The Vikings Are Going to Use the “Big Nickel” – What is That?

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores designs complex defenses. One wrinkle uses a third safety. How does that help?

Photo by Christopher Mast/Getty Images

Throughout training camp – and now the joint practices – we’ve seen the Minnesota Vikings deploy a third safety in their nickel packages. With the starting unit that means taking Mekhi Blackmon, the nickel corner, off the field in order to put in Josh Metellus.

The Vikings have safeties on the roster with versatile skillsets, including fourth-round draft pick Jay Ward and corner-turned-safety Camryn Bynum. If they wanted to deploy safeties in a number of ways, they definitely have the resources to make it happen.

But why do it?

Why Defenses Use Nickel Personnel

The reasons one might go into a traditional nickel set makes intuitive sense – matching a third receiver with a third cornerback instead of with a linebacker. But the third safety doesn’t necessarily map directly onto that matchup paradigm. And that thought process – matching like for like – wasn’t even the reason we saw it first implemented in the NFL.

The evolution of defenses throughout the NFL has been fascinating, and Bill Belichick and the Patriots have played no small part in the evolution we’ve seen on that side of the ball. The Patriots are actually one of the reasons that we’ve seen many more Big Nickel-type sets on offense and defense since 2012. Flores, as part of that tradition, knows the value that a third safety can provide.

There hasn’t been as much cataloging – especially online – on the history and evolution of NFL defenses, but one of the best ones I’ve seen comes from Jene Bramel, writing for New York Times Fifth Down Blog.

If you attempt to find it at the New York Times, you won’t find it. But a good tip is to attempt to find the original URL and see if it’s ever been archived on the Wayback Machine or similar websites. For NYT pieces, it likely has been. The full seven-part series, archived, which I highly recommend:

·       Part 1: Guide to N.F.L. Defenses

·       Part 2: Evolution of the 4-3 Front

·       Part 3: The 4-3 Front Continued

·       Part 4: The 3-4 Front

·       Part 5: The Zone Blitz

·       Part 6: The 46 Defense

·       Part 7: Nickel Subpackages

As for the nickel defense specifically, it should be unsurprising to learn that the innovation of putting one type of player in instead of another isn’t particularly new. Its understanding as a specific subpackage was implemented by multiple coaches during the 1950s and it’s unclear – and even unlikely – whether they inspired each other to do it.

The coach who people agree first used the “nickel” defensive terminology, Clark Shaughnessy, was a Minnesota native who was jaded by his playtime at the University of Minnesota. Shaughnessy has (sometimes incorrectly) been credited with a number of football innovations, and is perhaps most famous for reviving the T formation.

He’s one of the best coaches in Stanford football history and his role as an advisor to the Chicago Bears is one reason why Chicago rolled over Washington in the 1940 NFL Championship 73-0.

Though the “nickel” defense entered practice at least as early as the 1950s, it wasn’t until the 1980s that we saw the “big nickel.” As Bramel tells it:

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, another defensive guru, Fritz Shurmur, devised the “Big Nickel” (a k a “Wolverine”) 4-2-5 defense. Shurmur used the scheme to great success against the juggernaut 49ers, but often used it as a base defense in later years when his linebackers were beset by injury. The Big Nickel allowed Shurmur to get an extra safety-linebacker hybrid into the lineup. Depending on his personnel, he could cover and pass-rush with the secondary personnel, but still support the run, all while disguising which coverage his defense would play. The Big Nickel has made a comeback in recent seasons, particularly against star receiving tight ends like Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez and Todd Heap.

The recent revival in interest over the past decade is both because of the difficulty of matching up with some of those excellent receiving tight ends and because of the prevalence of two-tight end sets from teams like the Patriots, who managed phenomenal offenses using both Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

The Patriots were also the team most likely to deploy three safeties in that era, a tradition that re-emerged over the past two seasons – New England led the league in Big Nickel usage and found themselves putting three safeties on the field on 60.6 percent of snaps in 2022 (78.3 percent if one counts Jalen Mills as a safety). They, at some points during the season, rostered seven safeties.

Let’s talk about what that looks like.