Earl Thomas and The Deep Middle

Russell Wilson is the most valued and irreplaceable Seahawk, with little doubt. But when it comes to the second most valuable Hawk, cases could be made for many players. Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch are well known players and first team all pros. Russell Okung is a pro-bowler at the most important position on the offensive line- left tackle. Max Unger is the brains of the offensive line, and also a first team all pro. However, I believe it is fellow first-team all pro Earl Thomas that allows Seattle’s defense to have the success it does, and is thus the second most valuable Seahawk.

The perception of the Seahawks is that they've got big corners that are going to bump you at the line and play man coverage on you. However, what the Seahawks do most often is run a cover-3 defense, with press principles from their corners.

At its most basic level, the cover-3 is as such:

The two corners both take a deep third, with the free safety taking the middle third, and between three to five linebackers and/or safeties cover the shallow part of the field. A corner typically follows a receiver to the hashmarks, where he then “passes him off” to the safety. Basically, each defender will follow his man until he reaches the end of his zone, and at that point the receiver becomes another defenders responsibility.

The weakness of the cover-3 defense is that it is susceptible to underneath passes. This is why the Seahawks so frequently were unable to come up with key third down stops. So one thing the Seahawks do to mask this vulnerability, is play press coverage on the outside. Seattle’s two big corners, Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner, get up on the line of scrimmage and give the receivers a tough time coming off the line. The goal of press coverage is to disrupt timing and to force the receiver to the outside of the field. When the corner forces the receiver to the outside, he can then use the sideline as an extra defender, which limits the routes a receiver can run.

The Seahawks used the cover-3 to much success in the wild card round of the playoffs against the Redskins. In this particular play, Robert Griffin III forced a deep throw that Earl Thomas who came down with an interception.

The Redskins line up in a pistol look with 21 personnel (2 running backs, 1 tight end). The Seahawks counter with a 3-4 front (despite having 4-3 personnel on the field); Bruce Irvin and KJ Wright are the outside linebackers, with Clinton McDonald, Red Bryant and Brandon Mebane the down linemen. Kam Chancellor is the eighth man in the box, with Thomas the single high safety. Notice Browner and Sherman on the line of scrimmage, indicating press coverage.

As one can see from the above picture, the Seahawks drop into a cover 3 look. I've divided the deep part of the field into thirds, with Sherman manning the top third, Thomas in the middle, and Browner on the lower third. Sherman passes off Josh Morgan (circled in blue) to Thomas once he reaches the hashmark. Thomas splits the distance between Morgan and Garcon, meaning he can disrupt the pass if Griffin throws to either Morgan or Garcon. Leroy Hill, Bobby Wagner, and Kam Chancellor all pick up a shallow third of the field. Red Bryant (in a yellow circle) appears to be a spy on Griffin, waiting for him to run.

The above picture is right as Griffin releases the ball. Garcon has about half a step on Browner, with Thomas breaking on the ball from the middle of the field. Thomas clearly has a lot of ground to cover, whereas all Garcon has to do is run forward and catch the ball. This gives a good idea of the type of range Thomas must have in this cover-3 defense.

Thomas closes in on the throw and has somewhat of an easy interception. This play demonstrates Thomas’s combination of quickness and anticipation, qualities that no other safety in the league can match.

Against Atlanta, we see what happens when Earl Thomas is not the one playing the deep middle of the field. This play in the second quarter resulted in a 47 yard touchdown from Matt Ryan to Roddy White. Many are going to blame this play on Richard Sherman, but Sherman has noted this was on the safety, not him, as we can see from looking at the tape.

Atlanta comes out in 11 personnel, and Seattle counters with a basic 4-2 nickel look. Clint McDonald is the nose tackle instead of Mebane to add a little more pass rush ability to the defensive line. As slot receiver Harry Douglas motions from right to left Marcus Trufant and Leroy Hill switch sides on the field. Browner is up playing press on Julio Jones, whereas Roddy White is tight to the line and Sherman is playing off.

