Defensive Football Drills

In football, the defense includes linemen, linebackers and defensive backs. The defensive players are extremely important because their goal is to prevent the offense from scoring points by pressuring the receivers, running backs and the quarterback. There are numerous drills designed to improve defense player speed, technique and tackling skills.

  1. Tip Drill

    • Defensive backs are positioned behind the line of scrimmage and defend the receivers on the offense. Defensive backs try to disrupt the passing game by preventing the receivers from catching the football, and if possible catching it themselves, which is called an interception. According to footballdrills.com, the Tip Drill is designed to help the defensive backs tip and intercept a pass from the quarterback. Two defensive backs about five yards behind each other should run toward the quarterback. The quarterback should throw the ball slightly over the head of the first defensive back so he can reach up and tip the ball. The second defensive back should go after and intercept the tipped ball. The coach should stress how the arms, hands and fingers should extend when intercepting and tucking the ball in the arms so it won't pop out.

    Bull Rush

    • Linebackers are defensive players who can be called upon to stop the running backs, cover the receivers or put pressure on the quarterback. The Bull Rush Drill will aid players in open field tackling and is also a conditioning drill. Football-tutorials.com instructs to area off a 40 yard square with cones and make two out-of-bound lines. Line up players at one end and select one player to stand in the middle of the square. At the middle player's command, the other players will sprint to the other end while avoiding being tackled by the middle player. The player who gets tackled will stay in the middle to help tackle the others. This is repeated until everyone has been tackled or one player is left standing. This drill will enable coaches to see how fast the defense is and teaches players good tackling form in the open field.

    Pass Rush Technique Drill

    • In order to get around blockers and put pressure on the quarterback, the defensive line must be able to identify the offense's formations and make appropriate adjustments. For the Pass Rush Technique Drill, form two lines of defensive linemen facing each other and assign one line pass rushers and the other offensive blockers. According to footballdrills.com the coach should call out a technique such as rip or swim and which side the rushers should pass on the blocker. The rushers will close on them using the correct technique to pass the blockers. This isn't a physical drill–it's designed to help players memorize and execute different techniques to get past the offense.