For analysis, networks turn to safeties in numbers
In his first 20 months on the job, 49ers general manager John Lynch has earned high marks for his communication skills and football acumen.
The reaction from a certain segment of NFL analysts: Of course, he’s a former safety.
With the NFL’s regular season opening Thursday, it’s notable that fans this season will continue to be informed about the game by ex-safeties who have made successful transitions to television.
That group includes Louis Riddick (ESPN), Rodney Harrison (NBC), Ryan Clark (ESPN), Darren Woodson (ESPN) and Charles Woodson (ESPN), who spent the final four seasons of his 18-year career at the position.
The fraternity used to include Lynch, who was on Fox’s No. 2 broadcasting team before joining the 49ers’ front office. But the number of safeties isn’t shrinking: Lynch’s spot in the booth has been assumed by Charles Davis, a former safety at the University of Tennessee who will call the 49ers’ regularseason opener at Minnesota on Sunday.
Chad Finn, who covers sports media for the Boston
Globe, interviewed Riddick, Clark and Harrison last year for a feature story on Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and was struck by their keen insight. Later, he was struck by the realization that they are all ex-safeties.
“They were all really fascinating to talk to because they are opinionated and see the game in a lot of different ways,” Finn said. “… It just struck me at that point in time that safeties were guys who can provide a lot of insight into various aspects of the NFL.”
What’s so special about safeties? Ask them. They are happy to explain.
As far as communication, they are often the quarterbacks of the secondary and call out pre-snap adjustments if, for example, an offense comes to the line with three wide receivers bunched on one side.
“Obviously, quarterbacks call the plays, they make adjustments at the line, and safeties do the exact same things,” said Clark, who started 152 games in his 13-year career. “The safeties have to understand when you make a certain call — what’s the cornerback doing? What’s the middle linebacker doing? What’s the (defensive front) going to be?
“It develops communications skills and I think it lends itself to really understanding the game and seeing it from a broader perspective than some of those guys that just kind of zero in and try to win their one-on-one matchups.”
As far as perspective, a safety’s position on the back end of the defense gives him a global view of the game. Much like quarterbacks, who scan the entire field from the pocket, safeties are accustomed to seeing all 21 other players during video study.
“You kind of grow up playing the game and seeing the game through a much broader lens,” said Riddick, who spent 13 seasons as a scout and personnel executive after a sixyear NFL career. “It forces you to open your mind to everything that is going on around you and not just your assignment.
“That’s how we’re used to seeing the game because of how you’re aligned and what you’re asked to do. If you can’t see more than what’s in front of you, you can’t play that position.”
Lynch notes it’s not uncommon for a safety to be asked to perform job duties associated with every other defensive position: Covering like cornerbacks, playing closer to the line of scrimmage box like linebackers and, when blitzing, rushing like defensive linemen.
“That’s why I loved the position because you’re asked to a do little bit of everything,” said Lynch, who was voted to nine Pro Bowls in a 15-year career. “… You’d better be very versatile, and you better be very well versed in the defense.”
Darren Woodson, who went to five Pro Bowls in his 12-year career with the Cowboys, said he routinely met with his defensive coordinator and head coach to discuss game plans. And the work habits he developed to ensure he didn’t let down the defense on game days have transferred to his career in broadcasting.
“When a call is busted on the field, it doesn’t matter if it’s a linebacker or cornerback or a defensive end dropping in coverage. When it busts, the first person everyone looks to is you,” Woodson said. Former Cowboys defensive coordinator “Mike Zimmer used to say ‘S—rolls downhill. And if they mess up, it’s coming from me to you.”
Many of these qualities, of course, aren’t unique to safeties.
In general, Riddick says, the NFL’s signal-callers — safeties, centers, middle linebackers and quarterbacks — can make for sharp analysts. ESPN’s Jeff Saturday and Damien Woody, he notes, both played center in the NFL and offer brilliant insight.
“It does make sense why maybe those positions look at the game differently and have a bigger, all-encompassing perspective than maybe some other positions that play on the perimeter,” Riddick said. “Corners are oftentimes just worried about ‘What the hell is going on my side of the field? Who do I have? Just tell me and then leave me alone.’ They don’t really give a s—- about what’s happening on the other side.
“And it’s the same with a defensive tackle or a defensive end. They just want to know. “Where am I aligned? What is my gap responsibility and let me get off the ball and kick ass.’ That’s not to say that they’re not smart — that’s what their viewpoint is.”
Quarterbacks, of course, dominate the world of NFL analysts, which has something to do with them playing the game’s most glamorous position. As Tony Romo of CBS illustrated while routinely predicting play calls during his critically acclaimed debut last year, the nature of the position also produces a deep understanding of the game.
It’s notable that Lynch was a quarterback for his first two seasons at Stanford under head coach Dennis Green, a protege of Bill Walsh.
“That helped me playing for two years in a West Coast system,” Lynch said. “So I knew what quarterbacks were thinking — I had some basic understanding of the way they saw the game. And I think the safety position is similar.”
Given his background, perhaps it’s no surprise that Lynch excelled as a broadcaster and appears to be on a similar trajectory as a GM.
“I like what John Lynch is doing out there,” Riddick said.
What Riddick didn’t need to say: Of course he’s doing well, he’s a former safety.