The Indianapolis Colts’ Nick Cross has been one of the better run defense safeties in football this season by several Pro Football Focus metrics.
PFF has recently introduced a new metric called run-defense win rate. For more on that metric, click here. But in short, it measures how often a player earns a positive run defense grade relative to the number of run defense opportunities they’ve had.
Among the safety position, Cross will enter Week 8 ranked 10th in that category with a win rate of 7.46 percent.
Another PFF metric is stop-rate. A stop is considered a play that results in a “failure” for the offense. An example would be a two-yard tackle on a 3rd-and-three play. Again, among all safeties, Cross ranks ninth in that category.
In terms of total run-stops, Cross ranks second, along with ranking first in run defense tackles.
Early on in training camp, it was thought that Cross would be competing for playing time as the Colts’ free safety with Julian Blackmon the strong safety. However, as camp unfolded, Cross was being utilized in both roles, and now on the depth chart, he is listed as the strong safety, seeing more opportunities in the box.
That role change has given him more opportunities to help out in the run game. While it’s great to have a safety who is capable against the run, part of the reason he is among the leaders in tackles and stops is because opposing ball carriers are getting to the second level of the Colts’ defense with relative ease at times.
The 4.6 yards per rush allowed by the Colts this season ranks 21st in the NFL and the 28 explosive runs are the second-most.
On a defensive unit where the play from week-to-week has been quite volatile, the emergence of Cross has been a consistent bright spot. Coming into the season, there were major unknowns around the safety position, but Cross’ play has provided some needed stability.
