Su’a Cravens Gets a Look at Linebacker

Is Su’a Cravens going to be a linebacker or a strong safety?

There has been a lot of debate over what position the former USC standout will play in the NFL. The Washington redskins picked him to improve a defense that No. 28 in the NFL in 2015. In college, Cravens played a mix of outside linebacker and strong safety and was good at it.

But Saturday, the Redskins took a look at the 6’1″, 225-pound at inside linebacker. The NFL is looking to deploy smaller, more athletic linebackers in today’s passing league. Teams are in their Nickel Defense for most of time with the offense trying to take advantage of mismatches.

Redskins head coach Jay Gruden told the media of the situation, “We’re going to continue to figure that out, “Saturday. “You know, that’s what our job is — to try to get him in the best situation possible where he’s most comfortable.

“But initially we have to teach him a position, and right now it’s going to be the inside linebacker, and then from there we might branch off where it’s the nickel and it could be safety later on. But initially, give him something to sink his teeth into, learn it and then go on from there and see what he can do.”

So at least for now, we can forget about guessing exactly what role Cravens will play playing in the Redskins defense. Gruden has him learning linebacker for now and we’ll see how it turns out. He definitely has the instincts but one has to wonder how he’ll do tackling guards in the run game.