Spot dropping, or dropping into a zone, is a crucial skill from the linebacker position. Linebackers need to be able to open their hips, see the quarterback, and cover any receiver that drops into their zone.
In this article, we’ll show you how to spot drops into coverage and properly cover defenders.
Dropping Into Zone Coverage
If your defense bases out of cover 2, cover 3, or cover 4, it’s important that your linebackers know the dynamics of dropping into coverage. Their main focus should be stopping the run; however, when the run quickly turns into a pass (play action), the linebackers need to adjust accordingly.
Hips
The most important part of dropping into zone coverage is understanding where the zone is you should be covering and how you turn your hips to get there.
Spot dropping requires linebackers to take their initial read steps forward (45 or 90 degrees), and then open their hips at a 135-degree angle and drop into their zone.
Head
As the linebacker is dropping, it’s important that their head works on a “swivel”. What that means is the linebacker should be quickly checking the quarterback, and checking if any receivers are crossing into their zone.
If the linebacker just drops and stares at the quarterback, they won’t be able to get into the passing lanes of the receivers.
This is how linebackers can anticipate break points and steal interceptions by jumping into the receiver’s window.
Reroute
As linebackers pass into the windows of receivers, they may have an opportunity to knock the receiver to the ground or disrupt their path.
This is called “Rerouting”. Rerouting a receiver can be extremely beneficial as it will mess up the offense’s play art.
However, there is some caution with rerouting. If your linebacker moves themselves out of their zone to try to knock a player to the ground, they will put themselves out of position and open a throwing window. Linebackers should only commit to rerouting when the receiver is within a yard of their range.
Inside our membership vIQtory Pro, you’ll find exact instructions and tutorials on how to turn average linebackers into run-stopping and pass-rushing forces that disrupt offense.
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