NFL Teams are Playing More Dime Defense than Base

It's not just nickel that's more popular with today's NFL defenses anymore.

We all knew NFL teams had been going with nickel looks on defense more than their base alignments for quite some time now, but it turns out they're adding more defensive backs than ever before.

Not only were NFL teams in nickel more than any other formation last season, they also presented a dime look (with six defensive backs) more often than they were in base (via USA Today's Doug Farrarr):

You know the whole "Nickel is the new base" thing? Very true, as nickel made up 59% of all dropbacks. But this surprised me -- in 2019, defenses played more dime (20.9%) than base (18%). Which means that defenses are putting six DBs on the field more than they're putting four.

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 9, 2020

How does this impact the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Well, they have plenty of young, promising talent at the safety position, and they could feature more of them at a time this season if they go with this trend, as The Athletic's Greg Auman points out:

Good stat here, and reminds that while we talk about the third (nickel) corner a ton, we talk much less about the third safety on the field in dime -- Bucs could have Whitehead, Winfield and Edwards/Adams on the field at the same time more often. https://t.co/R0SGvZRJHo

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) July 9, 2020

The Bucs have invested high picks in recent drafts in Justin Evans, Jordan Whitehead, Mike Edwards and Antoine Winfield, Jr., all of whom are talented and versatile enough to be effective in different roles if they're all on the field at the same time.

With a creative defensive coordinator in Todd Bowles, who prioritizes versatility and loves presenting different looks to opposing offenses, the Bucs have the personnel to make this latest trend work to their advantage in 2020 and beyond.