line of defense
linebacker
corner back
Finish off the ball defensive side with safety before moving on to the ranking of specialists, coaching staff and finally the entire team.
NFC South has one of the best safety groups in the league.3 of them are characterized by Four safeties in the top 10 safeties and top 32 in Pro Football Focus. Each team has a good mix of young up-and-comers and stable veteran strongmen to provide a strong back end to each team’s defense.
Tampa Bay Bucks
While there’s probably no dispute as to where these rankings should go, the NFC South safety room gives the Bucks a slight edge. It all started with free safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who rose to become one of the top five safeties in football in his first three years in the league. Winfield has the versatility to play any role, but he is truly an elite single-high center fielder. This allows head coach Todd Bowles to put in place a strong cover 1/cover 3 system as the rest of the league tries to limit explosive passing plays with two-high shells. Winfield is a rare player in this regard, giving him an edge over other capable safeties in the NFC South.
Bucks S. Ryan Neal – Photo Credit: Cliff Welch/PR
After Winfield, the Bucks signed free agent Ryan Neal. An undrafted free agent from Southern Illinois in 2018, he didn’t make it on the field as a defensive player during his first two years in Atlanta and Seattle. He finally got playing time in 2020 and 2021 before breaking out as an injury replacement starter in 2022.
Last year, Neal stood in for Jamal Adams and had a league-best 85.6 PFF for the season as a safety. This includes his staggering coverage grade of 85.7 on 380 coverage snaps.
Neil is big and physical, perfect as a box safe to play two-high shells when needed. This would be the perfect complement to Winfield in Bowles defense. The most obvious blow to Neil is that the production window has not been extended. He might be a one-hit wonder.
Neil’s lack of a free agency market certainly shows that at least most of the league has question marks over whether he can replicate a phenomenal 2022 season. The Bucks have received flyers he can repeat, and the PFF seem to think he has a good chance of having a solid-to-great season again, ranking 28th in the NFL in a safe position.
The Bucks better hope that neither Winfield Jr. nor Neil go down with injuries. Because the thickness of the layers they have built is not noticeable. 2022 undrafted free agent Nolan Turner is currently named as the No. 3 safety in the only defensive snap of his career. 2023 undrafted free agents Kayvon Meriweather and Christian Izien are also among the No. 3 and No. 4 contenders. Personally, I think round 6 cornerback Josh Hayes should be box-safe to match Neil’s mold and can work best there, but for now the team has made him work primarily as a slot corner. ing.
With the two starters staying on the field, the Bucks not only have the best safety tandem in the NFC South, but they could have one in the NFL as a whole.
new orleans saints
The Saints have legitimate arguments for the top spot in the NFC South safety rankings. Tiran Mathieu remains a top 10 safety in the league and is coming to the end of his best season in years. Combined with head coach Dennis Allen’s defensive mindset, the coverage grade was 87.9 and the overall grade was 81.2. Mathieu, like Winfield, is a versatile chess piece that works anywhere. But unlike Winfield, he’s at his best in the box rather than at the top.
Bucks TE Cade Otton and Saints S Tyran Matthew – Photo Credit: USA Today
Across from the former Cardinals and Chiefs star is Marcus May. A former Todd Bowles draft pick, May was trying to be the top safety in the league (no kidding) until an injury in 2021 derailed that trajectory. May is back in 2022 after a modest but solid season. Another year away from his injury would give him a chance to recapture the high-level play he showed earlier with the Jets.
JT Gray gives the Saints an interesting depth. Far from being a veteran with only 111 defensive snaps in his career, he has consistently performed well as a solid tackler in limited minutes. In 2022, the Saints used him with very limited pass rush work, but he responded with great play at every snap.
Rookie Jordan Howden is looking to secure fourth place. The former Golden Gopher had his best season in college last year, but he didn’t do well. This made him a Day 3 selection.
The Saints rival the Bucks in terms of high-end talent and could be the best safety group in the NFC South, but with Mathieu’s age and May’s injury concerns, there’s a little more uncertainty than Tampa Bay.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons have spent a lot of money upgrading their secondary over the last few years. In addition to picking cornerback AJ Terrell in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft and picking safety Richie Grant in the second round of the next draft, he signed a major contract with safety Jesse Bates III. In conclusion, he sent a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft. For former Top 5 nominee Jeff Okder. A newly reworked secondary could be very good. But there are still question marks.
Falcons S Jesse Bates – Photo Credit: USA Today
Bates is an instinctive playmaker, able to compare his best games to those of other players. The problem for Bates is consistency. He had three PFF Grade 89 or higher matches and four Grade 55 or lower matches last year. Still, the former Bengali has nine interceptions over the past three years and will likely provide a level of play Atlanta haven’t had in their defensive backfield for a long time.
Grant used safety in almost every way during his first two years in the NFL, with 23% of his snaps coming from box alignments, 34% coming from deep, and 32% as a slot defender. . The 6-foot, 200-pound safety performs best as a box safety, where his hard-hitting style is best demonstrated. He had a solid season in coverage last year, Coverage grade by PFF is 69.0.
The Falcons have a better tier in the NFC South in the form of Jaylin Hawkins. Hawkins has been extensively active last year, displaying solid run defense and putting in some impressive performances. Behind him, the Falcons received a flyer for former Alabama safety DeMarco Helams in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Falcons’ lack of backfield continuity has led to concerns about whether each player will live up to their ceiling, but the level of talent in Atlanta’s defensive backfield has definitely improved. This finished the Falcons third in the NFC South rankings.
carolina panthers
The Panthers feature a solid trio at the top of their tier-thick charts. No one in this position group has made it to the top tier, but the floor in this group is probably higher than the other top three in the NFC South.
Bucks WR Chris Godwin and Panthers Stakes Jeremy Chin – Photo Credit: USA Today
Jeremy Chin can probably best be described as a resemblance to Bucks linebacker Devin White. His physical gifts are many and abundant. But he has yet to match his own work with those gifts. After a strong 2021 season, Chin had a sluggish year in 2022.
He made headlines in his 2020 rookie year with an unsustainable number of fumble recoveries and multiple defensive touchdowns. But this year will be an important year for Chin to see if he can pull it all together.
Ex-Bengali native Von Bell will be playing quite a bit alongside Xavier Woods if Chin drops down to the quota. Bell has now been above average in safety for five years in a row. His business card is the high-end Ran Defender. Something that might be of particular value in the NFC South.
But last year saw a career-high tackle failure rate (14.8%), and Bell’s run defense fell for the third year in a row. But during that time, Bell has remained a solid coverage player.
Woods has been a consistent player for six years. He doesn’t stand out in any part of his play, but he’s also not flawed in any area. Woods will fill the traditional free safety role, while Chin and Bell will take turns in box safety roles.
Many Bucks fans are familiar with former Florida State Seminole Jammy Robinson, the Panthers’ No. 4 safety. Robinson was considered a potential second-day pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, but he fell to the fifth round and was drafted by the Panthers.
The Panthers’ lowest ranking on this list of NFC South safety rooms is due to the lack of high-end play they’ve produced so far. But Chin has the ability to jump and join Winfield Jr., Mathieu, and Bates. If he does, the Panthers could turn this ranking upside down.
In one of the worst, if not the worst, divisions in the NFL, the NFC South boasts one of the best safety groups in the league. It should be fun to see each work again this year.
