5" grinder backer

The step is to keep the nut below the sanding surface. Without the step, the nut is exposed and can damage the surface you are grinding.
I understand this part about the nut sitting down in the depression, but I don't see how these stiff grinding disks are going to flex down into that depression under the nut. I was thinking that these phenolic backers might be designed for adhesive pads and I'm going about it wrong. I've yet to find a picture of this type of backer being used with a coarse disk, or any disk for that matter.