Safety Attributes

Is this you? Are you a Safety? Can you play the pass and support the run? Can you support the run violently and with reckless abandon only after it has been determined to be a run? After all, a Safety that gets beat deep on a run fake isn't a Safety at all, he's a linebacker.

Here are five keys I use when breaking down the safety position

Playmaking Ability

Are they around the football? Do they finish when they break on a route? You want safeties that will make impact plays and I begin to question kids that don’t show up when the ball is in the air. Ask any Defensive Coordinator and they will tell you the same thing: they want playmakers in the secondary. That’s why you are getting paid; to find, train and play the Playmakers. I can teach tackling technique but if the kid doesn’t make any big plays, be careful how high you grade them.

Range

Look past the kid’s 40-times. I don’t care if a kid runs in the mid 4.6s, because that doesn’t impact his ability to break from the middle of the field and get outside to the numbers if they can read the QB in the pocket. Don’t look at top end speed as a true judge of a safety’s ability. That doesn’t add up to production if they can’t get out of the middle of the field or break off of the numbers in Cover 2. The top safeties in any league can break on the throw and find the football at the point of attack—regardless of what the stop watch says.

Coverage Skills

The days of the “in the box” safety that earns his paycheck in the run game are gone! In today’s Spread Formation, pass happy leagues, defensive coordinators want the ability to keep their base defense on the field vs. three wide receiver looks. And to do that, you need a safety that can walk down over the slot. Plus, think of the evolution of the TE position? It is only a matter of time before high school coaches start recruiting from the basketball team and imitation Jimmy Grahams, Vernon Davises, Rob Gronkowskis, and Tony Gonzalezes start showing up! These players are working the middle of the field and producing inside of the 20-yard line. Can the kid play off-man, use their hands in a press alignment and mirror a release to maintain leverage? Good questions to ask when you grade the kid’s skill set in man-coverage situations.

Football IQ

I don’t need to interview a kid to find out if he understands the game, because the tape will tell me. Can he jump routes knowing he has help to the inside or over the top? Does he play the technique of the defense called in the huddle? Will the kid take the proper angle to the ball depending on the split, release and stem of a WR in the route scheme?  Plus, where are his eyes? Studying a kid’s ability to read his run-pass keys is crucial. You can begin to understand how well any kid knows the game by turning on the tape if you look for the right things.

Toughness

You can’t play soft and survive in the secondary. In your review, see if the kid will attack the “C” gap from a Cover 4 (quarters) alignment, “spill” (inside shoulder) vs. a pulling guard in the run front and deliver violent contact (plus power) when they finish off ball carriers. I want safeties that are a little nasty and aren’t afraid to come downhill on a receiver or a ball carrier. There is no reason a safety should allow a WR to block them in the open field or get swallowed up in the run front. And when they blitz, do they display a physical style of football in getting to the QB? They will have to play hurt and banged up, so don’t forget to grade your safeties on “toughness.” It does matter.