Building a defense in the modern NFL

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by The Pest

Run a 4-3. You need to be able to pressure consistently with your four down linemen. You'll also need LBs that can cover well and stop the run. Man corners that have speed and ball skills. Rangy safeties that can take away the TE and also play the deep zones.

I would agree with this except that nobody's in their base defense much anymore. Nickel is more or less everyone's base defense.