Washington Coverages Part 3: Man Coverage

The third in a three-part series looking at what coverages Washington's secondary could use this season with the new personnel.

This is the final part of a three-part series looking at how Washington’s secondary could shape out in 2021 after plenty of turnover in personnel this offseason. In the first part, I broke down the basics of Cover-3, its strengths and weaknesses, the variations within the system and how it fits with Washington’s personnel. Click here to read that part. In the second part, I looked at the variations of quarters coverage and how Washington’s secondary could fit that system. Click here to read that part.

Today though, I’m looking at the potential for Washington to increase its use of man coverage schemes. As I’ve covered in the previous parts of this series, Washington mainly played zone coverages last season and teams rarely have a drastic change in philosophy from year to year without significant changes in coaching staff. However, Washington has had significant changes in personnel and the skillset of those new players could allow Washington to play more man coverage.

Cover-1

Jack Del Rio played plenty of man coverage in his last stop as a Defensive Coordinator, back in 2014 with the Broncos. Man coverage is typically played in one of two ways; either with a fifth rusher as part of a blitz or with a hole player.

This is an example of what a basic man coverage might look like. Each eligible receiver is assigned with a single defender who must cover their assigned receiver wherever he goes. The defense will leave a single deep safety in the middle of the field, hence the name Cover-1, and that safety will act as the last line of defense against any deep shots. 

Strengths and weaknesses 

Man coverage is all about talent levels. If your defenders are better than their receivers, you should win in man coverage. If the defense has a number of excellent cover corners, and a safety or linebackers that can cover tight ends and running backs, then there is no better coverage than man coverage. But similarly, if the offense has a strong group of receivers and finds a matchup they like, then it can be very tough to rely on pure man coverage to hold up throughout a game. 

One of the issues with man coverage is that receivers can often run open on horizontal routes. Defenders are ultimately on the back foot, waiting for the receiver to declare their intention with their routes as the ball is snapped. If a receiver suddenly takes off inside across the middle on a shallow cross, and the defender fails to jam them at the line of scrimmage to disrupt them, then it can be near impossible to catch the receiver unless the defender is a significantly better athlete. So to counter this weakness, Del Rio likes to use a hole player to sit in the middle of the field and cut any crossing routes. This can be a safety rotating down from deep, which is known as 1-Robber.

This look allows the defense to show two deep safeties pre-snap and give the quarterback extra to read post-snap as the safeties rotate into their final positions. Alternatively, if the safety is busy with a man coverage match up on a tight end, then this hole player can be a linebacker sinking back. This is often referred to as 1-Plug

Instead of the safety stepping up into the hole, a linebacker sinks back into the hole. However, the goal is the same regardless. The hole player is there to counter any crossing routes. They’ll scan the field to find a crossing route and then cut it off with a significant leverage advantage. The trailing coverage defender will then peel off and replace the hole defender in the middle of the field, searching for any other potential crossing routes.

This is a slightly more aggressive version of what I’m talking about. On this occasion, Washington rushes five, meaning they would typically lack a hole player. However, rather than having free safety Jeremy Reaves sink into the deep middle, he plays shallower. This enables him to read the crossing route that linebacker Cole Holcomb is struggling to keep up with. Reaves cuts the crosser and signals for Holcomb to replace him as the hole player. As a result, the quarterback has nowhere to go with the ball and ends up sacked.

As we can see from that example, Del Rio did use this system at times last year and Washington did have some success with it, but the defense still played more zone than man coverage in general.

Another strength of man coverages like Cover-1 is that they can free up additional defenders to rush. If the defense is willing to play without a hole player, then that defender can be used to join the rush as part of a five-man rush. In theory, assuming both the tight end and running back release into routes, the defense should get one-on-one match ups with their five pass rushers against the five offensive lineman. With Washington’s talent up front, generating one-on-ones across the board is hugely advantageous and should allow the likes of Chase Young and Montez Sweat, among others, to flourish.

Fit with Washington’s personnel 

As stated in the previous two pieces, Washington added two corners that suit aggressive press man coverage this offseason. William Jackson III and Benjamin St-Juste are both long, rangy corners with the ability to get their hands on receivers and disrupt their routes. Jackson matched up well against Antonio Brown in pure man coverage early in his career and has the talent to become a lockdown corner if used in similar fashion, but what about the rest of Washington’s personnel?

New safety Bobby McCain could certainly play the deep center fielder role of free safety in a Cover-1 defense, given that’s exactly what he did in Miami. The Dolphins are coached by Brian Flores, who is from the Bill Belichick coaching tree that has dealt heavily in man coverage in recent times. So McCain could be a plug and play at free safety in this style of defense. 

