The Xs and Os: Which traits make for a great safety?
If you were to create the ideal secondary for the modern NFL, most likely that secondary would have at least five pass defenders in its base coverages. Adding that slot defender, whether it’s a cornerback or a safety in “big nickel” (three-safety) packages, is a must against today’s 3×1 receiver sets. You’d also want outside cornerbacks who can play press-man coverage against an opponent’s top receivers, and safeties who don’t live by the old free and strong designations.
In this week’s edition of “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” Greg (of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup) and Doug (of Touchdown Wire) endeavor to build the perfect modern secondary, starting with the ideal traits for every position.
In today’s NFL, the delineation between the strong (shallow) and free (deep) safety has disappeared to a large degree. The days of one safety as the headhunter at linebacker depth, and one patrolling the deep third almost exclusively, are gone. Now, teams want safeties that are as interchangeable as possible.
“You don’t want to get stuck with the idea that only one safety can play on the back end, and one safety can only play on the line of scrimmage,” Greg said. “You become very predictable defensively if that’s the case. In an ideal world, in today’s NFL, you would like your safeties to be interchangeable. First of all, you’re going to play a lot of Quarters [Cover-4] looks, but you don’t want to give the offense a tell. You don’t want them to know that, ‘Hey — this guy is going to do one thing, and this guy is going to do another.’
“Plus, you want to be in a situation ideally — and this is hard — where either safety can match up to the tight end. Because the tight end has become a critical piece in the pass game today. That’s one of the things you think about when you watch college safeties on tape — does this guy have the physical and athletic traits, no matter what he’s asked to do in college, to match up in man coverage to quality receiving tight ends who are bit and athletic?”
Also in today’s NFL — and in the college game — if you’re not an Ed Reed or Earl Thomas in the deep third, you’re going to be playing serious reps at slot, even if you’re thought to be a safety.
“It also has to do with the increasing use of motion,” Greg concluded. “How do you want your safeties to deal with that? You don’t want to get stuck where it’s, ‘Oh my God, they’re using motion, and we can’t adjust to anything or communicate, because we don’t feel good about our safeties’ ability to do something.”
Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Steelers recently finished first in our list of the NFL’s 11 best safeties, and while there are all kinds of reasons for that, his ability to discern what’s going on all over the field, and to react to it in real time, sets him apart. Against the Falcons in Week 13, Fitzpatrick was in a deep Cover-2 look with fellow safety Damontae Kazee, and it was Fitzpatrick who deduced Marcus Mariota’s pass to Drake London, and it was Fitzpatrick who jumped the route and picked it off from another zip code.
Fitzpatrick ranked first on our recent list of the NFL’s 11 best safeties, for all kinds of good reasons.
You can watch the full episode of this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
You can also listen to the Xs and Os podcast on Spotify:
…or on Apple podcasts.
