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Xavier Woods is hidden gem on Cowboys defense
By John Owning
Posted on Oct 19, 2017
When the Dallas Cowboys selected Xavier Woods in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, the team was showered in almost unanimous praise.
Woods was a four-year starter and named to three All-Conference USA teams while at Louisiana Tech, recording 272 tackles, 14 interceptions and 18 pass deflections, according to Sports Reference.com.
Still, he was not expected to make much of an impact early on in Dallas. Sixth-round picks rarely make an impact in their rookie years — sixth-round defensive backs even less so.
The West Monroe, La., native has proven to be the exception to that rule. Here’s why:
Safe in the slot
Despite being drafted as a safety, Woods has actually played more snaps as a slot cornerback (61) than a safety (47), per Pro Football Focus. Injuries to Orlando Scandrick, Chidobe Awuzie and Nolan Carroll (who has since been released) forced Woods into action in the slot against the Denver Broncos (30 snaps in the slot) and he continued to get a lot of snaps there against the Arizona Cardinals (27 snaps in the slot).
Woods proved to be especially adept in zone coverage, showing the capability to pass off and pick up receivers running in and out of his zone. Woods does a great job of playing disciplined with quick mental processing skills. It’s the biggest reason why he is great at parsing through route combinations in zone coverage. Here’s an example:
Here, Woods is lined up in off coverage as the slot cornerback to the wide side of the field. After the snap, the two Denver receivers to the wide side of the field run a “Drive” concept, meaning the outside receiver runs a shallow cross route while the slot runs a dig route. Woods properly gets on top of the slot receiver, then quickly identifies and breaks on the shallow cross.
The ball isn’t thrown toward Woods, but that’s exactly the way that a coach would teach a slot cornerback to defend that concept.
Woods’ ability to play in the slot in a pinch had to be a huge reason why Dallas felt comfortable releasing veteran Carroll.
At home at safety
As the health of the Cowboys secondary started to improve, Woods’ snaps declined. He went from 34 against the Broncos and 42 against the Cardinals in Weeks 3-4 to 16 against the Los Angeles Rams and 21 against the Green Bay Packers in Weeks 5-6. And while he played mostly in the slot in Weeks 3-4 (57 snaps from the slot and just 14 at safety), he played all but four defensive snaps at safety in Weeks 5-6.
Woods certainly performed admirably as a slot cornerback, but it is apparent that he is at home playing safety.
One area where he excels is as a strong safety in Cover 1. Here’s an example:
The Cowboys align pre-snap with a two-high, split-safety look; however, after the snap, Woods rotates down into a middle hook defender. After reading Jared Goff’s eyes, Woods breaks hard on the shallow cross and hits Cooper Kupp at the catch point, causing an incompletion.
Here’s another example of Woods’ prowess as a strong safety:
Once again, the Cowboys disguise their coverage with a two-high safety look pre-snap. After the snap, Woods again rotates down to be the middle hook defender. Because his eyes are in the right spot, Woods is able to identify Todd Gurley coming out of the backfield, allowing him to quickly pursue and make the tackle before the first down.
The ability to quickly identify, process and react is invaluable for a safety. You’ll often hear it referred to as “instincts,” a quality that Woods possesses.
Woods also excels when he is lined up as a deep safety. Whether he’s playing as a single-high or split safety look, Woods plays with great range and takes excellent angles.
Here’s an example of Woods in a split safety look:
Quick pressure causes Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to get the ball out quickly, but Woods does a fantastic job of playing “top-down” on the Packers’ vertical concept on the outside. Even if he wasn’t pressured, Rodgers had no shot to hit the outside receiver on the vertical route because Woods reacted too quickly.
Here’s Woods as a single-high safety:
On this play, Woods does a great job of staying on top of the corner route. Because Jourdan Lewis was beaten off the line, the Cardinals may have had a chance for a big play if Woods was a step or two late to react to the route.
In the simplest of terms, safeties are supposed to be erasers for a defense. In the play above, Woods helps erase Lewis’ mistake in coverage.
Where does he need to improve?
Of course, Woods isn’t without his faults. When he’s in man coverage, he can give up some separation at the top of the route — much like he does on this play:
Woods does a good job of defending the initial post route, but once Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian breaks the pocket, Woods loses his man. Luckily, Siemian doesn’t see it and misses the easy touchdown opportunity.
This can be a problem because Woods doesn’t have great makeup speed once a receiver has a step on him, meaning he has little room for error in coverage.
Another area where Woods consistently struggles is in run support. Woods isn’t the type of defender who quickly rallies to the ball and throws his body into the fray. And while he is actually one of the better tacklers in the Dallas secondary on pass plays, he looks tentative when filling in run support, which is probably a big reason why Jeff Heath still starts over the rookie defensive back.
Final thoughts
Woods deserves more playing time. While he may struggle in run support right now, the difference between him and Heath in coverage is astounding.
Woods is much better as a deep middle defender, taking better angles and reacting to route combinations quicker. The only area where Heath has an edge is as a run defender, but he’s not even great at that, as he’s had his issues with playing balanced and taking the proper angles of pursuit.
Woods is younger, cheaper and much better in coverage. It’s only a matter of time before he takes Heath’s starting job. On a Cowboys defense that has been among the worst in the NFL this season, Woods has been a hidden gem.
