1. Dallas Defense Vs Slot Receivers 2019
2. Dallas Defense Vs Slot Receivers 2020
3. Dallas Defense Vs Slot Receivers Rankings

As mentioned above, the slot receiver is a receiver who is between the nearest player on the line of scrimmage (Tackle or Tight End) and an outside receiver. The slot receiver was made prominent in pass-heavy offenses such as West Coast systems. The New England Patriots are an example of a team that has used slot receivers heavily in their offense. Dallas Cowboys Start of the Week. And nearly 25 fantasy points per game to opposing slot receivers. Per game out of the slot, faces a New England defense that's allowed just two.

In the 2019 NFL season, per Sports Info Solutions, there were 19,933 total quarterback dropbacks. Against those dropbacks, NFL defenses put four defensive backs on the field just 18% of the time (3,579 snaps), while nickel defense (with five defensive backs) ruled the league by far with 59% of all snaps (11,780). And if you want to know how much the NFL isn’t a base defense league anymore, consider this: Defenses lined up in dime coverage (six defensive backs on the field) on 20.9% of total dropbacks (4,091), which means that teams played more dime defense than base defense. The Seahawks were the only team to play base defense more than 50% of the time (67%), and the Cardinals finished second at 37%.

Fantasy Points Allowed is a metric that indicates how good or bad each NFL defense is at limiting fantasy production to their opponents. Teams that rank in the top 8 surrender the most fantasy points. Jourdan Lewis needs to hold up early and often against one of the best slot wide receivers in the NFL. Dallas Cowboys Offensive Tackles vs. They can attack the Dallas Cowboys. Just as nickel is the NFL’s new base defense, the three-receiver set is the norm for even some of the league’s most notoriously conservative play-callers. Fantasy Football position vs. Defensive stats from CBSSports.com. Michael Florio breaks down which wide receivers have the best slot matchups ahead of Week 16's tilts.

Dallas Defense Vs Slot Receivers 2019

All this is to say that unless you’re the Seahawks, you’d better have some top-level slot defenders if you want to put a credible pass defense out there in a league where offenses are implementing more kinds of receiver sets and route combinations than ever before.

And it’s not as if the skill sets required to be a slot defender are the same as those for an outside cornerback. You might be up against a 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end on first down who can body you right out of the paint, and on the next play, you may have to deal with a small, speedy option-route receiver whose job is to juke you right out of your shoes. And as Richard Sherman once told me in his Seattle days, the thing about playing outside cornerback is that the boundary is your friend. That’s not the case when you’re in the slot, where you’re defending in space pretty much all the time.

Dallas Defense Vs Slot Receivers 2020

So, which slot defenders were the most effective and valuable to their teams in 2019, and thus should be set up to do the same in 2020? With help from Pro Football Focus’ metrics, and a whole lot of tape study, here’s one list. To avoid small sample-size results, each of these defenders played at least 50% of their snaps in the slot.

Dallas Defense Vs Slot Receivers Rankings

Mike Hilton Chris Harris Jr. Jourdan Lewis Tramon Williams Mackensie Alexander Nickell Robey-Coleman Marlon Humphrey D.J. Hayden Brian Poole K’Waun Williams Tyrann Mathieu