NFL passing games are designed to confuse and displace defenses. That was as true in 1960 as it is in 2024; it’s just that there are so many more ways to do it in the modern era. Offenses are using all kinds of pre-snap motion out of every receiver deployment you can imagine with voluminous route concepts, and when it comes to defense, you have to align your players as expertly and with as much versatility as possible to counter all of that.
It’s one of many reasons the slot defender is so important. We all know that nickel defense is the new base — defenses have led with at least five defensive backs for a long time — and that means your inside pass defenders had best be on their game.
Or games, really. The ideal slot defender in 2024 has to do so many things. He has to roll with his teammates in pre-snap coverage shifts, which can change his responsibilities radically. He has to be able to take tight ends up the chute as well as he deals with option routes and two-way goes from smaller slot receivers. He has to be effective as a run-stopper, or opposing offenses will run right at him. And he should be a great creator of pressure off the edge as a blitzer.
Oh, and he has to let his metrics and tape take a beating as he allows inevitable underneath stuff.
No big deal, right?
In the 2023 NFL season, 166 different players had at least 100 snaps in the slot in coverage. 72 players had 200 or more, and for defenders like Trent McDuffie of the Chiefs, Kenny Moore II of the Colts, Taron Johnson of the Bills, Alontae Taylor of the Saints, and Deommodore Lenoir of the 49ers, there were more snaps in the slot than anywhere else on the field.
Slot defenders have become starters in today’s NFL, with their own specific skill sets and positional requirements. And here are the 11 best in the game today.
Our Top 11 slot defenders list is the latest in our positional rankings; you can read about our best safeties and best outside cornerbacks below:
The NFL’s 11 best safeties
The NFL’s 13 best outside cornerbacks
1. Trent McDuffie, Kansas City Chiefs
With L’Jarius Sneed off to Tennessee, the Chiefs’ plan will be to move Trent McDuffie more to outside cornerback. Which makes sense — the 21st overall pick in 2022 out of Washington has the tools to match up against boundary iso receivers. But in making this switch, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will also be taking reps away from the best slot defender in the business.
Last season, McDuffie (who led the league in slot coverage snaps at 673) allowed 43 catches on 69 slot targets for 436 yards, 194 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, no interceptions, 12 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 90.0. But metrics really don’t tell the whole story when it comes to slot defenders for a number of reasons — some of the best in the business give up receptions underneath, and some of the statistical stars are out of phase more than you might imagine. You have to watch McDuffie on the field, and that’s where it really comes alive. He also had three sacks and 15 total pressures from the slot, and the totality of McDuffie’s game was never more present than in Super Bowl LVIII, which the Chiefs won over the 49ers 25-22 in overtime.
Honestly, you could have made a half-decent case for McDuffie as Super Bowl MVP, because without two major plays from him, that game could have gone very differently. There was his slot breakup of this deep Brock Purdy pass to Deebo Samuel at the start of the second quarter in a scoreless game. This was third-and-14, and Jake Moody kicked a 55-yard field goal on the next down.
Then, with 2:00 left in regulation and the score tied at 16, McDuffie blitzed off the edge, preventing Purdy from hitting Jauan Jennings on the outside slant. This was third-and-5, so Moody was sent out once again and booted a 53-yard field goal to put the 49ers up — for less than two clock minutes.
It will be interesting to see how often McDuffie is deployed outside in 2024 and beyond, because it’s possible that the Chiefs would not be enjoying their third Super Bowl win in the last five seasons without him in the slot.
2. Kyle Hamilton, Baltimore Ravens
If you want to know how great Kyle Hamilton has become after two NFL seasons, consider that the 14th overall pick in the 2022 draft out or Notre Dame was our top safety, and he’s our second-best slot cornerback. Last season, Hamilton had 302 snaps in the slot, and he allowed 29 catches on 51 slot targets for 148 yards, 119 yards after the catch, one touchdown, one interception, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 60.3. He also had one sack and six total pressures from the slot.
Hamilton is a dominant safety, but his slot performances tend to defy physics. You don’t usually expect a guy built like a small linebacker to be able to match and carry speed receivers 30 downfield out of press slot, but for Hamilton, it’s just another day at the office.
Hamilton can also use his size and speed to present serious difficulties for opposing quarterbacks when he’s blitzing, and you have to get the ball over or around him. No mean feat.
