NFL Jersey Rule Change and Can We Benefit from This?

[DropKickFlutie]

Belichick and Brady both hate the new jersey role change. I believe it's due to calling out protections. Can someone here come up with a good example where it would mess up what a QB or OLine currently does, to understand exactly how this can be confusing?

On the flip side, I wonder how the Pats can benefit. Would it be easier for a defense to then disguise and have different blitz looks? We have a HC who used to coach Lawrence Taylor. Would us revamping the defensive front 7, possibly even drafting a LB at #15 like Zaven Collins, and re-number our linebacker jerseys in a weird way, possibly allow for the return of ELITE defenses which wreck the pass-happy offenses of the league ??

Report: Bill Belichick 'Hates' NFL's Jersey Number Rule Change, Just Like Tom Brady Does

According to a report, Bill Belichick "hates" the NFL's new rule, which gives running backs, wide receivers, defensive backs, and linebackers the option of wearing a single-digit jersey number.

l.patsfans.com

 

[jah]

I was honestly pretty surprised to hear that Tom Brady of all people thinks this will make it harder to read defenses. Don't you just scout every single player on the other team and know which numbers to look out for? I would have expected the smarter QBs and defensive coordinators to feel as if this gave them an advantage.

I'm less shocked that Belichick was against it because he seems like a stickler for tradition.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the rule change. NFL positions seem to be getting more fluid, so the numbering should change accordingly.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I was honestly pretty surprised to hear that Tom Brady of all people thinks this will make it harder to read defenses. Don't you just scout every single player on the other team and know which numbers to look out for? I would have expected the smarter QBs and defensive coordinators to feel as if this gave them an advantage.

I'm less shocked that Belichick was against it because he seems like a stickler for tradition.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the rule change. NFL positions seem to be getting more fluid, so the numbering should change accordingly.

Yeah Brady and OLine do prepare every week. I think maybe because it's easier to know a #54 often means a linebacker and a #24 means a cornerback or a #37 means a safety.

A lot of times the QB is only calling out the Mike or a possible blitzer seconds before the snap. When an OLineman hears the # he can quickly look at linebackers or whoever to identify who the player is, where they are, and know how to shift protections. Now what if all our LBs and DBs were numbered between 1-9. Sure an OLineman can study every week but on a snap with only 2 seconds to process and see the player, would it be possible to confuse the hell out of say John Harbaugh's Ravens ??

What if this allows a swing back to an elite attacking/blitzing defense, and should we load up at LB this draft to ZAG before the league realizes how to exploit ?

 

[Patsfan1958]

There is a downside for the players to change their number:. From PFT:

Now that the door is open for players to wear numbers that previously weren’t available, players who want to immediately change numbers must deal with one important caveat. They must buy all remaining inventory of unsold jerseys with the player’s current number.

More specifically, and per multiple sources, the players must purchase — at retail prices — the remaining Fanatics supply.

Given the cost of buying unsold jerseys, Dalvin Cook will stick with No. 33 - ProFootballTalk

 

[DropKickFlutie]

There is a downside for the players to change their number:. From PFT:

Now that the door is open for players to wear numbers that previously weren’t available, players who want to immediately change numbers must deal with one important caveat. They must buy all remaining inventory of unsold jerseys with the player’s current number.

More specifically, and per multiple sources, the players must purchase — at retail prices — the remaining Fanatics supply.

Given the cost of buying unsold jerseys, Dalvin Cook will stick with No. 33 - ProFootballTalk

Ok. So hard for established vets. How about a stud newly drafted rookie rookie linebacker ?

 

[DropKickFlutie]

10 mins of Brady cadences below, interesting someone even put this together. You can see he calls out the Mike real quick, only just a couple seconds before the snap. What if the OLine can't easily find who the Mike is or where the player is lined up...

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

There is a downside for the players to change their number:. From PFT:

Now that the door is open for players to wear numbers that previously weren’t available, players who want to immediately change numbers must deal with one important caveat. They must buy all remaining inventory of unsold jerseys with the player’s current number.

More specifically, and per multiple sources, the players must purchase — at retail prices — the remaining Fanatics supply.

Given the cost of buying unsold jerseys, Dalvin Cook will stick with No. 33 - ProFootballTalk

I was just going to post this, LOL Brady would have a huge bill!

Lets see how many of them actually change now. I guess you can wait a year or if you change teams. I wouldn't want to be on the hook for all the unsold N'Keal Harry jereseys.


Of course you can always change them back to "Hogan" once Harry is cut and Hogan is moved off the lacrosse team and back to the Pats.

