The Nickelback for all 32 NFL Teams: Rate/Rank 'em (1 Viewer)

We need to know who is covering the WR3 or slot as some team implore a 3WR set. It would be nice if we actually knew something about all the DBs but I especially want to know who covers the slot. Sometimes it's not as simple as the Nickelback. Some teams will roll a Safety down to cover the slot at times. 

Miami Dolphins: Michael Thomas is  a Safety/DB and he is being used in the slot as is Bobby McCain. Most teams are going after rookie Xavien Howard right now. I don't know how many receptions each of them is allowing based on targets but I'm hoping together we can all figure this out. 

I know some of you will point to PFF but I want to see what we can do on our own and just simply find some match ups to exploit on sleeper situations. 

Also when you see the guy who is set to cover the slot on Sunday is suddenly injured and will not play, you might have a chance for some big opps with low priced guys for DFS. 

PFF is offering something like this but they are charging a lot of money it would seem. 

Tell us and educate us on your local team or team you root for. Educate us on their secondary please. 

For the Lions DBs v GB WRs:

Nelson v. Slay - strength v strength, have to give the edge to the Lions here. Nelson has been catching a lot of underneath stuff, and while Slay isn't a true shutdown, he's pretty good.

Adams v. Lawson - garbage on garbage, I'd give the Packers other wideout the advantage here. 

Cobb v. Diggs - Quandre is the Lions second best cover guy & an outstanding tackler, very good against the run. He's a very good slot corner (top 6-8ish per PFF.)

No Packers WR has topped 100 yards versus Detroit since 2013. The Lions will be missing their pro bowl pass rusher Ziggy Ansah, but Devin Taylor is much improved and Kerry Hyder has come out of nowhere.

SS Tavon Wilson and OLB Tahir Whitehead have been horrible in coverage. 20 TE targets, 15-179-4. Detroit has allowed the most FFP to TEs by a WIDE margin.

I don't listen to Nickelback.

8. When Packers CB Quinten Rollins has lined up in the slot, he has yet to allow a catch.

Quinten Rollins is the only NFL cornerback so far this year to play 20 or more snaps in the slot without allowing a catch. Against the Lions, a team that utilizes three-WR sets on over three-quarters of their plays, Rollins should be in the slot a lot against Anquan Boldin. So far, Boldin hasn’t found much success in Detroit, with just 1.02 yards per route run in the slot. If Rollins continues his strong play, Boldin may be waiting another week to produce a breakout performance with Detroit.

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PFF

Seattle: Jeremy Lane

Has been in competition for the starting CB job opposite Sherman, but does such a great job in the slot that he's really a starting DB in that position. I can't recall the specific numbers, but I believe that "starting" OLB Mike Morgan was on the field week 1 for 10 snaps and nickle DB Jeremy Lane was on the field for 52 snaps. Which guy is really a starter in this scenario? Lane is an outstanding 5th DB and would likely be starting for more than half the teams in the NFL on the outside. 

Packers homer checking in. Quentin Rollins has been a great CB for us and the reason we let Casey Hayward walk this year. Personally, I think he's better than Damarious Randall and they battled all through training camp last year with Randall edging him out. Given what we saw w/Stefon Diggs completely smoking Randall last week,  I wouldn't be surprised if Rollins is starting opposite Sam Shields some time this year.

BobbyLayne said:

For the Lions DBs v GB WRs:

Nelson v. Slay - strength v strength, have to give the edge to the Lions here. Nelson has been catching a lot of underneath stuff, and while Slay isn't a true shutdown, he's pretty good.

Adams v. Lawson - garbage on garbage, I'd give the Packers other wideout the advantage here. 

Cobb v. Diggs - Quandre is the Lions second best cover guy & an outstanding tackler, very good against the run. He's a very good slot corner (top 6-8ish per PFF.)

No Packers WR has topped 100 yards versus Detroit since 2013. The Lions will be missing their pro bowl pass rusher Ziggy Ansah, but Devin Taylor is much improved and Kerry Hyder has come out of nowhere.

SS Tavon Wilson and OLB Tahir Whitehead have been horrible in coverage. 20 TE targets, 15-179-4. Detroit has allowed the most FFP to TEs by a WIDE margin.

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Terrific

BobbyLayne said:

PFF

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Tate has been a red headed stepchild this week, maybe he deserves some potential love. 

C'mon everybody, we need everyone to pitch in a little here. This is the stuff we need to be thumbing thru and speaking out about. More eyes and ears on the ground. 

Great thread topic MOP thanks for starting this.

For the Vikings the main slot defenders for the Vikings are Captain Munnerlin and Harrison Smith who most of the time plays the closed side (whichever side the ball is closer to) of the defense. Last week Smith played a lot more as a free safety than he usually does, as part of the game plan against Rodgers having Smith support as more of a center fielder.

I am listening to this right now and they bring up an interesting idea of possibly having Anthony Barr play man coverage against Kelvin Benjamin. There are problems with doing this because it would force Barr to play too far outside, meaning he would be out of position to support against the run. So I don't see this match up happening too much, but it is something they may try to do in the red zone.

