When the Eagles drafted Jordan Davis, there were more people dismissing the pick than I expected, citing the lack of positional value of a non-pass rusher (and one that people think will only be on the field for 20-30 snaps a game). I wanted to look at how the league, and specifically the Fangio / Staley defenses that are taking over, view nose tackles.
While nose tackles aren’t quite going to compete with receivers and edge rushers for premium position status, their priority is changing because of their importance in making these defenses work.
The Fangio defense is spreading but results are mixed
The Vic Fangio and offshoot defenses are spreading across the NFL, with the Rams, Packers, Bears, and Chargers hiring Fangio disciples over the past few years. Last season, the Eagles brought in Sirianni and Brandon Staley’s childhood friend and like-minded defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. This offseason, there is further movement as longtime Bears defensive coach Sean Desai goes to Seattle as their assistant head coach and Ed Donatell, who worked with Fangio three different times, was hired by Minnesota as defensive coordinator.
In the NFL arms race, these defenses are a reaction to the wide zone offenses that rose over the past 10 years. They are complex and fascinating defenses that are sometimes viewed as shifting focus from run defense to pass defense, which isn’t quite accurate. To me, these defenses attempt to make opposing offenses work harder across the board.
- Two-high safety shells that drop an additional player into coverage and bring flexibility into coverage schemes to eliminate explosive plays
- Light boxes with gap-and-a-half fronts to pressure with less and encourage offenses to run
- Structured run fits that make the different levels of the defense work together
A couple of examples from @WeeklySpiral who has a great, longer breakdown of the Fangio defense. This first clip demonstrates Staley’s Tite front with three defensive linemen inside the tackles and five on the line vs. six blockers, the nose consuming a double-team, two linebackers and two-high safety where Taylor Rapp is responsible for the run fit to the open B-gap.
And a second clip showing the flexibility and complexity of the backend coverage and how it relates to the pressure – initial two-high look that rotates coverage post-snap, a rare corner blitz with only four rushers that still gets pressure and maintains an extra man in coverage.
Currently, the Rams are the best example of these defenses. In 2020 with the Rams, Staley ran a light box 78% of the time, 2nd highest in the league, on way to the league’s best defense. The Rams followed this up with a top ten defense in 2021 that was both a solid run and pass defense on way to winning the Super Bowl.
But besides the Rams, these defenses haven’t been able to balance pass and run defense
The other teams mentioned have not duplicated the Rams success so far. Aspects of the defensive scheme have worked – each was better against the pass and most were good limiting explosive plays but only the Bears had a better than average overall defense. And they all really suffered against the run – all were below league average with four in the bottom third of the league and two (the Packers and Chargers) near the very bottom.
| Overall Defense DVOA Rank | Pass Defense DVOA Rank | Run Defense DVOA Rank | Explosive Play Rate Allowed Rank | |
| Rams | 5 | 6 | 5 | 13 |
| Bears | 13 | 12 | 24 | 20 |
| Broncos | 20 | 20 | 21 | 14 |
| Packers | 22 | 16 | 28 | 9 |
| Eagles | 25 | 25 | 18 | 6 |
| Chargers | 26 | 19 | 30 | 23 |
Changing the coverage math requires different personnel
Limiting explosive plays by “putting a roof on the offense” as Staley says and making the entire offense work more patiently sounds great. But just like how every team tried unsuccessfully to copy Seattle’s Cover-3, the same is happening here without the personnel to make it work.
Obviously only the Rams have an Aaron Donald to single-handedly wreck offensive protections and a Jalen Ramsey to push even more coverage elsewhere. But it isn’t just Aaron Donald. Over the past two seasons the Rams have consistently had multiple top 20 run defenders – Donald, Von Miller, A’Shawn Robinson, Sebastian Joseph-Day, and Greg Gaines.
The other Fangio defenses just haven’t put it together yet.
Staley’s Chargers weren’t good enough up front to stop the run…
The Eagles and Bears weren’t able to stay in two-high because they had to push another defender into the box too often, ending the year in the middle of the league in two-high snaps…
The Packers and Broncos couldn’t pressure the QB with bottom-of-the-league pass rush win rates…
There’s no one solution and the different coaches have different approaches, but despite the view that this defense does not require top talent at certain positions, the actual practice is these teams seek out talent at all levels of the defense. Staley will never stop collecting corners, pass rushers are always in demand, a different type of safety is needed.
And nose tackles are rising in importance
Nose tackles are consistently listed right above running backs, kickers, and punters on the list of premium positions. But while never a headline, each of the Fangio defenses has continually sought out nose tackles as they built their defenses.
Here are two quick clips on what NTs are expected to do and the value they bring to the scheme. The first is Sebastian Joseph-Day playing two gaps which is necessary to push an added man into coverage. The second is Kenny Clark consuming a double-team for a run stop.
