NFL: The three-four and moneyball

Nice write-up on the Steelers and their impending switch to the 4-3 defense

Not all linebackers and defensive ends are created equal

Dallas coach Wade Phillips makes an interesting point:

"It's harder to find defensive linemen to play a 4-3 and pay for all of them," new Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said at the NFL meetings last month. "In this day and age, where salary cap is so important, D-linemen are the highest-paid guys. And to get the guys we had in Philadelphia with Reggie White and Jerome Brown and Clyde Simmons, there's no way you could keep those guys [in this day and age]. They didn't keep Reggie anyway.

"I think linebackers, in reality, are a little bit cheaper, and you can find more of them. You can find more guys who are instinctive, who can run. Some in-between guys sometimes are good at outside backer. It seems to fit better as far as the personnel and really the money that you have to spend on guys on defense."

Given the popularity of the book Moneyball, i'm surprised we don't see more of this type of analysis in the NFL.