Captain Munnerlin is a gritty defender who does well in run support and generally does a good job in coverage as well, although he certainly loses his match ups at times. He is short and not a match up the Vikings would want against Benjamin. So if the Pathers do try to force this match up by moving Benjamin to the slot, the Vikings may have Barr take him instead of Munnerlin.

The slot receivers for the Pathers are Ted Ginn and Philly Brown although I am sure Benjamin and Funchess play in the slot as well. Ginn obviously has speed to burn but I think Munnerlin matches up well with these guys. If they are really worried about Ginn's speed they could put Trey Waynes on him.

Xavier Rhodes has practiced this week and may be healthy enough to play in this game. If he does he still may be on a limited snap count however. Not sure how that ends up playing out. He has been used in man to man following Calvin Johnson and some other WR like Brandon Marshall in the past. Zimmer based on his comments from a press conference does not really like to do this if he doesn't have to. He prefers his corners to play a specific side. Having a corner like Rhodes follow a receiver in man coverage wherever they go, allows the offense to do other things to get the defense out of position with motion and formations.

The Vikings have tried playing Waynes as a slot corner in practice and training camp, but that didn't go all that well and so until I see differently they prefer to keep him on the outside. I would expect the Pathers to look to match up Benjamin and Funchess against Waynes as this is what both the Titans and Packers have done, trying to take advantage of Waynes more than any other defensive back. As an aside, Tajae Sharpe beat Terrance Newman, Trey Waynes and Captain Munnerlin. So I don't think they picked on Waynes as much as the Packers were.

They also have 2nd round pick Alexander from Clemson who has played a little bit. Munnerlin is in the last year of his contract and may not be kept after this season. So Alexander may be being groomed to take over the slot corner next season if they do not keep him. He can play outside as well. He might mix in if the Pathers are using 3 and 4 WR formations.

I don't see a match up advantage for Pathers slot receivers. The main match up where they have an advantage is with Benjamin, Funchess, Olsen being larger than most defensive backs. Munnerlin is at a disadvantage against these players if they can get one of these players matched up against him. So it will be interesting to see what Zimmer does to try to limit this mismatch.

I honestly don't know much about the Pathers defensive backs right now. Diggs has been playing out of the slot frequently.

Denver Broncos

Bradley Roby Best nickle back/#3 CB in the game. According to Deion Sanders (who is an annoying talking head, but probably knows a good bit about playing CB), he'd be the best CB on a lot of different teams. Has versatility to play inside or outside and was outstanding during the playoff stretch last year, including some huge break ups in the Super Bowl. Roby oftentimes plays outside in nickle situations with Chris Harris moving inside to play the slot. Harris is widely regarded as the best slot CB in the game and is a top-5 CB in his own right. imo, Denver's strength on D (outside of Von Miller) is its defensive backfield. They play a lot of man, and Wade places a lot of trust in them bringing double safety blitzes and other pressures that emphasize strong play by the CBs.

dime back Kayvon Webster has also played well, although Denver oftentimes will bring an extra safety, rookie Justin Simmons, in and move TJ Ward to more of a rover role in subpackages. Simmons played 3/4 of last week's game with a broken hand and may miss some time, but he's showed good instincts in the limited time he's had.

Buffaloes said:

Denver Broncos

Bradley Roby Best nickle back/#3 CB in the game. According to Deion Sanders (who is an annoying talking head, but probably knows a good bit about playing CB), he'd be the best CB on a lot of different teams. Has versatility to play inside or outside and was outstanding during the playoff stretch last year, including some huge break ups in the Super Bowl. Roby oftentimes plays outside in nickle situations with Chris Harris moving inside to play the slot. Harris is widely regarded as the best slot CB in the game and is a top-5 CB in his own right. imo, Denver's strength on D (outside of Von Miller) is its defensive backfield. They play a lot of man, and Wade places a lot of trust in them bringing double safety blitzes and other pressures that emphasize strong play by the CBs.

dime back Kayvon Webster has also played well, although Denver oftentimes will bring an extra safety, rookie Justin Simmons, in and move TJ Ward to more of a rover role in subpackages. Simmons played 3/4 of last week's game with a broken hand and may miss some time, but he's showed good instincts in the limited time he's had.

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Ditto...Roby is a stud.

A Gameplan to Stop Kelvin Benjamin

The Bills nickelback is Nickell Robey-Coleman.  Undrafted out of USC a few years ago, turned some heads in camp and has become a very solid contributor for the Bills.  He is undersized, listed at 5'8" 165, which was the major knock on him.  He only has 1 career INT but he's always around the ball and has good closing speed/quickness.  I wouldn't put him in the same class as Lane or Roby or some of the other best-of-the-best but he's a more than capable NFL nickelback and a fan favorite.

Titans Brice McCain is someone they're fond of. He looked good in preseason, but he played poorly in week two and poorly in spots week one. Jason McCourty (Titans#1CB) has been gifting yardage for years. Teams are only going to bother with the slot if he steps up. Their roster moves indicate they're sitting ready to replace some CBs if need be. It's still a Lebeau D-top 10 last year and they've only allowed one TD this year. I'd take the #1 every week, but it feels like asking for too much to expect two WRs to rock against Lebeau's D. It'll happen some weeks, sure, but I'd just keep banking on the #1 and enjoying that