In today’s NFL, safeties are tasked to do more than ever before. We can see this from the safeties that are coming into the league from college, as nearly all of them are box/slot/free defenders as opposed to the old school free/strong splits, or interchangeable standard safety roles. In a league where defenses call more dime than base, and nickel is really the new base, you’d have to be quite something as a deep-third defender or box enforcer to have that be the only thing on your resume.
Denver’s Justin Simmons, the top player on this year’s list, played two snaps on the defensive line last season, 319 in the box, 619 at free safety, 144 in the slot, and four at outside cornerback. That’s the order of the day. So, basically, all you have to do to be a safety of optimal value in today’s NFL is to cover the deep third with great range and accuracy, take away short and intermediate stuff as a flat and slot defender, blow up run fits from the box, and blitz credibly from the defensive line.
It’s not an easy job against offenses that are more diverse and explosive in the passing game than ever before, which makes the best in the game even more impressive. Here are our top 11 safeties in the NFL today.
(All metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated).
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