Continuing the series, I wanted to circle back to the safety position, looking at and providing stat context for the position using Sports Info Solutions (SIS).
At the first day of training camp practice, SS DeShon Elliott interestingly saw slot cornerback reps, something he hasn’t done particularly often in his career. That position is up for grabs, with the suspension of CB Cam Sutton’s eight game suspension looming.
A role I’ve been concerned about for 2024 is a blitzing slot corner, with Pittsburgh using that at a high rate consistently for many years. Players that who filled that role last season are no longer with the team (Chandon Sullivan, Patrick Peterson), barring a re-signing and begs the question and interest on my studies on this matter.
The data in this study looks at safeties in the 2022 season as pass rushers, zeroing in on Elliott’s last year with substantial pass rush opportunities with Detroit, and former Steelers for comparison.
First, let’s look at pass snaps along with pass rushes to get a gauge of the players pass down opportunities:
Coincidentally, Elliott and former Steeler Terrell Edmunds had the exact same 500 pass snaps (T-22nd), and 18 pass rushes (T-32nd) in 2022, which will make for fair comparisons of their quality of play as we learn more. They were available on pass downs at an above-average clip out of the 54 qualifying safeties with double-digit pass rushes but pass rushing wasn’t the bulk of their contributions.
We also see current free agent Keanu Neal, who was with Pittsburgh last season, leading focused players with 21 pass rushes in 2022 with Tampa Bay. That tied for 25th among his peers, despite having a below the mean 320 pass snaps (44th). So, clearly a more prominent role for him than Elliott and Edmunds.
Next, let’s look at the percentages that the players rushed the passer (pass plays only), and positive play rate from SIS: the percentage of pass plays with the player on the field resulted in a positive EPA (lower percentages are best):
As expected, the plot points for Elliott and Edmunds are the same in rush rate, at 3.6-percent, which tied for a below-average 36th out of the 54 qualifiers. Unexpected was also tying in positive rate at one-percent, impressively at ninth-best in 2022. So far from a data perspective, quality and quantity were identical for both players in 2022.
Neal landed just above the mean with a notably higher 6.6 rush rate, ranking 17th, but the quality lacked in comparison with a below the mean three-percent positive rate when on the field for the Buccaneers.
Here are essential numbers for the topic, pressure and sack percentages:
What jumps off the chart first is an impressive 11.8 sack rate for Edmunds, comfortably leading the players in our sights and ranking fifth-best among his peers with the Black and Gold in 2022. Two sacks to be exact compared to none for Elliott in his lone season with the Lions.
They were quite similar in yet another stat though, teetering the mean in pressure rates. Edmunds was slightly above the line at 23.5 (25th), while Elliott’s 22.2-percent landed one rank lower at 26th. Both were able to make their presence felt on opposing QBs at an average rate, but Edmunds was the one who cashed in.
Speaking of impacting signal callers, Neal posted a much higher 38.1 pressure rate, ranking sixth among the qualifying safeties in 2022. Getting home for sacks was also an issue for him though, at just 2.5-percent (28th).
To close, here is a more total view of the players as pass rushers:
- Points Saved Per Rush – The total of a player’s EPA responsibility on pass plays using the Total Points system that distributes credit among all players on the field for a given play (with positive numbers being good). Totals are scaled up to map to the average points scored or allowed on a team level, with the player’s snap count determining how much to adjust. For pass rushers, this includes accounting for sacks, blown blocks forced, turnovers, turnover returns, and other disruptions at the line of scrimmage. Values are modulated using a quality-of-competition multiplier based on each opponent’s previous year of performance).
- Points Above Average Per Play – using the same Total Points system and putting a number to their value above an average level player.
Interestingly, Neal comes out on top of the players we’re focused on, tying for 15th in points saved per rush and 16th in points saved per play. Then, we see Elliott and Edmunds with virtually the same dots again. The former had the slight edge in points saved per rush at 30th, while they tied for 27th in points above average per play. Edmunds tied for 31st in points saved per rush, one spot lower than Elliott.
Overall, the various views showed eerily similar contributions for Elliott and Edmunds. The unfortunate difference for Elliott was a big one, unable to cash in with sacks.
Elliott had just one pass rush in 2023 with the Miami Dolphins, very sparse in comparison to the 21 he had with Detroit in this 2022 study. He spent his first three seasons with the Ravens, with 17 pass rushes in 2021, and a whopping 61 in 2020 following a rookie year with minimal playing time.
So, Elliott definitely has pass rush experience on his resume and will hopefully provide more impact if utilized that way in 2024 with Pittsburgh. As I stated earlier and in prior studies, the slot corner blitzing role Pittsburgh loves to employ is up for grabs, and I can’t wait to see how it pans out.
