How Vic Fangio Has Used Aaron Lynch Before.........
May 22, 2018 17:16:15 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 17:16:15 GMT -6
Film Room: How Vic Fangio has used Aaron Lynch in the past
ByMatt Eurich 7 hours ago
Aaron Lynch has a lot of pressure on his shoulders to succeed for the Chicago Bears this season. It is not because Lynch came to Chicago with a lot of bravado explaining how he would wreak havoc on opposing offenses, but rather, he has a lot of pressure on him simply because the organization did not add a lot to the position this offseason. After releasing Pernell McPhee and Willie Young earlier this year, general manager Ryan Pace signed Lynch to a one-year deal to partner up alongside Leonard Floyd at the outside linebacker position. Since the Bears have only added sixth-round pick Kylie Fitts to the mix at the position this offseason, the pressure has gone up on Lynch to succeed. Luckily for him, he has shown signs of life in this particular defense in the past.
Before entering college and the NFL, Lynch was once one of the most highly sought-after recruits in all of high school football as part of the Class of 2011. Recruited as a strong-side defensive end out of Island Coast High School in Cape Coral, Florida, Lynch was listed as a five-star recruit with a 0.9947 composite score by 247Sports. He was listed as the top recruit at his position, ninth nationally overall and third in the state of Florida.
Lynch went on to commit to Notre Dame and registered 33 tackles, seven tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks as a true freshman in 12 games. Lynch decided he wanted to transfer to South Florida after his freshman year to be closer to home and had to sit out one year due to NCAA rules in 2012. In 2013 as a redshirt sophomore he recorded 29 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and five sacks in 12 games. He then went on to forego his remaining years of eligibility to enter the 2014 NFL Draft.
In his first season in San Francisco under current Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio he appeared in all 16 games with three starts. He was used primarily as a rotational/pass-rushing outside linebacker. He finished the season with 23 tackles, six sacks and four pass deflections. Fangio moved on to the Bears in 2015, but Lynch put together another solid season with a bigger workload that year. In 14 games with 13 starts he recorded 38 tackles, 6.5 sacks and three pass deflections. Since 2016 he has not been the same player on the field. He appeared in just seven games in 2016 and recorded 13 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Last year he was asked to bulk up to play more along the line of scrimmage and only recorded nine tackles in seven contests.
Now it will be all about Fangio getting the most out of a player who had a lot of upside in his first two years in the league. One way that can be accomplished is by using him in a variety of different ways. While he was viewed as a 3-4 outside linebacker, Lynch came after the quarterback at times out of a three-point stance, similarly to what Young did at times with the Bears when he was moved to outside linebacker. A prime example of that came in 2014 when Lynch lined up on the line of scrimmage against the New York Giants:
Lynch had a great burst off the football and was able to immediately push the tackle off his mark:
He was able to then take down quarterback Eli Manning in the backfield:
The play was negated because of a defensive holding penalty on the other side of the ball, but that did not impede Lynch's ability to get after the quarterback when playing with his hand on the ground along the line of scrimmage. At other times of the game he also saw action when standing up near the line of scrimmage with the 49ers placing just two down lineman along the line:
The play did not result in a sack, but Lynch's pressure off the edge forced Manning to get rid of the football quickly and he threw an interception. As the years went on in San Francisco, Lynch found himself getting phased out on defense. Last season he played just 157 snaps. His highest amount of snaps came in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks when he played 30 of the team's 82 snaps on defense. His lone sack of the season came in that game. Throughout last season the 49ers either did not put him on the field very often and when they did they were not very creative with how they used him. Another way Fangio used Lynch in the past was by lining him up over a tight end or a wide receiver out of the slot and having him blitz off the edge with a safety picking up the wideout/tight end off the snap.
Lynch has versatility and the ability to do a lot of things in Fangio's system, evident by his experience in this system. To expect him to have a breakout season would be asking far too much, but if anyone at that position has a chance to get off on the right foot in 2018 it is Lynch.