Daimone Blue

[RoboPenguin]

I'm running a 3-4 with the Eagles, and I was wondering where his position would be, as he's a 61 overall NT. Would he be more suited to a DE or a OLB?

[RoboPenguin]

Can anyone help on this?

[josefrees]

If I remember him properly all his athletic skills are pretty good which means he can play pretty much anywhere in the front seven. Depending on what year and what the team looks like the most obvious place would be at OLB. But because of his athleticism he can probably play MLB as well. Move him around. You could switch him and Thornton as well.

[Robrain]

For DTs, I usually prefer 350 lb nose tackle types.

My base defense is Nickel Wide-9. It stretches the field to help stop the run, but because it's spread out so wide, it has issues stopping runs up the middle.

For me, STR and BSH are king for my DTs. My front defensive line is DE, DT, DT, DE. All of them are generally geared to be large men that lock down their area in order to stop the run. When I occasionally blitz one or both of the DEs, my DTs need to be able to hold their own in the event of an audible to a running play. Thus, I prefer DTs with 95+ STR as one of their primary requirements.

However, I have drafted DT Daimone Blue in at least one of my franchises before, as well as other DTs like him (soooo many fast DTs in the Madden 25 draft classes). Here's how I usually utilize them to complement my 95+ STR DTs.

First, they're strictly second string on my defensive line. You might think this strange, making a DT with 90 SPD a backup, but this way he's able to fully utilize that speed on every play, because he won't be fatigued.

That means they reside in the third and fourth slots (out of five) on the DT depth chart.

Secondly, he also becomes my second or third string DE as well. Specifically, my DEs usually have 88-90 STR, players like Margus Hunt, Ropati Pitoitua, and Calais Campbell. This makes them solid at helping stop the run. Because Daimone Blue also has 88 STR, he makes a good backup edge rusher who can also contain the run if you think it's going to be a run play.

I then add him as the 4th string MLB usually, to try to stretch my uses for his speed. Keep in mind though, his coverage skills are terrible and he only has 78 ACC. Odds are you have better, faster options for an every-down MLB. This is primarily to increase his tackle stats in games.

So, if you keep him fresh all game, he'll be the 90 SPD / 88 STR terror coming onto the field during the 4th quarter with full stamina, ready to feast on opposing QBs and RBs.

You'll want to focus on making him a big hitter (buying the trait + significantly increasing his Hit Power), though, in order to maximize his effectiveness as a disruptive chess piece.

[RoboPenguin]

Cheers, I'm in the second season of the Eagles franchise, and for the first two games he's been my number one DT. I have Michael Kendricks that I can user because of his high speed rating, but I'll try these tips out anyway. Robrain, you say that you use the nickel wide-9 as a base defence. Does that mean 9/10 you'll use plays out of that book, but change it on obvious plays such as 4/5 WR sets, where you would swap to a dime package say? I'm still trying to figure out what kind of plays to use.