2017 Slot vs. Wide: Defense

August 06, 2018, 12:58 pm ET

Photo: USA Today Sports Images

by Scott Kacsmar

We have recently looked at the 2017 regular season data on passes to receivers marked slot and wide for wide receivers, quarterbacks, and running backs and tight ends. This data also can be found in the newly released Football Outsiders Almanac 2018.

The final step is to look at defenses, and how each team fared against each receiver type. (Last year's study can be found here.) This data comes from the charting done by our friends at Sports Info Solutions. Each player's position is based on where he was on the field rather than where other receivers were lined up. For example, if Tyreek Hill is the most outside receiver in a bunch formation that is close to the offensive line, then he and all the other receivers are charted as "slot." If the player was in "jet" motion, then that was charted as the spot from which he originated, which was usually in the slot.

Any coverage stats (always available in premium for cornerbacks) we reference are also courtesy of Sports Info Solutions. To spare us a lot of repeated phrases, we will be abbreviating adjusted success rate as ASR and adjusted yards per pass as AYPP.

The DVOA rating listed in this article uses the baseline from DVOA vs. Types of Receivers, which means that it accounts for interceptions but leaves out sacks and passes with no intended receiver. The opponent adjustments account for the quality of the specific receiver being covered, rather than the entirety of the opposing passing game.

2017 Defense: Overall Slot vs. Wide

Our first table looks at all targets each defense faced that were thrown to any player in the slot or out wide. We have listed each team's DVOA and number of passes against both slot and wide targets; the rate of passes to players in the slot as a share of passes to either slot or wide receivers (Slot%); and the difference in DVOA from wide to slot. As a reminder, since this is defense, the more negative the DVOA, the better. Teams are sorted by the difference in performance against slot and wide receivers -- those at the top fared better against slot receivers, while those at the bottom had better coverage against receivers split out wide.

Overall Defense, Slot vs. Wide, 2017
Defense	Slot DVOA	Rk	Slot Passes	Wide DVOA	Rk	Wide Passes	Slot%	Rk	W-S DVOA DIFF	Rk
NYJ	-13.6%	5	195	12.1%	27	195	50.0%	29	25.7%	1
SEA	-6.3%	9	246	14.7%	29	151	62.0%	2	20.9%	2
MIN	-26.4%	1	217	-8.6%	12	170	56.1%	13	17.8%	3
BUF	-20.6%	2	211	-9.8%	10	179	54.1%	21	10.8%	4
PHI	-20.5%	3	183	-10.1%	9	239	43.4%	32	10.3%	5
LAR	-14.6%	4	218	-5.9%	14	173	55.8%	15	8.7%	6
ARI	-9.5%	8	239	-4.0%	17	133	64.2%	1	5.5%	7
CLE	9.2%	18	172	13.7%	28	167	50.7%	27	4.4%	8
SF	16.5%	27	195	18.2%	30	166	54.0%	22	1.8%	9
IND	23.6%	29	199	24.5%	32	152	56.7%	11	0.8%	10
CHI	7.2%	14	186	3.7%	24	178	51.1%	26	-3.5%	11
WAS	2.2%	12	210	-1.3%	19	132	61.4%	5	-3.5%	12
DET	-3.6%	10	207	-11.0%	8	179	53.6%	24	-7.4%	13
NYG	11.1%	21	221	3.0%	23	181	55.0%	17	-8.1%	14
BAL	-13.2%	7	186	-21.9%	4	191	49.3%	31	-8.7%	15
OAK	29.0%	30	200	19.7%	31	145	58.0%	9	-9.2%	16
Defense	Slot DVOA	Rk	Slot Passes	Wide DVOA	Rk	Wide Passes	Slot%	Rk	W-S DVOA DIFF	Rk
CAR	9.4%	19	221	-0.8%	20	186	54.3%	20	-10.1%	17
TB	12.2%	22	226	0.7%	22	164	57.9%	10	-11.5%	18
TEN	12.3%	23	211	0.4%	21	193	52.2%	25	-11.9%	19
ATL	10.1%	20	239	-4.4%	16	149	61.6%	4	-14.6%	20
JAX	-13.6%	6	171	-32.4%	1	171	50.0%	29	-18.9%	21
MIA	13.8%	25	199	-5.5%	15	134	59.8%	6	-19.3%	22
NE	13.5%	24	234	-6.9%	13	184	56.0%	14	-20.4%	23
LAC	-2.8%	11	191	-23.3%	3	156	55.0%	16	-20.5%	24
PIT	8.5%	16	181	-12.1%	7	155	53.9%	23	-20.5%	25
CIN	7.3%	15	186	-13.3%	6	181	50.7%	28	-20.6%	26
KC	18.1%	28	244	-3.1%	18	201	54.8%	19	-21.2%	27
DEN	5.5%	13	219	-17.8%	5	136	61.7%	3	-23.4%	28
DAL	13.9%	26	220	-9.7%	11	153	59.0%	7	-23.6%	29
GB	33.5%	32	197	7.6%	26	154	56.1%	12	-25.9%	30
HOU	32.5%	31	203	3.7%	25	142	58.8%	8	-28.8%	31
NO	9.2%	17	214	-32.1%	2	176	54.9%	18	-41.3%	32

