Rookie Safeties: Best Scheme Fits

Safety is the most interesting position in the NFL. It’s flexible, it’s about versatility, it’s high-impact and full of highlight plays. And it’s changing rapidly. As offenses get better at manufacturing mismatches and more players are able to play in different spots, safety is becoming less a position for corners who have lost a step and more a nominal designation for players who are asked to do many different things.

That’s great for us fans because it’s interesting to watch, but it also makes it really hard to project college players in the NFL. Different teams will ask them to do very different things. The days of players being just an archetypical strong or free safety are rapidly ending. Once these players are drafted and end up on teams, we will be able to make some assumptions but for now, it’s a case of being detectives and trying to put the clues together.

This article is an attempt to identify which of the incoming rookies will fall into the main safety templates. For reference these are:

Strong safety

They are almost extra linebackers.  They are often asked to play down in the box and be an additional run defender while they run many coverage concepts similar to LBs too.  They’re bigger and more physical defenders who are the classic big hitters of the defensive backfield. Archetype: Keanu Neal, ATL

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Free safety

This position is closer to the original use of safeties, They play deep and are asked to defend the deep ball whilst acting as a backup to players in front of them.  Centre-fielder single-high safeties fall into this category. Range is a huge part of their game as they need to react to the quarterback and make it anywhere across the field before the ball does. Archetype: Earl Thomas, BAL

2-deep safety

Many teams and defenses do not use a traditional strong/free safety split.  The classic Tampa 2 used simply left and right safeties, and this is still common today. These players have to have varied skillsets and be able to perform any of the responsibilities more specialist safeties might be. Archetype: Shawn Williams, CIN

Nickel safety

Increasingly, we’re seeing nominal safeties playing in the slot as those slot players start to diversify. Jayron Kearse is 6’4” and 214 lbs.  Tyrann Mathieu is 5’9” and 185. The slot is becoming ever more interesting. Archetype: Budda Baker

Here are the top 12 safeties (in this analyst’s humble view) rated against those four archetypes. A high score (out of five) indicates that his skillset would be a good fit for that role. It does not indicate how good he would be in that role. So, a limited, 230-lb safety with no mobility but a wide mean streak would be a 5/5 strong safety – even though it would be surprising to see him actually be good at it.

Johnathan Abram, Mississippi State

Many people’s top pick in IDP terms – because he projects pretty much only as a SS.

• Strong safety: 5
• Free safety: 1
• Two-deep safety: 2
• Nickel safety: 3

Nasir Adderley, Delaware

One of the more versatile corners in this class. He played a lot of corner and deep safety in college but his physicality also suggests he could play further forward.

• Strong safety: 4
• Free safety: 4
• Two-deep safety: 5
• Nickel safety: 4

Juan Thornhill, Virginia

At the moment he seems to be a puzzle. He could probably play in every scheme in the NFL so it’s down to landing spot.

• Strong safety: 4
• Free safety: 2
• Two-deep safety: 5
• Nickel safety: 2

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Florida

Versatility is his trump card but in the NFL, his best position should be in the slot where he can become a difference-maker.

• Strong safety: 3
• Free safety: 4
• Two-deep safety: 3
• Nickel safety: 5

Darnell Savage, Maryland

He lined up deep a lot in college – but certainly has the skillset to not be pigeonholed as a center-fielder.

• Strong safety: 4
• Free safety: 4
• Two-deep safety: 5
• Nickel safety: 4

Taylor Rapp, Washington

His 40 time has freaked people out but he’s a classy prospect on tape.

• Strong safety: 4
• Free safety: 1
• Two-deep safety: 3
• Nickel safety: 2

Deionte Thompson, Alabama

Thompson has faded considerably since the start of draft season but he’s still a good prospect in the right scheme if he can play to his strengths.

• Strong safety: 1
• Free safety: 5
• Two-deep safety: 4
• Nickel safety: 2

Malik Gant, Marshall

Gant likes to come up for big hits, but his high missed tackle stats are worrying should he be identified as a SS.

• Strong safety: 4
• Free safety: 1
• Two-deep safety: 5
• Nickel safety: 3

Amani Hooker, Iowa

Hooker may be viewed as a corner by some teams. He’ll be an interesting one to watch out for on draft day.

• Strong safety: 3
• Free safety: 3
• Two-deep safety: 5
• Nickel safety: 3

Sheldrick Redwine, Miami

Redwine is one of the least impressive prospects here and a tough fit to project. He’s a big hitter and lacks understanding, suggesting he’ll fit as a SS.

• Strong safety: 3
• Free safety: 1
• Two-deep safety: 5
• Nickel safety: 2

Jaquan Johnson, Miami

Johnson is a strange player. His talent fits a sub-package safety, but he often tries to overcompensate and go for the big hit.

• Strong safety: 2
• Free safety: 3
• Two-deep safety: 4
• Nickel safety: 5

Marquise Blair, Utah

Another player who (although relatively slight) tries too often to lay the wood. Blair will need to be coached up wherever he lands.

• Strong safety: 2
• Free safety: 3
• Two-deep safety: 4
• Nickel safety: 2

So, when we look at all this together, we see a class that looks like this:

The result is a class notable for how flexible it is. Almost every player here could fit multiple schemes well. This doesn’t make it a bad class. It makes it interesting.

Instead of zeroing in on one or two players, we need to wait until we see landing spots and draft capital and intelligently assess how these players will fit in. With all the uncertainty, it probably means it’s even less a smart move to draft a safety in most leagues, but there are going to be a couple of gems.

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