3 Levels of Play Calling For Your Defensive Football Playbook
Give Every Call in Your Team’s Defensive Playbook a Job to Do.
Base Alignment of the 4-2-5 Defense with Cover 1 Coverage against a 2 by 2 Doubles Formation. The ‘Base’ call in your defensive playbook is one you trust in any situation.
OCTOBER 20, 2025
Written by Joe Daniel
Joe Daniel Football
You've got a great defensive playbook for your football team. The X's and O's are in the right place. It is a proven winner.
For football coaches today, that is the easy part. Anyone can download a playbook. You need to execute.
As the defensive play caller, you are responsible for practice planning. You need to communicate the vision to the rest of your staff. Support your assistants and help them develop.
And on game day? You need to make the right calls at the the right time. How you use your defensive playbook during the football game is critical.
The big question is, how many calls do you need to have in your defensive playbook? It depends. How you use that playbook is more important that what is in that playbook. To make the most of your football team's defensive playbook, you must be organized.
Every Call In Your Defensive Playbook
Has a Job
The first step to getting organized is to simplify. Strip all the bloat out of your defensive playbook.
Keep it simple so your players understand what's important. The coaches know how to teach it. When your players understand their job, they have confidence. They believe they can execute.
Confident players play fast. They fly around on game day.
Faster players win more football games. That's science.
Coach Simple. Play Fast. Win.
That doesn't mean you only run the simplest defensive front with the simplest coverage. I love the 4-2-5 Defense, it is a very simple defensive playbook that works for most football teams. I also love Cover 3 defensive coverage, the simplest zone coverage to install.
Against a Pro-I Formation, this is the Base Alignment we teach for the Miami 4-3 Defense ‘Over’ Front with Quarters Coverage. Adjustments are built into the Base to defend any formation.
However, the answer for every football team isn't to just run a 4-2-5 Defense with Cover 3 coverage and never change it. I wish it was that simple, and for young teams it can be that simple.
Most teams need a little more. You need to be able to change up your fronts, stunts, blitzes and coverages. An even front might not be right for you. It all depends.
What matters, and what truly makes a "Coach Simple" defense, is one thing...
Every single call in your playbook has a job to do. Every call you can make has a specific purpose you identified before you decided to install it.
Any play call in your defensive playbook that does not have a specific job to do? Throw it out.
If you have multiple play calls that have the same job to do... pick your favorite, throw the rest out.
You only add to your playbook when a job needs to get done, and the only way to get that job is to add a new call. New front, stunt, blitz or coverage.
So first things first, go through that defensive playbook and decide what job or jobs every single play call has for your football team. If you don't know what purpose it serves, or it's doing the same job as a better call...
Throw it out.
Don't worry, this is goodbye for now. Not goodbye for ever. When plays come out of your playbook, they stay in your system. Down the road you might find a need for that call you threw out. Then you can always bring it back (if your players can handle something new).
To help you give each of those play calls a job, let's break down the...
When you have one call that you run most of the time, you can focus your practice drills and game planning around that defensive call. Be great at one thing, then use your other calls at the right time to your advantage.
3 Levels of Defensive Play Calling for Football Coaches
There are many, many reasons to have a call in your playbook. You like different fronts against different run plays. You need multiple blitzes to attack from different angles and add numbers in different areas.
Every offense knows what your base coverage call is. It is not hard to find out the best coverage beaters for that call. You'll need change-up coverages to take the weaknesses away (unless you play a very run heavy schedule or coach younger levels).
What are the jobs you can assign to your defensive play calls? To start, we break every play call into one of 3 levels. This is where you start to give those calls a name and a job.
Defensive Play Call Level #1: Base Calls. Let's start at the beginning. The first call any defensive play caller needs to install for your football team is 'Base'.
This is deep, I know. You read this far and the big payoff was to call Base. Stick with me.