The Two Jags

It probably does not come as a surprise that Jacksonville finished No. 1 in wide DVOA given the quality of its corners. But what a difference a year can make on the defensive side of the ball. In 2016, Jacksonville was 32nd in wide DVOA, but we wrote a year ago that the problem was not rookie Jalen Ramsey, it was Prince Amukamara, who finished 73rd in ASR. Fortunately, Amukamara went to Chicago in 2017 and the Jaguars added A.J. Bouye, who finished 20th in ASR and 12th in AYPP. Bouye made for an excellent complement to the All-Pro Ramsey (No. 1 in AYPP). Both corners were still strong in the slot too, where the Jaguars finished sixth in DVOA (same ranking as 2016).

High and Low

Arizona (64.2 percent) and Seattle (62.0 percent) were tested the most frequently in the slot last season. In Arizona's case, that's partly due to offenses staying away from Patrick Peterson. Even on wide passes, opponents targeted Justin Bethel and Tramon Williams more often than they did Peterson. It will be interesting to see how their slot numbers change with the versatile Tyrann Mathieu gone. He only allowed an average of 6.0 yards per play on 54 slot targets, which was much better than the 10.7 yards per play allowed by rookie Budda Baker. Mathieu will hope to help Houston in the slot, where it ranked 31st in DVOA last season.

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Seattle, meanwhile, suffered its own departure in the loss of Richard Sherman. The preference Seahawks' opponents showed for slot passes was likely out of respect for Sherman on the outside. At least Shaquill Griffin (12th in ASR and eighth in AYPP) had an impressive rookie season. He only allowed 4.7 yards per pass on slot targets and 5.5 yards per pass on wide targets.

Denver was third in Slot%, which makes sense since the Broncos were fifth in wide DVOA. One has to think teams will be more willing to attack that defense outside the numbers with Aqib Talib joining the Rams. Talib allowed just 4.9 yards per pass out wide last year. Bradley Roby allowed the same average in a bounce-back year (10th in ASR and fourth in AYPP) from a bad 2016. Chris Harris is of course a great slot corner, but the Broncos are still weakened at corner with the Talib move.

Jacksonville and the Jets had a 50/50 split of targets marked wide and slot. Only the Ravens (49.3 Slot%) and Eagles (43.4 Slot%) faced more wide passes than slot passes. This was the second year in a row where that's happened ror the Eagles, so that could say something about the type of defense Doug Pederson and coordinator Jim Schwartz want to run. Even the efficiency was similar, as the Super Bowl winners finished third in slot DVOA and ninth in wide DVOA a year after finishing fourth in slot DVOA and 15th in wide DVOA. Philadelphia will have to replace Patrick Robinson, who had a big impact on the team's slot success. He had the most slot targets (44) and a success rate of 68 percent as opposed to 44 percent for safety Malcolm Jenkins. Robinson infamously intercepted Case Keenum for a touchdown in the NFC Championship Game. Coincidentally enough, the Vikings were No. 1 in slot DVOA, thanks in large part to ancient corner Terence Newman and All-Pro safety Harrison Smith.

The Colts and Raiders had the worst wide DVOA, but also finished in the bottom four in slot DVOA. That's pretty discouraging, but at least both teams have new coaching staffs (and one is actually living in the 21st century). The Raiders didn't get to see much from first-round rookie corner Gareon Conley last year, so that could be a big help this season. Likewise, the Colts only had Malik Hooker for seven games last season and Quincy Wilson was a healthy scratch at times. Wilson had a 68 percent success rate on 22 wide targets. These teams just need to get their young draft picks on the field more in 2018 … which leads to our last section.

