Last season, Tennessee Titans linebacker Stephen Tulloch tallied more solo tackles (128) than any other defensive player in the NFL. And now he'll be moving North to likely take over the middle linebacker position in the rapidly-improving Detroit Lions defense. With Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley keeping him “clean,” Tulloch is in line for another top-tier season playing under Lions head coach Jim Schwartz (who was the defensive coordinator for three of Tulloch's five seasons in Nashville).
Tulloch is a very solid inside linebacker in run (+10.5) and pass (+8.3) coverage, but his overall ranking (+13.6) was dragged down somewhat by his poor blitzing (-1.3) and his propensity for taking bad penalties (-3.9). That said, his blitzing ability shouldn't be much of a factor in Detroit, where the fast-improving front four (including Suh and Fairley) should do a fantastic job of getting to the quarterback. As a result, Schwartz will have the luxury of playing to Tulloch's strengths, setting him up for what should be a very strong 2011 season.
Fantasy spin:
It's hard to improve upon a league-leading tackle total, and in fact Tulloch is unlikely to do so. With the Lions expected to be meaningfully improved in 2011, they'll probably be seeing more passing plays in the second halves of games than they did in 2010 (and more than Tulloch's Titans did). That said, Tulloch's pass coverage improved dramatically from 2009 (-5.9) to 2010 (+8.3), and with Suh and Fairley occupying blockers on the front line, Tulloch will still get more than his fair of free paths to opposing running backs. Look for Tulloch to finish with 110 solo tackles, 35 assists, 1-2 sacks and INTs and a handful of passes-defensed.
Perhaps the biggest impact here will be on DeAndre Levy, whose role is dramatically subjugated with Tulloch in the fold. Levy goes from the LB3/LB4 range as a starting MLB in a 4-3 defense to either the SLB or WLB (depending upon where the recently-signed Justin Durant fits into the mix).
© 2025 PFF - all rights reserved.