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Bengals Free Agent Breakdown: The Many Hats of a Modern Nose Tackle With T.J. Slaton

The job description hasn't changed, stop the run.

Max Toscano

Oct 29, 2023; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Alexander Mattison (2) tries to avoid a tackle by Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Tedarrell Slaton (93) in the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
Oct 29, 2023; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Alexander Mattison (2) tries to avoid a tackle by Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Tedarrell Slaton (93) in the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images / Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
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In retrospect this is obvious, but the Bengals' ill-fated 2024 season was dead the second they entered the season without a nose tackle.

Dead on arrival, that's a really hard thing to do. It was the canary in the coal mine that on that side of the ball. Things wouldn't get better from a down previous year—instead they got astronomically worse.

They replaced DJ Reader, a 330-pound planet, with Sheldon Rankins, a 305 pound penetrator that doesn't even play the same position. That forced them to use an assorted rotation at nose tackle. The resulting inability to stop the run, especially without loading the box, destroyed the rest of the defense.

The Bengals' issues against the run have been well-publicized and persistent. They're not interested in doing it again, having now signed massive nose tackle T.J. Slaton from the Green Bay Packers

"I'm pretty sure it's to stop to run," Slaton said on Thursday. "That's me. Everybody around the league knows that's me, and that's the number one capability. But you know for myself it's to become an all-around player who can do it all. But at the end of the day, I'm here to take on the job at hand and I'm pretty sure that's to stop the run first."

He's good at one thing, and he knows it, but the modern game demands more out of the nose tackle spot. Players have to be versatile and able to do it in different ways.

Paradigms of Destruction

Jordan Davis in a squat stance
Oct 13, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis (90) against the Cleveland Browns at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The first thing you need to understand about run defense is that along the line, there are a certain number of gaps between guys on the line of scrimmage you need to account for.

Gaps and Techniques
Maize: Blue Review

The letters represent the gaps you need to account for, the numbers represent defensive line alignment. From there, there are essentially two broad paradigms that interior defensive line play exists under in run defense and how you control these gaps. Everything either boils down to attack-react" or "react-attack."

In the former, you are attacking first and reacting second, penetrating a single gap as explosively as possible then reacting to make a play.

The latter is a bit more subtle and typically demands more size. In a "react-attack" framework, you are not trying to get downhill but staying where you are, controlling your space, and reacting to what happens before trying to make any play.

Slaton is here to do one thing and that's to plug the interior. The nice thing about him is that in both areas, he's a plus in your run defense. He won't rush the passer, but he allows you to play lighter boxes, eases the burden on other run defenders, and opens the draft up to pure pass-rush types like Walter Nolen at the other IDL spot.

The Rankins move would have made more sense WITH a guy like Reader, but not without one. The Bengals however, like most fronts, are going to need versatility out of these guys. Teams will oscillate between the two frameworks depending on what they need to achieve (outside zone, for instance, is best stopped by spacing and penetration). As a result, great run-stuffers need to be able to put on different pairs of pants on a dime.

1-Gap Penetration (Attack-React)

When assigned only 1-gap, you're ideally trying to knife through the opening and get into the backfield. A common way IDL will do this is with the "club-swim." The club with the far hand is done to dislodge the blocker laterally with the swim getting them narrow to squeeze through the gap and get upfield.

You still do need size though, because taking on doubles when splitting the gap between the two linemen is much harder than doing it head-up on one of them, even though you just have one gap, In this situation, you need to get underneath, anchor your gap, and not get moved. A lot of guys will drop the leg for leverage and hold in this spot. He does a nice job here denying the OL any displacement and forcing the ball wide where the ILB responsible for the C gap unfortunately slips.

2-Gap Control (React-Attack)

Being able to 2-gap along the front is the root of everything in a modern defense and has an immense chain reaction along the entire unit.

In a very broad, theoretical sense, if a guy can take 2-gaps, it frees up a body. When the defensive lineman can account for multiple gaps up front, you make life easier for other linemen and especially the linebackers, even if they do technically have gap assignments themselves.

The technique you'll use is often taught by coaches as "lock, peek, shed," which has you standing up the defender and reading the ball to see which of your two gaps you will fold into. Sometimes guys will be true 2-gapping and sometimes they'll have a "primary" and "secondary gap respectively, but the idea is the same.

That is the biggest impact of gap-control, and why it's so important in the modern era. It allows you to access the full menu in coverage, be specialized against the pass, and limit explosives downfield. In many ways, your interior defensive line are your most important coverage defenders.

The Bengals couldn't do this a year ago and it killed them. With how much they ended up in 2nd-and-2, the pass rush and coverage unit had no chance, and if they played light boxes to try to stop the pass they would get gashed on the ground for chunks. A move like this should have been made a year ago, but it still helps all the same.

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Published
Max Toscano
MAX TOSCANO

Max Toscano breaks down football strategy. Prior to joining Bengals On SI, he interned with the coaching staff at the University of Connecticut, assisting the defensive staff in opponent scouting as well as assisting the Head Coach and GM with analytics on gameday. Max's areas of specific expertise include Quarterbacks and Tight Ends, including also hosting a publication dedicated to the tight end position. He also writes for "And The Valley Shook" on SB Nation.

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