Stack and shed

Stack and shed is how a defensive lineman plays the run. First you stack the blocker — take him on with your hands inside and your pads low, stand him up, and hold your gap instead of getting moved. You read the play through him. Then you shed — violently disengage by ripping, pulling, or pressing the blocker off and getting to the ball-carrier. The whole sequence depends on hand placement and leverage: get inside his frame, lock him out at strike distance so you can feel where the play is going, and don't shed until you know where to go.

Defined by Coach Jay Freeman — 34 years coaching the offensive and defensive line.

Related trench terms

StackD-Line

To take on the blocker and stand him up at the line instead of getting displaced.

ShedD-Line

To disengage from a block to make the tackle.

2-gapD-Line

A defensive technique where the lineman is responsible for both gaps on either side of the blocker he lines up over.

ReadD-Line

To diagnose the offensive lineman's intent — run vs. pass, direction, and scheme — as the play unfolds.

3-techniqueD-Line

A defensive tackle aligned on the guard's outside shoulder — the B-gap penetrator spot.

Go deeper

• Coach Jay’s lineman training library — the technique behind the term →
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