Safety Room

Safeties (abreviated "S") are generally considered to be the last line of defense for a football team's defensive unit. They generally play behind the rest of the defensive players, helping in coverage and run support..

There are two different safety positions in DR and the NFL: Free Safety (FS) and Strong Safety (SS). In DR, the FS plays a perpetual deep zone in conventional man coverage (technically man-free or cover-1), while the SS gets man coverage on TEs and helps out against the run. SS is generally considered to be the more important position, and he will generate siginificantly more statistics. However, a good FS can help your corners on deep passes and a really bad one can cause serious problems to your pass defense. Keep in mind that just because their impact is hard to see does not mean they are not doing anything!

In general, an ideal SS build is like a big CB, prioritizing high cover, footwork, and speed to keep up with top TEs in man coverage. Strength, toughness, and tackling are important for making tackles in run defense, and read opp is helpful to diagnose plays and be in position to make a stop, both against the run and when acting as the roamer. Athleticism, shed block, and motor can also be useful.

An ideal FS build puts substantially less emphasis on cover skills than a SS, but speed remains very important and read opp becomes absolutely critical. A FS with high read will help other defenders win their matchups, but a FS with low read may actively disrupt their efforts. After read opp and speed, look for footwork, strength, toughness, and tackling, all of which contribute to making good tackles in "mop up" duty.