Don’t miss our New Defense on Film series. We took a look at the draft picks and young veterans who are projected to have a big impact this fall. So far we’ve explored: 1) 2) 3)4)5) 6) Jimmy Smith, 7)and 8) Pernell McPhee.
We now turn our sights to the next Free Agency defensive addition, Michael Huff. Though Dumervil may have grabbed more headlines, I see Huff as a more exciting signing.
(Discuss Michael Huff on the Message Board here)
Losing players like Ed Reed and Bernard Pollard in the same offseason would’ve been crushing for most organizations. Though it is certainly not ideal for the Ravens either, they continue to show that they are able to lose some of their best players and still put together a solid roster during this tumultuous time of year.
Prior to the Huff signing, James Ihedigbo was the resident veteran at the safety position. His play was serviceable, and he improved as the year went on, but it will be in the Ravens best interest if they can keep Ihedigbo to about 300 snaps as they did last season.
Michael Huff is a welcome addition to the back end as he is a proven veteran and a very strong player. His relative obscurity is likely a product of being hidden in Oakland since they picked him in the first round in 2006. I turned to the film to see what Huff is all about, and to say the least, I’m sold on the move.
Who is Michael Huff?
Huff was a first round draft pick (seventh overall) for the Oakland Raiders in 2006. In his senior season at Texas, he won the Jim Thorpe award as the nation’s best defensive back. He was also part of the Texas team that beat USC in the 2005 Rose Bowl, one of the most exciting college football games this writer can remember.
According to ProFootballFocus, Huff’s 2012 performance-based value was $2.3 million. This means that if the Ravens get three comparable years out of Huff, they will have made out on the 3-year, $6 million contract that they gave him.
Huff is a bit undersized for a safety, though he doesn’t play like it. He’s listed at 6’0” and 211lbs, which means he gives up about one inch and 15 pounds to Pollard. However, Huff plays “bigger” than his size as he’s shown himself to be both tough and durable. He likes to be a part of the play and rarely shies away from contact, even taking on offensive linemen periodically. Best of all, he has stayed remarkably healthy throughout his career.
In the run game
Below is an example of Huff’s vision and tougness. He is a solid downfield tackler who misses very few tackles considering how fast he closes on the ball carrier.
Huff is lined up almost 25 yards away from the eventual ball carrier but has D-gap run responsibility so he must accelerate from his deep alignment to make a tackle.
Filling the alley
Huff’s positioning is important here. As the image shows he isn’t flying up uncontrolled. He breaks down at the 11 yard-line with help to his inside.
Huff makes the solo tackle well short of the first down.
Huff is not one to shy away from contact even though many coverage schemes will protect a Free Safety from head-on collisions. This rigidity fits well into the Ravens Cover-4 leaning strategy, as he will be expected to read and play the run on early downs. Chris Brown of Smart Football digs into Cover-4 responsibilities (among other things) in this excellent piece for Grantland.
Huff in man-coverage
Huff’s strength isn’t an asset only when he’s defending the run. He’s able to play man against much bigger players who overpower or out-leap most DBs. Below is an outstanding example of a play where Huff is matched against a much larger player.
A familiar match-up. Huff had been following RoddyWhite for much of the day.
Prior to the snap, TE Gonzalez motions to the far right as Roddy White shifts to the left slot. During this late-game, 3rd-down conversion attempt, Matt Ryan sees a match-up that he likes. Gonzo has four inches on Huff and the fade route should make for a jump-ball first down.
In image #1, Huff presses Gonzalez with a wide base and under control. Huff won’t be able to derail his route entirely but he can attempt to disrupt Ryan’s timing as there is a corner blitz called to the opposite side. Image #2 shows Huff in the “pocket” of Gonzo and in good position. As the ball comes in (image #3) Gonzalez extends his arms to grab it. Without seeing the ball, Huff forces his hands between Gonzo’s and forces the incompletion. Mismatches are a big part of every offense’s strategy and being able to shut down perceived advantages will be huge for the Ravens.
Can Huff still play zone?
Huff played the last 14 games of last year at corner so can he still fill the zone roles as expected of safeties?
Huff, in my opinion, is clearly at home in zone coverage and is very good at recognizing route combinations and efficiently splitting receivers. This will undoubtedly please Ravens DC Dean Pees, who is a big fan of Cover-3 and Cover-4, among other zone schemes.
Below we will detail Huff’s coverage of a Smash-7 route combo against the Steelers. Though it seems inconsequential at first, Huff’s work on this play shows he is a very intelligent defensive back with a lot of discipline.
Smash-7. A standard Cover-2 beater.
Michael Huff is playing the far CB position opposite Antonio Brown. The defensive playcall is Cover-6, meaning Huff’s side of the field is playing Cover-2 rules while the opposite side plays with Cover-4 rules. As I will (try to) demonstrate, Huff’s role is to maintain his curl-to-flat zone (blue circle) but this is a difficult route combination against Cover-2 because it stretches Huff’s zone responsibilities both vertically and horizontally.
The only effective way for Huff to cover this concept is to back-pedal with Brown but press upfield when he sees Miller cut to the corner. This way, the safety and the CB bracket the corner route and leave the shorter threat for a slower linebacker to adjust to. Cornerbacks get beat with this combo every Sunday but Michael Huff executes his job perfectly as he pushes vertically to cushion/undercut Miller’s 7-cut. As a result Roethlisberger takes a coverage sack. This play exemplifies his vision and intelligence in zone coverage.
There must be weaknesses in his play right?
As previously mentioned, Huff is a bit undersized to play man-coverage on big #1 receivers. In bump-and-run coverage Huff too often shies away from rerouting the receiver and mostly plays position. This can become a problem against elite receivers on the outside, although this will be less of an issue as a safety. Oakland tended to play Huff against the opposition’s best receiver and Huff had mixed results. He was taken advantage of by Julio Jones but was impressive against Torrey Smith and Mike Wallace.
Lastly, Huff’s size can be an issue in shedding stalk-blocks from receivers.
Bottom Line
Huff is a tough, smart, versatile defensive back. He makes the Ravens secondary instantly better. He has played every position in the defensive backfield. Huff will reportedly play multiple roles in the Ravens defense and his versatility will be a major advantage as he is at home as a free safety playing deep, but has also started playing corner against slot receivers.
It will be exciting to see what kind of coverage schemes Dean Pees comes up with to use Huff’s talents. The return of a healthy Lardarius Webb, the emergence of Jimmy Smith, and the addition of Michael Huff could make the Ravens’ secondary the force that Ravens fans have grown accustomed to.
Dan played high school football at Wilde Lake and graduated from McDaniel College with a degree in Psychology. Dan is currently a Maryland Terp working on his PhD degree in Neuroscience. He has experience writing published scientific material as well as blogging for SBNation via Baltimore Beatdown. Beginning in the 2012 season, Dan has been writing about the Ravens focusing on the X’s and O’s of the game of football with heavy use of overhead (All-22) film analysis. The Columbia, MD native currently lives in Silver Spring.