The Seahawks drop into cover 3, with Kam Chancellor being the deep safety. The ball is snapped and White runs a “go” route (straight forward) down the middle of the field. Sherman, anticipating being able to pass White off to Chancellor, stays outside of White, which gives him position on a ball thrown deep. Matt Ryan sees that Chancellor bought on Julio Jones’ go route on the opposite side of the field, and neither Chancellor nor Sherman would be in position to make a play on the ball when thrown to White.

Sherman trips trying to catch up to White, and while Chancellor covers some of the distance between him and White, he isn’t able to catch up to a beautifully thrown ball by Matt Ryan. This play stresses how we often don’t recognize how valuable Earl Thomas is when he’s in the game. If it had been Earl Thomas playing the deep middle, he wouldn’t have been caught out of position and Ryan would have been forced to checkdown to an underneath option.

When not playing cover-3, the Seahawks typically play press-man with cover-1 over the top. Typically, man coverage will look something like this:

A defender is assigned to each receiving option, and generally one or two defenders will play zone. When a defender is in man coverage, he will follow his man across the whole field, not just stick to one zone. The defender or defenders in zone are typically just there to help out in case a defender gets beat by his man. For the Seahawks, Earl Thomas is typically in a deep zone, while Kam Chancellor is in an underneath zone.

Though the Seahawks play less man coverage than many fans think they do, they still play man as much as any other team in the league. Here is one example, against New England, where the Hawks defense came out in man coverage on third and long.

In this situation, New England is lined up in 02 personnel on 3^rd and 7. TE Aaron Hernandez is lined up to Brady’s left in the backfield. Gronkowski is detached from the line, and Welker is in the slot inside of Gronkowski. The Seahawks are in their nickel package with jet ends (Clemons/Irvin) and dual-three-techs (Scruggs/Jones). Notice Sherman, Browner, and Wright up on the line, indicating press coverage.

As the New England receivers get into their routes, notice how the Seattle defenders stick to a man, rather than an area. Richard Sherman has Deion Branch, Marcus Trufant has Wes Welker, KJ Wright has Rob Gronkowski, Bobby Wagner has Aaron Hernandez, and Brandon Browner has Brandon Lloyd. Earl Thomas is the single deep safety, surveying the entire field. Also notice Kam Chancellor at midfield, covering an intermediate zone.

Tom Brady makes his decision to throw to Deion Branch, who has a slight step on Sherman. Thomas reads Brady’s throw and breaks towards the ball, allowing Sherman to jump the pass knowing he has help over the top. Sherman knocks the ball down, forcing the Patriots to send their punt team out on the field.

Thomas allows the Seahawk corners to be as aggressive as they are in man coverage, because of his great range and instincts. As we saw with Kam Chancellor in the cover-3, he is not the same rangy, instinctual defender that Thomas is.

Thomas is due to be a free agent in 2015, and many believe the Seahawks are working on extending him right now, as they have done with Kam Chancellor. With Chancellor being the 6^th highest paid safety in the league, the question is, how expensive will Thomas be?

Right now, no safety in the league averages over $10 million per year on their current deal. Troy Polamulu (a pretty good player) is the highest paid safety in the league, and  averages just under $9.9 million a year. Dashon Goldson, who was also a first team all pro in 2012, just signed a new deal this offseason with the Bucs averaging $8.25 million a year. I would imagine Thomas would get between 9-10 million a year, likely on a five year deal. Remember, despite entering his fourth season in the legaue, Thomas will begin the 2013 season at just 24 years of age.

Thomas clearly is hugely important in the Seahawks defense, and a key part in the type of coverages they run. He is a young playmaker, and will be around for a long time. The safety tandem of the hard-hitting strong safety Kam Chancellor and the small and rangy free safety Earl Thomas is going to be together for a long time in Seattle.