The Brad Holmes Mold: Defensive Tackle
Starting off our mold series with Brad Holmes’ original position: defensive tackle, and the numerous alignments it provides.
Scheme & Split
Now, on film, and from a mold perspective, there are a handful of specific “molds” that exist here. The Lions run a versatile defensive front that will alternate between some 4-3 looks and some 3-4 looks, and a whole mess of interesting subpackages and nickel packages added in there. Thus, this one centers around three types of “interior” defensive linemen, with the three unique outlines loosely described below.
5-Technique Covered “Big” End
This is a spot the Lions have done some major work renovating under Holmes, as they brought in Michael Brockers right away via trade, they signed John Cominsky off the waiver wire, and then they went along and drafted Joshua Paschal as well. The covered or “Big” DE role is one of the most unique roles the Lions will regularly throw out there. When the team is in a 4-3 look, the role can operate as a traditional 4-3 strongside defensive end, often covered on the end of the line of scrimmage by a SAM outside linebacker (James Houston, Julian Okwara, Charles Harris), with the 5T operating on the tackles’ outside shoulder. In 3-4 looks, the Big End kicks inside to the other shoulder of the tackle, now playing a 4i alignment, occasionally even a 3T on some bear fronts (3T-NT-3T) on short-yardage downs, though at this point, the big end is often swapped out for a third true defensive tackle.
The aim here is often power and run stopping at the tackle spot. Big ends are tasked frequently with crashing the leverage of the pocket in the pass rush, and preventing the tackle from reaching them in the run game, thus creating an edge, and even sometimes working back inside on stunts.
3-Technique Defensive Tackle
This is the bread and butter spot, as twelve (12) of the eighteen (18) defensive tackles selected were three techniques. This is the generic DT alignment in many ways, and the Lions have started using it more generically themselves, shifting away from designated 1-technique and 3-technique roles in most situations, and instead grabbing two players who can largely rotate between the two spots. Now, from there, there is a bit of a genuine split between some of the small defensive tackles who need to play more from the 3-tech spot, and others who have versatility there. For example, Holmes’ signature addition in his career has been leading the charge on Aaron Donald. Donald remains the NFL’s most dominant defensive player, but is a genuine 3-tech, not really a shifting 1T/3T type due to a smaller build.
Instead, we look a little bit more towards a generic example of someone like Sheldon Rankins as an example, drafted in the first-round by the Saints when both Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn were in town, a sufficiently size defensive tackle to play tight inside, but not the big, hulking space-eater you usually see teams plug in at nose tackle. That is what is sort of embodied with the 3T tag. The actual range can see them kick out into some heavier-package 5T/4i looks, but largely they are playing outside shoulder of the guard.
On film, we see this position occupied with shooting gaps and disrupting, and while most folks tend to overly simplify, myself as well for discussions, into “one-gapping vs. two-gapping”, the trend for versatile defensive fronts such as the Lions, the Chargers, and the Rams lately has been what is called a “gap-and-a-half” front.
In the Lions classic 5-1 look they employ a good deal, this often leads to TITE formations (two players aligned to attack the guards, one aligned over the center). This shifts a bit from a true “bear” front (two 3-techniques) to more modern TITE fronts (can swap a 3T for a 4i, or maybe two!).
For a full X’s and O’s detailed breakdown, I would highly recommend checking out NFL Football Journal’s blogspot, which does a phenomenal job highlighting the specifics. However a quick one liner on it is that the 1T still does a two-gapping assignment covering both A-gaps, with the guards shooting and squeezing the B-gaps to collapse the inside and force ball carriers out to the OLB’s and pursuit ILB.
So from this perspective, the Lions prefer their DT’s to have some quickness off the snap to disrupt, but also want some power in their hands to provide them with the strength they need to collapse the B-gap when needed. The ability to play light on their feet to read and react across the line is very common in the scouting reports of Holmes drafted players.
