Off-season drills database

A comprehensive database of 100+ drills organized by skill

Hello and welcome to another edition of the D-Line Examples newsletter. My name is Craig, and each week I tackle reader questions about how to coach and play defensive line. If you have any questions DM me on my Twitter and in return, I’ll offer actionable real-world advice.

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Q: I’m going to start my off-season training this week. What are some drills I can use to get better at pass rush and block destruction?

The off-season is your time is to recover, build your physique and make big strides with your technique. And although many aspiring D-Linemen have the willingness to improve they often don’t know how.

That’s why for this post I’ve created a drills database (along with an explanation on how to use it) that you can utilize to find the perfect drill to improve any skill you want.

How to use the drills database

Typically off-season skill development sessions will take place after weightlifting or conditioning. As a best practice, spend 15 - 30 minutes 4 days a week working pass rush or run skills and one day competing with teammates (e.g. 1-on-1s). Your weekly schedule should look something like this…

But what should you do in these 15 - 30 minute periods?

For a pass rush or run day always start with get off. This is the first fundamental! But for the next 10 - 25 minutes use the pell method to determine what skill work you should focus on.

In the Pell method you need to answer 4 questions to determine what drill you use during this time.

1. What's the scheme?

2. What's the skill you need your D-Lineman to learn to be successful in the scheme?

3. What drill will help you to practice this skill?

4. How much time should you spend on this drill?

Note: The time you spend repping this drill will be based on two factors

1. How well or poorly your player is executing the skill (if poor execution rep until improvement, if good execution polish)

2. The opponents you are facing (don't practice pass rush drills if your opponents runs 95% of the time)

If you want to see a live example of the pell method in action check out my post on how to structure your indy.

So now that you know how to plan out your drill work, here’s the complete database of drills you can use.

Off-season drills database

You can check out the entire database here or you click on each linked skill folder (e.g. block release, destroying blocks, etc) to navigate to skill specific drills.

Run drill folders

• Block release

• Destroying blocks

• Explosion

• Hands

• Recognition

• Run stunt

Pass rush drill folders

• Agility

• Get off

• Hand combat

• Hips

• Pass rush moves

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See you again next week.

And whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Learn how to develop top tier pass rushers and a lethal pass rush attack here (1,000+ students)

2. Learn how to turn your D-Line into a block destruction machine here (1,100+ students)

-Craig