The Young Secondaries

We wanted to single out a few of the young secondaries that will try to improve this season, including two playoff contenders in the NFC.

The Packers were 32nd in slot DVOA and not much better out wide (26th). To fix the slot, the Packers traded Damarious Randall to Cleveland and drafted Jaire Alexander in the first round. Randall didn't have terrible charting metrics last year (31st in ASR and 29th in AYPP), but he was never consistent. It's too early to pencil in Alexander for the slot/nickel job, but that was where he projected to play coming out of Louisville. As for the problems out wide, new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine may not have to worry much about the players who struggled there the most. Davon House (9.1 yards per pass) and Josh Hawkins (10.3 yards per pass) can slide down the depth chart after the team drafted Alexander and Josh Jackson, and re-signed veteran Tramon Williams.

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The Jets were fifth in slot DVOA, but 27th in wide DVOA, producing the biggest improvement in the league when going to the slot. The problem was that none of the cornerbacks excelled last year on wide targets. Darryl Roberts and Juston Burris struggled the most, both allowing an average of 8.9 yards per pass. The Jets brought in Trumaine Johnson from the Rams in an effort to get better. Buster Skrine remains a serviceable slot corner, and the two safeties (Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye) should improve in their second seasons.

New Orleans had one of the most improved defenses in the league last season. The Saints finished second in wide DVOA, but only 17th in slot DVOA, producing the biggest improvement in the league when facing wide targets. That basically highlights the impact at cornerback of Defensive Rookie of the Year Marshon Lattimore, who had some very interesting splits last season. On 51 wide targets, Lattimore was great with 5.9 yards per pass and 59 percent success rate. But on 20 slot targets, Lattimore allowed 11.6 yards per pass and 35 percent success rate. Much of that was Julio Jones getting the best of the rookie; that could be a matchup for years to come in the NFC South. Bringing Patrick Robinson back for a second stint also could help the slot numbers given his aforementioned success in Philadelphia last season.

2017 Defense vs. Wide Receivers

The next table features the same data as the previous table, but only for targets that went to wide receivers.

Defense vs. Wide Receivers, Slot vs. Wide, 2017
Defense	Slot DVOA	Rk	Slot Passes	Wide DVOA	Rk	Wide Passes	Slot%	Rk	W-S DVOA DIFF	Rk
NYJ	-8.7%	8	143	13.7%	28	180	44.3%	27	22.5%	1
SEA	-1.3%	13	191	20.2%	31	133	59.0%	2	21.5%	2
WAS	-12.8%	7	151	6.5%	25	117	56.3%	4	19.3%	3
MIN	-19.4%	5	163	-4.9%	13	157	50.9%	15	14.5%	4
PHI	-24.4%	1	137	-12.1%	7	213	39.1%	32	12.2%	5
BUF	-21.9%	3	160	-10.0%	11	162	49.7%	19	11.9%	6
LAR	-20.2%	4	165	-10.4%	10	153	51.9%	12	9.8%	7
CLE	2.5%	14	124	10.8%	27	156	44.3%	26	8.3%	8
ARI	-8.3%	9	190	-4.7%	15	112	62.9%	1	3.7%	9
IND	20.1%	26	162	22.3%	32	140	53.6%	10	2.3%	10
DET	-2.8%	11	167	-5.0%	12	168	49.9%	18	-2.3%	11
SF	19.8%	25	148	17.3%	30	154	49.0%	23	-2.5%	12
CHI	7.1%	16	132	4.2%	23	172	43.4%	28	-2.9%	13
TEN	4.7%	15	150	0.1%	18	175	46.2%	25	-4.5%	14
CAR	9.1%	18	169	1.6%	19	173	49.4%	22	-7.5%	15
NYG	11.1%	20	158	2.8%	22	157	50.2%	17	-8.2%	16
Defense	Slot DVOA	Rk	Slot Passes	Wide DVOA	Rk	Wide Passes	Slot%	Rk	W-S DVOA DIFF	Rk
MIA	9.6%	19	139	0.0%	17	113	55.2%	7	-9.6%	17
LAC	-7.2%	10	144	-17.3%	5	146	49.7%	20	-10.1%	18
BAL	-14.3%	6	136	-26.7%	4	184	42.5%	30	-12.4%	19
TB	16.1%	23	178	2.5%	21	151	54.1%	9	-13.6%	20
JAX	-22.6%	2	122	-36.4%	1	159	43.4%	29	-13.8%	21
OAK	29.7%	30	138	15.2%	29	132	51.1%	14	-14.6%	22
KC	19.8%	24	186	2.3%	20	180	50.8%	16	-17.6%	23
ATL	15.7%	22	161	-2.3%	16	126	56.1%	6	-18.0%	24
CIN	12.1%	21	126	-10.5%	9	173	42.1%	31	-22.6%	25
GB	33.5%	31	142	8.3%	26	144	49.7%	21	-25.2%	26
DEN	-1.8%	12	158	-28.6%	3	111	58.7%	3	-26.8%	27
NE	26.0%	29	173	-4.9%	14	159	52.1%	11	-30.9%	28
HOU	37.4%	32	159	6.3%	24	124	56.2%	5	-31.1%	29
PIT	22.5%	27	126	-10.7%	8	145	46.5%	24	-33.2%	30
DAL	22.9%	28	175	-15.2%	6	143	55.0%	8	-38.1%	31
NO	7.7%	17	164	-31.6%	2	156	51.3%	13	-39.2%	32

