When the Redskins hired former Buccaneers’ head coach Raheem Morris this off-season as a Defensive Backs Coach, some changes were expected in Washington’s secondary. DeAngelo Hall is experiencing a big change as he moves to the nickel DB position. Moving him inside of coverage could bring a totally different dynamic to the Redskins’ defense, and luckily for Hall, he has some great competition across from him in camp to help him adjust to the change.
“[Wide receiver] Santana [Moss] has gotten me a couple of times,” said Hall during his Tuesday press conference. “I’ve gotten him a couple of times. I’m looking forward to the preseason games just to mix it up with other guys.”
“[I’m] just excited about getting into some real games, going against other guys and seeing how I can mix it up against them: show different blitzes and things like that, [then] get out of it. It’s just a lot of opportunities and possibilities to make plays.”
Making plays is something Hall does well. He’s a tremendous athlete, but sometimes struggles in coverage. Hall admitted that himself during his chat with the media, saying, “I’m probably not a great corner, but I feel like I’m a great football player.”
Hall feels that playing in slot gives him a chance to be a football player, and that’s when Hall is at his best. “I like to try to use tips and things that are going on with the offense and things like that and use the defensive scheme and try to use it to my advantage. Going in the slot gives me the chance to tweak some things, play around with some things. If I might be going on the blitz, I can send my safety, I can go back and cover, or I can go play deep half, or I can go do this, go do that. They’ve given me a lot of flexibility to just go out there and make plays.”
Playing the nickel position puts Hall closer to the action. Hall said he even joked with linebackers London Fletcher and Brian Orakpo, telling them “You better get used to seeing me around down here with you all.”
Expect to see Hall at linebacker depth frequently, showing blitz, then he can move back into coverage which fools quarterbacks. Of course, in order for that to work, Hall will now have to legitimately blitz some portion of the time. Though Hall admits he’s never had a sack, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make more plays on this defense.
“You have to tackle, you have to be able to pick passes off, you have to be able to read routes, you have to know what the linebacker does. I’m essentially the linebacker in base personnel when we’re in nickel personnel. I have to know what the linebackers do as well as what my secondary is doing back there,” explained Hall
Hall hopes the secondary can be dominant, along with Washington’s front 7 in 2012. With Hall moving to the nickel position, one thing is certain, Washington’s defense will be more unpredictable. Hopefully, that will lead to an increase in turnovers as well.
By Emmanual Benton
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