Question about NFL Safety

Has there ever been a historical team that ran a 4-3 type defense where the WLB was actually a 3rd safety?

In Seattle, Jamal Adams is wanting to be paid like a LB. If we put him at WLB for certain matchups, is it a common thing to have 2 additional safties on the field?

 

Sounds like you're describing a big nickel package, which is a pretty common defense now. Using a hybrid SS/LB just helps you disguise it better. We did that a lot last year with Jeremy Chinn.

I don't get what Adams is saying, because there's not a huge gap between what LBs and Safeties are paid. If he wants to be paid like an OLB in a 3-4, that's different.

 

Big Nickel sounds about right. I was never quite sure how that formation was different from regular nickel in Madden. I thought it was about DT positioning over the G. But what you say makes sense.

I think the top S makes around $15-16 mil/year. The top LBs, including Bobby Wagner, make 18+. So Jamal Adams is most likely hoping to start negotiations from that slightly higher category. Moving him to LB on some plays might also help to reduce his weakness, which is coverage.

 

Thought we were going to talk lockdowns or something

 

NFL Safe Spaces will be required for all the queer and transgender athletes that will be drafted next year. Each team will have a quota they have to meet to remain representative. Not being representative can result in fines and forcing the head coach to wear a pink tutu on game day. That will look great on Andy Reid.

 

Jamal Adams has a good comp in Tyrann Mathieu, who is on the third year of a 3 year, $42,000,000 contract. Bobby Wagner at 18m/year is an outlier, right now a 14 million dollar annual salary would be among the top LB contracts (excluding OLBs in a 3-4). I think that Shaq Thompson in Carolina may be the highest paid OLB in a 4-3, and his contract is worth 13.6m a year. So Adams is going to be in LB territory with a Mathieu-like deal.

 

Safety

 

The answer to the OP's question is yes. Teams have been converting safeties to full time linebacker for nearly a decade. For instance, when the Rams moved bruising safety Mark Barron to linebacker, he was a linebacker who always played linebacker. The "big nickle" that Tharan is referring to is just a 4-2 (two off-ball LB with a safety in the slot). Panther fans will remember this personnel grouping from the McDermott years, with safety Colin Jones playing slot corner. You had Kuechly, TD, and then Jones in the slot as a de facto linebacker. The Panthers got away from this a bit after drafting Shaq Thompson.


What you see more of now - which I would call Big Dime - is different. Defenses are "starting" guys like Jeremy Chinn or Daniel Sorensen at safety, but in the conventional 4-2 nickle, they'll shift into one of the two off-ball LB positions. This is a natural response to the NFL becoming pass happy, but it's also a response to the evolution of TEs, which are now basically split ends who play all over the formation. It's a 4-1 personnel grouping with three safeties and three cornerbacks. As odd as it might seem, the next step in this evolutionary process is to have a bigger cornerback (like Jaycee Horn) playing stack linebacker in these formations.


People talk about "base" defense going away, but it actually seems like the classic 2 LB nickle is the personnel grouping on the endangered species list. If an offense has a high probability of running the ball, it makes more sense to have three or four linebackers on the field. The rest of the time, you want as much speed as possible. The Bucs are an outlier, but most teams don't have two linebackers who can match up in the passing game.

 

I should also point out that Seattle's "base" 4-3 has been unique from other 4-3 defenses. Kam Chancellor was in the box virtually all the time in this "base" defense, so really, they're a 4-4 - just a lighter, more athletic version. I sounds like Neal will play linebacker in Dallas, but they'll probably still have that box safety, making them a practical 4-4. I guess something similar would happen in Seattle if Adams moves to linebacker full time.



The common denominator is lighter and faster. Every personnel grouping is undergoing this transition.

 

Thanks guys, great analysis.

So if you have a 3rd S rather than a 3rd CB, you call it 4-2 rather than nickel? I didn't know that.