 

[sb1]

Too bad the Ravens aren't on the schedule or we could tweak Harbaugh with this.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Too bad the Ravens aren't on the schedule or we could tweak Harbaugh with this.

Oh darn. Was hoping to see John Harbaugh lose his mind again over not understanding rules. I'm surprised KC was the one advocating for this, they may have inadvertently swung an advantage back slightly to defenses.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Players and coaches will adjust

 

[Ross12]

10 mins of Brady cadences below, interesting someone even put this together. You can see he calls out the Mike real quick, only just a couple seconds before the snap. What if the OLine can't easily find who the Mike is or where the player is lined up...

"52's the Mike!" is now "52, the linebacker, on the left, is the Mike!"

 

[Ryan]

If you're a coach or a QB, don't you have a pretty good idea of who's who after a week of preparation/watching film? I don't think it will end up mattering much, but I also don't see the point in changing something that's worked for decades.

It'll be interesting to see the trends in jersey numbers going forward. Before the last decade or so, most wide receivers were in the 80s but it feels like most now are 10-19. I bet there will be a lot of low number players going forward.

 

[jmt57]

There is a downside for the players to change their number:. From PFT:

Now that the door is open for players to wear numbers that previously weren’t available, players who want to immediately change numbers must deal with one important caveat. They must buy all remaining inventory of unsold jerseys with the player’s current number.

More specifically, and per multiple sources, the players must purchase — at retail prices — the remaining Fanatics supply.

Given the cost of buying unsold jerseys, Dalvin Cook will stick with No. 33 - ProFootballTalk

So much for the days when a veteran would come to a new team, and some backup would be a good teammate and let the new player have his favorite number.

 

[jmt57]

Report: Bill Belichick 'Hates' NFL's Jersey Number Rule Change, Just Like Tom Brady Does

According to a report, Bill Belichick "hates" the NFL's new rule, which gives running backs, wide receivers, defensive backs, and linebackers the option of wearing a single-digit jersey number.

l.patsfans.com

Ironically Belichick has had his players wear unusual numbers during training camp, as a coaching moment for players to not assume somebody was not an eligible receiver, etc. Prior to that he had them wear jerseys with no numbers, but for some reason the NFL then made a rule that all players had to have a numbered jersey, even during OTAs and training camp. (Not sure if that was for the benefit of photographers, or just the NYJFL attempting to piss off BB).

 

[PatsWSB47]

If you're a coach or a QB, don't you have a pretty good idea of who's who after a week of preparation/watching film? I don't think it will end up mattering much, but I also don't see the point in changing something that's worked for decades.

It'll be interesting to see the trends in jersey numbers going forward. Before the last decade or so, most wide receivers were in the 80s but it feels like most now are 10-19. I bet there will be a lot of low number players going forward.

No one prepares more than Brady. If he feels it makes it harder and will lead to problems identifying protections then I give him the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he's talking about here.

 

[jah]

So much for the days when a veteran would come to a new team, and some backup would be a good teammate and let the new player have his favorite number.

That rule has existed for as long as I can remember, and Uche gave his number to Van Noy just days ago. It's easier for backups to do that because they've sold less jerseys.

 

[VectorPrime]

Well isn’t this likely to mess more with QBs who aren’t as obsessively focused on preparation as Brady?

 

[jah]

10 mins of Brady cadences below, interesting someone even put this together. You can see he calls out the Mike real quick, only just a couple seconds before the snap. What if the OLine can't easily find who the Mike is or where the player is lined up...

But doesn't identifying the Mike require analyzing where the players are lined up and how they're behaving pre-snap? What does the jersey number have to do with that?

You can say that if it's not immediately clear by the lineup and pre snap activity that the jersey number could break a tie. I still think scouting the opposing players would be a much bigger factor. Even under the old rules, drastically different players could wear #55. That could be a classic Mike style LB, or that could be an edge rusher, or even rarely a nose tackle. I don't see how that player being #5 would make that harder to tell after you've already done the classroom work to know who #5 is and what position he plays.

 

[XLIX]

I imagine it will be modestly more difficult to read defenses. It is probably second nature to look for all the 50-somethings then ID which one is the mike. Now a QB may have to work on memorizing what’s going on when they see more random numbers.

Imagine a QB looking at the second level and seeing 22-55-56-28-59. Pretty easy to remember which numbers are which positions.

Now imagine the 5 players are 22-33-6-15-27. Quick! Which one is the mike!

 

[Galeb]

As stated in another thread, it's an obvious attempt to increase the effectiveness of mobile QBs vs. pocket QBs. The end result will be sloppier football. When has the quality of the product on the field ever mattered to executives?