Man Coverages

Man coverages are a bit tricky in the defensive play editor. If possible, avoid assigning man coverage simply by adding existing plays which include the man assignments you need. The most important thing is the assignment of the cornerbacks.

On most stock man coverage plays, the CBs will run with WRs if they go in motion, or will line up closer inside, on their man, if there is only a TE out there. If you try to assign man coverages youself, from scratch, you will find that your defenders will always line up in the same spot. In a regular I-Back set, if the receiver on 1 side went in motion, the CB would stay put and only change his assignment to the next closest player.

Personally, most of the time, I prefer the first way, with CBs who stick with their WRs (otherwise, you often end up with LBs covering WRs on the other side while your CB runs with a TE). But know the difference, and use whichever way you need.

I'm not 100% sure on this, but it's what worked for me: Explaining the WR1, WR2, WR3, etc. which shows up in the man coverage assignments. I've always gone by: WR1 is the rightmost eligible receiver, WR5 is the leftmost eligible receiver. This isn't concrete - if you give your left CB a WR assignment on the opposite side of the field, he isn't going to cover that WR. It seems to be the case for conventional, regular formations, but the defense is very flexible and adjusts to the offense.

You can, however, assign both a CB and the safety to that side the same "WR1", and get a double coverage. But, as the case with single man coverage, I'd prefer to add the "Double X/TE/Z/Slot/Wide" from a stock playbook than create my own.