Your base front and coverage is the core. It is the call you make the most. It is the 'catch all' call in your defensive playbook, the one your football team is most confident running.
Is it the best call against everything? Of course not. But it ain't bad against anything. They might 'catch you' in a bad blitz call but they'll never catch you in base.
Most of your drill work is built around the base call. You plan your practices, especially early in the season, to master your base defense first.
Sometimes even the ‘Base’ call in your football team’s defensive playbook has movement. This is from our 3-4 Defense System using a strong slant and a blitz by the weak Outside Linebacker.
The base defensive call is home. It is a warm, fuzzy blanket. When nothing else is going right and it feels like the wheels want to come off, or you have no idea what to call next... "Base" should be your first thought.
Base defense has built-in adjustments. Motions, shifts, unbalanced, empty, you name it... if the call was your Base call, you have a plan.
Your base call is a great call, but sometimes you need an edge. Sometimes you need some...
Defensive Play Call Level #2: Movement. Movement calls let you make a relatively safe call, without giving away what you are doing before the snap.
Disguising your coverage is an example of a movement call. Slanting and stunting your defensive line is another great movement call.
For some defensive playbooks, the base call has movement. If you are running our 33 Stack Defensive System and creating fronts with your stunts and blitzes, you have movement in the base call. But something is the base call.
Defenses may also have coverage disguise built into the base defense. Many of our 3-4 Defense System coaches rotate the safeties based on the front calls.
Either way, you still have a base. You still have that thing you do more than anything else. And then you have the other calls that create a different look.
Base calls (almost) always have a four man rush. That means you have four defenders who are 100% committed to rushing the Quarterback if it's a pass play. In a base defense, seven defenders are dropping into pass coverage.
In a Movement call, the numbers do not change. You still have four pass rushers and seven players dropping into coverage. You still have ~6 defenders to a side.
Disguising an aggressive blitz is not a movement call. We'll get to those in a minute.
Movement calls can use pre-snap movement that disguises the coverage to gain an advantage. Inside our 3-4 Defense System, we can show a 2-high coverage and rotate to Cover 3. The call is a weak slant and blitzing the Strong Outside Linebacker to the C-Gap.
Movements calls might also be a simple change-up coverage. If you're a base Cover 3 team, but you run a Cover 1 man/free as a change-up then this is a movement call.
Change-up fronts are also a movement call. It gives the offense a different look. It does not change the base rules of your defense. Your Umbrella Run Fits stay in-tact and you keep the same numbers.
When you're ready to roll the dice and take a risk, you are ready for...
When you're ready to roll the dice and take a risk, you are ready for...
Defensive Play Call Level #3: Aggressive. This is where you bring the heat. This is where you hold your break and clench up a little bit.
Aggressive play calls change the numbers.
Most of the time, Aggressive calls means using blitzes in your defense. That is the most common way to change the numbers.
Bring a 5-man pressure, you're committing 5 defenders to rush the Quarterback if it is a pass. Only 6 defenders will be in coverage. That changes the numbers.
If it's a 6-man pressure, that is a heavy blitz. Bringing 6 leaves you only 5 defenders for the pass, and unless you are playing in Canada that means everybody's got a man.
Changing the numbers can go the other way, too. If you bring only 3 pass rushers and drop 8 into pass coverage, that's an Aggressive call too.
Aggressive play calls don't just change the numbers in your pass rush. That's the easiest way to define them but you will make Aggressive calls that have more purpose than just to hurry the Quarterback.
Aggressive blitzes commit numbers to one area. The Tiger Cat Blitz I learned from Bill Mountjoy years ago adjusts how many players are committed to the pass based on formation. This is my favorite blitz call.
Aggressive calls change the numbers by committing second and third level defenders to a specific area on the run. That's a complicated way to say if you stick your Linebacker into B-gap by calling a blitz, he isn't sitting back at 5 yards on the snap making a key read and flowing to the football.