Is Kyle Hamilton already the NFL’s best defensive back? A strong case could certainly be made.
3. Brian Branch, Detroit Lions
Branch was my 13th-ranked prospect overall in the 2023 draft class, so I was certainly surprised that he dropped to the 46th overall pick, where the Lions snapped him up. Maybe teams shouldn’t focus as much as they do on 40 times, because the 4.53 Branch ran at the scouting combine in no way represented his abilities on the field — whether at Alabama, or with the Lions. Nick Saban has been turning out multi-position defensive backs for years, and Branch was one of his best.
In his rookie season, Branch played 417 snaps in slot coverage, ninth-most in the NFL. He allowed 41 catches on 63 slot targets for 382 yards, 186 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, two interceptions, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 84.2. Branch also had one sack and five total pressures from the slot.
Branch was able to match and trail receivers from the start in the NFL, which is singularly impressive, especially in press and match coverage, where he had to deal with receivers step-for-step from the snap.
Branch’s ability to read the field and progressions through the play was also unusual for a rookie. The Lions did a lot this offseason to try and upgrade their cornerback room, but they’ve already got a top-tier slot guy now, and for at least the next few years.
4. Devon Witherspoon, Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks selected Witherspoon with the fifth overall pick in the 2023 draft, and then surprisingly made him a primary slot defender. The Illinois star hadn’t played much slot in college, so this was a serious transition. Witherspoon dealt with it seamlessly. He had 355 coverage snaps in the slot last season, allowing 25 catches on 36 slot targets for 235 yards, 131 yards after the catch, one touchdown, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 84.8. Witherspoon also had three sacks and 10 total pressures from the slot, along with seven tackles for loss.
Witherspoon’s athleticism and intelligence showed up fiercely early on — this coast-to-coast pick-six against the Giants in Week 4 had him adjusting to Big Blue’s pre-snap motion, and jumping receiver Parris Campbell for the takeaway.
Witherspoon’s hell-bent playing personality showed up when it was time to blitz quarterback and attack run fits. Steelers running back Jaylen Warren would no doubt agree.
5. Alontae Taylor, New Orleans Saints
The Saints have a nice loaded cornerback room with Marshon Lattimore, Paulson Adebo, and 2024 second-round pick Kool-Aid McKinstry. But when it came to slot coverage in 2023, nobody in New Orleans did it better than Alontae Taylor, the 2022 second-round pick from Tennessee. Taylor had 460 slot coverage snaps, fourth-most in the NFL, and he allowed 65 catches on 96 slot targets for 672 yards, three touchdowns, one interception, 10 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 93.8. He also had one sack and three total pressures from the slot.
Why is a player with an opponent passer rating allowed of 93.8 Top 5 on any list? Because while Taylor was out of phase at times, he also showed more than enough reps as a top-tier slot match defender on everything from quick-game routes to deep end zone fades against speed receivers.
That interception came against Trey Palmer of the Buccaneers, and Taylor was just as stingy against Nick Westbrook-Ikhine of the Titans.
Now, Taylor just needs to find a bit more consistency, and he’ll become the true slot eraser he clearly has the potential to be.
6. Roger McCreary, Tennessee Titans
The Titans re-set their cornerback room this offseason with the acquisitions of L’Jarius Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie as their outside guys, but they were more than happy to keep slot man Roger McCreary on the path. That’s because McCready already has the knack of playing press coverage, which is clearly the plan now. The 2022 second-round pick out of Auburn allowed eight catches on 15 press targets for 5.3 yards per reception, one explosive play, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. And in 388 snaps in slot coverage, he gave up 43 catches on 59 targets for 388 yards, 247 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, no interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 90.2. He also had four total pressures and five tackles for loss from the slot.
You’re going to see the phrase “match feet” a lot when it comes to slot defenders, because it’s so important to move with receivers all the way through the route without losing phase. McCreary certainly has that together, as he showed on this rep against Noah Brown of the Texans.
And if you want a guy with recovery speed — well, check out this breakup against Devon Achane of the Dolphins.
7. Kenny Moore II, Indianapolis Colts
Kenny Moore has been mentioned as one of the NFL’s better slot defenders for years now. The undrafted free agent out of Valdosta State hasn’t been quite the force multiplier at that position as he was before, but he was good enough for our list based on his 2023 season. Moore had 585 snaps in the slot, second-most in the NFL behind only Trent McDuffie of the Chiefs, and he allowed 49 catches on 62 slot targets for 399 yards, 260 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 96.2.
