Purpose:

To teach players the fundamentals of playing press man coverage.

Setup:

Have players pair off with teammates of similar size and speed, with the first pair up on the LOS facing each other.

Coach evaluating players footwork and arm placement as they executing their press off the line.

Instructions: 

  1. On the coach’s signal, the receiver will break off the line and begin to release to the outside.
  2. The DB will jam them with the inside arm, planting it firmly on the receivers inside chest plate.
  3. The DB will open up their hips to the outside, dropping their back foot to allow them to stay with the receiver and push him to the sideline as they move downfield.
  4. Run this drill at 25-50% speed, taking the time to critique and fix every single step through the initial release.

Coaching Tips:

Emphasize the importance of protecting the inside release using their hand, positioning, and alignment to ensure the receiver can’t get a clean release inside.

Wide receivers are some of the quickest, most agile players on the field, but even they can’t go anywhere their torso doesn’t – teach your DBs to stay focused on the torso, even specifically the inside chest plate, as this will give them the best change of reacting to and predicting the receivers route.