Safety (American football)
Encyclopedia
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
, played by a member of the defense. The safeties are defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
s who line up from ten to fifteen yards behind the line of scrimmage
Line of scrimmage
In American and Canadian football a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun...
. There are two variations of the position in a typical formation, the free safety (FS) and the strong safety (SS). Their duties depend on the defensive scheme. The defensive responsibilities of the safety and cornerback
Cornerback
A cornerback is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in American and Canadian football. Cornerbacks cover receivers, to defend against pass offenses and make tackles. Other members of the defensive backfield include the safeties and occasionally linebackers. The cornerback position...
usually involve pass coverage towards the middle and sidelines of the field, respectively.
Safeties are the last line of defense, and are thus expected to be sure tacklers. As professional and college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
have become more focused on the passing game, safeties have become more involved in covering the eligible pass receivers.
Strong safety
Tight end
The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...
lines up on offensive plays. The strong safety tends to play closer to the line and assist in stopping the run. He may also be responsible for covering a player, such as a running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
or fullback or H-back
H-back
An H-Back is an offensive position in American football, and is also known as power back. The position is a hybrid of a fullback and a tight end. The position was made notable in the NFL by the Washington Redskins under head coach Joe Gibbs who ran a two tight end system...
, who comes out of the backfield to receive a pass. A strong safety's duties are a hybrid of those belonging to a linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
and those of the other defensive backs, in that he both covers the pass and stops the run. Two of the most notable retired strong safeties are Ken Houston
Ken Houston
Kenneth Ray Houston is a former American football defensive back in the American Football League and National Football League...
and John Lynch
John Lynch (American football)
John Terrence Lynch, Jr. is a former National Football League strong safety and current NFL on Fox color commentator. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He played college football at Stanford.A nine-time Pro Bowl selection, Lynch earned a Super...
. Among the best active strong safeties are Troy Polamalu
Troy Polamalu
Troy Aumua Polamalu is an American football strong safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He was drafted in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Steelers. He played college football at the University of Southern California.-High school:Troy Polamalu graduated...
and Adrian Wilson.
Free safety
The free safety tends to be smaller and faster than the strong safety. His job tends to be to keep some distance from the line of scrimmage, watch the play unfold, and follow the ball. The free safety would correspond to the quarterback in man coverage, but as the quarterback usually remains in the pocket the free safety is "free" to double cover another player. On pass plays, the free safety is expected to assist the cornerback on his side and to close the distance to the receiver by the time the ball reaches him. Offenses tend to use the play-action pass specifically to make the free safety expect a run play, which would draw him closer to the line of scrimmage, and reduce his effectiveness as a pass defender. Furthermore, quarterbacks often use a technique to "look off" a free safety, by purposely looking to the other side of the field during a pass play, with the intention to lure the free safety away from the intended target receiver on the other side of the field. This phenomenon often tests how effective a free safety's wit and athleticism are at defending long pass plays. If the offense puts a receiver in the slot, then the free safety may be called upon to cover that receiver. Free safeties occasionally blitzBlitz (American football)
In American football or Canadian football, a blitz or red dog is when players on or behind the line of scrimmage during a play, are sent across the scrimmage line to the offensive side to try to tackle the quarterback or disrupt his pass attempt...
as well. When this happens, the pressure on the quarterback is often very severe since a blitz by a defensive back is not usually anticipated. Free safeties, because of their speed and deep coverage, are often prone to catching interceptions. Standout retired free safeties include Paul Krause
Paul Krause
Paul James Krause is a former American football defensive back who played in the National Football League...
, Larry Wilson
Larry Wilson
Larry Frank Wilson is a former American football free safety who played for the St. Louis Cardinals.Wilson attended Rigby High School, where a plaque now hangs noting his accomplishments...
, and Willie Wood.
Ed Reed
Ed Reed
Edward Earl Reed Jr. is an American football free safety for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Ravens 24th overall in the 2002 NFL Draft...
and Nick Collins
Nick Collins
Nicholas Cardell Collins is an American football free safety who plays for the Green Bay Packers of the NFL.-High school:...
are among the best active free safeties.
Cover-2
Instead of the safeties dividing up their jobs in terms of run support and pass support, the safeties will sometimes divide up the field into a left half and a right half, with each being responsible for anything that comes into his half of the field. This type of division of responsibility is becoming increasingly common, and is called a "cover-2" defense. The cover-2 was first used by the Pittsburgh SteelersPittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
in the 1970s, but was made famous by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...
of the late 1990s. Led by head coach Tony Dungy
Tony Dungy
Anthony Kevin "Tony" Dungy [DUN-jee] is a former professional American football player and coach in the National Football League. Dungy was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001, and head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2002 to 2008...
and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin
Monte Kiffin
Monte Kiffin is an American football coach. He is widely considered to be one of the preeminent defensive coordinators in modern football, as well as one of the greatest defensive coordinators in NFL history...
, the Buccaneers built a dominating defense, with strong safety John Lynch
John Lynch (American football)
John Terrence Lynch, Jr. is a former National Football League strong safety and current NFL on Fox color commentator. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He played college football at Stanford.A nine-time Pro Bowl selection, Lynch earned a Super...
at the forefront. This particular variation of the cover-2 is referred to as the "Tampa 2
Tampa 2
The Tampa 2 is an American football defensive strategy popularized by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Football League team in the mid 1990s-early 2000s. The Tampa 2 is typically employed out of a 4-3 defensive alignment, which consists of four linemen, three linebackers, two cornerbacks, and...
". Since then, the popularity of the cover-2 has soared. Both of the teams in Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game that featured the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League champion for the 2006 season...
, the Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
and the Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(the former being coached by Dungy, the latter by his former protégé at Tampa, Lovie Smith
Lovie Smith
Lovie Lee Smith is the head coach of the Chicago Bears professional football team of the NFL. Smith has been to the Super Bowl twice, as the defensive coordinator for the 2001 Saint Louis Rams and as the head coach for the Chicago Bears in 2006....
), ran a base cover-two defense.