First in the Secondary - A look at NFL DB's behind the line of scrimmage

By Nick Webster

Through Week 6 of the NFL season, an interesting trend has developed among defenders.  Of the NFL’s Stuff leaders – a stuff being a play where a defender tackles a runner for a loss on either a run or pass play – two defensive backs are representing themselves strongly. Tied for third place through six weeks are Philadelphia Safety Malcolm Jenkins and Arizona Safety Deone Bucannon with 6.5 stuffs a piece. 

Adrian W

How impressive are these figures, both players are on pace to set the single-season mark for a defensive back. The existing leaders (1982 to date) and the only defensive back with double-digit stuffs are:

How good were Wilson and Winfield in career stuffs? They are well clear of their competition.
Here are the career leaders, as per Pro Football Journal in stuffs by defensive backs. As can be seen, both Wilson and Winfield were the best in making plays in the backfield.

Most Career Stuffs, DB (1982 - 2014)
Player	# Seas	Stuffs	P/Yr
Adrian Wilson	12	65	5.4
Antoine Winfield	14	59.5	4.3
Troy Polamalu	12	47.5	4.0
Darren Woodson	12	41.5	3.5
Steve Atwater	11	38	3.5
Brian Dawkins	16	47.5	3.0
John Lynch	15	43.5	2.9
Rod Woodson	17	38.5	2.3
Charles Woodson	17	37.5	2.2
Ronnie Lott	14	29	2.1
Joey Browner	10	20.5	2.1

Should we expect to see Jenkins and Bucannon join the likes of Winfield and Wilson?  Unlikely, each has already exceeded his career high, and while they play in schemes that employ them with great frequency near the line of scrimmage, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll end the year among the league leaders . . . who will?  A betting man would be advised to put his money on, you guessed it, J.J. Watt . . . or the up-and-comer, Aaron Donald, might Calais Campbell finally break through and see mainstream acclaim?  It will certainly be fun to watch.  Overall Stuff leaders through week 6:

Rk	Name	Stf
1	J.J. Watt	8
2	Kevin Minter	7.5
3	Malcolm Jenkins	6.5
4	Deone Bucannon	6.5
5	Aaron Donald	5.5
6	Jaye Howard	5.5
7	Jonathan Babineaux	5.5
8	Calais Campbell	5
9	Bennie Logan	5
10	Brandon Marshall	5
11	Henry Anderson	5
12	Telvin Smith	5
13	Aaron Lynch	4.5
14	Cameron Heyward	4.5
15	Jelani Jenkins	4.5
16	Michael Bennett	4.5
17	Tyrann Mathieu	4.5
18	Cameron Jordan	4
19	Damon Harrison	4
20	Khalil Mack	4