Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys have themselves a new defensive coordinator, plucking Christian Parker from the Eagles. In the wake of the news, just about everyone who has played or worked with Parker has spoken up to praise the 34 year old, who becomes the youngest defensive coordinator in franchise history.
The excitement around Parker is palpable, and plenty of players on this roster stand to benefit from his hiring. Our own LP Cruz already outlined the three biggest winners. But one specific player, whom hardly anyone is thinking about, may end up being one of the biggest beneficiary: Markquese Bell.
That’s right, Markquese Bell, who played just 32% of defensive snaps this past season with just three starts. The suggestion actually comes from Ted Nguyen of The Athletic, who pointed to a profile he recently did on the rise of the nickel position in the modern day NFL.
In the article, Nguyen spoke to a handful of coaches, including Eagles safeties coach Joe Kasper. Obviously, Kasper and Parker worked closely together the last two years. Here’s what Kasper had to say about how Vic Fangio and the rest of the Eagles defensive coaching staff views the nickel position:
The nickel now has become a premium position, a defensive-defining position. So having that length and strength is a big advantage, you know, to be able to reroute and disrupt releases of routes. Foot speed to be able to match routes when you’re talking about being able to play true single-high coverage. And then your vision to be able to identify route concepts.
They have to identify and have a feel for time and distance in a quicker setting than a safety would. A safety has about 7 to 12 yards to be able to process and then make his first move. The nickel doesn’t have that. He has to make his first movement within those first 4 to 5 yards.
The value of a great nickel is way higher than what most personnel departments think. Most personnel departments are really way behind the times. When you look at it, you look at these offenses that run in-breaking routes off of reductions, and then that is already defeating quarter leverage. And then we talk like, ‘Oh, well, the corner is still the most important one.’ I just think that that’s grossly inaccurate if you’re talking about keeping up with the times.
That goes back to a big piece of the Fangio system: light boxes.
Fangio tricks quarterbacks in the pre-snap by showing the same types of alignments over and over but rarely running the same actual concept on consecutive plays. A big part of that is the presentation of light boxes – you’ll often see two or even just one linebacker in the second level – to goad offenses into either running the ball or attacking the middle of the field.
That’s why the nickel is so crucial to the scheme. They align inside anyway, and Fangio can effectively...
