Detroit Lions near the top of the NFC North safety power rankings
By Ash Thompson
The Detroit Lions have a potentially great safety group. It is the unknown that prevents them from reaching the top of the NFC North’s safety rankings.
You don’t see the Detroit Lions safeties unless they’re doing something very good or doing something very bad. When a fan is staring at the TV screen wondering how a player could possibly have been left wide open for an easy deep touchdown, it is often the safety who gets the blame in the replay. The safety is also likely to be the player laying a crowd-pleasing massive hit on a receiver or picking off an errant throw in the middle of the field to save a victory.
Safeties are the ultimate football wingmen. They don’t cover the other team’s best receiver alone, but they help the corners get that job done. More often it is the fourth or fifth best receiver on the opposing team that a safety goes after. They do it because someone has to or the entire effort is ruined by the ignored receiver.
Safeties are not valued to the same level as corners, their salaries are half that of their defensive backfield compatriots. However, it is the safeties that make sure the secondary is on the same page. It is easier to find the mental make up of a good safety in an athletic enough package than it is to find the rarified athlete required to play corner.
Safeties cover everyone’s mistakes, they are the final thing between anyone else’s blown assignment and a touchdown. They serve a tertiary role in run support in addition to their importance to pass defense.
The safety groups of the NFC North all have one dominant figure. It is the relative quality of the supporting cast around that player that separates them.