By James Reber, Next Gen Stats Research Analyst
On Dec. 6, 2025, the Seahawks sat in second place in the NFC West with a 9-3 record. That day, they executed a transaction that, though it did not necessarily make waves across the league, gave their defense an ironclad backbone, setting Seattle up to make a championship run.
The move: activating veteran safety Julian Love, who'd been out since September with a hamstring injury, from IR. Love made the Pro Bowl in his first season after signing with the Seahawks, in 2023, and he finished 2024 with impressive counting stats (three picks, 12 passes defensed, 106 tackles), but his importance to Seattle went beyond that. He was clearly trusted by coach Mike Macdonald to cover half the deep portion of the field in his beloved Cover 6 scheme.
From Week 14 -- Love's first game back -- through Super Bowl LX, the Seahawks played defensive concepts with both safeties covering deep zones (otherwise known as "two-high" or "split-safety" coverage) on 54.8% of pass plays. That was the highest rate of any playoff team in that span, compared to a rate of 46% in the nine games Love missed. Notably, Seattle won all eight games after Love's return, while allowing just 15.1 points per contest.
Love's most high-profile moment in Santa Clara was his Lombardi Trophy-sealing interception (which, ironically, did not come in split-safety coverage). But the schematic approach that he helped make possible arguably keyed Seattle's dominant victory -- and it gives us a good reason to dig into a shift that is reshaping how the NFL's best defenses are built and run.
The rise of split-safety coverage
The most common coverages throughout the NFL for many years have been Cover 3 and Cover 1. These are known as "single-high" coverages, in which just one safety drops deep and attempts to deter passes over the top, while the other plays closer to the line of scrimmage, to disrupt run concepts and shallower route options. In the 2018 season, when Next Gen Stats first began tracking coverage, split-safety looks were mostly limited to obvious passing situations in which defenses were wary of the deep ball, with split-safety coverage used on 32.9% of dropbacks. In almost every season since, though, the league has incorporated it more frequently; the coverage concept climbed to a usage rate of 37.8% in 2021, increased to 40.4% in 2024 and reached an apex of 42.0% this season. And while 42 teams from 2018 to 2024 held their usage rate of two-high coverage under 30% in any given season (an average of six per season), every single defense exceeded the 30% threshold in 2025.
There are three primary iterations of two-high coverage: Cover 2, Cover 4 and Cover 6. The classic version is Cover 2, in which the safeties each cover half the field, and the underneath portion is split into five zones, or occasionally filled through man-to-man coverage. Cover 2 has not seen as much of a spike in usage as other split-safety concepts; it was played at a rate of 13.9% this season, just above its 13.2% average in 2018-2024.
The version that did see a watershed increase is Cover 4, known as "quarters," because four players partition the deeper areas: the safeties split the deep middle, while the cornerbacks cover the deep zones near the sidelines. Three defenders remain underneath, covering large swaths of the field. Quarters was used on 17.2% of pass plays this season, compared to just 13.9% in 2018-2024.
Cover 6, the favorite of Macdonald and the Seahawks, is a hybrid of Cover 2 and Cover 4. It's often called quarter-quarter-half, with one safety covering the boundary side of the field, the other safety splitting the field side with a cornerback and four players underneath. While Cover 6 is the least common of the split-safety schemes (with a 9.2% usage rate in 2025), it has been a hallmark of the defenses run by the last four Super Bowl champions.
K.C. sets the blueprint
Steve Spagnuolo's Chiefs were one of the first defenses in the Next Gen Stats coverage-tracking era to use split-safety as a primary concept. In 2019, Kansas City played such coverage on 43.1% of opponent dropbacks (the league average that season was 34.1%), finishing in the top 10 defensively in both scoring and passing before winning a championship. In 2023, when the Chiefs won the third ring of the Patrick Mahomes era, they utilized split-safety looks at a rate of 58.2%, the highest in a single season of any team that has been tracked.
