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Today we examine rookie safety/nickel corner Javon Bullard’s rookie season.
Javon Bullard had an up-and-down rookie season despite playing 816 defensive snaps over the course of 15 games. The rookie of the University of Georgia came in as the starting safety in Week 1 of 2024 and by Week 5 was kicked down to the slot corner role while Evan Williams took over at safety with Xavier McKinney.
There does not seem to be as much excitement for Bullard heading into 2025 as there is for other players like Evan Williams or Edgerrin Cooper from last year’s draft class. What explains that perception? It could be how his stats are charted.
Per Sports Info Solutions, Bullard gave up 19 catches and three touchdowns on 26 targets. Per Pro Football Focus, he gave up 48 catches on 57 targets, a little over double the rate of SIS. Pro Football Focus is by far the bigger charting and stats agency, but that doesn’t really explain the huge discrepancy.
For what it’s worth, Pro Football Reference (PFR) also has charting data similar to PFF, but on a granular level, game by game, things get murky there too, where the three agencies credit him with different catch numbers, too.
I do think PFF gets a lot of zone coverage assignments wrong. For instance, PFF credited Bullard with two receptions given up in Week 3 versus Tennessee, a 20-yard completion and another phantom seven-yard completion late in the game. Neither of the plays was his responsibility.
On this first play, the Titans are running a play-action sail concept to the bottom of the screen, the left side of the offensive formation. Bullard is walked down into the slot as the strong safety in cover-3 sky. In cover-3 sky, Bullard is the curl/flat defender and Isaiah McDuffie inside of him is the hook defender.
DeAndre Hopkins catches the 20-yard corner route from Will Levis, and the play goes down as a catch against Bullard because he appeared to be the closest defender. But the catch should go against McDuffie for not gaining enough depth here in the hook/seam zone since the hook defender is responsible for carrying the vertical route in the slot.
The second catch Bullard was credited with was a 7-yard quick out route. By deduction, this is the second catch they credited him with because the other two 7-yard completions were nowhere near his vicinity.
However, he’s the buzz safety here and is responsible for the inside hook with McDuffie, the flat defender. This catch should go against McDuffie, too. But since the tight end lined up in the slot, I can only assume that’s why Bullard was credited with the catch here, too.
What is certain about Bullard in zone coverage is that some of the plays he gave up were quite significant.
On this play against Minnesota, Bullard is the deep middle safety shaded over to the trips. The Vikings are running a 3x1 dagger from the right with a backside...
