The BEST 3rd Down Coverage in Football?

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]What's up DBs? Coach D Magic here. We're here to break down my favorite coverage, cover two man or twoman as I call it.

[00:00:08]Now, before we get into the breakdown, make sure you guys go to ddbnetwork.com.

[00:00:12]A lot of you guys are asking me for drills, for weight plans, [music] weight training programs, and speed programs. For just 50 bucks, guys, you can get 100 plus drills, speed and agility, um, and weight training program to help you guys become an elite DB.

[00:00:28]everything I wish I would have known before I went to the University of Hawaii. I literally went to the University of Hawaii not knowing anything about DB. So, I had to learn everything on the fly. So, I truly believe that if I had this DB mastery program before I went to college, I would have started earlier and I probably would have went to the NFL. And I truly believe that. All right. And so we're going to break down what the coverage is. Cover two man, two man. Um press technique to use and off technique to use. So let's break down the coverage. Cover two man or twoman as I call it is simple. [music] We have two deep safeties playing the half. Usually only have two deep safeties in cover two. And everyone else [music] is playing man-to-man coverage.

[00:01:13]So here's how it looks. The nickels locked up, the corner locked up, the mic, the wheel, both corners are locked up. up and you have two deep half safeties. Now, [music] it's very key to understand the technique that we are using. It's not normal man-to-man technique. And normal man-to-man [music] technique, you usually just don't want to allow a receiver free release, allow receiver to get vertical and get behind you. So, we have [music] manto man, but it's inside leverage trail technique. Okay? So, the reason why we want to be inside is because the easiest passes to complete are inside. All right? The the a 10 and out is a lot harder um to complete than a slant in theory. Correct? So, we want to take away all of the inside routes [music] and we want to undercut the outside routes, right? So, if this person runs a vertical and then out, okay, we want to be able to get under that out route. And I love this because you can play aggressive, [music] but you really get to undercut everything. If anything goes over your head, it is the safety's responsibility. Here is an example on how you play two man [music] from an off technique. All right, so most times you want to press it just like the diagram, but if you really want to disguise it, you can play from off.

[00:02:31]So you see how we're inside originally.

[00:02:33]Notice how we're fighting. All right, we're sliding [music] to remain inside.

[00:02:39]Okay, take away the inside. You notice how we're not backpedaling. Usually, you don't want to be square like this [music] when a receiver is running vertical. Okay, so we're taking away the inside. [music] We're turning and allowing. You see how we allow the receiver to get on top? All right. Now, we're in a trail position.

[00:02:58]You want to be an arms length away.

[00:02:59]Usually one yard away, one yard inside.

[00:03:02]All right. Or typically just an arms length away. All right. So that you can read the hip. If you get too close on him, you're not going to be able to read the hit. So, we allow the vertical release. We get inside and we trail. And like I said, if he runs outside away from our leverage, we can undercut. I like how he drives to the hip, then gets his eyes back and then he intercepts the football. Great play. We have Travis Hunter and the Jaguars here. So, I want you to pay attention to the slot first, the guy with the red circle because he makes the play. They're starting from a soft press alignment. All right, but it looks like man here. [music] And then watch, we are really slow to react to this outside release and we essentially kind of just open our hips and we get our hands on. So [music] what you what I would suggest is that because you have help over the top and we can be aggressive underneath, I do suggest trying to get hands on. All right. Um there's several ways to play it. So, we'll compare it to what Travis Hunter's doing, but we get the outside release.

[00:04:06]We get hands on. Don't stay don't stay high. All right. It's really difficult to teach a guy teach a DB to just let a guy run by him. All right. So, you want to get into that trail position right here. We're in that trail position.

[00:04:20][music] And I would say use our eyes, not our hands here. Could be called for a holding, but he is in the trail position. Travis Hunter does a better job, [music] but gets in that trail position, makes a play. Now, let's get to Travis Hunter because I think he does the better job. All right, so receiver is going to give us something to the inside. All right, we react and we make sure we take away that inside release.

[00:04:43]Take away that inside release. And then if you can't get hands on him, it's okay. Um, but notice how we open [music] and we allow him to get on top and we stack us. And again, we're one yard inside. Um, one yard away, one [music] yard inside, usually arms length away.

[00:05:00]All right. So, both of these guys are working the trail technique and we make a play and you see our safety reacting over the top. So, you really, really, really have to trust that your safety is [music] going to have you over the top.

[00:05:11]And I love this rep here. My favorite rep, pretty probably my favorite twoman rep of all time. All right, we have Byron Murphy Jr. in the slot. And um I want us to pay attention to everyone else as well. So, pay attention to Gilmore up here. See how he takes an inside step, turns, [music] and allows the receiver to get on top. All right.

[00:05:34]And if you notice right here, we're in our trail position or arms length away.

[00:05:38]But paying attention to Byron Murphy right here, we get an inside move. All right, [music] we step to take away that inside. We allow that receiver to get vertical. All right, we're one yard [music] inside, one yard away. Again, arms length away. And then once that receiver cuts, breaks outside another 10 and out deep out route, [music] we undercut and make a play on the football. All right, so that is my favorite coverage, guys. I love two man. It allows you to play aggressive. [music] It's a really good third and long um technique or third and long coverage. A lot of teams are going to play this on third and long. Um so again, your leverage inside trail, two deep safeties, do not allow him to get inside. I hope you guys enjoyed that video and make sure you guys check the link in the description. I'm having a camp in Eugene, Oregon near the University of Oregon. I'm going to do a tour of Oregon as well. So, if you're on the Pacific Northwest, uh, Northern California, Oregon, or if you're in Washington, make sure you check us out.

[00:06:40]July 16th and 19th, we have an elite QB coach who's coached multiple four-star prospects. One of them just committed to Stanford, had offers from all over the country. Uh we have a receiver coach, a linebacker coach, and a running back coach along with me coaching the DB. So, it's going to be a full skills camp, uh film study, one-on- ons, 7 on seven.

[00:07:02]Check the link in the description.