Over the past decade, we have seen trends come and go in the NFL. From the wildcat formation, to teams trying to find the next Devin Hester to help spearhead special teams, trends are adopted and then widely disappear. But the latest widely adopted trend in the NFL that will be sticking around for a long time is the hybrid safety.

If you are a team that doesn’t have a player on defense that could be your hybrid safety, you are missing on the league’s newest secret weapon. The past two seasons, we’ve seen how important the hybrid safety has become as it allows defenses to do different things in coverage.

For example, instead of having three linebackers on the field for a crucial third down, teams that have a hybrid safety can now have two linebackers on the field because the hybrid safety can act as that third linebacker or extra safety. 

One of the first defenses to use the hybrid safety was the Arizona Cardinals when Todd Bowles was the defensive coordinator in 2014. Coming into the 2014 season, the Cardinals’ defense was ranked first in rushing defense only giving up 84.4 yards per game, seventh in passing defense only allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 58.7 percent of their passes and had 30 takeaways, which was good for eighth in the league. 

Then in 2014 NFL Draft, the Cardinals continued to add to their defense and drafted safety Deone Bucannon out of Washington State in the first round with the 27th overall pick. This move was puzzling because in the 2013 draft the Cardinals had drafted Tyrann Mathieu out of LSU. Mathieu was projected to play cornerback but that never happened. Mathieu eventually moved to safety making the Cardinals’ defense more lethal, but for Bucannon he still could not find a role. 

As a rookie, Bucannon did not make much of an impact as he played in all 16 games but only started in nine. He had 69 tackles to go along with three pass deflections, two sacks and a forced fumble. But this past season under new defensive coordinator James Bettcher, Bucannon’s game went to another level as he was used in the hybrid safety role.

In this new role, Bucannon compiled 90 tackles, three sacks, three pass deflections, three forced fumbles and an interception. When taking a look at the Cardinals’ linebackers from last season, Bucannon played the most defensive snaps (1,076), which equals to 95 percent.  He was an integral part of a defense that helped the Cardinals make it all the way to the NFC Championship. 

This past season, the Cardinals were ranked sixth in rushing defense, only giving up 91.3 yards on the ground, sixth in passing defense, only allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 59.9 percent of their passes and second in takeaways with 33. If the Cardinals do not use Bucannon in this role, who knows what their defense would look like. 

Another player, who was used in the hybrid safety role this past season was Mark Barron of the St. Louis Rams. Barron was the seventh overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft coming out of the University of Alabama and was supposed to be a game changer in the Buccaneers’ defense. That never came to fruition as Barron was a liability in pass coverage and opposing offensive coordinators knew that. In his first two years in Tampa Bay, Barron only had three interceptions, but was penalized four times for defensive pass interference.

With his play continuing to decline, the Buccaneers decided in the 2014 season to trade Barron to the St. Louis Rams for a fourth and sixth round picks. When Barron got to the Rams, he was put in a better position to succeed as the Rams already had two solid safeties in Rodney McLeod and T.J. McDonald, who were good in pass coverage. Barron was allowed to do what he does best which is playing in the box and using his physicality.

In the final nine games of the 2014 season, Barron played linebacker and cornerback and finished with 21 tackles, three sacks and one pass deflection.

Then this past season, Barron was fully immersed as the Rams’ hybrid safety and it just made their defense better. In the process, Barron had a career-year playing in all 16 games (starting in 12) and finishing with 76 tackles, five pass deflections and three forced fumbles. 

Out of all the Rams' linebackers, Barron was second with the most snaps (952) as he played 79.4 percent of the defensive snaps. James Laurinaitis was the only other Rams linebacker to play more defensive snaps than Barron. For a player like Barron, this position creation has helped him keep a job in the NFL but also be effective and use his strengths. 

Finally, another player in the NFC West, who will be looking to rejuvenate his career with his old team is Brandon Browner. Browner was one of the original members of the Legion of Boom helping Seattle go to a Super Bowl as they defeated the Denver Broncos 43-8 in 2013. After the 2013 season, the 6-foot-4 cornerback decided to his talents to the New England Patriots, where he won a second Super Bowl over his former team.

With New England, Browner only played in nine games in a Patriots’ secondary that had Darrelle Revis patrolling the other side of the field. In the 2014 season, Browner finished with 26 tackles, seven pass deflections and an interception. After his year stint with the Patriots, Browner joined a Saints’ defense that was in flux and he was the poster child for being the most penalized defensive player in the NFL.

Browner was penalized a ridiculous 21 times and majority of those penalties were for defensive pass interference and defensive holding. Browner was an obvious liability in pass coverage and it showed as the Saints’ defense was penalized 114 times in 2015.

Browner is now back with the Seattle Seahawks and Pete Carroll said this offseason that they will use Browner in multiple ways, having him play as a safety on run downs and inside in nickel matching up against tight ends and bigger wide receivers.

This makes a ton of sense for the Seahawks as Browner has been a liability in pass coverage and use his physicality in the run game. Last season, the Seahawks’ defense only gave up 81.5 yards per game on the ground, which was good for first in the NFL. But with Bruce Irvin going to Oakland, Browner automatically fits a need. Finally, in the passing game, the Seahawks’ defense won’t have a problem on the outside, but as mentioned earlier tight ends gave them a problem last season.

In two games against Carolina last season, Greg Olsen played well against the Seahawks’ defense torching them for 13 receptions for 208 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Imagine if they had Browner in both of those games, maybe Carolina doesn’t come away with a victory. 

All in all, it will be interesting to see how the hybrid safety position continues to develop. Many teams in this year’s draft looked for their hybrid safety as we saw Miles Killebrew and Su’a Cravens come off the board. Unlike the wildcat formation, the hybrid safety looks like it is here to stay in a long line of NFL trends.