I heard a question on a podcast that got me thinking, how did the coverage schemes in Kentucky compare to the coverages called for by the Bills?
I already knew from the draft process that he was heralded as a zone corner and that his ideal fit would be a zone heavy scheme, but I wanted to go further than that, so I looked more closely at the Kentucky Defense and how it had been organized and found some interesting dynamics that should give Max Hairston the ability to transition well into the Bills Defense.
Mark Stoops
First of all, if you want to trace the lineage and DNA of Mad Max, you should know a little bit about Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops.
Stoops is a defensive minded head coach with a long history of developing young talent into stars.
Seriously. You may remember that he sent the other Josh Allen to the NFL to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
But before he took over at Kentucky, he was Defensive Coordinator for the Florida State Seminoles under Head Coach Jimbo Fisher, which was in the top 5 in the FBS against the run and the top defense against the pass.
While there, he coached up AFC East Vets Ronald Darby and Xavier Rhodes.
Before Florida State, he was DC at Arizona where he coached with his brother. Under his leadership, he brought a defense ranked outside of the top 100 to a top 25 defense by the time he left for Florida State. While there, he coached the likes of Antoine Cason and Michael Johnson.
Earlier in his career he served as a DB coach for the University of Miami (Florida) and helped to produce NFL talent such as Philip Buchanon, Kelly Jennings, Brandon Meriweather, Ed Reed, Antrel Rolle, Mike Rumph and Sean Taylor. Those names are like the countdown at a rock concert … they get me excited. Granted, many of those players were safeties, but they were amazing players and were developed under the tutelage of Mark Stoops.
The next name on the list of Talent sent to the NFL is Mad Max. It seems likely that this history of developing players into greatness is the reason why Max chose Kentucky over the other Division 1 schools he was offered by.
Strategically, Mark Stoops inherited a 3-4 philosophy from the coach he and his brothers all played for under legendary HC Hayden Fry at Iowa. When he played, Fry emphasized a three high front, putting three safeties on the field and often having coverage shift into either quarters or cover three, a typical scheme in the 3-4 defense.
Stoops employs this same philosophy today, calling on DBs to engage in soft zone coverage, keeping their matchups in front of them, and then triggering when the ball is released. Press coverages are rare and DBs are engaged in reading their matchup’s routes, then driving to breakup the ball or make an open field tackle. Occasionally, in odd alignments, you will see a corner line up at the line and blitz or run defend, but only when there is a strong alignment to the other side of the field and no assignments to cover initially on that side of the field.
Film Review
(Full Disclosure: I grabbed these from a video by NFLFilmRoom on Youtube)
Play #1 : Blitzing when on the Empty Side
On this play against the South Carolina Gamecocks, we can see that Max is on the strong side of the field, but there is no receiver lined up out wide. A LB has bumped down onto the line of scrimmage, and instead of dropping back into coverage, Max has a key to blitz the passer.
During his rush, the RB ends up pressing up in an attempt to pass block, but Max is way too fast for this, as he already has the outside line and a head of steam by the time the RB gets to his spot.
Having dusted the RB, Max makes a beeline for the QB and blindsides him, but instead of just laying him out, Max makes a play on the ball while still maintaining tackling form and never lets the QB go, though he tries and succeeds in causing a fumble, which unfortunately bounces to the RB, but easily could have made it into the hands of the D line who were rushing in support.
Play #2 – Dropping back into Cover 4
On this play, Max is tasked with aligning correctly with the Safeties and the other CB, to blanket the endzone as the WRs enter their zones. This is Tyler Shough in at QB, who was recently drafted by the New Orleans Saints as an heir apparent to Derek Carr.
WR Cataurus Hicks (#81) runs an in-and-out, trying to sneak behind Max’s eyes, but Max feels the depth of the route while still keeping his eyes on the QB, and in fairness, it’s a pretty good throw and decision as it seems like Hicks has a gap in the back of the endzone.
What Shough underestimated was Max’s explosiveness and athleticism in being able to climb the ladder and get his fingertips on the ball at the last possible second, for a batted pass in the endzone on 3rd and Goal.
Play #3 – Soft Zone Coverage and Aggressive Ball Skills
In the same game versus Louisville, Max is playing the patented soft zone in a Cover 3, and is on a bit of an island as the play develops.
The offensive play call identifies the soft coverage and looks to gain a quick 7-8 yards on an seemingly easy outroute.
Max shows his savvy mastery of a Mark Stoops system, keeping his body square to the receiver (again Cataurus Hicks) and matching the receiver’s footsteps with quick pitter-patter feet. However, his eyes are again reading the QB’s body language. Honestly, where else is the QB throwing it at this point? Even if it was a double move, the QB would never be able to get his hips and shoulders set up again. This allows Max to break on the route, and beat the WR to the ball.
Max’s blistering speed allows him to cover 4 yards of distance in the time it took the ball to leave Shough’s hand to get to the outside. Max is able to drive a hand through the inside shoulder of the receiver, knocking it away for a pass break up. Notice though that while he makes a play on the ball, he also plays the body of the receiver, keeping his tackling form enough so that if he missed the ball, he would still make the tackle. It’s outstanding fundamental CB play.
It actually reminds me of someone else in their prime.
Yes, that’s Tre White making a similar play, Cover 3, out route, makes a break on it. Of course, on this play the ball is a little inside and Tre makes a goal line interception, but we won’t hold that against Mad Max. 😜
Play #4 – Run Defense Responsibilities
The one area where the talking heads focused during the draft process was in a seeming reluctance to jump in to tackle in run defense, but as I outlined in a previous article, this had more to do with the fact that he had just returned from a shoulder injury.
In the same Louisville game, it’s the 4th quarter and the Wildcats are down by 27 points with 6:30 seconds to go. It’s a 3rd and 1 and it seems like Louisville is just trying to run down the clock. It’s a perfect recipe for a star CB to make a business decision, to set the edge, force the RB inside where the LBs are and say “job well done.”
Instead, Max takes an aggressive approach, attacking the line of scrimmage, making not only a play on the ball, but also a violent attempt at a tackle.
Notice again, while his inside hand goes for the ball, he still wraps up the ball carrier to ensure that even if he doesn’t cause a fumble, he can still make the tackle.
Pretty good effort for being down 27 points with 6 minutes left to go. Seems like he is pretty willing to me. In fact, I found so many moments, not just on highlight film, where Stoops placed a lot of faith in Max’s ability to be the last line of defense.
Translating it to the Bills
Maxwell Hairston’s experience in the Mark Stoops 3-4 Defense, gave him a ton of reps operating in a soft coverage with a lot of Cover 3 and Cover 4.
McDermott’s scheme has always had a more complex multiple look, running Cover 3 more than anything else, but mixing in Cover 1, Cover 2, Quarters, and Cover 6. They have always run primarily zone coverages, often as much as 75% of the time.
Max’s foundation and skill set, honed by Mark Stoops, matches up well with how the Bills are likely to deploy him. His speed, athleticism, and stat line of pick 6’s are what caught evaluators’ eyes during the draft process, but it is his prowess and training as a reactive, hard tackling, aggressive zone corner, that has truly set him up for success with the Bills.
And with Christian Benford going to be around for a long time, Hairston only has to serve as a number 2 corner, though don’t surprised if we’re talking about 1a and 1b in the next few years.