The wrinkle that allowed the Chiefs to play such coverages so frequently was their gradual introduction of blitzes into their two-high concepts. Since 2018, teams have not blitzed frequently in two-high sets, doing so on 10.0% of plays. Teams tend to revert to a single-high or zero-high coverage when they want to bring pressure, recording a blitz rate of 39.7% when not in two-high. The Chiefs are a notable outlier. There have been 20 defenses in the past eight seasons that have blitzed on at least 20.0% of plays in two-high coverage in a given season -- and Spagnuolo's Chiefs did it four times since he took over in 2019. During Spagnuolo's tenure, the Chiefs have produced a 46.5% pressure rate on split-safety blitzes (NFL average from 2019 to 2025: 41.3%) while still preserving their prowess in coverage. They've allowed a 62.3% completion percentage on such blitzes (NFL average in that span: 66.4%) and just three touchdowns over 441 plays.
One might argue that Spagnuolo walked so fellow two-high enthusiast Brian Flores could run. In 2024, Flores' Vikings blitzed out of split-safety on 33.1% of plays, a higher rate than any defense in a season since at least 2018. Then, in 2025, Minnesota dwarfed even that mark, recording a split-safety blitz rate of 37.4%. The Vikings' 32 sacks from split-safety in 2025 were the second most by any defense since 2018, trailing, naturally, only the 2023 Chiefs (39).
How did Kansas City successfully implement a scheme that had not previously been in vogue across the league? Personnel was key. In 2019, the Chiefs' use of two-high was facilitated by the versatility of both safeties, Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen, each of whom could get downhill with blinding quickness and influence the run game from a deeper alignment. In 2022 and 2023, their scheme was catalyzed by coverage defenders who could wall off the entire underneath area without extra help: dynamic nickel Trent McDuffie and high-level coverage linebackers Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill and Willie Gay Jr. All could cover, all could blitz, all could fit the run, and the scheme had exceptional flow as a result.
We're seeing similar defenders playing integral roles in the most fearsome two-high schemes at present. Similarly to the early Chiefs blueprint, the most recent incarnations of the Packers and Bills were driven by safeties -- specifically, Xavier McKinney in Green Bay and Cole Bishop in Buffalo -- who are most devastating in deep coverage but can be found making an impact anywhere on the field. Like the more recent Chiefs squads, the Chargers and Eagles are powered by stellar underneath defenders: DB Derwin James and linebacker Daiyan Henley constantly muddy up quarterbacks' sightlines in Los Angeles, while nickel Cooper DeJean and linebacker Zack Baun are among the best at their positions in Philly.
Not only is two-high safety coverage gaining popularity, the numbers show it's becoming more effective, as well. Teams converted first downs on 29.0% of dropbacks against split-safety coverage in 2025, tied for the lowest mark since at least 2018. And there was a sharp increase in overall effectiveness in 2025, when defenses held their opponents to -286.6 total EPA while in the coverage, compared to a total EPA of +220.8 over the previous seven seasons.
Certain defenses had a superlative impact on that EPA decline, with the 2025 Texans being the greatest drivers, allowing -92.6 EPA in two-high, the fewest of any team from 2018 to 2025. The 2025 Eagles allowed the lowest completion percentage among all defenses in that span at 56.9%, while the 2025 Broncos surrendered successful plays just 33.6% of the time, the second-lowest mark among the 256 split-safety defenses in the sample.
The trend in action
Let's zero in on a pair of safeties who exemplify how teams are seeking out talent to make split-coverage-heavy schemes go.
Last April, Atlanta selected Xavier Watts (Round 3, No. 96 overall) and Billy Bowman Jr. (Round 4, No. 118 overall), both of whom showed exceptional versatility to play both the pass and run in college. Watts earned the third-highest college production score and overall score among safeties last year, according to the Next Gen Stats Draft Model, outpacing higher selections Andrew Mukuba (Round 2, No. 64), Kevin Winston Jr. (Round 3, No. 82) and Jonas Sanker (Round 3, No. 93). Bowman did not show quite the same aptitude for the position in college, but the 4.42 runner's athleticism score (73) outpaced his production score (70). As such, the team thought it fitting to convert him to nickel, where he became one of the pivotal Cover 4 underneath defenders.