1-Technique Nose Tackle
This spot, as mentioned above, is still a very versatile position for the Lions defense, as it encapsulates two unique skillsets that the Lions have managed to find in a single player: Alim McNeill. A lot of teams will end up deploying guys who are more singular in their roles, with the common theme at the nose tackle spot being bigger, bulky interior space eaters who are hard to move off the point of attack. However, due to their lack of general athleticism, teams often swap these players out on third downs in favor of kicking lighter, faster interior pass rushers into their position to make a more noted effect in those situations.
For the Lions, they are able to use McNeill in both situations (though third and long does tend to equate to a true rushing subpackage that kicks him out), and also allows them to play him and Isaiah Buggs interchangeably between the 1-technique and the 3-technique roles, providing plenty of overlap there.
In Aaron Glenn’s defense, the Lions more often than note asked their assigned nose tackle to be more of a one-gap shooter than a two-gap plugger. You can see the alignment here from a Wade Phillips 3-4 defense with #93 assigned as the nose tackle (1-technique shade) and tasked with simply shooting the left-side A-gap of the center and causing mayhem. I personally think that the Lions addition of Brodric Martin to the unit does indeed suggest a more dual approach, with Martin a more effective two-gapper.
And I believe that is important in the modern NFL. As defenses shift to lighter personnel to combat the increase of spread 11 personnel formations, teams need to be more stout in the box with less players than they historically would, and a NT who can effectively manhandle two gaps up the middle is a huge boost to that.
However, for the moment, the Lions position remains a bit fuzzy due to the current practice combined with likely shift via draft results.
Requisite Athletic Testing
There are noticeable trends that some teams have with athletic testing, largely based around the idea of benchmarks, that you really need to be above a certain range for consideration. Some teams, like the Colts and Packers, tend to draft with extremely high correlations with very few outliers. Other teams, like Detroit, do tend to operate with a loose baseline or benchmark in place, but have a couple of outliers that can be easily managed in specific contexts, thus we take a look at where Detroit falls, and what those benchmark testing’s may be.
Here is the RAS measurements and data on every true defensive tackle selected from the aforementioned “braintrust pool”, which simply encompasses picks made where current Lions executives and coaches were in a position to have varying degrees of influence:
Now, obviously, we are prioritizing the Lions and then Rams picks, but adding some data from the Saints & Dolphins (Campbell), as well as Chiefs & Browns (Dorsey) are useful given their prominent roles here as well, and the reality that the Lions employ a collaborative approach to the Draft.
So, let’s note some clear trends from here by position:
5-Technique Big End
The averages here compute out to a player roughly…
At least 6-2 in height (Cominsky comes in the 6-5 as the tallest, everyone else in the 6-2/6-3 range) and a weight of about 270-285 pounds, with Paschal’s 268 pounds representing the smallest a 5T option has come in.
Elite metrics as a defensive tackle in the explosion and speed metrics. Also, the 3-cone time ends up having a pretty high correlation.
Effective benchmarks from this (again, tested as a defensive tackle) range. Meaning if they are higher than this (worse) then they would be a historical outlier and thus less likely to project.
A ten-yard split better than 1.71 seconds.
A broad jump better than 806 feet.
A vertical jump better than 33 inches.
Overall, not a ton of surprises here, as this position is the most versatile, and ends up being used more frequently as a defensive end in most situations, but does have some guys who end up playing interior-heavy, especially in a 3-4, so when measuring prospects as interior lineman, some of the stockier edge rushers (270 pounds+) who have positional versatility and excellent burst can trend towards consideration for the Lions as a big end in their current defense.
3-Technique Defensive Tackle
This is where we start to get into guys who look a lot more like “defensive tackles”, as the Lions and Holmes have placed a premium on big dudes who can shoot the gap with elite burst and disruptiveness. Here’s a few ranges and trends, with a few identifiable benchmarks thrown in:
Height has no correlation, as it spans from Tanzel Smart & Aaron Donald both measuring in just above 6-0, all the way up to some taller dudes like Chris Jones (6-5) and Kheeston Randall (6-4). You could argue that Holmes prefers shorter guys for better leverage, as the Lions & Rams specific players do tend to group a bit tighter together in the 6-1 to 6-2 range.
From a weight perspective, this range is roughly 290-305, with just Chris Jones’ 310 pound measurement from Dorsey in 2016 being the outlier on the high-end, and Aaron Donald’s 285 being the low end outlier. Every other light defensive tackle selected was a 5T/SDE type, not a true interior.
