Ankle Flexion: The degree of ability for a player to bend at the ankles. Ankle flexibility is important for balance and leverage at many positions.
COD: Change of Direction.
COP: Change of Pace. Used to describe running backs with complementary skill sets to typical starters.
Defensive Line Moves:
Bull: <span>runs through the lineman with power</span>
Speed: <span>beats him around the edge with speed</span>
Push-pull: <span>pushes lineman and grabs, pulls and sheds him away</span>
Rip: <span>rips up and through the lineman with one arm</span>
Speed to power: <span>speed off the edge to set up the lineman and then convert to power straight through him</span>
Spin: <span>spins at the point of attack</span>
Swim: <span>brings his arm over the blocker’s shoulder to leverage himself past him</span>
EPA (Expected Points Added): <span>The change in Expected Points for the offense on a play. Expected Points quantifies the value of any down, distance, and field position situation in terms of the average value of the next scoring event. The EPA of a play is the difference between the Expected Points before and after the play happened.</span>
FBI: Football Intelligence
Force Defender: <span>The defender who is schematically responsible for leveraging the point of attack in a given situation. This is most commonly used to refer to an edge defender responsible for outside contain, tasked with forcing the run back to the inside.</span>
Injury Designations:
<span>Currently injured players have an injury which has affected their ability to participate in draft preparation and may affect their ability to participate in the combine, pro days, and/or OTAs, but they have limited long-term risk.</span>
<span>Long-term injury risk players have had extensive injury histories, severe injuries, and/or injuries which historically have a high rate of aggravation or recurrence.</span>
<span>LOS: Line of scrimmage</span>
Man/Gap Blocking: A run scheme which is designed to attack a specific gap, with each blocker being assigned to block a certain defensive player, depending on alignment and stunts.
Mesh Point: The exchange point, usually between the QB and RB, on a read-option play.
Navigating Trash: The ability for a defender to work through tight spaces amongst big bodies while visioning the ballcarrier in order to arrive at the play.
Personnel Packages: <span>Two-digit codes that represent the number of RBs and TEs, respectively, the offense has on the field. For example, ‘21’ personnel means there are 2 RBs and 1 TE on the field.</span>
POA: Point of Attack.
Pos% (Positive %): Percentage of plays that result in a positive EPA.
Reducing Down: Moving the alignment of a defensive lineman towards the interior of the line. This is usually used to describe edge defenders with the ability to move inside in obvious passing situations.
Sam, Mike, and Will Linebackers: Strongside, Middle, and Weakside Linebackers.
Set the Edge: Prevent a ballcarrier from running outside by controlling the outermost gap on the play.
Single High Coverage: Any coverage in which a defender is playing zone in the deep middle of the field (e.g., Cover 1, Cover 3). Also known as MOFC (Middle of the Field Closed).
Two High Coverage: Any coverage in which two secondary defenders are in split deep zones (e.g., Cover 2, Cover 4). Also known as MOFO (Middle of the Field Open).
Y-TE vs H-TE: <span>The ‘Y’ is the traditional TE who is usually aligned in a three-point stance alongside the OT and is required to have ability as an in-line blocker, while the ‘H’ is generally a more athletic TE with less blocking ability who will commonly align in the slot or backfield.</span>
Zone Blocking: A run scheme in which the offensive linemen move in the same direction as one another and each is assigned to block whichever defender enters their area of assignment, with the runner ultimately attacking a gap based on how the blocking influences the leverage of a keyed defender.
4-Digit Height Code: Player heights are expressed in a 4-digit code, with the first digit representing their height in feet, the second and third digits combining to represent inches, and the fourth digit representing eighths of an inch (e.g., 6043 is 6-foot-4-and 3/8 inches; 5110 is 5-foot-11 even).