This changes the historical devaluation of the position and forces us to think differently about a position that rarely shows up in stats. Here are recent moves by the Packers, Broncos, Chargers, and Eagles:
Packers signed Kenny Clark to a DT record 4 year / $70M extension in 2020:
By his standards, Clark had a down year in 2021 with a 9.1% run stop rate, 20th in the league (which was still better than any Eagle). But Clark has consistently been top 10 in the league in run stops throughout his career and is in the same conversation with Vita Vea as nose tackles that also consistently pressure the QB.
Broncos sign D.J. Jones (3 year / $30M) this offseason:
In 2021, Jones was 2nd in the NFL with a 13.1% run stop rate and had the 3rd best rate of stops at or behind the LOS by a DT since 2016.
Chargers sign Sebastian Joseph-Day (3 year / $24M) and Austin Johnson (2 year / $14M) this offseason:
Staley’s collection of cornerbacks is widely known but don’t overlook that he spent $38M on TWO nose tackles this offseason. Joseph-Day, who played for him on the Rams, missed half the season last year with a torn pec but led the league with a 15.5% run stop rate. Austin Johnson was 9th in the league with a 10.4% run stop rate, right behind Vita Vea. And, he added UCLA NT Otito Ogbonnia in the 5th round of the draft.
And the Eagles use pick 13 on Jordan Davis:
The Eagles traded up to get Davis whose ranks as the most athletic interior linemen out of 1,378 prospects since 1987. Additionally, they brought in 6’4″ 346 pound PFA Noah Elliss.
The NFL obviously goes in cycles, but the rising importance of nose tackles has been a trend for several years. Below shows how many of the top 10 and top 15 paid interior defensive linemen were nose tackles by year and what share of the top 15 total AAV they consumed.
| # Top 10 NTs | # Top 15 NTs | % of Top 15 AAV on NTs | |
| 2018 | 1 | 3 | 14.8% |
| 2019 | 1 | 3 | 16.0% |
| 2020 | 2 | 4 | 22.2% |
| 2021 | 3 | 6 | 33.9% |
| 2022 | 3 | 6 | 34.1% |
With the average AAV for nose tackles in the top 15 at just over $11M, they aren’t anywhere near competing with the top pass rushers. But over the past five years, the number of nose tackles being paid in the top 10 and top 15 of interior defenders and the total share of cap going to NTs have both steadily increased. And outside of Tampa’s Vita Vea and Green Bay’s Kenny Clark, they aren’t being paid for pass rushing.
Which brings us to Jordan Davis…
Many in Philly still look at Jordan Davis only as a “run-stuffing defensive tackle that comes off the field on passing downs” and were disappointed with the pick. But these defenses value – and require because of their fundamental structure moving away from +1 in the box – players that can handle multiple gaps and consume blockers.
If you don’t follow anonymous ex-scout @TheHonestNFL, go do so – just a continual flow of great insight into the game. But THN has been pounding for months why a player like Davis is so needed in Gannon’s defense:
When teams can’t stop the run, it spills over to the passing game as they are forced to do exactly what THN explains above – move an additional player into the box. Despite wanting to be a two-high team, in 2021 the Eagles were only 15th in the league in pre-snap two-high alignments. This is one of the most telling stats from this past season – Gannon was forced out of two-high to add run support too often.
To think of Davis as “just a run stuffer” ignores how coverage and the front affect each other. I went back and re-watched all of his snaps in this year’s College Championship game – Alabama double-teamed (and sometimes triple-teamed) Davis on 58% of his snaps. As he said in his draft press conference, “if it’s two on me, somebody’s free”.
In the National Championship game, even with being doubled most of the game Davis still had 2 pressures on 27 dropbacks and 2 run stops on 20 run defense snaps as Georgia avenged their SEC Championship loss to Alabama.
As a comparison, the week prior in the Orange Bowl Michigan decided to double Davis on “only” 35% of his snaps. It was an awful idea. He had 2 tackles for loss on only 9 run defense snaps (one against a double team) and a QB hit and 2 hurries on only 16 dropback snaps. But if they double him, it weakens something somewhere else.
This is what got him drafted. In the first play, four rushers vs. six blockers and Davis pushes past a single blocker (who didn’t have Davis locked up before trying to get to the next level) and is the first in the backfield. In the second play, Davis holds up a double, sheds, and pulls Hassan Haskins down in the backfield. And the final play is another single block where Davis pulls the center and shows speed in to pressure the QB. Not double-teaming him just doesn’t work.
For the season, Davis was 1st in this draft class with a 12.2% run stop rate and 2nd in average depth of tackle. Football ultimately comes down to numbers and if Davis can consistently consume two or three blockers, he changes the game.
And, just to end, some clips that I love from @MattAlkire from shortly after the 2021 draft on what Jordan Davis can do and why he was going to be special. Stay to the end for the Green Mile comment.