The 3T measurements can be grouped with two outliers of sorts in Tanzel Smart (Rams pick back in 2017) and Caleb Brantley (Dorsey pick in Cleveland in 2017), both as sixth-round picks. Without them, the RAS average shoots from 7.55 all the way up to a whopping 8.72 average (!!!), so a very clear focus on athleticism at the position.
One measurement actually sticks out here more than others and that’s the 3-cone time. It’s actually the highest average overall (87th percentile) when you break down the group from DT to 3T specifically. That makes sense considering the 3-cone is meant to measure speed, agility, body control, and change of direction when Holmes is targeting guys who can slide around inside.
Effective benchmarks from this (for a 3-technique) range. Meaning if they are higher than this (worse) then they would be a historical outlier and thus less likely to project.
A 3-cone time better than 7.66 seconds.
A 10-yard split better than 1.81 seconds, with most below 1.77 seconds.
A broad jump better than 809 feet.
This one is quite clear, as there’s a lot of variation between height, weight, bench, 40-yard dash, and shuttle times, but on each of these there’s a very clear trend for top scores correlating to selection for Detroit. You also can do the vertical jump at 27” or above, and everyone but Dorsey’s pick of Chris Jones makes clears that hurdle, though that is not saying much.
1-Technique Nose Tackle
The nose tackle spot is truly the one with the least consensus, and no real measurable trend or benchmark to go off of. Truly, take a look and see that there is almost no discernable benchmark for nose tackles:
This spot encompasses all but one of the low RAS testers (Tanzel Smart is a true 3T), whereas some of the others are 1T/3T versatile. However, we can sort of find a commonality with the size when measuring true nose tackle only types, with the weight coming in north of 317 pounds for each of McNeill, Kearse, and Martin. Specifically Martin and McNeill being Holmes picks in Detroit, we can see it weigh a lot clearer.
So pretty much, you can sort of draw some very low end benchmarks around the spot for a genuine NT as follows:
Weight coming in above 315 pounds.
A forty-yard dash at least below a 5.40 second run, with a ten-yard split better than 1.85.
A broad jump over 800, and a shuttle time beneath 5.00.
Now, almost every NT genuinely does fit that, and this is largely emblematic of the reality that NT is a testing-transcendent position, meaning the actual athletic testing is not worth much in evaluating, as the position usually prioritizes size and strength and technique over genuine athleticism, perhaps the one spot we truly see this one happening on film.
And Holmes confirmed a good deal of this in his post-draft quotes on Martin, saying:
“I’m not sure like his testing numbers and all that stuff. This guy’s a big man, but he moves a lot better on film.”
That quote right there really should tell you what you need to know. If you can find a big dude with good tape who moves fairly well on film, the testing does not matter much at all for a genuine nose tackle.
Valuation
How much does Holmes value the DT position? A good deal, as he has now used three “premium” (first-to-third round picks) on the position in three drafts, but some of it can be a bit misleading to just look at the raw numbers. For example, when Holmes added Onwuzurike (second-round) and McNeill (third-round) in 2021, some of it was largely schematic, as the Lions were shifting from a more gap-control defense to an attacking oriented one, and the two DT additions here are also meant to reflect that as a change-up from Danny Shelton and Damon “Snacks” Harrison to quicker and more disruptive interior dudes.
Thus, part of it is also just prioritizing having the right kind of guys and taking the prospects where they fall. But again, we have now seen two third-round picks on nose tackles, which is a somewhat significant distinction from positional value which would place less value on the run-stuffing nose tackles.
So overall, I would give this one a medium-to-high valuation. Holmes will certainly go out and attack the position with draft picks, but he has yet to invest a first-rounder into the position post-Aaron Donald, and has done some bargain bin shopping in LAR landing quality pieces like Greg Gaines (fourth-round) and Sebastian Joseph-Day (sixth-round) on Day 3. That has shifted to a couple of Day 2 picks in Detroit, four of them if you want to include Joshua Paschal’s ability to play the Big/covered DE (5T) role in Detroit as well.
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