Conscientious And Aggressive: Former Vic Fangio Player Offers Insight On The DC's Defensive Line Impact

Payne spent the final five seasons of his career with the Texans and was under Fangio for the first four of them before the veteran defensive mind went to Baltimore.

Payne noted that Fangio taught him a way to play the defensive line that he had never even been exposed to prior.

"His scheme, he gives the defensive linemen so much freedom," Patne said. "... He gives you these options if you can handle it to slant to your responsibility, stem all the time.

"He gives you a rulebook for when you can play more aggressively and when you need to be more of a two-gapper and gap-responsibility guy based on the coverages you play behind you. And it's stuff I had never been exposed to or even aware it was possible as a defensive lineman."

Payne described himself as an overly-disciplined player who didn't play aggressive enough.

"I [was] always a guy that was trying to really play my responsibilities and everything and I probably wasn't as aggressive as I should have been," Payne admitted. "Vic's scheme gives you that license like 'Ok on this play -- based on this formation with this coverage behind you -- you're just gonna hit it.'"

Marry that up with a talent like second-team All-Pro Jalen Carter in Philadelphia and special things can happen.

"It's cool to watch Jalen Carter I think do some of those things in Vic's scheme because it allows you to be a conscientious player but also an aggressive player at the same time," Payne said. "It mixes and matches the elements of the old school 3-4 but with just an aggressive 4-3 defense."