When you bring the blitz, you commit one or more blitzers to a specific area. You change the numbers in terms of who can play an inside or outside run. You changed who can scrape across to follow a puller.
Aggressive play calls have a very specific purpose. You use them to add numbers where you think they'll run the ball. You make the call to attack a specific area of the pass protection.
There's a big reward in being aggressive. Getting it right can shut down a drive or cause a huge turnover.
But there is a risk, too. When you add numbers in one place, you take them away from somewhere else.
Add numbers in the pass rush, you have fewer defenders in coverage. Insert a blitzer for the inside run, you have fewer defenders available for the outside run.
Those aggressive calls in your defensive playbook have a specific purpose. You need to know why you're calling it. What does it stop? Do you have reasonable evidence that the offense might run what your aggressive call is designed to stop this play?
If you get the right situation, call it. Not feeling so good about it? Call base!
The Next Step to Simplify Your Football Team’s Defensive Playbook
This is just the start in your journey to simplify the defensive playbook. Once you label each call on your defensive play call sheet as Base, Movement or Aggressive, you are ready for that next step.
It's not enough to know which calls are Movement and which calls are Aggressive. One of the biggest mistakes from defensive football play callers is running disguise just to look different. Or calling an aggressive blitz just to heat 'em up.
Know your Why. Take the time to give every call on your call sheet, every single week, a reason for being there. If you can't find a reason? Time to fire that play call.
Do you have the right defensive playbook? Is your defense a System or just a stack of plays? Enter your name and best email address below to get my free "Ultimate Guide to Building Your Ultimate Defensive Football Coaching System" today.
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GET THE FREE DIGITAL GUIDE FOR BUILDING THE ULTIMATE FOOTBALL DEFENSE THAT WINS GAMES
Shut Down Any Opponent When Your Team Misses Fewer Tackles, Allows Fewer Big Plays, and Gives Up Fewer Points. Enter your best email address below, and I'll send you a FREE copy of our latest Football Coaching Guide titled "What You Need To Know To Build The Ultimate Defensive Football Coaching System"!
Your information is safe with us and will not be shared
Defensive Play Calling FAQ
Q: How do I call defensive plays in football?
Start by grouping each call in your playbook into one of three categories into Base, Movement, or Aggressive calls. Base calls are your core defense, Movement changes the look without changing the numbers, and Aggressive changes the numbers. This structure helps simplify decisions and improve player execution.
Q: How many defensive plays should be in a high school football playbook?
Most teams only need one Base call they focus on. For movement you’ll need one or two change-up fronts and one change-up coverage to start. Most coaches benefit from simple defensive line stunts like slants, too. Aggressive calls include your base blitz package (bringing one extra defender) and 1-3 exotic blitzes that are more complex and focused on a single purpose in your weekly game plan. Keeping the playbook small makes it easier for players to master and execute on game day.
Q: What do defensive play calls look like?
Most defensive play calls combine a front, stunt, blitz and coverage as needed. You will always need a front and coverage. For example, Over 3 is a base call for the 4-2-5 Defense using an Over front and Cover 3. “Over Bullets Strong 1” is an Over front blitzing the strong side Linebacker and playing Cover 1.
A typical call in our 33 Stack Defense look is “Stack Aim Bullets Strong 3.” Stack is the front alignment. Aim slants the defensive line away from the strength call. Bullets Strong blitzes the strong side stack linebacker. 3 is our Cover 3 call. Every team’s language is different, but the structure stays similar.
Q: What are the types of defensive play calls for football?
There are three main types: Base calls, Movement calls, and Aggressive calls. Base calls are your foundation, Movement calls disguise looks, and Aggressive calls apply pressure or drop extra defenders into coverage.
Q: How can I simplify my defensive play calling?
Eliminate duplicate calls and focus on purpose. If two plays do the same job, keep the one your players execute best. Clear structure and fewer calls make game-day adjustments faster and more confident.
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