Cover 6 Defense
Feb 07, 2024The Cover 6 defense is a combination of Cover 4 and Cover 2.
The strong side of the field will have defenders in a Cover 4 defense. The weak side of the field will have defenders in a Cover 2 defense.
The strong side of any offensive formation is the side with more players on it.
In this example, there are 2 WRs and 1 RB to the right side of the formation and only 2 WRs to the left side of the formation. Therefore, the right side of the formation is the strong side because it has one more player.
In a cover 6, the strong side of the formation will be facing cover 4.
That means there will be 2 DBs in deep quarters.
One LB will be in the quarter/flat to help the two deep quarters with short and intermediate passes thrown underneath those zones.
The MLB will be in a 3 Rec/Hook to help cover short and intermediate passes thrown over the middle of the field.
The weak side of any offensive formation is the side with less players on it.
In this example, there are 2 WRs and 1 RB to the right side of the formation and only 2 WRs to the left side of the formation. Therefore, the left side of the formation is the weak side because it has one less player.
In a cover 6, the players on the weak side of the formation will be in a cover 2 defense. 
The deep safety will be in a deep half.
The remaining OLB will be in a vert/hook and will cover all the short passes thrown from the numbers to the nearest hashmark.
The CB on the weakside of the formation will be responsible for covering the flat. In this coverage, they will most likely be in a cloud flat and cover 5-10 yards off the line of scrimmage.
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