A thoughtful look at the changing market for the position as a whole.
“There’s a disconnect between how coaches see the position and how personnel see the position," one defensive backs coach told CBS Sports. “It’s a very scheme-dependent role so some guys can be a perfect fit for some coaches whereas other guys are not as good of a fit, no fault of their own or even their measurables. That said, trying to gauge production from one scheme to another can then become equally difficult.”
“If a safety can cover a tight end, and then tackle in the run game, and then force fumbles, and then sack the quarterback while also not allowing any touchdowns in coverage, that player will get paid. There just happens to be very few of those humans on the planet, and any deficiency a safety has will likely be exposed by a creative offensive coordinator.”
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It’s interesting the person in the article says teams can just toss a 3rd round pick at safety and be largely fine. The Lions? Well, their safeties are Iffy (a third round pick) and Kerby (a third round pick). So…. Yea, I guess he’s kinda right 
The issue is the Lions need another safety capable of starting. With the surplus of safety talent in FA that shouldn’t be a problem.
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Brad used the realities of the RB market to his advantage by signing Montgomery and drafting Gibbs for actual value, when other GMs were overly focused on the analytical concept of positional value. At least, that’s what Brad’s mom told me… 
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Sure, at this current time, they’re not the sexy money position. And they’ll never be EDGE or LT paid.
But give it time. It’ll come back around.
Don’t be a part of trends. Start trends.
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Safety is one of the few positions where you can find true game-changers. Polamalu, Ed Reed, Earl Thomas, Ronnie Lott, Brian Dawkins, Bob Sanders before the injuries, Rod Woodson, Ken Houston, maybe Kyle Hamilton, hopefully Branch. Those guys are worth their weight in cap space.
But like the author said, they’re also few and far between. And if you’re NOT one of those guys, well welcome to the world of musical roster chairs.
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Random trip down memory lane. We had Dre Bly in his prime and signed Fernando Bryant to to play on the other side. We backed them up with a 34 year old Brock Marion and a 34 year old Bracy Walker as our safeties.
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