The NFL’s 11 best safeties

Safety might be the NFL’s most volatile position.

When you look at what makes the best safeties in the league from year to year, not only do the requirements change in certain ways, but the players at the top tend to vary quite a bit. This was reinforced to me when I put together last year’s list of the NFL’s best safeties, and there were just five safeties who made the list in both 2021 and 2022.

There’s similar turnover as we move to 2023. Minkah Fitzpatrick, Tyrann Mathieu, Quandre Diggs, Kevin Byard, Justin Simmons, and Jordan Poyer made the cut last year and this year. That’s six of the 13 top safeties from last season, so here’s to the new blood.

Derwin James, Micah Hyde, Marcus Williams, Xavier McKinney, Antione Winfield Jr., Jimmie Ward, Devin McCourty (retired) didn’t make the list from last year. Not that any of them had horrible seasons or anything; there’s just a run of guys who were better last season who I think deserved more merit.

My criteria for the positions this year were…

• Ability at post safety is a must. And if you don’t need another safety in the deep third to patrol it correctly, all the better.

• A majority of snaps at safety. A lot of players who are classified as safeties are basically slot defenders, and those guys will have their own list.

• A minimum of explosive plays allowed. You’re always going to give up completions, of course, but the fewer explosives you give up, the better. Safety is as much or more a position of preventing explosive plays as it is about doing stuff that shows up on highlight reels.

• Run support is important, but in today’s NFL, that’s probably not going to get you close to the top if it’s your primary thing.

• The ability to create pressure with blitzes is also a factor, but not a primary one. We’re looking as much or more here for safeties who allow other defenders to create pressure with their own coverage.

With all that out of the way, here are my 11 best safeties in the NFL as we all prepare for the 2023 season — and next month’s list of the top 101 players in the game today.

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated). 

11. Vonn Bell, Carolina Panthers

The 11th slot was the toughest on this list — I was torn between Bell and Derwin James of the Chargers, but Bell’s improvement in coverage over the last two seasons won the day. Last season, he allowed 35 catches on 48 targets for 445 yards, 182 yards after the catch, one touchdown, four interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 73.7.

As we can see, that’s a graphic improvement over Bell’s 2020 and 2021 campaigns.

Bell logged 489 snaps at free safety in the Bengals’ defense last season, and all four of his interceptions came when he was in the deep third. There was this interception of a Tua Tagovailoa deep pass to Tyreek Hill in Week 4…

In Week 13, Bell ran to the deepest part of the field out of Cover-4 to break up this Patrick Mahomes pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Not bad work if you can get it.

Bell will be charged with patrolling the Panthers’ secondary after signing a three-year, $22.5 million deal with $13 million guaranteed. The Panthers may have gotten themselves a bargain there.

10. Justin Simmons, Denver Broncos

Simmons missed five games last season with knee and quadriceps injuries, but he still managed to tie for the league lead with six interceptions. Overall, he allowed 34 catches on 41 targets for 416 yards, 210 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, one pass breakup, an opponent passer rating of 101.9, and those six interceptions. We’ll tack up the numbers to those injuries to a point, and possible schematic issues — Simmons is better in man coverage than in zone, and the Broncos were a zone-heavy team under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero in 2022. (We will discuss this again when we get to Patrick Surtain II in our cornerbacks list).

In any event, Simmons still had his moments, and maybe he’ll have as many next season as he did in his 2021 season, after which he was our No. 2 safety, and in his 2020 season, after which he was the top guy.

In any event, perhaps new DC Vance Joseph will put more hospitable coverage concepts on the field. Simmons seemed to be out of sorts at times in ways he hadn’t been before…

9. Tashaun Gipson Sr., San Francisco 49ers

Gipson’s career arc has been interesting, to say the least. Most safeties don’t have their best seasons at age 32, but the former undrafted free agent out of Wyoming is a notable exception. Gipson is coming into his 12th NFL season, and he’s had decent runs with the Browns, Jaguars, Texans, and Bears. But there was something about his fit with DeMeco Ryans’ 49ers defense in 2022 that brought out the best in him. San Francisco actually released him in final cuts in August, 2022, but brought him back, elevated him from the practice squad, and all he did in response was to outdo every other season in his career.

Last season, Gipson allowed 19 catches on 32 targets for 315 yards, 86 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, five interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 53.0.