At strong safety, Landon Collins isn’t a fantastic man coverage defender, but can defend some tight ends and running backs out of the backfield. Kamren Curl is much more suited for this role in a man scheme, after showing promising signs of development in man coverage towards the end of last season with strong reps against Eagles tight end Zach Ertz and 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio have both praised Cole Holcomb’s coverage ability on multiple occasions this offseason, so he could fit. Jon Bostic is far better in zone coverages, but perhaps would work as the plugger in 1-plug. Rookie Jamin Davis has the athleticism to match up with the best receiving tight ends, but rarely played man coverage in college. He did match up occasionally against Kyle Pitts and held up well, which is promising, and obviously Washington will believe he can develop in this regard, but his man coverage ability in his rookie year remains to be seen.

I think the big questions for Washington would be who plays in the slot and what exactly to do with Kendall Fuller in a man coverage scheme. Fuller is at his best playing off and with vision, where he can read routes and anticipate breaks, as opposed to playing up at the line of scrimmage and pressing. Perhaps the answer would be to trust Fuller outside opposite Jackson and let Jackson play against the top receiver. Washington could consider using Fuller in the slot instead of Jimmy Moreland, who’s had some ups and downs playing inside, though is suited to playing a more physical style.

If Washington really wanted to think outside of the box, they could copy the style of the Patriots a few years ago and shift Fuller to a Devin McCourty role. McCourty was a cornerback coming out of college and the Patriots shifted him to a hybrid corner/safety role before he eventually transitioned to safety full time. He’s an extremely smart defender, like Fuller, and works best playing off with vision, where he can gather and process information quickly. Neither has particularly great range as a deep safety, though they could play there on occasion, but McCourty is often tasked with a specialized role each week, rather than just a typical safety role. 

Back in 2016, a year the Patriots won the Super Bowl, they used a heavy amount of bracket coverage. Bracket coverage is a coverage that dedicates two defenders to guarding a single receiver, ensuring that receiver wasn’t going to beat them. At the time, the Patriots had Malcolm Butler as their top corner, but rather than just matching him up one-on-one against the opposition’s best receiver, the Patriots decided they would bracket the top receiver with a combination of McCourty and Logan Ryan, the second best corner on the team. The bracket allowed the Patriots to not only take away the top target, but freed up Butler to play against the number two receiver and take him away too.

Here we can see the Patriots execute this style of coverage. The Patriots play in a dime package with three safeties and three corners on the field. To left of the offensive formation, the Patriots align Ryan over top receiver DeAndre Hopkins, with McCourty deep but stepping up after the snap to bracket him. Duron Harmon is the third safety in the dime package and rotates to the deep middle of the field as the last line of defense. Patrick Chung is the strong safety and he aligns over the tight end in man coverage. Malcolm Butler is left one-on-one against Will Fuller, the Texans’ second best receiver at the time.

The quarterback is pressured early and ends up getting sacked, but if you focus on the coverage, you can see how Butler sticks with Fuller down the field and has Harmon over the top just in case. McCourty and Ryan bracket Hopkins, making him an unrealistic target for the quarterback too.

For Washington, this is potentially replicable. William Jackson would play the role of Butler, playing man against the opposition's second best receiver. If St-Juste shows he’s ready as a rookie, he could be trusted to play press on the oppositions best receiver, with Fuller playing the McCourty role behind him to help bracket the receiver and give St-Juste some protection. As we’ve already mentioned, McCain played the deep safety role for a Belichick disciple under Brian Flores in Miami, so he could play Harmon’s role. If Curl’s development at the end of last year continues, he could play in Patrick Chung’s role covering tight ends and running backs. 

It would be quite the change to what Rivera and Del Rio looked to run last year, but it could end up fitting the personnel Washington has on it’s roster quite well. If Washington were to adopt this approach, being able to negate the top two receiving threats would be a huge threat for opposing offenses, as the defensive line could begin to dominate games as quarterbacks have to wait for their third or four best options to try and beat man coverage. But it would be a significant change from what Washington did last year under Rivera and Del Rio, and schemes don’t typically change that drastically from year to year under the same coaching staff.

Still, it could be an option if Washington looks to maximise the press coverage ability of Jackson and St-Juste along with the intelligence of Fuller. It’s not something to play on every down, but in key situations like third down and in obvious passing situations like two-minute drills, Washington could look to use a bracket coverage like this to try and take away the top two threats and give that vaunted pass rush time to get home.