EAGAN — When Brian Flores was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, opposing teams never quite knew where his corners and safeties were going to line up.
Using PFF data, we can see just how often Flores’ defensive backs moved around. Safety Eric Rowe, for example, played as a nickel corner on 213 plays, box safety for 236 and lined up at either outside corner, deep safety or defensive line on 189 plays. This was not unique to Rowe. Safety Brandon Jones split his 644 total reps with 19% on the D-line, 42% in the box, 25% at deep safety and the rest at outside corner.
So it should come as no surprise that one of the biggest themes of the Minnesota Vikings’ draft was finding players who will be able to handle the demands of their new defensive coordinator.
“That has been one of the main messages that B. Flo (Brian Flores) has put on us: He is built on being multiple and the idea of having an aggressive scheme, the idea of having a scheme that can dictate to the offense,” Vikings Assistant Director of Player Personnel Chisom Opara said. “The more versatile players you can add, the more you can be the one who is calling the shots a little bit and keeping the offense guessing as the game goes on.”
In the third round, the Vikings picked USC cornerback Mekhi Blackmon, who largely played as an outside corner but general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said they like his “inside-outside flexibility.”
The second-year GM, however, acknowledged that there is some educated guesswork when you’re looking for players who could potentially play in the nickel position.
“I think a lot of times you’re projecting,” Adofo-Mensah said. “It’s like a running back with routes. A lot of times in college you don’t get to see them run the whole route tree so you’ve got to project it on a couple cuts, and it’s not easy. For a nickel maybe you try and see when they go against a cut split, where it’s more like a nickel wrap versus certain quick guys that you maybe know have slot receiver type of ability. From then it’s really feet, it’s competitiveness, inside, you’ve got to get in the run fit, they’ve got to be willing….but it’s something that we feel confident that they have the traits to be able to do it.”
A few picks later, they selected one of the most versatile players in college football, LSU’s Jay Ward. He had similar positional splits to players like Rowe and Jones, which is unusual for college players.
Adofo-Mensah said that different people projected Ward as a potential starter at three different positions, which he viewed as a major plus.
“I kind of stepped back and was like, well, if this guy could be a starter at three different positions, it’s pretty likely that he figures out one of them, as long as we have a plan for him,” Adofo-Mensah said.
But even the data-driven Vikings front office knows it’s harder to project multi-positional players.
“There are ways that we can try to adjust for that, whether it’s mentally or while modeling the framework,” Vikings vice president of football operations Demitrius Washington said. “Just mentally we’ll have to adjust with it and him playing multiple spots and while it was intriguing, it was also challenging.”
No matter what the data says or the previous experience of the player, there is always a massive learning curve in the NFL. That hill is particularly steep at nickel corner, where the Vikings presently have a wide open race.
So how will Flores approach teaching his defensive backs to fit into versatile roles? Why is it so challenging to play in the slot role?
Shannon Currier, head coach at Concordia, St. Paul, understands the process well. Rarely are players that he recruits to play nickel or “rover” positions experienced in doing so when they come out of high school. He explained why it can be even more difficult than an outside corner’s job.
“The biggest difference is that you don’t have the sideline anymore,” Currier said over the phone. “Depending on what the structure of the safeties is you might be limited in help so it’s just a lot of space that guy has to play in. Oftentimes the offense is putting the most shifty, quick guy who can stop and start the best like Welker, Kupp, guys who were really shifty and could change directions quickly. They run option routes or fade because there’s a lot of space out there. It’s a lot harder for that corner to cover than the corner on the outside who has the sideline. It poses a bigger challenge and you need to have a really good cover guy there.”
That description may explain some of the things the Vikings liked about Blackmon. He graded outstandingly in coverage by PFF in both man (85.1 grade) and zone (87.3) and while he is undersized many of the slot receivers he would be facing are too. At the NFL Combine, he ran a 10-yard split in the 98th percentile, which indicates he has the quickness to keep up with the footwork master receivers of the slot.
“Those slot guys have time to work their move,” Currier explained. “If you are on the outside you can funnel the guy inside by being heavy on the outside but a lot of times in the slot position you have more space to have to handle because that guy can do inside or outside. It’s totally different and much more complicated.”
Blackmon also graded exceptionally (90.8) as a tackler, which is extremely relevant to playing slot cornerback.
“If you’re playing zone, now you’re talking about run support as well because in our base defense that guy is a linebacker,” Currier said. “A lot of corners, that’s not what they’re getting paid for, they’re getting paid to cover. That could be another challenge for anybody playing that position.”
The Golden Bears’ head coach, who is entering his 17th season coaching and 12th at Concordia St. Paul, pointed out that football knowledge is a huge part of succeeding in a versatile role in the secondary.
“In this RPO world if you have a run responsibility and you have pass responsibility you might be impacted by the RPO game,” Currier said. “They are overloaded [with information] because they need to understand more of the defense. I think their IQ has to be stronger and their menu of plays they have to know and responsibilities is increased.”
Think of all the ways that teams attack the middle. There’s motions, pick plays, screens, pseudo screens to tight ends and receivers and all sorts of route combinations designed to create easy throws in the middle of the field. Currier calls it “basketball on grass” for the inside DBs.
The Vikings’ fourth-round pick believes it was beneficial for him to play over 300 career snaps in the slot, box, deep and out wide (per PFF) while he was at LSU because he saw the same things from many different perspectives.
“You have to take film study differently,” Ward said. “When you go to corner you have to look at how the wide receiver releases and for safety you have to understand who you’re going against at all times. Especially in the slot, the slot can be tricky with different players. I like trying to get to know route concepts and formations so I know where to play.”
With all the difficult tasks facing versatile corners, how will Flores hone the skills of players like Blackmon and Ward and develop them into the chess pieces he desires?
Currier said it starts with identifying the players who are willing to commit to learning the role. If you remember the early part of Mackensie Alexander’s career, not everyone has been a fan of playing nickel.
“It’s making sure it’s the guys who are utilizing the techniques…it’s hard to get guys to buy in because guys have been taught so many things or have seen things on the internet or seen defensive backs who have done it this way or that way and now a new coach is teaching something different,” Currier said. “The good thing is that they have a coach [in Flores] who has a ton of credibility.”
“I think it takes a guy with a lot of confidence and who wants to be there,” he added.
Currier said that his defensive coordinator will put inside corners in specific drills in practice to focus on the intricacies of the position. It’s an absolute lock that Flores will be doing the same.
The Vikings need it to work quickly. Last year nickel corner Chandon Sullivan was the most targeted slot player in the NFL, allowing 72 catches into his coverage on 91 targets and a 108.5 QB rating against. They won’t be able to make big strides on defense without improvement from that spot. They are looking to Flores to mold players like Blackmon and Ward to become part of the solution.
“Especially in his defense, [Flores] is so good at optimizing people’s skill sets and he will match personnel, he will match different schemes, and giving him weapons to do so is ultimately my job,” Adofo-Mensah said.
