Dan Hampton and Howie Long—All Positions on the Line

By John Turney

Both Howie Long and Dan Hampton were versatile players and moved up and down the line, but it was not haphazard, it was done with reasons, not to just "do it"—they filled packages or schemes.

With Long generally, he'd play left end in base 3-4, then three-technique in the nickel. When they played the 46 (their version) he was over the center. Later in his career, he'd play left end in a 4-3 and defensive tackle in base.

Hampton began as a left end but injuries caused some changes in 1982 and 1983 where he played some right end, but when the Bears were in their prime he was a left end in base and would be the nose in the 46. And sometimes he'd be a tackle in nickel.

We don't have a shot of Long as 40 RDE but one of the best games we saw him play was in 1984 versus the Chargers when Lyle Alzado was out and Long had to play right end in base and nickel and he was terrific. We will work on getting some shots from that game.

Meanwhile, here are some examples—

Here they are at left DE:

Howie Long in Raiders base 3-4 at LDE

Dan Hampton in Bears base 4-3 at LDE, 1980

Howie Long in base 4-3 at LDE, 1991

Here they are at RDE

Long in base 3-4 at RDE

Hampton in a base 3-4 at RDE

Base 4-3, Hampton as RDE

Long at RDE in nickel

In each teams version of the 46, both played over the center—

Long played in other situations over the center, in a 33 nickel and a 5-1 nickel—

Long on the nose in 30 nickel

Long in the Raiders 5-man line on the nose

However, when Alan Page was still active, he played over the center and Hampton would play over a guard, at left- or right defensive tackle in a 5-man line.