On this interception of a Tom Brady pass to Mike Evans against the Buccaneers in Week 14, Gipson used his knack for being in the right place at the right time to pick off the GOAT.

Gipson got a new one-year, $2.9 million deal after his renaissance season; we’ll see what happens in 2023.

8. Jessie Bates III, Atlanta Falcons

After five seasons with the Bengals, Bates — the former second-round pick out of Wake Forest — signed a four year, $64.02 million deal with the Falcons that included $36 million in guarantees and made him one of the league’s highest-paid safeties. This after a final season in Cincinnati in which Bates allowed 29 catches on 41 targets for 429 yards, 143 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, four interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 97.6.

Bates played 751 snaps at free safety in 2022, and his ability to break to either side deep to stop completions was in evidence last season as it generally is. In Cover-3 against the Browns in Week 14, Bates was quick enough to get to the other side of the field to intercept this Deshaun Watson pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones.

7. Kevin Byard, Tennessee Titans

Death, taxes, and Kevin Byard playing high-quality ball at the safety position. Some things, you can just count on. The third-round pick out of Middle Tennessee State in 2016 is coming into his eighth NFL season, and in 2022, he allowed 33 catches on 49 targets for 409 yards, 172 yards, three touchdowns, four interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 79.4 — the lowest rating he allowed since 2018’s 55.8.

Byard’s 506 snaps at free safety in 2022 marked a bit of a downturn, as he played a few more box and slot roles, but when he was in the back third, he was adept as ever at jumping routes and picking off passes. Justin Herbert of the Chargers could verify that after this interception of a pass to Mike Williams, where Byard came from the top down, as he tends to do.

The only real ding you can throw Byard’s way is that he’ll struggle at times in transitions with faster receivers through deeper routes. But when everything’s in front of him, Byard is still one of the best “erasers” at his position in the game.

6. Jevon Holland, Miami Dolphins

In his second NFL season, Holland, the 2021 second-round pick from Oregon, established himself as a key defender in Miami’s defense, and that was its own specific challenge. Under defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, the Dolphins played single-high coverage on 64% of their snaps, first in the NFL. They played man coverage 35% of the time, the league’s sixth-highest rate. And they blitzed 35% of the time, which ranked second. So, as the team’s primary free safety, Holland was on his own island a lot of the time — and it proved to be no problem. Things should change schematically under Vic Fangio, which could help Holland in a lot of ways.

What you saw a lot of with Holland in 2022 was tape in which he was the sole single deep defender, and there was a ton of man coverage and blitzes in front of him. Such things require a safety with elite range and diagnostic skills, which Holland has proven to possess. While he occasionally went the wrong way in all those single-high reads, there’s not a lot of tape of him getting scalded out there, which points to his recovery speed as another strength. Mostly, he was able to deal with it all, and with little help. Even when he wasn’t the instigator in coverage, Holland was in the right place at the right time enough to benefit from it all. Here against the Patriots in Week 1, he got over to cornerback Xavien Howard’s defense of Mac Jones’ deep sideline throw to DeVante Parker, and came up with the right bounce.

This Cover-6 interception against the Bills in the wild-card round probably speaks to the kinds of coverages Holland will see more in 2023 with Fangio in charge. Not a bad look at all.

5. Tyrann Mathieu, New Orleans Saints

After three seasons with the Chiefs in which he picked up a Super Bowl ring and firmly established himself as one of the NFL’s best hybris safeties, Mathieu went back home to Louisiana, as the former LSU star signed a three-year, $27 million contract with the Saints, and got to work in Dennis Allen’s aggressive, man-heavy coverages. Mathieu played just 315 snaps at free safety last season as opposed to 525 in the box, 195 in the slot, 74 along the defensive line, and 19 at cornerback. But when defending passes in the deep third, he allowed just six catches on 14 targets for 71 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a passer rating of 53.0.

At age 31, Mathieu is still perfectly capable of rolling in the deep third and picking things off to the boundary…

We’ll see what Marcus Maye has to offer the Saints in his second season with the team — 2022 was a bit of a disappointment — but if Mathieu has to roll deep in 2023 again, he’s got the tools to do it.

4. Jordan Poyer, Buffalo Bills

Poyer wasn’t able to repeat his preposterous 2021 season in coverage, but that’s to be expected when you’re coming off a year in which you allowed 13 catches on 28 targets for 61 yards, 40 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, five interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 13.7 (!). Hard to match that, but Poyer was still bringing it last season on a defense that didn’t always had the identity it wanted. This time around, Poyer gave up 20 catches on 29 targets for 184 yards, 102 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, four interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 86.0. Losing Micah Hyde to a neck injury in all but two of the Bills’ games didn’t help; that broke up the NFL’s best safety duo.

