How Vance Joseph can rely on J.J. Watt in Arizona’s bevy of sub packages

While not official, it looks as if J.J. Watt is headed to the desert. Here is how he can be used in the Arizona Cardinals sub packages.

It is not official, as the NFL league year does not start for a few weeks, but according to sources — i.e. the player himself — when the 2021 NFL league year does begin J.J. Watt will have a new home in the desert, as the defender is going to join the Arizona Cardinals.

The addition of Watt to the Cardinals defense is perhaps a classic case of the strong getting stronger. How so? In terms of pressuring the quarterback. Last season the Arizona defense pressured the opposing passer on 169 snaps, fifth-most in the league. That translated to pressure on 25.9% of defensive snaps, eighth-most in the NFL and just ahead of the vaunted front of the Washington Football Team.

Also, remember that much of that production was done without the talented Chandler Jones. Coming off an incredible 2019 campaign where he set a career-high with 19 sacks — earning him his second First-Team All-Pro selection —  Jones appeared in only five games, as he was lost for the season with a torn bicep muscle.

As such, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph had to find different ways to generate pressure. Once such way was through a variety of sub packages. Using lighter personnel groups, Joseph was able to use athletes to get pressure on passers and generate confusion up front. You might remember this deep dive into Arizona’s 0-6-5 sub package from last season, and how it worked to create pressure and turnover opportunities:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU88wY59Md4

Of course, this lead to an overtime win over the Seattle Seahawks where that same sub package featured prominently:

Now of course this begs the question of what any of this has to do with Watt. After all, the “0” in 0-6-5 stands for the number of defensive linemen on the field. But Joseph also used some other sub packages with a single defensive lineman in the game. Specifically, when you chart out the Arizona defense from the 2020 season they lined up with a single defensive lineman in the game on 65 snaps. Joseph just incorporated that player into some of the same defensive fronts and schemes you saw them use with 0-6-5 personnel.

Take this play from Week 17, where the Cardinals align with that 1-5-5 package and put Zach Allen as the only defensive lineman on the field. Similar to the 0-6-5 package, you see the pressure look up front against the Los Angeles Rams:

Allen aligns as a shaded nose tackle, and is part of an interior twist along with linebacker Devon Kennard. The Cardinals are able to pressure John Wolford, who tries to connect on a deep corner route but due to the pressure, the pass is off-target.

Or take this sack from Week 15, where again Allen is in the game as part of this 1-5-5 package against the San Francisco 49ers:

The defensive tackle is part of a host of Arizona defenders who get to C.J. Beathard, along with Kennard and Markus Golden off the edges.

So we can see how Arizona implemented sub packages last season to confuse opponents and generate pressure on the passer. Now imagine that instead of Allen lining up as the single defensive lineman in this 1-5-5 package, you have Watt.

This is not something that would be new for Watt. Last season the Houston Texans used him all along the defensive front, most often on the edges but also aligned inside as either a defensive tackle or right in the interior. On this play against the Kansas City Chiefs back in Week 1, Watt aligns in the B-Gap (between the guard and the tackle) and helps push the pocket, allowing the Texans to get to Patrick Mahomes:

This play comes with Houston using a 2-3-6 package with Watt one of the two down linemen in the game. Similar in some regards to the sub packages previously discussed from Arizona.

Or take this example which comes with the Texans using a 3-3-5 sub package against the Indianapolis Colts. On this snap, Watt aligns shaded over the center in the middle of the defensive line, and helps to apply pressure on Philip Rivers as part of an interior twist game. That pressure forces the quarterback to check the ball down quickly, and the Texans are able to force a punt:

Now obviously the Arizona Cardinals did not just commit — or plan to commit once the league year begins — this kind of money to a rotational pass rusher who will only play on passing downs in sub packages. Arizona will still use him off the edge as a traditional defensive end in the role we are accustomed to seeing from him. But when you look at some of the other ways Vance Joseph constructed his defense last season, particularly these sub packages, you can see how Watt can fit right into the heart of them and cause opposing offensive coordinators, and quarterbacks, some sleepless nights.