FILM ROOM | How the Giants Could Deploy the 3-High Safety Set

Coach Gene Clemons takes a look at a few possibile personnel alignments that might be in Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham's playbook and which makes use of all the key defensive personnel the team acquired in free agency and the draft.

With the Giants drafting Alabama safety Xavier McKinney in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft, it presents some interesting options for a defense that seems to be built to adjust and transform week to week. This makes it virtually impossible to game plan against. It also hides the fact that they don't have a legit dominant pass rusher and must rely on a pass rush by committee. 

In a league where it has become increasingly paramount to be able to defend the passing game, defenses continue to look for answers. One answer has been spreading through high schools and colleges, and it only makes sense that it will be employed by NFL defenses very soon. That's the 3-high safety defense.

Many NFL defenses have already implemented principles of the 3-3 stack defense that permeates through college and high school football. The 3-high safeties defense relies on many of those same principles. 

Below you can see a video of the difference between a traditional 3-3 stack defense and the 3-high safeties defense.

The Giants have an abundance of defensive backs, so the 3-high safeties defense would feed the disguises of their nickel and dime packages. 

The versatility of McKinney and Jabrill Peppers opens up a myriad of opportunities. It allows corners James Bradberry and DeAndre Baker to focus exclusively on locking up or patrolling the outside. McKinney and Peppers would probably be joined by Julian Love, who came on late in the season during the last four or five games of the season.

The linebackers would most likely feature recently signed middle linebacker Blake Martinez, who had his best season when defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was his position coach in Green Bay. 

Third-year outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter, who is just as adept at playing at the second level as he is at playing on the line of scrimmage, is the most versatile linebacker on the team and would find his way onto the field in this package. 

David Mayo, who recently agreed to a three-year extension with the team, would likely be the third linebacker in the nickel package and the backer to exit in their dime package.

On the defensive line, you'll find franchise player Leonard Williams manning one of the two defensive end spots. Dexter Lawrence, the second of the Giants' 2019 first-round draft picks, will be lined up at the other end spot. 

Dalvin Tomlinson, who is entering the last year of his rookie contract and hoping to build off a promising season providing interior pressure, will likely be at the nose.

The video below shows how the Giants personnel fits into the 3-high safety defense in their nickel and dime packages.

The reason this defense could be especially effective for the Giants on obvious passing downs is the diversity of the defensive backs. Bradberry and Baker give the defense the ability to play man to man on the outside receivers. McKinney and Peppers are good at playing in the box. 

Peppers can function as a weak-side linebacker in the dime, and he is a good blitzer. Julian Love has corner experience, and in the limited snaps he received in 2019, he still tallied 30 tackles. McKinney is good as a middle of the field safety or on the hash. He can legitimately cover slot receivers as well. 

The X-factor could be Lorenzo Carter, who has the athleticism to cover underneath and the physicality to be on the defensive line. This defense could unleash his potential.

At a glance, you would say just run against this defense, but remember that it's a defense created to combat passing, so if you do run, you are doing what the defense wants you to do. The gamble is that the defense will be able to make a tackle before the ball carrier can run for a first down.

The best part about this defense is it could highlight the depth that the Giants hope they have added. There could be packages inside of these packages in creating another way for New York to change the identity of the defense from what it was last season.