Since wide receivers account for so many of the slot and wide targets in a season, the rankings in this table are very close to the first table. So you'll see things like the Jaguars being generally great, the Eagles dominating slot wideouts (while seeing them less than anyone), and the Colts and Raiders being generally terrible everywhere.

Just a couple of defenses produced results against wideouts that were not close to their overall results in slot vs. wide. Pittsburgh finished 16th in slot DVOA, but 27th against wide receivers in the slot. That's because Pittsburgh was No. 4 in slot DVOA (-29.3%) against tight ends not named Rob Gronkowski. True story.

The other team with a big difference was Washington. The Redskins were No. 12 in wide-to-slot DVOA difference, but they moved up to No. 3 when just focusing on wide receivers. No other team moved more than six spots in the rankings. The bad news is much of this stemmed from Kendall Fuller's success in the slot (6.1 yards per pass and 67 percent success rate). The good news belongs to Kansas City, which acquired Fuller in the trade that sent Alex Smith to Washington. This one is not like trading away a young, future Hall of Fame cornerback for a running back, but Washington seems to be on the wrong side of the deal again.

2017 Defense vs. Running Backs

With running backs, we are not going to look at Slot% or differences in DVOA, because the average defense only faced 10.0 slot targets and 7.9 wide targets from running backs last season. We did rank them by DVOA out of morbid curiosity.

Defense vs. Running Backs, Slot vs. Wide, 2017
Defense	Slot DVOA	Rk	Slot Passes	Defense	Wide DVOA	Rk	Wide Passes
SEA	-127.8%	1	8	DET	-145.0%	1	8
ARI	-117.4%	2	7	PIT	-106.5%	2	5
LAC	-69.3%	3	3	MIN	-78.0%	3	7
MIN	-61.7%	4	8	NYG	-72.6%	4	9
LAR	-59.1%	5	13	ATL	-63.3%	5	10
KC	-45.0%	6	5	PHI	-55.7%	6	11
WAS	-35.3%	7	7	KC	-47.1%	7	7
CIN	-28.8%	8	19	MIA	-42.8%	8	12
HOU	-26.6%	9	5	WAS	-38.0%	9	9
NYJ	-25.4%	10	12	NE	-34.5%	10	17
PHI	-23.6%	11	7	SEA	-24.5%	11	7
PIT	-22.0%	12	12	HOU	-22.3%	12	5
CLE	-21.4%	13	11	CIN	-21.4%	13	5
CHI	-11.5%	14	11	BUF	-18.5%	14	8
BUF	-10.3%	15	6	NYJ	-18.3%	15	7
NE	-10.0%	16	16	TB	-3.1%	16	10
Defense	Slot DVOA	Rk	Slot Passes	Defense	Wide DVOA	Rk	Wide Passes
JAX	-4.7%	17	18	NO	-1.6%	17	15
OAK	5.4%	18	4	ARI	4.6%	18	11
DET	18.0%	19	10	TEN	10.8%	19	10
IND	28.4%	20	4	CLE	26.5%	20	5
ATL	32.4%	21	23	DEN	28.2%	21	10
SF	34.9%	22	10	LAC	28.2%	22	2
CAR	40.2%	23	12	SF	34.5%	23	5
TB	43.5%	24	15	CAR	36.7%	24	7
TEN	46.4%	25	16	LAR	40.4%	25	11
DEN	57.0%	26	4	CHI	48.8%	26	3
GB	64.6%	27	17	JAX	51.0%	27	9
BAL	67.4%	28	7	IND	72.2%	28	8
NO	71.5%	29	13	OAK	84.9%	29	6
MIA	128.4%	30	7	DAL	94.4%	30	6
DAL	133.0%	31	3	GB	100.3%	31	6
NYG	151.6%	32	8	BAL	201.8%	32	2

