2019 NFL Draft Guide: Coaching Systems - NFC South

Let’s keep things rolling with the coaching systems here. As always, if you missed any of the AFC or earlier coverage of some of the NFC divisions, just click the links below:

AFC East (includes glossary of coaching terminology)

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

Now let’s head down south…..

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons

Offensive Breakdown: At this point you’ve probably read the Coaches on the Hot Seat piece, so you know Dan Quinn is likely fighting for his job this year after the Falcons missed the playoffs last season. As a result, he has taken control of the defense and will serve as his own defensive coordinator, which means he needed some serious experience to run the offense. He turns to Dirk Koetter who was the Falcons OC between 2012 and 2014 and has a strong familiarity with Matt Ryan . That means Ryan isn’t learning a new system which, after witnessing him trying to adapt and struggling in Steve Sarkisian’s scheme, is reassuring for fantasy owners.

Koetter uses a base in the Air Coryell system and uses the run to set up the pass. He’ll mix in some spread formations as well, but he’ll run hard with Devonta Freeman and look to set up bigger plays downfield through the air. Staying with the zone-blocking is also going to help Freeman tremendously and you should look for plenty of two tight-end sets to get that extra blocker in space when they run outside. Koetter loves the big play, so if this o-line does its job and they have little issue establishing the run, we could see a very strong amount of production from this team again. 

Players Who Best Fit the System: Matt Ryan , Devonta Freeman , Julio Jones , Austin Hooper

Defensive Scheme: 4-3 with a Cover-3

Defensive Breakdown: Quinn hasn’t really said much about his defensive plans, so this is more going with what we’ve seen from him back when he was with Seattle and what his tendencies were. He did add former Chiefs DC Bob Sutton who has almost always used a 4-3 base, so perhaps we see different set-ups with Quinn’s 4-3 as the base. The biggest difference you’re likely to see is in the secondary. Quinn was one of the architects of the original Legion of Boom and Sutton’s secondaries have been very strong in zone coverage.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Vic Beasley , Keanu Neal , Ricardo Allen

Carolina Panthers

Offensive Breakdown: Ever see the movie Diggstown? In an early scene Oliver Platt tells this group of country bumpkins that they don’t want him to sit at their poker table because he’s just going to take all their money. When he does, they get upset and he says, “I told you I was going to do this. I said so and you wanted me to sit and play anyway.” I feel like this was Norv Turner last year. He said right from the start, he was going to give Christian McCaffrey a gazillion touches and he did just that. And it worked. For the most part. Not bad for a first year which is why we expect Turner to stay the course with his offense this year.

Turner’s offense is very well-balance and he does a great job of using the run to help set up bigger plays downfield. Coming out of 11-Personnel allows Turner to unleash a number of solid options to move the ball as it spreads the defense out. He can run with McCaffrey, use RPO to attack the middle of the field or, if the coverage is soft, hit one of the receivers downfield for a bigger play. Turner has done a great job of modernizing his offense for today’s NFL and gets the most out of his players.  

Players Who Best Fit the System: Cam Newton , Christian McCaffrey , Curtis Samuel , D.J. Moore

Defensive Scheme: 4-3 with multiple zone coverages

Defensive Breakdown: Rivera is the defensive specialist here and while he’s got Eric Washington as his DC, Rivera is going to be the one to call the plays. He relinquished those duties for a short time last season, but was often at odds with Washington on certain defensive decisions and eventually took back the reins. Look for the two to work in more harmony this year as they’ve changed up the personnel plenty to mesh the two philosophies.

Rivera has always run a 4-3 base, but you can expect them to mix up different looks and use a 3-4 system at times. The additions of Gerald McCoy and Bruce Irvin via free agency along with the drafting of Brian Burns gives them the flexibility to line up both ways and maintain a strong pass-rush. Rivera loves to blitz fairly heavily, so having the guys on the edge while still maintaining a strong presence up the middle is going to be key. As for the secondary, Rivera usually rolls with a variety of zone coverage packages. Washington likes to use man-coverage at times, depending on the opposition, so again, expect some hybrid looks.  

