Coordinator recap: How appreciation for Saints defensive scheme fueled Lions to find their talented safety tandem

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Allen Park — Since arriving in Detroit in 2021, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has extolled the virtues of quality safety play. Well, after three seasons of mixing and matching in the back end, Glenn arguably possesses the league’s best tandem in Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch.

While the rest of the league seemingly undervalues the position, both in the draft and free agency, the Lions are reaping the rewards of putting an emphasis on safety play, not dissimilar to their investment in another undervalued position, running back.

On Thursday, I asked Glenn to elaborate on where the root of his love for safeties began and he took us back to his time with the Saints.

“This is something that actually started in New Orleans, my first year there, understanding exactly the type of defense that we were trying to play,” Glenn said. “That’s a multitude of different coverages in the back end, and that requires safeties to actually communicate at a high level. That’s the first thing. The second thing is it requires safeties that can play man coverage, and that’s across the board on our defense. And thirdly, safeties (that) are highly instinctive, that can understand where the ball is going to go, and make plays on the ball.

“As you can see, our guys are doing a really good job of that,” Glenn continued. “That’s just how the system is built and I love safeties that can play that way. I think it allows your corners to play with leverage (and) it allows your safeties to have a little freedom within the defense to go make plays.

Glenn said he sees a lot of similarities in his current pairing to the one he had in New Orleans with Malcolm Jenkins and Marcus Williams.

Not alone

Another team that values safeties is Detroit’s upcoming opponent, the Minnesota Vikings. Harrison Smith has patrolled the back end for the franchise the past 13 seasons, earning six Pro Bowl selections.

Smith is paired with former Michigan standout Josh Metellus, who is in his second season as a full-time starter after really coming into his own in 2023.

“Yeah, he’s a little bit of a unicorn,” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said. “He can do a little bit of everything — a Swiss army knife. He’s a pseudo linebacker, pseudo safety, pseudo nickel, limes up all over the place, great blitzer, great cover guy. I really can’t say enough good things about him because he’s a great chess piece that they like to play around with.”

Sounds a little bit like Branch, no?

Accelerated evaluation

Glenn doesn’t have time to worry about players not on his roster, so he has no idea why recent acquisition Isaiah Thomas hasn’t had a bigger impact in his first three seasons, despite having an excellent combination of size and athleticism for an edge rusher.

“The only thing I do know is he has the measurables like you just said,” Glenn said. “Listen, we just got the player, so we have to figure out what the player can do well. Once we figure that out, we’ll be able to put him in spots to go in and help us on defense.”

I asked Glenn his process for quickly determining what a player can do when the need for help is so urgent following season-ending injuries to Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport.

“It’s always hard to do, but that’s why we practice the way that we practice,” Glenn said. “We’re not one of these teams that are going to (practice) without pads on. We’re going to play. …So he’s going to have a chance to go out there and practice against one of the best o-lines in the league and see exactly what he can do. That’s going to tell us how we can play him.”

It’s such an obvious point that it’s embarrassing I hadn’t considered it before asking. Thomas will have the opportunity to match up against Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell during the next few days, accelerating the team's ability to evaluate the defender's abilities against elite blockers.

Speedy delivery

Each week, it feels as if special teams coordinator Dave Fipp finds a way to squeeze in some praise for rookie long snapper Hogan Hatten.

Asked to elaborate, Fipp noted Hatten’s velocity and placement are excellent, particularly on field goals. Typically, the entire operation takes 1.3 seconds, but if the ball reaches holder Jack Fox even a fraction of a second sooner, it gives him more time to get the hold perfect for kicker Jake Bates.

"When I came in here (in 2021), you guys asked me about (former Lions kicker Matt) Prater and I said that a big part of his challenge is his last year here, in my opinion, was more of the operation than it was him directly,” Fipp said. “It can influence a kicker's results quite a bit, which is weird, because no one ever talks about it. Then that number gets tagged to one of these kickers and everyone says the guy’s an inaccurate kicker or he’s not very good and it’s like, ‘Well, the truth might be somewhere in between that.’ So, the snap’s critical.”

