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April 12, 2010
By Mike Reiss
FOXBOROUGH -- At the Patriots pre-draft party April 3 for season-ticket holders -- which was presented by SportsCenter and ESPNBoston.com -- Tedy Bruschi touched on why a certain body type is important at outside linebacker in New England's defense.
"When I came into this program, I'm 6-1, and they tried me at outside linebacker. That lasted about four days, then they said 'Tedy, you're at inside linebacker.'
"Think of Mike Vrabel [6-foot-4] -- the long arms, the long legs, the shorter torso where he can extend. You always hear Bill [Belichick] talking about setting the edge in the running game. That's how you do that -- you extend your arms. There is a tight end on you, you extend your arms and set that edge so the running back can't get outside. If he can, you have the other arm to get free and make that play, or force it back to those inside linebackers. You have to have a body type that fits that -- that Vrabel-type that [Sergio] Kindle-type body."
Bruschi said it's still possible someone without the body type could play the position, although it's not what the Patriots usually seek at that spot.
