Cincinnati Bengals Film Breakdown: How Veteran Safety Nick Scott Will Fit Next To Dax Hill

Cincinnati agreed to terms with Nick Scott on Friday.

Author:
Mike Santagata
Publish date:
Mar 20, 2023 8:29 AM EDT

In this story:

The Bengals signed Nick Scott to take over for one of the vacant safety spots following the departures of Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell.

Scott spent his first four years of his career with the Los Angeles Rams.

He's only started 22 games in his NFL career because he was a seventh round draft pick. Despite the lack of experience, he started every postseason game during the Rams Super Bowl run and played at an incredibly high level.

He’s 27 years old, but it’s reasonable to think that he hasn't reached his full potential because of his lack of experience. Scott is an athletic, smart safety who should fit in well at safety next to Bengals first rounder Dax Hill.

Where He Excels

Will patrol the middle of the field and come down to lay some serious wood on receivers making catches. These big hits jar the ball free at times and make receivers peek over their shoulder when running routes near him.

To go with the big hits, he also does a great job of coming down from the roof of the defense to defend the run. He has a good trigger and fills the run with reckless abandon.

Has good range from the post safety position. Can open up and get outside of the numbers at times to make a play on the ball.

Smart in split field coverages to know how defenses will attack him. He covers up some of the weaknesses of these coverages and comes away with PBUs against beater concepts.

Does a good job to match receivers and play man coverage on tight ends when asked to do so. He plays with good leverage and possesses good athleticism to run with them.

Shows the ability to make extremely difficult interceptions. Doesn't always come down with the ball, but has caught interceptions in situations that seem impossible.

Areas of Concern

Can be moved and manipulated by talented quarterbacks. They can control him on occasion to open up or run with routes that are not the primary target.

Struggles some with changing direction and while he’s a good athlete, he’s not an elite athlete at the position.

He isn't a sure tackler, despite the big hits. Scott will miss some tackles. Sometimes his aggression to come downhill works against him as well as he will also take poor angles trying to fly downhill to fill.

Scheme Fit

The Bengals will likely use Scott and Hill fairly interchangeably. Both of them are better off outside of the box and the Bengals don't commonly play a safety inside the box on mixed downs.

He can play split field, match, and single-high coverage deep, which should allow Hill to play more man, robber, and other coverages that he is more accustomed to doing. On paper, he fits like a glove when it comes to coverage. He can take the single high look while Hill uses his high-end man coverage ability to take away tight ends.

The only questionable part of the fit is against very run heavy teams such as Cleveland. Scott can come off of the roof to play the run, but he’s not a box safety. Other than that, he’s a very good fit to maximize the talent of last year’s first round pick.

Overall Thoughts

Scott is a starting caliber safety. He performs most tasks asked of a safety at a solid to good level. There might not be anything he does at an elite level, but that’s why he was a cheaper option in free agency.

He can play any coverage asked of him making him a very versatile piece in the secondary. He shows the ability to read the quarterback’s intentions very well from vision coverage where he is not asked to match with a receiver but to move with the quarterback. This got him an interception against Patrick Mahomes in 2022, but this also is something that can be taken advantage of at times.

With more experience, he should learn when a quarterback is trying to hold him or move him in coverage compared to when the quarterback is showing his hand. He also seems to have a keen understanding in coverage for where the offense will want to attack.

In split field coverage, he has shown the range and intelligence to take away the corner route between the half safety and the cloud corner and he has taken away the middle of the field between the two safeties. The one thing that he does at an extremely high end level is laying down some clean, hard hits. He rocked Deebo Samuel over the middle of the field in the NFC Championship Game in 2021, which shifted the momentum for the Rams. He is a guy that will make receivers hear footsteps and comes with an intimidation factor. He's similar to Bell in that regard.

When it comes to run defense, the aggression with which he fills the run should be a positive addition. Coming off of the roof of the defense well to stop the running back before they get into the open field is also something that Bates did well in his time in Cincinnati. He can be a tad too aggressive which leads to taking poor angles though. He needs to remain locked on the inside hip of the running back so that he can play aggressive but still move with them if they decide to bounce a run. He also could do a better job of tracking the inside hip in the open field as he has been beaten by shifty receivers making hard cuts. Even with all of that said, he does a great job of playing with aggression and will in the run game.

Overall, Scott is a good safety. He’s somewhat a jack of all trades, but master of none and that’s exactly what Lou Anarumo may want. With two versatile pieces as his safety duo, Anarumo may be able to do an even better job disguising coverages and trying to trick opposing quarterbacks.

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