Julian Peterson Will Play Weakside Linebacker

Several reports from local media have said that Julian Peterson was going to play on the strongside and Leroy Hill was going to play weakside linebacker this year (see links at the bottom of this post). This did not make any sense to me as Julian Petson is one of the best weakside linebacker's in the NFL, so I asked Mike Kahn, who works for the Seahawks as their primary writer on Seahawks.com.


From: Billy

Hi Mike, I have heard conflicting things about our starting linebackers. We obviously have one of the strongest groups in the league, but who is going to be the weakside linebacker and who is going to be the strongside linebacker? I assumed Julian Peterson was going to play weakside, is that correct?

Billy,
You made a correct assumption. Last month in minicamp, Peterson spent a lot of time with young Leroy Hill with technique on how to cover tight ends one-on-one, which will be Hill’s biggest adjustment in the NFL. But Hill is very talented, has great instincts for the position and is a quick learner.

The idea of Peterson on weakside is to give him as much flexibility as possible to run blitz, pass blitz, or create some press coverage situations for dangerous receivers coming off the line. His size, speed, versatility and experience gives the Seahawks defense more flexibility than they ever had at linebacker. Thanks for writing.

Yours in sport,
Mike

Links:
Clare Farnsworth Article
Discussion on Seattle Insider