Linebacker Training: Reads, Run Fits, Coverage and Lifts

Read your key before you move

Your defense gives you a key: often a guard, a running back, or both. When the offensive line stands up to pass set, coaches call it a high hat, and it tells you to drop. When the linemen fire out low, it is run. Some programs teach inside linebackers a triangle read: the guard, the tackle and the running back together, so you see where the play is going.

Play action is built to beat linebackers who skip that step. If your eyes jump to the quarterback or the mesh point, you take a false step toward the line and the throw goes right behind you. Get a coach to run fakes at you in practice and only move when the key tells you to.

Run fits and tackling

Gaps are lettered A through D outward from the center, and defenses assign gaps to the players in the front so each running lane is accounted for. Inside linebackers often have an A gap. Your job against the run is simple to say and hard to do: get to your gap, stay square, and don't run around a blocker to make a play somewhere else. When a guard climbs to you, the block shed drill trains you to strike, separate and get back into your gap.

Then you have to finish. The tackle in 440's plan is the shoulder tackle the Seattle Seahawks popularized: track the ball carrier's near hip, get your near foot close, put your near shoulder into the thigh and keep your head behind the runner instead of across the front. The hawk tackling page breaks it into steps you can rep at half speed on a bag or tackle wheel.

Coverage: zone drops and backs in man

On a pass read in zone, open your hips, sprint to your landmark and bring your eyes back to the quarterback. When the quarterback stops, you stop, so you can break forward on the throw instead of drifting backward. The zone drop drill reps exactly that: hook and curl drops with a coach throwing to the spot.

In man coverage, like Cover 1, the underneath defenders lock onto receivers. 440's linebacker plan adds a man coverage rep against a running back, so you learn to stay square and mirror the back's hips instead of guessing the route. The mirror drill is the footwork behind it.

Speed that starts sideways

A linebacker's first steps often aren't a straight line sprint. You shuffle to keep your shoulders square to the line, then open up and run when the ball declares. That is why 440's linebacker speed work is the shuffle shuffle sprint, the 5-10-5 pro agility shuttle and a zone drop finished with a break on the ball.

The 40 is still the number everyone asks about. 440 uses 4.70 seconds as its pro reference for linebackers, 4.78 for college and 4.98 for high school. NFL.com puts the combine linebacker average at 4.71 seconds. Of the 581 linebackers who ran there since 2003, only 30, about 1 in 20, ran in the 4.4s.

What the weight room is for

440 builds a linebacker's strength around power, a stiff trunk and the ability to slow down hard. The main lifts are the back squat, hang clean, bench press and Romanian deadlift, with lateral lunges, sled drags, dead bugs and neck harness work as accessories. The goal is a thick, athletic build that can take on a guard and still turn and run with a back.

Linebacker drill menu

Position training references. The generated daily plan varies with equipment, phase, schedule and readiness. Each drill links to cues, common mistakes and a demo.

Linebacker workout: main lift references

Accessories: Lateral lunge, Neck harness, Sled drag, Dead bug.

These are baseline offseason prescriptions for experienced lifters. Teens should train with qualified supervision, begin with light technique work and progress only when form is consistent. Daily loads vary with level, phase and readiness. High-school and recreational plans cap percentage loads at 85% of estimated 1RM.

Protein target

440 sets linebackers at 0.95 g of protein per pound of body weight per day.

• 160 lb152 g
• 180 lb171 g
• 200 lb190 g
• 220 lb209 g

Linebacker training FAQ