NFL: Building the best 2021 roster from NFC North teams

Ultimate 2021 NFC North Linebackers: Eric Kendricks (MIN), Roquan Smith (CHI)

If you compared the current NFL to how it was 10 years ago, the difference is night and day. With the game evolving, so have the players. Running backs are now catching more passes, tight ends are asked to be receiving threats more often, and cornerbacks are becoming increasingly valuable. But the one position that still somewhat lacks behind the rest is the linebacker.

Traditionally speaking, the linebacker’s responsibility has mainly lied in the run game while having very little responsibility in the passing game. However, as the game has evolved, the linebackers have been asked to do more and more.

Instead of only being forces in the run game, linebackers are now asked to cover tight ends, running backs, and occasionally receivers. Very few linebackers can live up to these responsibilities, though. Somehow, the NFC North has two linebackers who can.

Kendricks played his college ball at UCLA while playing a very traditional linebacker role, and that role somewhat carried over to his NFL career. Kendricks played that role in the NFL and struggled a bit in coverage for most of his career. Nowadays, though, he has evolved into a modern linebacker who can bring value to the pass coverage game.

While Kendricks was a bit of an old-school traditional linebacker at UCLA, Roquan Smith was more of a modern-day linebacker at Georgia. One of his calling cards at Georgia was his sideline-to-sideline speed and his coverage ability, which was the main reason the Bears grabbed him with the eighth pick in the draft.

Unfortunately, he struggled to show his talents fully in his first two years in the NFL. This past season, however, Smith managed to turn things around while showing off his coverage acumen and showing why the Bears selected him in the draft.