For the second year in a row, Atlanta faced the most slot targets by a running back with 23. This makes plenty of sense with a schedule that featured three of the league's most diverse receiving backs: Chicago's Tarik Cohen (four targets), Carolina's Christian McCaffrey (four targets), and New Orleans' Alvin Kamara (seven targets).

New England faced a back out wide a league-high 17 times. The Jets accounted for six of those attempts in two meetings, including four throws to Elijah McGuire in Week 17. Only the first play worked for the Jets.

2017 Defense vs. Tight Ends

Like with running backs, we are not going to show Slot% or DVOA difference for tight ends between slot and wide due to the very small sample size of wide targets. No defense faced more than 15 such plays. However, every defense faced at least 30 slot targets from a tight end, so that portion at least makes the central limit theorem happy.

Defense vs. Tight Ends, Slot vs. Wide, 2017
Defense	Slot DVOA	Rk	Slot Passes	Defense	Wide DVOA	Rk	Wide Passes
MIN	-47.9%	1	46	CIN	-177.0%	1	3
NYJ	-30.0%	2	40	LAC	-151.5%	2	8
NE	-29.7%	3	45	NO	-126.9%	3	5
DAL	-27.4%	4	42	WAS	-108.2%	4	6
PIT	-24.5%	5	43	GB	-108.2%	5	4
BAL	-23.2%	6	43	CAR	-84.8%	6	6
TB	-20.4%	7	33	DET	-74.2%	7	3
BUF	-17.4%	8	45	TB	-73.9%	8	3
ATL	-17.4%	9	55	CHI	-62.4%	9	3
DET	-15.8%	10	30	KC	-56.3%	10	14
SEA	-8.8%	11	47	SEA	-46.7%	11	11
NYG	-6.4%	12	55	MIN	-30.7%	12	6
PHI	-4.1%	13	39	JAX	-27.9%	13	3
NO	-3.1%	14	37	MIA	-24.1%	14	9
SF	-0.4%	15	37	HOU	-10.9%	15	13
CAR	1.4%	16	40	TEN	-5.3%	16	8
Defense	Slot DVOA	Rk	Slot Passes	Defense	Wide DVOA	Rk	Wide Passes
ARI	2.2%	17	42	ARI	-4.4%	17	10
CIN	5.9%	18	41	NE	-0.9%	18	8
MIA	8.6%	19	53	BUF	-0.4%	19	9
CHI	11.2%	20	43	NYJ	-0.3%	20	8
LAC	15.0%	21	44	IND	8.1%	21	4
KC	16.9%	22	53	ATL	12.8%	22	13
HOU	19.1%	23	39	PIT	21.7%	23	5
GB	19.8%	24	38	LAR	27.0%	24	9
JAX	20.9%	25	31	SF	28.2%	25	7
LAR	21.1%	26	40	NYG	30.6%	26	15
DEN	24.3%	27	57	PHI	34.6%	27	15
OAK	28.1%	28	58	DAL	37.2%	28	4
TEN	29.4%	29	45	DEN	47.3%	29	15
CLE	40.4%	30	37	OAK	58.3%	30	7
IND	43.4%	31	33	CLE	72.9%	31	6
WAS	49.6%	32	52	BAL	86.9%	32	5

Oakland (58) and Denver (57) faced the most slot passes, which can be expected when playing in the same division as Travis Kelce and Antonio Gates. The Vikings finished No. 1 in slot DVOA, but should see a much better challenge this year in the division from Jimmy Graham (Packers) and Trey Burton (Bears).

For some random trivia, the top three defenses in slot DVOA reached the conference championships in 2016, and two of the top three (Vikings and Patriots) did so last year. Kendall Fuller's success did not involve covering tight ends in the slot, since the Redskins ranked last there.