Here's what the NFL looks for:
1. Can you run?
2. Can you absorb a playbook?
3. Can you do what the coach tells you to do?
Besides, from mid August through mid December, your defensive scheme doesn't go against your offensive scheme. You practice against someone else's offense. It might be your offensive players, but it is someone else's scheme.
This tired refrain of "they practice against the option all the time" is claptrap. They don't. Just from having watched about 100 of his practices at Georgia Southern, PJ will put his O against his D a few practice periods a week, but that's mostly for goal line and situational reps. The vast majority of practice Tuesday through Thursday, and some of Monday, is spent preparing for what the other team does, not what our team does. Practice periods are 5-6 minutes long, so it's about 20-25 minutes a week max out of about 8-9 hours on the field that the first team O goes against the first team D. He usually did it on a Wednesday, which is one of the contact days.
