2nd most important position in the secondary

[Kiwibrown]

Which is the second most important position in the secondary outside of your number 1. CB?

I am making the assumption that your no.1 cornerback is the more important position as this seems to be the trend with drafting of players and at least an assumption in the football world. If you want to make the case another position is more important,  go a head. 

[Xmad]

Free safety since they're most usually tasked with getting everyone in the secondary in position and are the last line of defense, some are even their defensive signal callers.  

[JAF-N72EX]

This has more to do with the particular scheme itself than it does the position. AKA - some schemes rely too heavy on a 3 or 4 man rush and other prefer blitzing. 

 But, a good free safety is alot more valuable than a CB is, imo. The trouble with this is, it's easier to find a good CB than it is to find a good safety because his responsibilities are alot greater . 

[tom cody]

Went with the free safety.

[Soko]

A safety is probably the next valuable, but if you’re choosing between an elite #2 CB and an elite safety, it becomes a real discussion (assuming the #1 CB is better than the #2). 

Two shutdown corners gives you some real creativity on defense. 2015 Denver didn’t really have anything special at safety, but had the corners. 

[ET80]

45 minutes ago, Yin-Yang said:

Two shutdown corners gives you some real creativity on defense. 2015 Denver didn’t really have anything special at safety, but had the corners. 

I'll actually agree with this. If I have a need for both FS and CB 2 and the market has a dominant FS and a dominant CB, I'm dedicating my efforts to the CB.

[Super4]

I'm probably partial here because I played FS through HS and JuCo, but if you've got an Elite FS to go along with an Elite CB1, you literally cut off 2/3's on a field from being attractive targetable locations.  See Sherman and Thomas.

[Soko]

 

7 minutes ago, Super4 said:

you literally cut off 2/3's on a field from being attractive targetable locations.  See Sherman and Thomas.

Sherman didn’t cut off 1/3 of the field. 

You could say Thomas did with his deep range, though.

[Super4]

3 minutes ago, Yin-Yang said:

 

Sherman didn’t cut off 1/3 of the field. 

You could say Thomas did with his deep range, though.

 

Between the two of them, yes.  2/3's of the field were usually "off-limits" for most parts of the game.

[Soko]

7 minutes ago, Super4 said:

 

Between the two of them, yes.  2/3's of the field were usually "off-limits" for most parts of the game.

Think your math is off, Fred. 

So in their typical cover 3 where Sherman and Thomas are responsible for deep thirds, that leaves a ton of field. 

All it takes is one deep route to take the corner out of any short range. The whole “Sherman takes away a 1/3 of the field” narrative has been so overplayed. Or how Revis would take away half the field, I just assume people either A) are using hyperbole, or B) assume the defenders have unlimited range. 

For example, if a team ran a flood here with their two WRs and let’s say an in-line TE, Sherman could only take the deepest route. He’s useless defending the flat or the hook-to-curl in anything but YAC-defense.

Plus, with all the cover 1 Seattle ran, that takes the whole “1/3” thing completely off the table.

[Super4]

Ah, gotcha.  Thanks for pointing that out.  I guess we were operating under the assumption that the LBs don't have field assigments also and that we weren't referring to down the field coverage.  In that circumstance, yes, you're 100% correct.  

[Soko]

10 minutes ago, Super4 said:

Ah, gotcha.  Thanks for pointing that out.  I guess we were operating under the assumption that the LBs don't have field assigments also and that we weren't referring to down the field coverage.  In that circumstance, yes, you're 100% correct.  

So two guys “literally cut off 2/3s [of] a field” as long as they have team mates that also cover zones within those 2/3s? 

Seems like a little bit of an overstatement either way you slice it, Fred. 

[Super4]

18 minutes ago, Yin-Yang said:

So two guys “literally cut off 2/3s [of] a field” as long as they have team mates that also cover zones within those 2/3s? 

Seems like a little bit of an overstatement either way you slice it, Fred. 

 

Not entirely sure who "Fred" is, but I'm 95% positive you're making armchair coach assesments.  SHow me film breakdown and percentages of a full season's snaps of what coverages the Seahawks played that supports your "1 screencap" argument, and we'll have a discussion.  Until then  I stand by my evaluation of an elite FS being more important than an elite CB2, or maybe even more than an elite CB1.

Thank goodness for the "block feature" on the new forum.

[Soko]

15 minutes ago, Super4 said:

 

Not entirely sure who "Fred" is, but I'm 95% positive you're making armchair coach assesments.  SHow me film breakdown and percentages of a full season's snaps of what coverages the Seahawks played that supports your "1 screencap" argument, and we'll have a discussion.  Until then  I stand by my evaluation of an elite FS being more important than an elite CB2, or maybe even more than an elite CB1.

Thank goodness for the "block feature" on the new forum.

You’re dead wrong. I’m sitting at a desk as we speak, you plebeian. “Desktop amateur coach assessments” would be a much more accurate statement. 

Anywho, I can post more screen caps of what a cover 3 (or cover 1) looks like, but they’ll show the same thing. In Seattle’s traditional defense, they’ll throw out a cover 3 variation. When they go man, they’d go cover 1 quite often. Not that they never ran anything elseX this was just their bread and butter during their dominant seasons. It’s not a secret, so I figure you’re just being obtuse by wanting film breakdown. 

“We play man-to-man or Cover-3 -- not much more than that. It's not a secret." - Kam Chancellor

As for your “evaluation” of FS>CB2, that’s great, I’m only speaking on the false narrative that Sherman or any CB somehow shutdown or cut off a third of the field. He didn’t - in whatever scheme you think Seattle was running.