Fits

It's not earth-shaking to note that every football team runs a different offensive and defensive scheme. Sometimes the differences of scheme from one team to the next are subtle but differences will always be there. No team is the same. The experiences and even the personalities of the head coach often dictate the schemes. Sometimes the team that the coach inherits will impact the scheme that he plays. Mike Tomlin's NFL coaching career started in the cover-2 defense of Tony Dungy with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tomlin took that scheme to the Minnesota Vikings when he was hired by Brad Childress to be his defensive coordinator in 2006. Tomlin's immediate success in Minnesota and sparkling personality got him a head coaching job with the Pittsburgh Steelers a year later. Despite spending all of his NFL days in the cover-2, Tomlin knew that the Steelers had a good thing going on defense. Dick LeBeau's 3-4 defense was doing just fine. He was keeping LeBeau and the scheme. Many things influence the schemes that a coach puts into play but the gist of this is that no team is the same. Those differences create "fits." Some players simply "fit" one team better than the next. Those "fits" have greatly benefited the Minnesota Vikings in the last year.

Fullbacks are becoming a rarity in the NFL. Once upon a time, the main ball carrier was often a fullback. Bronko Nagurski, Jim Brown, Jim Taylor were legendary ball-carrying fullbacks. Then fullbacks became blockers, some time receivers, and short yardage dynamos. As passing became the preferred means of moving the ball and three-wide sets became the norm there was little room for that bigger back. Jerome Felton discovered that more each year after he was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2008. He was always a good fullback but few teams needed any fullback. First the Lions, then the Carolina Panthers, then the Indianapolis Colts. Each decided that they didn't want to use a roster spot on a part-time player. Jerome Felton was again looking for a job at a position that was becoming more obsolete each year. It's been mentioned many times by media talking heads that Adrian Peterson says that he doesn't like running behind a fullback. That's not quite accurate. He liked running behind behind Tony Richardson in his rookie season. If he had a fullback in front of him, he wanted the fullback to be a good one. If the fullback wasn't a good one, he wanted to be alone in the backfield. Who can blame him? A fullback is supposed to open holes, not get in they way. The Vikings are one of the few teams that still uses a fullback. They've been looking for a good one since Richardson left in 2007. They lucked into Jerome Felton last offseason when he couldn't find a home in Detroit, Carolina, Indianapolis, or anywhere else that no longer needed a tough, hole-opening, linebacker-crushing, effective lead blocker. Adrian Peterson rushed for 2,097 yards in 2012. Many of those yards came from cruising through holes opened by the Vikings new Pro Bowl fullback. That terrific season earned Felton a nice, new contract and a home in Minnesota. Felton "fits" in the Minnesota Vikings offense.

Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd was supposed to be a top-10 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Maybe even a top-5 pick. Many had him penciled in as the pick of the Oakland Raiders at #3. The Vikngs were ecstatic to select him at #23. Many things contributed to Floyd's fall to the Vikings. One was the mad rush on offensive lineman early in the first round. This pushed quality players at all positions down a bit. Another factor in the fall of Floyd was the increasing number of teams running 3-4 defenses. He isn't quite the type of player that fits as a 3-4 nose tackle. Those teams may have considered him at defensive end but he didn't quite fit there either. He was a much better fit playing a 3-technique in a 4-3 defense. He was exactly the type of player to be the heir to Kevin Williams in Minnesota. He fit the Vikings defense perfectly. He "fit" in nicely at pick #23.

Sharrif Floyd wasn't the only gift "fit" that brought cheers from the Vikings draft room. Florida St. cornerback Xavier Rhodes wasn't expected to be drafted as highly as Floyd but he was expected to be drafted before the Vikings picked at #23, let alone #25. As a big, press corner, Rhodes didn't fit the defenses of every team. Conerbacks like D.J. Hayden and Desmond Trufant were better fits for many teams. Rhodes was the best fit for the defense that the Vikings hope to run moving forward. Pairing him with fellow 6'2" corner Chris Cook will allow the team to finally play the defense that they've wanted for a while. They've played a cover-2 since Childress brought in Tomlin. Leslie Frazier continued with that defense when he was brought in to replace Tomlin. I think that Frazier has always wanted his corners to press and run with the receivers. Now that he's the head coach and has big, physical corners like Cook and Rhodes, he can.

It's been said that great football players can fit any scheme. That's true to an extent. Many great players failed to be great because they were forced into a scheme that they didn't quite "fit." Nnambi Asomougha never really fit in the defense of the Philadelphia Eagles after being a fantastic player for the Oakland Raiders. Going further back, the Vikings would have had to change their entire offense to best use Hershel Walker. They didn't and that trade only benefited the Dallas Cowboys. Walker was supposed to be the "missing piece" in Minnesota but the piece never fit. The San Francisco 49ers had an incredible run of efficient and often spectacular quarterback play for over two decades. It seemed that Bill Walsh and George Seifert could plug in any quarterback and find success. Even Jeff Kemp and Steve Bono could play something like  Joe Montana and Steve Young. Walsh's offense was incredibly quarterback friendly. It was so easy that no one noticed that all the quarterbacks in the 49ers stable had nice footwork and timing. For whatever reason, someone in San Francisco thought that Jim Druckenmiller could fit into the 49ers quarterbacking tradition. He was picked in the first round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He might've been a star in some other offensive system. Big kid with a big arm but he didn't fit the scheme that Walsh built. He didn't even fit the scheme of new coach Steve Mariucci. A scheme that was more similar to Walsh's offense than different. After all, he had learned his NFL lessons from Mike Holmgren in Green Bay. Druckenmiller was a disaster in San Francisco. It also made for a short stay in San Francisco for Mariucci. You can't just force any player into any scheme. In the past year, the Vikings lucked into one terrific and two potentially terrific football players because they didn't quite "fit" the schemes of other teams. Finding talented players that "fit" a particular scheme is far more important than simply finding talented players.