Nickel Defense Football Coaching Guide (Includes Images)

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There was a time in football when the Nickel defense was used only in particular situations.

When the offense was in an obvious passing situation, defenses would respond by taking a strong-side linebacker off the field and replacing him with an extra defensive back.

This gave them more speed and coverage ability against an offensive formation that more times than not featured an extra wide receiver.

This extra player, called the nickelback, was often the third best cornerback or third best safety on the field.

So while he was probably better than the linebacker he substituted for in terms of coverage abilities, he wasn’t good enough to see the field very often in regular base formations.

But as offenses at the collegiate and professional levels started progressing into passing the ball more often and running a spread formation, defenses began realizing that the Nickel defense was a great option to run as a base formation.

The key to doing that was making a wrinkle to the original Nickel formation…

Either making sure the team had a fifth really good player in the secondary, or moving a starting safety or cornerback into that nickelback position.

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