In Jeff Ulbrich's first season running the defense, Atlanta played Cover 4 at the second-highest rate in the NFL (28.5%), and both rookies thrived. Bowman suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in November, but before he did, he allowed a passer rating of just 72.2 when targeted in coverage. The Falcons used Watts almost completely interchangeably with Jessie Bates, who possesses a similarly multifaceted skillset. Setting aside the other pieces of the puzzle in Atlanta and the adjustments that must be made every year by every team, we can assume Ulbrich (who was retained by new head coach Kevin Stefanski) will keep making the most of Watts and Bowman.
Also worth noting: Watts and Bates both played much closer to the line of scrimmage than most safeties, pushing the limits of how "high" the two-high defenders need to be. Atlanta's average safety depth of 10.3 yards was the shallowest of any team in the Next Gen Stats era. Indeed, in 2025, the league average safety position was closer to the line of scrimmage (12.0 yards away) than in any other season; just one team (Steelers, 13.4 yards) played their safeties deeper than the 2016-2024 average of 12.9 yards off the line. And each of the six teams with the shallowest safety depth (Falcons, Chiefs, Cardinals, 49ers, Titans, Commanders) were among the top eight in usage of Cover 4. More so than ever before, teams clearly want all 11 defenders -- even the safeties -- to have the chance to get involved in every play.
What should teams want in a safety?
The league is clearly prioritizing high-IQ, quick-twitch safeties who already excelled in college, aligning them two-deep and allowing them to instantaneously diagnose pass or run plays, where they can make the optimal decision on whether to crash the box or drop deep. The most productive college safeties often thrive at the position in the NFL, while the most athletic ones who could not prove themselves at the prior level often have to switch to nickel or serve as the down safety in a one-high scheme to earn their place in the league.
The aforementioned Xavier McKinney, as well as other safeties -- like the Dolphins' Minkah Fitzpatrick and the Bucs' Antoine Winfield Jr. -- who have starred in two-high schemes, were college superstars (each earning NGS pre-draft production grades of 88 or greater), but their athleticism did not separate from their peers in the draft process. Then there are the physical specimens like the Seahawks' Nick Emmanwori, the Raiders' Jeremy Chinn and the Packers' Javon Bullard(earning a NGS pre-draft athleticism grade of 86 or greater) whose professional success has relied on moving closer to the line of scrimmage early in their careers. Finally, there are the occasional unicorn types who break the mold; the Ravens' Kyle Hamilton and the Chargers' Derwin James displayed mesmerizing college production, began their careers as exceptional high safeties and are now the faces of the league's burgeoning hybrid nickel role.
While we still have to learn more about the 2026 draft class, we can make educated guesses as to the proper scheme fits for the prospects who will embark on their pro journeys in the coming months. Oregon's Dillon Thieneman and LSU's A.J. Haulcy exhibited mastery while playing a true safety spot; they could follow Watts' lead and slide directly into a two-high scheme while taking on a diverse slate of responsibilities. USC's Kamari Ramsey and Penn State's Zakee Wheatley are top-tier athletes who have already shown the skills to play in the box or the slot in college, and they could fill similar roles at the highest level. Ohio State's Caleb Downs, seen by many as a potentially generational safety prospect, does everything effectively; like James or Hamilton, he will probably end up in a dynamic role where he can pivot, per the needs of his defense. And Toledo's Emmanuel McNeil-Warren will need to prove he can make the jump from the MAC to the NFL, but he possesses the upside to be a similarly versatile defensive weapon.
In the early years of this decade, many pundits professed that two-high defenses were ruining the NFL. While the coverage is flummoxing deep passing attacks, it's not a sign of regression; rather, it's an indicator of creativity, presenting offenses with a fresh challenge. Perhaps there is another defensive coordinator out there, ready to follow in the footsteps of Macdonald, Spagnuolo and Fangio by unlocking a rising talent like Downs or McNeil-Warren and taking split-safety coverage to another level.