During the Lions’ bye, the Chicago Bears had to turn to a backup snapper due to an injury. Tight end Cole Kmet handled things admirably in that contest, so I asked Fipp who Detroit’s emergency option is and how often they get a chance to practice it.

Turns out it was Hutchinson, so that's another problem the Lions need to solve after the defender's season-ending injury.

“Fortunately for us, we do have a number of other guys that can also snap too, (Alex) Anzalone being one of them. And we have, actually, several more, but we’ll see where we go from there. But yeah, you hope you never wind up in that situation.”

Best of tap

Justin Jefferson is sixth in receiving yards and fifth in yards per game, but Glenn has little doubt the Vikings star is still the NFL’s gold standard at his the position.

“In my opinion, I think he’s the best receiver in the league,” Glenn said. “…I think the one thing that sets him apart is his toughness. This guy here has taken some shots going across the middle. He’s not afraid to go across the middle, and he’s going to reach, grab and do whatever he can to catch the ball. He takes some shots, he gets right back up. He has a swagger about himself. He gets right back to the huddle, he’s ready to go play, and I think that inspires his teammates. You’re talking about a great player that elevates his teammates.”

In 2022, Glenn devised a game plan that shut down Jefferson, limiting him to three catches and 14 yards. Still, the receiver went on to win the league’s Offensive Player of the Year award that year, getting a measure of revenge against the Lions along the way with 11 receptions for a season-high 223 yards in a Week 14 matchup.

“Well, it shows his ability of who he is and I think the coaching staff did a really good job of trying to get him in positions to where you just can’t press him and things like that,” Glenn said. “They move him around quite a bit against us, and we have to do a really good job with our coverage responsibility to make sure that we’re on point (and our alignments are right.”

Jefferson also crushed the Lions last season, catching 18 balls for 333 yards and two scores in the two meetings.

Having all the answers

Despite opponents recognizing Jameson Williams’ ability to take the top off the defense, the Lions’ versatile offensive attack continues to force teams to pick their poison, according to Johnson.

“Defenses don’t want to single (cover) him because he will make them pay,” Johnson said. “They’re not as fast as him. It’s as simple as that. Hopefully, we continue to get these one-on-one matchups because we are so dynamic elsewhere, as well.

“I think early on in that game last week, (Dallas) had the philosophy to play more two high (safeties) to limit guys like Jameson, and you saw what our run game did early on in that game. Then they start coming down, Jamo gets some great access looks in man-to-man, and he’s able to take advantage of it. So we played the game of how much attention are they going to pay to him and the moment they give too much to him, we’ll go the other way. But the moment they single him up, we’ll try to make them pay.”

Williams has been a big-play machine for the Lions this season. Through five games, he has three receptions of 50 yards or more and seven of at least 20.

Strategy under fire

In recent weeks, there have been a couple of blocked field goal tries where the defensive team is testing the limits of the rules by having one lineman pin the snapper to the ground while a teammate jumps over the line of scrimmage.

After one such play in a game between the Seattle Seahawks and New York Giants, the technique was deemed legal.

“Pushing down alone is not a foul and there was no forcible contact to the head and neck,” the league’s head of officiating told a pool reporter.

Fipp, who has never liked commenting on potential rule changes, wouldn’t weigh in on whether he expected the league to make an alteration in the offseason, but he didn’t hide his disdain for the approach.

“Those guys are pushing down on top of those guys,” Fipp said. “It’s a weird thing to me because I don’t really agree with being able to drive a guy down into the ground and jump over the top of him and I’ve expressed that to the league before. “Whether you call it a hold or a pull-and-shoot, you’re pushing the guy down and shooting the gap over the top of him and restricting him from being able to do his job. I don’t love that.”

The NFL already changed its rules regarding being able to jump over the line in 2017 in the name of player safety. Defenders can still hurdle, but are no longer allowed to get a running start. Additionally, any contact with a blocker draws a flag. Obviously, pinning a blocker to the ground helps prevent that contact.