If you've been keeping track of Bill Belichick's various travels on the pro day circuit to check out draft prospects, you've noticed he has personally instructed edge prospects in one particular drill.
Bill Belichick, master of the pigskin, coached up Bradley Chubb (@ASTROCHUBB) at his Pro Day and even left him with a joke ? pic.twitter.com/pVwQO77Q6o
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) March 19, 2018
#Patriots coach Bill Belichick working with #UGA OLB/DE Lorenzo Carter. @FootballUGA #ProDay pic.twitter.com/7bPo4bXfOg
— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) March 21, 2018
Rep from OLB Lorenzo Carter pic.twitter.com/bMMBPcsIKn
— DawgPost (@Dawg_Post) March 21, 2018
Here’s what you need to understand. Other schemes and teams want players to go up the field off the edge. That has never been a priority for Belichick. He wants to control the edge. The way he looks at it, if you control the middle (two inside tackles) and the two edges, it’s a triangulation of power that is the foundation of his defensive scheme. If you don’t control those three points, then the manpower needed to overcome those deficiencies has a disastrous trickle-down effect (defensive backs have to play run and pass, offensive linemen get out on linebackers, etc). Controlling the edge is the name of the game for Belichick, and that’s why some players like Chris Long weren’t great fits in New England.