I am looking for some advice from coaches that are/have run a 4-3 defense. My team: https://www.whatifsports.com/gd/TeamProfile/PlayerRatings.aspx?tid=52309 has two studs on the DL and then some ok players behind them with a 10 point guess ranking drop off.
(I would have linked the Guess team report for people to go click ads, but the direct link wouldn't work, so everyone will just have to go there and click a few ads for Bob on their own)
My debate is where to play the two guys - both as DT, both as DE or one in each spot? My leaning is towards DT in general and maybe DE if I come against a passing team?

Your thoughts are appreciated,
Benzil

Myself, when I used the 4-3 I never thought it mattered. Main thing is to play them so their attributes grow. I kinda used the philosophy of using the stronger players as tackles . But that to my knowledge was just a personal preference and has no sound basis for being more effective.

If they have speed it's best to put them on the outside. If they have more strength than speed it's best to put them at DT. If it doesn't make any difference look at your 3 LB's. Are your outside LB's good? If so it's best to put them at DT's, leaving you with weak DE's but at least you got strong LB's behind them.

I always put my top two DL at DT. For DE I try to find guys with high ATH & TECH. Those have always been my best sack guys.

Thanks for the responses so far.

I have a couple of other guys with similar strength as the top two guys, so I will try the top two at DE for a few games and then switch them inside and see what happens. Unfortunately, my schedule is not going to present big challenges until the playoffs to really see the effects.

You could also try to keep them on the same side of the line, one as DT and one as DE. I don't know if that would have any advantage or not but worth a try to see what happens. My guess is that it probably doesn't matter all that much where they go.

Always go with the top 2 at DT. Use speed and elusiveness for DE

Per GD, the DL is the same as OL.. the particular lineup is assessed as a unit, not individually. This means, that while you put your stud at DT he might be a monster to a team that runs inside, ,but if they run outside, the DE will get the tackle and vice versa.. The notion is the same for the OL. you can put a lineman in that has 90 strength and only 80 blocking in at the interior, (center, guard) positions and put a lineman that has 80 strength and 90 blocking on the exterior(tackle) positions and they will equal out. I don't agree with how GD does it but that is how it is done as of now.

Atleast this is how I come to understand the game.

Posted by AlekTx2015 on 6/17/2016 4:30:00 PM (view original):
If they have speed it's best to put them on the outside. If they have more strength than speed it's best to put them at DT. If it doesn't make any difference look at your 3 LB's. Are your outside LB's good? If so it's best to put them at DT's, leaving you with weak DE's but at least you got strong LB's behind them.

That would make sense in a real football game but not here

Another thread about transferring players to different positions talked about transferring LBs with good speed and strength to DE. This sounds interesting, and I think I am going to try it.