At age 30, Moore can still match and carry the league’s quicker receivers all over the field for deflections and interceptions. He proved the theory against Tutu Atwell of the Rams in Week 4.
At 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds, Moore also has no issue whatsoever coming down and squaring up against running backs — either in run fits, or on quick passes outside.
8. Michael Carter II, New York Jets
The Jets’ outstanding cornerback group was an after-story at best last season with all the Aaron Rodgers drama going on, but when you have Sauce Gardner (our No. 1 cornerback), the underrated D.J. Reed, and Michael Carter II, that’s a spicy meatball. Carter, the 2021 fifth-round pick out of Duke, has been his NFL team’s primary slot defender in each of his three NFL seasons. In 2023, he had 322 slot coverage snaps, allowing 55 catches on 74 targets for 543 yards, 257 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no interceptions, eight pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 99.1. He also had five total pressures from the slot.
Several of Carter’s pass breakups last season came against quarterbacks who kept trying to test him with quick-game slants. My only advice: Try something else, partner.
And Carter proved to be a very good slot defender against all manner of vertical routes.
9. Patrick Peterson, Free Agent
We’ve seen cornerbacks switch to safety later in their careers before, with Charles Woodson as just one prominent, Hall of Fame example. Another cornerback turned to other positions who might find his bust in Canton down the road is Patrick Peterson. The longtime Cardinals standout, eight-time Pro Bowler, three-time First-Team All-Pro, and member of the Hall of Fame All-2010s team signed a two-year, $14 million contract with the Steelers before the 2023 season, Mike Tomlin and his staff had some different ideas regarding Peterson’s deployment, and the differences were drastic. Peterson had never played more than four snaps in a season as free safety, but Pittsburgh had him there for 220 snaps.
More germane to the purposes of this list is how Peterson was used as a slot defender. His previous high for slot snaps in a season was 112 with the Cardinals in 2016, but he had 225 snaps in the slot in 2023. And in slot coverage, he allowed eight completions on 16 targets for 115 yards, 68 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 47.7 — the lowest for any player on this list.
No, Peterson isn’t the player he once was, or he wouldn’t be a free agent right now after the Steelers released him in March. But as a pure slot defender, you saw some of those old-school match and carry attributes Peterson had when he was at the top of his game.
And when it was time to shut things down in quick game, Peterson as a slot defender had no problem with that. I’ll be fascinated to see where Peterson lands in 2024, and how much his new deployments will continue.
10. Keisean Nixon, Green Bay Packers
There weren’t many defenders who thrived under former Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry, which is why Barry’s title is now “Former Defensive Coordinator.” But one player who bucked the negative trend was Keisean Nixon, the undrafted free agent who has been with Green Bay for two seasons after three with the Raiders. The undrafted free agent from South Carolina had 434 coverage snaps in the slot last season, allowing 35 catches on 53 targets for 478 yards, 259 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, two interceptions, seven pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 97.8.
Nixon’s touchdowns allowed tended to come from late breaks in which the defense looked a little raggedy in coverage, so maybe new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley can clean that up. But when Nixon was aligned and on his game, he gave even some of the NFL’s best receivers some serious agita.
Nixon’s movement skills and recovery speed also show up on deeper routes, and the arrow is definitely pointing up in his case.
11. Ja'Sir Taylor, Los Angeles Chargers
Of all the slot defenders I studied to compile this list, Ja’Sir Taylor is the one with the least national name recognition. One might expect that to change for the 2022 sixth-round pick out of Wake Forest now that new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is in charge under Jim Harbaugh, who had Minter at Michigan.
Even in a weird Brandon Staley defense in 2023, Taylor proved to be quite adept in the slot. He had 207 coverage snaps in the slot last season, allowing 29 catches on 47 slot targets for 337 yards, 168 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, seven pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 74.5.
Taylor’s ability to follow Travis Kelce up the field in Week 7 resulted in a Travis Kelce that was quite frustrated by the result.
And since we’re talking a lot about match feet here, check out Taylor’s match feet and transition ability against Allen Lazard of the Jets. Here’s a player primed for a breakout season as a slot defender.
Honorable Mention
Mike Hilton, Cincinnati Bengals
Taron Johnson, Buffalo Bills
Deommodore Lenoir, San Francisco 49ers
