Playbooks
Likely unavailable in the playbook builder
Quick Reference
Not in any team playbook.
Breakdown
Cover 6 Trap is a zone defense out of the Big Nickel Over G set that splits the field into a quarters shell to one side and a sky/trap shell to the other. The three deep defenders to the strong side sink into deep thirds while the underneath defenders sit in short zones to trap curl and flat throws, and on the weak side the trap defender squats on the outside route with a deep defender rotating over the top. Underneath, four defenders spill downhill on the run/flat drop shown by the red arrows, making this a zone beater designed to bait quick outs and hitches into the trap defender's lap. The primary read progression for the defense is to identify the strong side deep thirds first, then work back to the trap defender sitting on the boundary route.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth on the trap side since a shallow safety tips the trap defender is jumping the short route rather than covering deep. Watch cornerback alignment on the strong side, tight coverage there signals the quarters rotation is locking down deep passes and forcing the ball toward the trap. Post-snap, key the trap defender's break, if he sits and squats on an out or curl route that is your cue the QB is about to get baited into a pick. This shell beats quick game and boundary out routes but is vulnerable to deep double moves on the trap side if the safety over the top is slow to rotate. Man beating route combos like slants and drags into the four underneath flat defenders will struggle here since those zones collapse fast, so look for offenses to counter with seam routes attacking the intermediate voids instead.
Usage Tips
Call this on early downs when you expect the offense to attack the boundary with quick out or curl routes, since the trap defender is sitting right on top of those throws.
Pre-snap, identify which side the trap defender is aligned to and bait quarterbacks into throwing that direction by showing a soft shell before the snap.
Use the flat zone defenders to squeeze mesh concepts and drag routes since the four underneath droppers shown by the red arrows collapse quickly on shallow crossers.
Pair this with Cover 6 and Cover 6 Invert in your play-calling sequence so offenses cannot key on the trap side presnap, forcing the quarterback to guess which half is sitting on the route.
Mix in SS Blitz 2 or WS Blitz 1 from the same formation on third down to disguise the trap look with pressure once the offense has seen the base Cover 6 Trap shell a few times.
