The theory of the big nickel

Explaining Seth Fisher's idea for the next big defensive adjustment, the tight end adjuster for a defense.

Many years back I had some theories on the possibility of teams starting to answer the problem of the modern receiving tight end with the “big nickel” position designed to counteract his impact.

I gave up to some extent, because there are major problems in matching a tight end with a similar player on defense. The trick is in the differences between action vs reaction.

A tight end can be a 6-foot-5, 250 pound dude with some legit straight line speed, knowhow in getting open, and nifty footwork in route running. Everything he does he’s moving forward to either a predetermined spot or at an angle he discovers to be available after the fact (for the truly special ones).

If you’re covering that guy, you have to back pedal and move backwards, change direction, etc. You have to see where he’s going and react, ideally beating him to spots. It’s a lot harder and there’s a certain height/weight ratio at which guys can still be extremely athletic at moving forward but stop being able to flip their hips or go backwards. I suspect it’s at around 210 pounds and usually less. Anyone heavier than 210 usually goes off a cliff in terms of being able to change direction, back pedal, flip your hips, and mirror the movements of a fast athlete no matter how big he is. Most can’t do it at any size well enough to hang with a receiver or the most elite tight end athletes (think Travis Kelce, Rob Gronkowski, etc).

Yet we may still see the development of a “big nickel” across the game because there’s simply a lot of value to what this sort of player can offer across the board for the defense in matching the tight end if used properly.

Here’s how I think it could work…