The New Orleans Saints may have lost their second preseason game to the Green Bay Packers, but they gained valuable information to shape the final depth chart – particularly in the secondary. While Marcus Maye and Tyrann Mathieu, presumed starting safeties, did not play Friday night, Maye only played 11 snaps the week prior. And yet, the remaining personnel of P.J. Williams, Daniel Sorenson, J.T. Gray, and Justin Evans painted an entirely different picture from what we saw against the Houston Texans. Here’s what I learned:
I’ve all but hyper-focused on this position group this offseason, but I’m a former defender, and it’s a fascinating subplot that changes by the week. The vision switch to a secondary of interchangeable, complementary players is well-documented by now, and it’s shown in their employment of coverage through training camp and the preseason. Mainly, more split-safety coverage: Cover-4 dominated the loss to the Texans, followed by Cover-2. That was a departure from the 2021 season headlined by Marcus Williams and Malcolm Jenkins at defined free and strong roles.
Interestingly, the mere absence of Marcus Maye in the various safety sets led to two defined tandems: P.J. Williams and Daniel Sorenson as the starters, and J.T. Gray and Justin Evans – exclusively. Those duos never swapped once. Against Houston, Maye and Williams started in the secondary, and we saw groupings of Gray and Sorenson, Gray and Williams, and Evans and Sorenson. And the dominating split-safety coverage was reflected in the versatility between snaps.
Not only did we only see defined pairs in contrast at Green Bay, but New Orleans employed single-high coverage more reminiscent of last season. They ran Cover-1 on 29% of snaps against the Packers, followed by Cover-3 at 23%. That tied their employment of Cover-4, but Cover-2 dropped from the second-highest coverage last week to the lowest of the night on 20% of snaps. Even more curious was how that divvied out between the two safety pairings.
With Williams and Sorenson on the field, single-high coverage dominated an astounding 76% of snaps. Of their 21 snaps in defined coverage, they ran a mere five with split safeties. Comparatively, the Evans-Gray tandem ran Cover-2 and Cover-4 a combined 59% of their snaps. In single-high coverage plays, Evans and Gray frequently switched from strong to free safety, vice versa, and appeared to have seamless communication in each look.
The sack on 1st and 20 in the second quarter from Cover-4 was a good illustration. Expecting the deep routes, Gray helped blanket cover the three-receiver set to his side while Evans accounted first for the post route on his, and his reaction time and quickness allowed him to come over and shade Gray in coverage. The following play in Cover-2 was no different. Evans and Gray had quickness in their backpedal, and Evans really showed off his fluid hips and accounted for two receivers by body positioning alone, while Gray provided over-the-top help to the respective deep route on his side. Jordan Love scrambled for 3 yards. In the same drive, they had about three run stops as a duo – twice in Cover-4, and the other in Cover-2.
While perfectly serviceable, the tandem of Williams and Sorenson just lacked the silent communication and complementary skills of each respective safety. When Allen made the above comments about safeties that are both interchangeable and complementary, those are two facets. Sorenson and Williams both prove capable of backpedaling into the free safety role and, frankly, are both willing and hungry blitzers. But are they interchangeable?
The overwhelming single-high coverage employed against Green Bay doesn’t seem to hold up as much as the duo of Evans and Gray. Are they complementary? Possibly. But it was more difficult to see why than their counterparts. The last play – which only holds so much stock in a preseason game – was a 51-yard touchdown run. Sorenson was on the edge to blitz and failed to wait and see the handoff before tackling the wrong player with full force. With Williams straight behind the pile in Cover-1, by the time he could see the run around the edge, he was ultimately out of position to make a tackle.
Conversely, the run defense alone by Evans and Gray stands out. They read the plays near-simultaneously and have quick downhill pursuit in concert while accounting for any poor positioning or blocks picked up by one another. Both made strong cases Friday night for solidified spots on the 53-man roster. Gray currently sits behind Maye and Gardner-Johnson – though the Saints don’t designate their nickel on their depth chart – and Evans sits behind Mathieu and Williams. Despite this, Sorenson got the start and has seen quite a bit of playing time through camp.
It looked like Day 19 of training camp was more reflective of the preseason play thus far. Of note, Williams was one of the 14 players absent at Tuesday’s practice. So that affects the increased reps of Evans, Gray, and Sorenson. I’ve been tallying each safety tandem throughout the days I’ve attended camp; it’s not a perfect science with some plays too far to record the numbers, and obviously missing the other days of snaps in drills. But Justin Evans had a noteworthy amount of playing time – his total today was 10 higher than my count through all of camp.
He looks like the truest free safety past Maye in the fluidity of his backpedal and hips, which shows in his change of direction ability, is quick to defend the run, and has solid mental processing. I noticed early in camp that Kris Richard coached him up in the slot – you can see it in how he adjusts to coverage when at safety. Gray’s usage really stuck out to me today.
Again, Williams’ absence plays into things, but when down a few defensive backs, I was really surprised to see the team continue to run Dime defense on at least four plays I recorded today. Gray was at free safety with Maye and Mathieu in the box. Today was the first time all of camp that I’ve observed Gray take snaps with both Maye and Mathieu in split-safety coverage. Frankly, both he and Evans continue to impress me by the day. It’s a reassurance of secondary depth.
But the employment and contrasting styles of coverage in Green Bay were actually quite illuminating on the value of the transformative vision Dennis Allen has at the role. The defense looked more vulnerable to runs both on the edge and up the middle when they had single-high coverage. Both Evans and Gray worked better to stop the run than Williams and Sorenson as they could shade each other and cover accordingly. That disguise ability and strong coverage by Gray and Evans, despite the middle of the field open, clearly affected Love’s ability to attack in the deep passing game.
While Dennis Allen has mentioned the depth of this secondary and the subsequent versatility the group offers, who truly fits the mold is becoming clearer. And it’s a strong case for a jack of trades, master of none group of versatile, playmaking safeties.
