Complexity of coverage has expanded exponentially throughout the NFL’s history, and specifically in the NFL’s recent history. The days of the Tom Landry “umbrella” base defense are long-gone, though those concepts led the way in pro football for decades. The implementation of the zone defense in the 1960s and 1970s, the acceptance of the slot defender as starter in the early days of the new millennium, spin-offs and iterations of single-high ahd two-deep concepts in recent years, and the addition of match coverage as s staple from the 1990s to now have all expanded the picture regarding what defenses can throw at quarterbacks and their targets.
Just as offenses have never been more diverse and efficiently explosive than they are now, there have never been more different ways to deal with a passing game from a coverage perspective than their are now.
In line with that, we also have more and better metrics when it’s time to analyze which quarterbacks are the best and most effective against every type of coverage. And with that in mind, here’s Touchdown Wire’s list of the best NFL quarterbacks against every type of coverage.
(All metrics courtesy of Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated).
