Free Safety

[Swarley]

LaRon has been saying himself that he'll be playing SS not free safety. At least that's what the plan is. Of course I dont doubt that pretty much everyone will be moved around but that's what he said.

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"Nah, man, I'm playing strong safety," Landry said in a phone interview Sunday."

"What I'm saying is, what I was trying to say, is that strong safety, in my role this season as far as being a leader, I want to know what everybody does on the field. Even the d-linemen and the linebackers," he said. "With me playing strong safety, I'm at linebacker depth, so I need to know my [run] gaps, my coverages and everything."


Redskins Insider - Landry clarifies his comments about playing linebacker

[Redskin Warrior]

Wasn't O.J. the FS from the Rams under Haslett?

[Dirtbag59]

I've been thinking lately that FS and SS isn't all that different from LT and RT with FS being more like LT and SS being more like RT. I mean if you think about it the requirements of LT are to be athletic and more geared towards pass protection then run blocking while RT's are typically less athletic maulers that are usually better at run blocking then pass blocking.

On the other hand FS's are usually more athletic and geared towards pass defense then run support while SS's are usually more geared towards hard hitting types that are much better at run support then their FS counterparts. On top of that FS is more difficult to play hence the parallel to LT.

Originally Posted by Redskin Warrior

Wasn't O.J. the FS from the Rams under Haslett?

I want him for our defense, personally I think he'd fit like a glove.

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

This concerns me a bit...does anyone know how this has worked out for other teams before? Just curious.

Look no further then the Redskins under Gregg Williams. It wasn't until Landry came in that GG decided to designate safeties as Free and Strong.

From the Washington Examiner:

He needs to learn both free and strong safety in Jim Haslett's scheme, which does not differentiate between the two positions (Gregg Williams' defenses did not make a distinction either, until they drafted Landry and put him at strong safety and Sean Taylor at free). Landry, drafted as a strong safety, has played free safety since Taylor's death in 2007.

Washington Post after Landry was Drafted:

The Redskins do not emphasize the distinction between strong safety and weak safety. More often, Gregg Williams's defenses emphasize one safety who is "in the box" while another is playing "center field." Last year, Taylor fared better at the former than the latter, where he frequently was a step late on deep passes or took overly aggressive angles and whiffed on big hits. Now that Archuleta is gone, Landry may move fairly quickly into a role where opponents don't know, until the last second, which high-impact Redskins safety is threatening to blitz and which has deep responsibility.

Thomas Boswell - This Guy Could Be Faster Than a Speeding Bullet - washingtonpost.com

[takethecake]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

On the other hand FS's are usually more athletic and geared towards pass defense then run support while SS's are usually more geared towards hard hitting types that are much better at run support then their FS counterparts. On top of that FS is more difficult to play hence the parallel to LT.

I think that's a fairly accurate comparison. I also think that people keep forgetting that Landry is definitely the most athletic safety on our roster. He's got all the physical tools he needs to be a good FS, he just hasn't played very well. I think a lot of our secondary's problems last year were coaching related, and I want to see what Haslett does before dismissing Landry as "just a strong safety." I think we already have two very capable, if not flashy, SS's on the roster in Horton and Doughty, and while I also like Moore as a FS, I think Landry will be better this year.

For the record, I also like the idea of not having permanent center field/run support roles (although Landry's got such good speed for CF duty), as it reflects what I think Haslett's going to focus on this year in keeping opposing offenses guessing.

Also for the record, I think Doughty is the best tackler on our team after London Fletcher.

[PHazard]

Originally Posted by Redskin Warrior

Wasn't O.J. the FS from the Rams under Haslett?

lol i was reading this thread the whole time waiting for someone to say this. Haslett said there is no FS/SS in his new defense. He just says there is an open and close. But Laron bulked up and both him and haslett said he will be in the box much more often. I think we may have a lead in the race for Otagwe. #1 hes a true FS and we need one. #2 We have the money to do it and he's a young guy worth using it on.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by PHazard

lol i was reading this thread the whole time waiting for someone to say this. Haslett said there is no FS/SS in his new defense. He just says there is an open and close. But Laron bulked up and both him and haslett said he will be in the box much more often. I think we may have a lead in the race for Otagwe. #1 hes a true FS and we need one. #2 We have the money to do it and he's a young guy worth using it on.

I don't know that I'd call him young but yeah

[SirClintonPortis]

Schemes like the cover-2 couldn't gives two craps about the distinction between free and strong, since all the nomenclature really boils down to is which safety gets to be on the TE's side. I know this is some 3-4 variant, but the safeties can simply be assigned portions of the field to cover.

That said, the least-knuckledheaded of the safeties should be playing the "free" role of being the last line of defense simply because one big mistake and it's a touchdown, and that means anyone but LaRon. Basically, I'll take Hal Gill over Mike Green.

[ChickenMonkey]

NFL Network's Steve Wyche reports that restricted free agent FS O.J. Atogwe will not sign his tender with the Rams, meaning he'll become an unrestricted free agent on June 1.

[Longtimefan]

Listening to Hasslett in a Comcast Interview, the safeties are going to learn to play both positions since he does not designate free and/or strong.

[Ruhskins]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

Listening to Hasslett in a Comcast Interview, the safeties are going to learn to play both positions since he does not designate free and/or strong.

This concerns me a bit...does anyone know how this has worked out for other teams before? Just curious.

[Longtimefan]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

This concerns me a bit...does anyone know how this has worked out for other teams before? Just curious.

I don't think what he intends to deploy is going to be that much different from what we've grown accustomed to seeing. When Kelly Johnson (of Comcast) asked him about Laron Landry and the free safety position, he stated that in his defense the safeties are not characterized as being either strong or free. So for him it could just be a language thing as opposed to position being a way to distinguish it.

[johno]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

Listening to Hasslett in a Comcast Interview, the safeties are going to learn to play both positions since he does not designate free and/or strong.

this comment also interests me. i have little knowledge of X's and O's, so can someone expand on this for me?

[GridIron26]

I believe Haslett have packages that will require some specific players to play all positions, depending on their skills.. For example, Laron - he can set up at LB area as LB but then plays as SS during the play.. It's just matter of different strategies, not a big deal.. Unless those strategies sucks..

Edit: DirtBag pretty much got it, I was SS in HS and college (nothing big) but some plays I played FS.. It all depends on players' skills and how coaches utilize them..

[Longtimefan]

Originally Posted by GridIron26

I believe Haslett have packages that will require some specific players to play all positions, depending on their skills.. For example, Laron - he can set up at LB area as LB but then plays as SS during the play.. It's just matter of different strategies, not a big deal.. Unless those strategies sucks..

Edit: DirtBag pretty much got it, I was SS in HS and college (nothing big) but some plays I played FS.. It all depends on players' skills and how coaches utilize them..

That's pretty much the way Hasslett described his use of the safety positions.

The game has changed so much from it's early concepts regarding strong & free safety, a time before the two positions had a class distinction. DC's now deploy the psitions in a variety of ways. Strong origionally got it's name by a safety almost always lining up on the strong side of the formation covering the T/E exclusively....where the FS was freed-up to help double with the corner when necessary. Now, with so much pre-snap motion, audibles and three/four W/R sets, DC's are finding more creative ways to utilize the two positions.

[GTripp0012]

A primer for upcoming game reviews: need to get used to the descriptive term of "safety". Free and Strong are rarely used in NFL defenses anymore, although for the last three years, the Redskins did their best to keep it alive. Now, it's just the Bengals, Saints, and Broncos, I think, that use free safeties and strong safeties.