All defenses work, all defenses have their merits. The most important thing to remember, as always, is to run what you know the best, have the most confidence in, and fits your players best.Rather than pick at problems with the defense itself, lets look at misconceptions. So without further ado, here are the 4 myths of the 4-2-5 Defense:

1. The 4-2-5 is Better for Defending the Spread Offense. Well, it is… but anything else can be, as well. If you run a 4-4, you’re running a 4-2-5 with two linebackers outside instead of two safeties. That’s not a complicated idea. There’s no other defense that can’t be easily adapted. In addition, you study the types of spread offenses you’re seeing if this is your reason for switching – most of them are spreading you out to run, so those extra linebackers might not be so bad.

2. The 4-2-5 Defense is more adaptable to modern offenses. Not true, in my opinion. The most adaptable defense is one that you understand the best, and can communicate adjustments to your players so that they understand it. [Read more...]

As I am making the shift from running a 4-3 Defense as a high school Defensive Coordinator, to being an assistant in a 4-2-5 Defense in college, I thought I would go through the change. But I’m going to look at it from the perspective of if I was actually making the change in my own system.

We’re going to go through the whole process though, from the decision to make the change to researching and installing the 4-2-5 Defense. Before we start the change, lets talk about why we need to make this change.

Let me preface this by saying that I don’t think its a necessary change – the 4-3 Defense is completely adaptable to anything that any offense can throw at you. They’re both even fronts, so there’s no need to tell your players “Hey we’re changing the defense” to alter the look. But WHY do you want to see that look? Here are 4 reasons that we would consider switching to the 4-2-5 Defense from a 4-3 Defense.

1. You are putting more speed on the field, theoretically. The Will Linebacker in the 4-3 is occasionally asked to be a real linebacker (particularly in the Under Front). He becomes the Strong Safety in the 4-2-5 Defense. Still a hybrid, but he’s never going to be put in the traditional linebacker spot.

2. Simplification. The Linebackers in the 4-2-5 are responsible for one gap, and their alignment never has to change. The Strong Safety is simplified as well, in comparison to the Will. [Read more...]