Hopefully, he won’t be hidden much longer.
By John Owning
Posted on Oct 19, 2017
When the Dallas Cowboys selected Xavier Woods in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, the team was showered in almost unanimous praise.
Woods was a four-year starter and named to three All-Conference USA teams while at Louisiana Tech, recording 272 tackles, 14 interceptions and 18 pass deflections, according to Sports Reference.com.
Still, he was not expected to make much of an impact early on in Dallas. Sixth-round picks rarely make an impact in their rookie years — sixth-round defensive backs even less so.
The West Monroe, La., native has proven to be the exception to that rule. Here’s why:
Safe in the slot
Despite being drafted as a safety, Woods has actually played more snaps as a slot cornerback (61) than a safety (47), per Pro Football Focus. Injuries to Orlando Scandrick, Chidobe Awuzie and Nolan Carroll (who has since been released) forced Woods into action in the slot against the Denver Broncos (30 snaps in the slot) and he continued to get a lot of snaps there against the Arizona Cardinals (27 snaps in the slot).
Woods proved to be especially adept in zone coverage, showing the capability to pass off and pick up receivers running in and out of his zone. Woods does a great job of playing disciplined with quick mental processing skills. It’s the biggest reason why he is great at parsing through route combinations in zone coverage. Here’s an example:
Here, Woods is lined up in off coverage as the slot cornerback to the wide side of the field. After the snap, the two Denver receivers to the wide side of the field run a “Drive” concept, meaning the outside receiver runs a shallow cross route while the slot runs a dig route. Woods properly gets on top of the slot receiver, then quickly identifies and breaks on the shallow cross.
The ball isn’t thrown toward Woods, but that’s exactly the way that a coach would teach a slot cornerback to defend that concept.
Woods’ ability to play in the slot in a pinch had to be a huge reason why Dallas felt comfortable releasing veteran Carroll.
At home at safety
As the health of the Cowboys secondary started to improve, Woods’ snaps declined. He went from 34 against the Broncos and 42 against the Cardinals in Weeks 3-4 to 16 against the Los Angeles Rams and 21 against the Green Bay Packers in Weeks 5-6. And while he played mostly in the slot in Weeks 3-4 (57 snaps from the slot and just 14 at safety), he played all but four defensive snaps at safety in Weeks 5-6.
Woods certainly performed admirably as a slot cornerback, but it is apparent that he is at home playing safety.
One area where he excels is as a strong safety in Cover 1. Here’s an example:
The Cowboys align pre-snap with a two-high, split-safety look; however, after the snap, Woods rotates down into a middle hook defender. After reading Jared Goff’s eyes, Woods breaks hard on the shallow cross and hits Cooper Kupp at the catch point, causing an incompletion.
Here’s another example of Woods’ prowess as a strong safety:
Once again, the Cowboys disguise their coverage with a two-high safety look pre-snap. After the snap, Woods again rotates down to be the middle hook defender. Because his eyes are in the right spot, Woods is able to identify Todd Gurley coming out of the backfield, allowing him to quickly pursue and make the tackle before the first down.
The ability to quickly identify, process and react is invaluable for a safety. You’ll often hear it referred to as “instincts,” a quality that Woods possesses.
Woods also excels when he is lined up as a deep safety. Whether he’s playing as a single-high or split safety look, Woods plays with great range and takes excellent angles.
Here’s an example of Woods in a split safety look:
Quick pressure causes Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to get the ball out quickly, but Woods does a fantastic job of playing “top-down” on the Packers’ vertical concept on the outside. Even if he wasn’t pressured, Rodgers had no shot to hit the outside receiver on the vertical route because Woods reacted too quickly.
Here’s Woods as a single-high safety:
On this play, Woods does a great job of staying on top of the corner route. Because Jourdan Lewis was beaten off the line, the Cardinals may have had a chance for a big play if Woods was a step or two late to react to the route.
In the simplest of terms, safeties are supposed to be erasers for a defense. In the play above, Woods helps erase Lewis’ mistake in coverage.
Where does he need to improve?
Of course, Woods isn’t without his faults. When he’s in man coverage, he can give up some separation at the top of the route — much like he does on this play:
Woods does a good job of defending the initial post route, but once Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian breaks the pocket, Woods loses his man. Luckily, Siemian doesn’t see it and misses the easy touchdown opportunity.
This can be a problem because Woods doesn’t have great makeup speed once a receiver has a step on him, meaning he has little room for error in coverage.
Another area where Woods consistently struggles is in run support. Woods isn’t the type of defender who quickly rallies to the ball and throws his body into the fray. And while he is actually one of the better tacklers in the Dallas secondary on pass plays, he looks tentative when filling in run support, which is probably a big reason why Jeff Heath still starts over the rookie defensive back.
Final thoughts
Woods deserves more playing time. While he may struggle in run support right now, the difference between him and Heath in coverage is astounding.
Woods is much better as a deep middle defender, taking better angles and reacting to route combinations quicker. The only area where Heath has an edge is as a run defender, but he’s not even great at that, as he’s had his issues with playing balanced and taking the proper angles of pursuit.
Woods is younger, cheaper and much better in coverage. It’s only a matter of time before he takes Heath’s starting job. On a Cowboys defense that has been among the worst in the NFL this season, Woods has been a hidden gem.
Hopefully, he won’t be hidden much longer.
