The Evolution of the Strong Safety
Posted 8/24 by Larry Thomas, Exclusive to Footballguys.com
NFL.com's Pat Kirwan suggested in an article earlier this year that "It is possible that the true SS is going to become a situational player."
He's not the only one that's noticed that the SS position may be in the midst of a major overhaul. The so-called "in-the-box" strong safety may no longer be the consistent scoring weapon to which most IDP owners have grown accustomed.
Coverage-challenged strong safeties are being exploited by today's athletic tight ends. Leave your strong safety on a TE who has the physical skills of a wide receiver and your defense is in trouble. Add in more frequent use of slot WRs and pass-catching backs that run downfield patterns and today's coordinators can't hide a safety that can't cover. The crackdown on helmet-to-helmet contact hasn't helped either. Taking away a strong safety's ability to intimidate and make the middle of the field a "no-fly" zone has kept safeties who can't cover from evening the playing field with a "come near me and I'll light you up" mentality.
Chuck Cecil an intimidating, hard hitting NFL safety that played for 7 years with Green Bay, Phoenix and Houston, was asked a couple years ago if he could play safety in today's NFL. He answered firmly, "No!"
Tennessee head coach, Jeff Fisher, a former safety with the Bears said, "The play-action game...the vertical game has redefined the position. The days of the old neck-roll strong safety are over. That guy is now a linebacker. In my day, our job was to come downhill and hit anything that moved. Now we got corners who are playing the position".
Michael Boulware is a clear example of an in-the-box safety who was exposed in today's NFL. After the 2004 season, he looked like the next great IDP safety. His numbers dipped in 2005 and by 2006 he was benched. He landed in safety starved Houston in 2007, and after one season the Texans wanted to convert him back to LB (his position at Florida State). Boulware refused, and he was released. He's now a reserve safety and special teams ace in Minnesota.
Adam Archuleta is another in-the-box SS who fell fast, and like Boulware he was a tremendous liability in coverage. He recently signed with Oakland, where the Raiders are taking a look at him at LB. Take note Michael.
Today, you frequently hear the word interchangeable when teams discuss safeties. Terms such as run safety/cover safety are being used. Today's safeties are required to be more than the one dimensional safety of years past. There's a growing trend of physical, sure-tackling cornerbacks who excel in run support (cover-2 corner types) that have become candidates to covert to safety.
Teams may start looking for smaller and more athletic strong safeties. Look at what Jacksonville is trying with Brian Williams. Williams is a 5-11, 200 pound corner, being converted to SS. Fisher is doing the same with Michael Griffin in Tennessee, only at FS. This essentially will afford Jacksonville and Tennessee the ability to have three CB's on the field on every snap and possibly four when they go to nickel. This should assist when trying to matchup with teams like Indianapolis who use multi-receiver sets and basically have a 4th wide out with TE Dallas Clark. Maybe Houston should take note.
Dallas' Roy Williams is another of the more high profile safeties whose coverage skills have come in question lately. He may very well become the type of situational player foreseen by Kirwan. Carolina figured out very early Thomas Davis was not a safety. However, they had an alternate plan for him at LB.
Like everything else, there are exceptions to the rule, with experience and instincts playing a big part. John Lynch and Rodney Harrison are good examples. Their experience and instincts make up for some deficiencies they may have in coverage, specifically a lack of speed. It didn't hurt that both had reputations as fierce hitters before the helmet to helmet and illegal contact rules came along. Still, they are the players that Coach Fisher calls "a dying breed."
So for you IDP guys, especially the old school ones, don't get left behind. Alter your way of thinking when looking at the safety position. Beware of the so-called in-the-box safeties. Be careful of safeties coming out of colleges that are being looked at to play LB. Keep an eye on the big, physical zone corner types and don't discount the physical free safeties, who are in a scheme where the safeties are interchangeable.