Atlanta Falcons beat writer D. Orlando Ledbetter joined Dukes & Bell to talk about the Falcons-Niners game on Sunday as Richie Grant will be getting a new role in the defense on Sunday. How will the rookie adjust to playing the Nickel position?
D-Led talked about the move to put Grant at the Nickel spot.
“He’s gonna be playing some nickelback for them, they’re not gonna even bother with safety for him this year. They’re gonna go with Jaylinn Hawkins back there and Shawn Williams,” Ledbetter said. “Nickel’s a big spot in this defense as Dean Pees likes to play what we call the big nickel, with three safeties out there, he’s always had three safeties.”
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Ledbetter talked about some of the responsibilities Grant will have in defense.
“So Richie’s gonna have a key role on where he lines up to kind of dictate whether the defense slides to the left or the right," Ledbetter said. "Whether he’s blitzing out of the slot or covering, so he’s got a lot of work to do at the nickel spot to get that down. A job that Isiah Oliver had and they had a lot of trouble trying to replace Oliver.”
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