Players Who Best Fit the System: Gerald McCoy , Brian Burns, Bruce Irvin , Luke Keuchly

New Orleans Saints

Offensive Breakdown: We witnessed a major change in the Saints offensive scheme in 2017 when they went from being one of the most pass-heavy teams to one that leaned heavily on the run thanks to the tandem of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram . They became a true Air Coryell system that used the power-run to set up the downfield passing attack and should continue to feature that this season. Latavius Murray replaces Ingram this year which won’t have much of an effect on the game plan.

The passing attack is all about timing in this offense and the relationship between Drew Brees and his receivers is going to need to be tight for them to be as effective as they’ve been in the past. You will see a lot of pre-snap motion whether they are lineup up in traditional formation or shotgun in order to give Brees a better look at what the defense is doing and he’ll have the autonomy to change things up depending on what he sees. So long as this Michael Thomas contract situation is resolved, you can count on the Saints offense to put up plenty of points.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Drew Brees , Alvin Kamara , Michael Thomas

Defensive Scheme: 4-3 with Cover-3 zone

Defensive Breakdown: Dennis Allen continues to teach and develop his defense and has taken a once-atrocious unit and turned it into something a whole lot more respectable. He uses a 4-3 base, but has definitely been known to mix it up often depending on the opposition. He also likes to use a lot of Cover-3 packages, but he also started mixing in some Cover-2 looks and, on a rare occasion – which we may see more this year – he’ll use more man-to-man with Marshon Lattimore and Eli Apple on the outside. Lattimore is definitely the better cover guy so Apple’s side is likely where you’ll see the safeties come over the top.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Cameron Jordan , A.J. Klein , Marshon Lattimore

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Offensive Breakdown: Welcome back to the NFL, Bruce Arians. After a brief one-season hiatus, Arians is back in charge, this time with a Bucs team that has some strong offensive prowess but could just use a little more direction and leadership. Dirk Koetter helped lead the Bucs to having one of the more prolific passing attacks, but it was definitely more reactionary than anything. There was little to no ground game of which to speak and the defense was terrible which forced the Buc into a much more pass-heavy scheme. This season, things should remain prolific, but in a more balanced fashion.

Arians, with the help of his OC and protégé Byron Leftwich, need to get the running backs in proper form for this offense. They need to pass-block, catch passes, run in space and power-run between the tackles. Basically, they need to do it all and understand that Arians won’t just abandon the run. Once they have that aspect, the passing game will unfold with a lot more ease. Arians gives a lot of control to his quarterback and Winston will be able to deliver the ball within the route tree where he sees fit. Timing is going to need precision and the receivers are going to need to learn every route in the tree. If everyone is on the same page, this offense could be explosive. Of course, there are a lot of ifs – Peyton Barber vs Ronald Jones , Chris Godwin needing to take his game to the next level and, of course, Jameis Winston ’s penchant for the turnover.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Jameis Winston , Mike Evans , Chris Godwin , O.J. Howard

Defensive Scheme: 4-3 with man-coverage on the outside

Defensive Breakdown: Well you didn’t think they were going to put the band back together and leave out Todd Bowles, did you? He and Arians led quite the team in Arizona and Bowles, who was fired by the Jets after last season, returns to his roots as the Bucs defensive coordinator. He’ll lean on the 4-3 formation, though you may see some more multi-front looks given some of the changes in personnel. They brought in Ndamukong Suh to clog the middle and have Vita Vea there as well. But we could see the two line up side by side on the line if Noah Spence and Carl Nassib can improve their pass-rushing.

The secondary is going to be the toughest as they were burned badly last season…and in seasons prior. The went heavy on the corners in the draft with Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean and also added safety Mike Edwards out of Kentucky. That tells me this training camp is going to be quite the battle. Bowles likes to be aggressive with his secondary and he likes to mix man-coverage on the outside with zone in the middle. If SMB and Dean prove to be stronger candidates on the outside, Vernon Hargreaves and Carlton Davis could see their snaps significantly reduced. The secondary has been an Achilles heel for the Bucs in recent seasons so expect Bowles to make that a major focus.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Ndamukong Suh , Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean, Devin White