Still, Poyer was one of the league’s most estimable deep defenders for the most part. This Cover-3 rep against the Patriots in Week 13 had Poyer spinning out to deep solo coverage, and showing his usual impressive range, deflecting a Mac Jones pass to Hunter Henry.

The Bills hope that with a healthy Micah Hyde in the defensive backfield, a healthy Von Miller rushing the passer, and head coach Sean McDermott calling a more aggressive defense, things will be better. Whatever the issues were in 2022, Poyer didn’t really contribute to them — he’s still one of the best safeties in the league.

3. C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Detroit Lions

In yet another of Howie Roseman’s “How did he get away with that?” moves, the Eagles traded a 2023 fifth-round pick and the worst of their 2024 sixth-round picks to the Saints for Gardner-Johnson and a 2025 seventh-round pick last August. All Gardner-Johnson did in response was to have his best NFL season to date — the 20019 fourth-round pick out of Florida allowed 41 catches on 52 targets for 338 yards, 170 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, six interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 79.8.

As a free-range deep safety in one- and two-high looks, Gardner-Johnson provided extreme value with his sideline-to-sideline range and ball skills. Here against the Cowboys in Week 6, he started the play as the deep-third defender in Cover-1, caught backup quarterback Cooper Rush trying to make a deep cross-body throw to CeeDee Lamb against cornerback James Bradberry, and yoinked in for the interception.

The 2022 season marked by far Gardner-Johnson’s most snaps at free safety — 443, when he’d had just 11 in his last two seasons with the Saints. He had been primarily a box/slot hybrid defender before, and he still has those skills — though all six of his picks came in the deep third. Still, Gardner-Johnson is more than capable of stopping a run play in the backfield with timed gap-shooting moves, and taking down enemy quarterbacks when the need arises.

After a one-year, $8 million contract signing with the Lions, Gardner-Johnson is part of his second defensive rebuild in as many seasons. His relationship with defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn goes back to his time with the Saints, so maybe Gardner-Johnson is on the precipice of helping yet another defense be better than it was before his arrival.

2. Quandre Diggs, Seattle Seahawks

Over the last two seasons (1,078 in 2021 and 1,012 in 2022), Quandre Diggs lined up at free/deep safety on 2,090 snaps, by far the most in the NFL. There are reasons for that.

Yes, Diggs’ overall stats were great (10 catches allowed on 21 targets for 135 yards, 62 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, five interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 60.7), but you really have to separate him from everyone else in the NFL at his position as a deep defender.

In Week 14, the 49ers were trying to execute a flood concept to the right, with receiver Jauan Jennings running a post over the top. Great idea, but Diggs, out of Seattle’s Cover-6, blew it up over the middle on Brock Purdy’s deep attempt to Jennings. Shame about the catch attempt, but everything else was on lock.

…but his ultimate value to the Seahawks’ defense is his ability to go out there, rep after rep, game after game, and play the deep and post safety positions at a level and at a rate most just couldn’t.

1. Minkah Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Steelers

Last season, Fitzpatrick played 640 snaps at free safety, 161 in the box, 112 in the slot, 14 at cornerback, and 12 along the defensive line. Wherever he was, opposing quarterbacks and receivers were not generally having a great time. Fitzpatrick allowed 25 catches on 36 targets for 369 yards, 123 yards after the catch, one touchdown, six interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 72.3. At safety specifically, whether in single- or two-deep coverage, Fitzpatrick’s field sense and eye for the ball made him an intelligent weapon for Mike Tomlin’s defense at all times.

Here, against the Panthers in Week 15. Fitzpatrick came down from a free look with box responsibility in Cover-1 to break up Sam Darnold’s short crosser to receiver Shi Smith. As is generally the case, Fitzpatrick timed the run to the target, and the hit to break up the pass, perfectly.

And if you need a safety to patrol half the field deep in Cover-2… well, as the Patriots discovered in Week 2, Fitzpatrick is your guy.

…but in the end, he’s the best safety in the NFL because he’s become the pointman for his defense as a coverage expert, wherever he is on the field.

Story originally appeared on Bills Wire