Understanding coverages allows you to know what the defense is trying to do. If you can understand where the defenders are going to be and what their responsibilities are then you can figure out ways to exploit and beat the defense. Mastering the mental side of the game is the separator from good to great and great to elite. Once you start playing at high levels, everyone is big, fast, athletic, and talented so the separation comes from preparation and understanding the mental side of the game better than anyone else on the field.
Cover 3 is a type of defense that has “3” defenders playing deep zones. There are different variations of cover 3 like “cloud”, “buzz”, and “sky”, but in this post we are just going to focus on a traditional 4-4 cover 3 defense. Alright, let’s break it down…
4-4 is referring to how many defensive linemen and how many linebackers there are. You always start with the defensive linemen. One easy way to remember this is to start with the position group that is closest to the ball (Defensive linemen are closer than linebackers). The first 4 in 4-4 means there are 4 defensive linemen. The second number corresponds to how many linebackers there are so 4-4 means there are also 4 linebackers.
Cover 3 means there are three defenders in deep zones. A good way to think about this is that the defense is dividing up the field into 3 deep zones (If you are in the middle the 3 zones are between the hashes and each hash to the close sideline).
Corners are responsible for the outside deep ⅓ of the field. They want to try and keep everything in front of them and not get beat deep. Often corners will line up around 5-8 yards pre-snap, but this can vary. Corners can also “disguise” the coverage and line up pressed and then bail at the snap of the ball. Two common techniques for corners in cover 3 are backpedaling or facing the quarterback and shuffling.
The safety is responsible for the middle deep ⅓ of the field. He wants to try and keep everything in front of him and not get beat deep. Typically, safeties line up around 12 yards pre-snap but this can vary team to team and can range from 10-20 yards. The safety will often read the quarterback’s eyes to try and make a play on the ball. This can be used to your advantage on offense because you can often look the safety off and throw opposite of where you are looking.
Outside linebackers are responsible for getting to the flats. The flats are the areas underneath the corners (5-10 yards over by the sideline). The number one thing outside backers must do in cover 3 is “jam” or reroute the inside WR from releasing vertical up the field. If the WR in front of them releases vertical they will try to get their hands on them and shove them off of their route before dropping to their zone. The reason this is vitally important is because if they let that WR release clean up the hash then it will put too much stress on the safety to cover both WRs running down the seams. Often, outside backers will line up in the 4-6 yard range pre-snap.
Inside linebackers are responsible for dropping to the curl/hook zone. Before dropping to their zones, inside backers will step up for run action. This means that if you give a good play fake on play action then they will step up before getting to their zones. Typically, inside backers will line up anywhere from 3-6 yards pre-snap.
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