Warrior General Games

Do people believe this ability is really important for a FS? If you're playing cover 2, do you really need a quick jump at the snap of the ball? Does this ability really kick in during the course of the play or is it only going to be helpful if you're playing tight man coverage on a WR?

Overall, it seems like Change Direction is much more relevant. What do people think?

If you know where it's being passed wouldn't it help get to the ball quicker?

Why wouldn't that be Change Direction? First Step is supposed to be helpful starting from a dead stop. Is that what it literally means?

first step helps with your acceleration. my FS has 65 speed so the wau i use first step is to play medium coverage, that way the QB reads an open reciever and with first step i can break on the play quickly and get in there for a PD or INT. its a really good SA if you have high vision, i can't tell u how many times my FS makes a tackle on the opposite side of the field on an outside run play.

I'm pretty sure first step is just triggered at the beginning of the play, a boost of acceleration. It is certainly useful to get your guy up to top speed faster I'd imagine. Then you can have change direction come into play to keep up speed while you adjust your angle of attack.

Originally posted by that1guy
first step helps with your acceleration. my FS has 65 speed so the wau i use first step is to play medium coverage, that way the QB reads an open reciever and with first step i can break on the play quickly and get in there for a PD or INT. its a really good SA if you have high vision, i can't tell u how many times my FS makes a tackle on the opposite side of the field on an outside run play.

This is a pretty important type of issue. Does First Step factor in on this play or not? Bort has said explicitly that first step gives you an acceleration from a dead stop. The FS is usually always moving once the ball is snapped, even when he's playing zone coverage and waiting to make this kind of jump on the ball. It seems to me that First Step would have nothing to do with this (but Change Direction, Closing Speed and vision would all matter hugely). I'm just gathering people's opinions.

First Step boosts acceleration anytime you are starting from a dead stop (or near dead stop)...not only at the beginning of a play.

So for example, if when a play starts out your safety is moving to his left, and then suddenly the QB throws a pass to another receiver off to the right. Your safety essentially has to stop his momentum to the left and then start going right. To do that, your safety essentially grinds to a halt. If you have a lot of points in First Step, your safety will begin accelerating to the right a lot faster than if he doesn't.

Bort used this type of example (a long time ago, over a month ago) in a thread when he was questioned specifically about whether First Step *only* kicked in at the beginning of a play. He made it very clear that there are times mid-play when it kicks in as well.

I think soft-capped agility should make up for that, for the most part. Obviously less extreme than the SA. More important things to put points in for an FS, in my opinion, especially considering it's a %-based SA, so it's unreliable.