Seems like this deserves its own thread as we enter the FA and draft season.  If this is the direction Eberflus wants to go it's hard to say how much he can implement this offseason.  

 

https://www.stampedeblue.com/2020/10/2/21497914/colts-scouting-journal-time-to-stop-calling-the-colts-a-cover-2-defense

I do know that Eberflus doesn't blitz much, but does send bigger bodies into coverage zones if he wants to rush anyone of the back seven.  He also uses nickel 65% of the time.

I haven't had time to dig into the Cover 2 vs. Cover 3 (Seatlle/NE concepts) transition he made at Indy.   I only know that based on this he's definitely not married to scheme and adjusts based on talents of his players.  

He will apply his scheme but adapt to his talent. Mack and Quinn can play DEs , Blackmon the nose tackle spot. Could they bring back Bills Nichols for the 3 technique spot? Jaran Reed is a FA from KC , would he fit better?  Smith is going to be the will LBer, but who plays MLB? Also Gibson was a down DE in college so not AA reach for him at DE. I hope Goldman is gone, never played the same last yr.

20 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

He will apply his scheme but adapt to his talent. Mack and Quinn can play DEs , Blackmon the nose tackle spot. Could they bring back Bills Nichols for the 3 technique spot? Jaran Reed is a FA from KC , would he fit better?  Smith is going to be the will LBer, but who plays MLB? Also Gibson was a down DE in college so not AA reach for him at DE. I hope Goldman is gone, never played the same last yr.

With this likely scheme change and the Goldman question we still have Khyris Tonga for those times we want to go heavy up front.  I don't think Tonga will ever have the endurance needed to be a full-time starter but in a rotational role he's a beast especially against short yardage situations.  That combination might be exactly why the new GM will prefer the $6.6mil in cap space to sign a FA who's a better fit, or even just Akiem Hicks.  Even in his injury limited season Hicks had far more impact plays than Goldman.    

If you cut Goldman post June1, you save 8.8 mil.That might be enough foe Hicks for 1 yr. Or Nichols for 2yrs. My problem with Hicks is he will only play 10 to 12 games, been hurt 3 yrs straight. We have a D L coach as our head coach, what he did for most of his career, would like to know hi input on personal. 2 OL running the team, I think they will know how to build lines.

Thing is a coach can run a 3-4 base or a 4-3 base but in reality whichever scheme is your “base” most good defensive coaches use a mixture of fronts and alignments.  Fangio’s D was a 3-4 but he employed multiple fronts and alignments. Flexibility and adaptability is key to any good to great defense. So it’s not as black and white as it used to be as far as DC bring a 3-4 guy or a 4-3 guy.  The less predictable your D is the more your going to get opposing offenses off guard. 

Last year as a 3-4 scheme team, 60% of our plays had a 4 front. I think we have 4 DEs on the roster right now, Mack, Quinn, Gibson and Edwards. DTs , Tonga, Blackson, and London. We need a 3 T and MLB. Obviously DBs. The new coaches have a good base for the defense to work with.