Formation of the Nickel Defense in Football

Series Summary

The game of gridiron football is an icon of Americanism. From its roots in early versions of rugby football brought over the Atlantic from England, football takes it place alongside baseball as the most American of sports. Though its name is somewhat deceptive, and in fact logically unsound, football is the most widely watched sport in the United States, and its championship game, whose name is not known only to those who have been living on the moon for the last fifty years, the super bowl is the most watched television event in the United States. The sport is the caretaker of the Greatest Game Ever Played, the NFL championship game from 1958, which hosted 15 then future hall of famers and historic names such as Johnny Unitas, and continues to delight audiences with its mix of complex strategy and physical play.

In this free video series our expert Billy Kidd will tell you everything you need to know about the nickel defense in American football. He will show you the correct formations, how to prepare for a pass, and how to cover receivers in a cover 1 and cover 2 defense. Billy will talk about doing a full blitz and the importance of quarterback pressure before going over the pros and cons of the nickel defense.

Video Transcript

"I am Billy Kid, here at Expert Village. We're going to talk about the nickel defense. Nickel defense. Nickel defense, when that term is used primarily refers to the secondary of the defense. So, on a defense you've got your defensive line. You've got ends and tackles and nose tackles and etc. You've got line backers that can play in these positions. Then you've got what we call the defensive backs. Typically you've got a safety, a strong safety and two corners that make up a team. So, what you've got when you've got a nickel back or nickel defense, what you're doing in theory you're taking out an extra person. It could be a line backer or it could be a defensive linemen and you're adding an extra person that could go to the secondary as a cover person. Now, that person could be another safety or that person could be another corner. Whatever he is you tend to end up calling the nickel back because now that gives you in a perfect world five defensive backs. Five, short term for that being nickel and that?s how we come up with the term nickel defense."