DEFENSIVE DUTIES OF BRONCOS SAFETY CHANGE WITH PLAY
Safety Parks must be ready to help just about anywhere
The Swiss Army Knife of the Broncos defense is drawing imaginary lines through the air inside the locker room. Will Parks is taking a visitor inside the mind of an all-purpose NFL safety, a position with diverse responsibilities that require, at least in his case, unusual study habits.
“I don’t use flash cards, but at home I have notes all over the place,” Parks said as he began pantomiming his note-taking process. “I’ve got this personnel here and this personnel here, but I attach it and I’ve got lines drawn all over. But this might refer to this, so now I have a line and an arrow I draw over here. As the week goes, I clear it all up. But for every page (of notes most players take), I’ve got four or five. It’s crazy, but I enjoy it.”
Catch all that?
As Parks sharply scribbled lines and arrows with his finger, it conjured the image of a mathematician blanketing a blackboard with equations that draw on multiple formulas to solve. In a way, this is the job description for the second-year safety out of Arizona, a player whose physical makeup and defensive talent have landed him perhaps the most complex job on the Broncos defense. In any given game, Parks will be used in nearly a half-dozen ways on defense. His position has been called a spur, a hybrid and many other names that essentially describe a player who must be ready to help just about anywhere.
“Willy Parks (has) had a bunch on his plate,” Broncos coach Vance Joseph said. “He’s playing base safety. He’s our big corner in packages. He’s also playing dime. He’s doing a lot more than (starting safety) Justin (Simmons) as far as assignments, and he’s done a good job. It hasn’t been perfect, but he’s fully engaged. He’s a tough guy, and every game he’s improved.”
Parks had five tackles and a pass defensed in Denver’s recent victory over the Raiders, and a closer look at a few of the plays he made provide a window into how much
is asked of him.
• First quarter, third-and-8. Parks is lined up in the slot in front of Oakland’s top wide receiver, Amari Cooper. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr sees what he views as a mismatch, but as Cooper breaks toward the sideline on a deep out route, Parks follows in stride and knocks the ball away, forcing a punt.
• Second quarter, third-and-6. Parks is in the slot again, this time covering tight end Jared Cook. He sags off in coverage, then breaks on Cook as he catches the ball 1yard short of the first-down marker, bringing up fourth down.
• Next play, fourth-and-1. Parks is essentially a third inside linebacker, lined up just inside of edge rusher Shaq Barrett. At the snap, Parks detects that he’s unaccounted for. He bursts through a gap and takes down Marshawn Lynch just as he reaches the line of scrimmage, giving the Broncos a turnover on downs.
• Third quarter, third-and-14. Parks is playing dime ‘backer and is tasked with zone responsibilities. At the snap, cornerback Aqib Talib is lined up on Cooper, who drags across the middle. Once Cooper crosses the middle of the formation, Parks takes over the coverage for Talib. Carr believes he has a window as Talib trails off the coverage, but by the time Cooper catches the ball, Parks is on top of him for a tackle that stops the play after a 1-yard gain.
And so it goes for Parks, who has, in 154 snaps, been in coverage 113 times, assigned to run defense 30 times and has been a pass rush- er 11 times, according to Pro Football Focus. Parks plays with a physicality that belies his 6-foot-1, 194-pound frame. His upper-body strength gives him an edge playing the run against the tight ends assigned to block him, as evidenced by his takedown of Lynch, when he brushed off late attempts to block him.
“He’s a huge reason why we’re so good in the run game, being able to come down and fill those gaps where we need him,” Broncos linebacker Shane Ray said. “To see him grow as a player is very exciting.”
Parks honed his coverage skills at Arizona, where playing the “spur” linebacker-safety hybrid often meant sticking with some of the Pac-12’s quickest receivers in the slot. But the growth that Parks has shown in his second NFL season has been founded on understanding the philosophy of what the Broncos are trying to accomplish defensively. Having so many roles means he’s had to develop a fundamental understanding of nearly every position, and that’s required an increased dedication to his craft.
“It’s six or seven hours here, and when I go home, I always watch (film) for an extra hour or two,” Parks said. “When I go home, I eat and rest for about an hour, take a little break just to get mind away from it and then go back to it. Basically, every day I’m in my iPad just going over it. For me, every position I play is nothing but details.
“When it comes to studying, I have a set amount of time and a set amount of notes that I write. It works out for me throughout the week. By the time game time comes, and I see something, I know I wrote it down and I know what’s coming.”