Let’s talk safety - Who do you like?

I think he may go late day 2 and that it may be as a linebacker or in the very least a hybrid type. He was quoted at his pro day as being asked about playing LB’er by a number of teams. What an athlete.

I agree Yote. I think there’s a very good chance we draft two Safeties. Our safety group is lacking.

I like Holland a lot and I think he will be one of the top safeties off the board. I think he’s in serious play if he makes it to us round two. But I’m not sure he makes it that far.

I like him to and if he wasn’t such a tweener I think he’d be a lock for round 3 but because he’s a hybrid type he could slide to as far as round 5. He has big potential in my book. I think some teams might have him listed as a 3rd rounder so I’m hoping he makes it to us round 5. But I would love it if he did and we took him there.

Last year my favorite was Jeremy Chinn. I wanted us to take him round two. I started a thread about it. No one agreed with me … lol… still wish we had.

This year I don’t have a favorite I like as much as I liked Chinn.

But … I do think the draft has some solid guys in it that could be available to us.

I like Moehrig but I don’t think he’s in play because I think he goes round one.

I like Holland and Grant one of them should make it to us round two.

Grant is a guy I waver on. I love his play. He’s very good and versatile but I just hate that he’s already 24. It wouldn’t shock me if Grant is the second safety off the board however. But I’d be happy with Grant as a Lion.

I like Holland and I think he’s an upgrade over anyone on our roster. My hope is we take Grant, Holland or Molden round two.

Round 3 I like Johnson, and Cisco.

But If you twisted my arm to take a favorite it’s probably Molden (I guess) Not because. I think he will be the best safety in the class. I just like the way he plays and I think his game translates well to today’s NFL. He’s a safe pick and I think round two is where we start looking for a safety. So he projects well for us.

But you also loved Swift and we only get to pick one.

Had we traded down as we should have, everything would have worked out famously.

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I know that’s why I wanted a trade down from 3OA.

I wanted two 2nds so we could get the following.

  1. RB Swift or Taylor. With Swift being my favorite of the two but I liked both.
  2. Chinn or a WR

All depending how the draft fell I really thought we could address those needs had we traded down.

Wishful thinking I guess.

Ah. My bad. I misunderstood.

@Bigswinginbeef

One more thing I meant to say on Molden above that I forgot to mention … This might help you understand why I like him so much.

My NFL comparison for him is Tyrann Matheu (Honey Badger) … When I compare them I see a ton of similarities. Matheiu went round 3 only because of character issues. He should have been a 2nd rounder. Which is where I expect Molden to go. I think people are sleeping on Molden too.

With that in mind here’s my sleeper Safety.

Richard Lecounte - He was a 5 star recruit out of HS and was the #2 ranked safety in the nation. The #1 ranked Safety was Jeff Okudah by the way.

Here’s the knock on him and why he’s a sleeper. He’s a tad small 5’10 190lbs. He ran a 4.76 40 at his pro day. But he doesn’t play slow at all. He had a motorcycle accident and injured his foot. He wasn’t 100% healthy and I think it effected his time.

He plays with range. Making tackles all over the field. He plays quick and closes on the ball with a burst of acceleration. This trait helped him intercept 8 balls. He’s a decent tackler. Racking up 176 tackles in 4 seasons at Georgia. He’s that mean, nasty, physical Safety that you just love to have on your team. He hits with a pop. I’ve seen him make plays on the opposite side of the field and run past team mates who are much faster than him. While he makes the tackle on guys who timed sub 4.5 speed. There’s no way you do that if your 4.76 slow.

Ok now that I’ve made him sound awesome I’ll toss out a few concerns. He plays physical and aggressive. Maybe too aggressive at times. He is sometimes over aggressive and out of control. He also makes a few too many tackling mistakes. Like going too high and not squaring up on the ball carrier. These are all teachable and fixable but it’s an area he needs to work on some. His aggressive style also tends to lead to more injuries too.

So where will he go in the draft? … before his pro day time I saw him ranked in the 4th round a lot. Now it seems everyone has him going round 6-7.

I think he’s a solid round 4-5 guy and I think it’s possible a team takes him sooner.

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Here is a highlight video Lecounte. Does he look slow? Does he look like a late round prospect?

Not to me.

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I agree with you on LaCounte on day three. I think Paris Ford as a UDFA can still make an impact. Have no idea what happened at his pro day. He plays like a 4.5ish guy.

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Deablo was a gunner on ST as well. Scary to have that dude barreling down at you when trying to field a punt.

I like him as a player to.

Who names their kid the devil anyway. You know he’s a knee cap biter.

He’s pretty unique. That kind of size but with a background at WR. Definitely intrigued. Hard for
me to imagine him lasting till day 3 though.

I think the earliest he goes is round 3.

This years safety class lacks top shelf talent but that next tier is full of guys. There’s a lot to choose from starting round two on.

You’re probably correct. Jim Nagy is awesome but he’s very pro player and seems to lean bullish on player’s draft prospects.

It’s his job to hype up the players.

That’s why every year the next guy is the greatest prospect ever. A generational talent… blah blah … lol

Interesting name for sure! Deablo is the surname… and I saw a story that mentioned his father was bullied because of his last name… so he named him Divine “to balance heaven and hell.”

Another player that has played slot CB that may be a candidate for a change to safety is Shaun Wade.

He was getting a lot of positive attention in 2019 when he played inside for OSU… but then had a rough year outside in 2020. He has good size (6058 height, 196 lb. and long 33.5" arms) for a DB.

I haven’t seen a ton of film on him in a safety role… but there is a play shown on his 2019 highlights where he lines up as a 2-deep safety showing a cover-4 coverage pre-snap… but he rolls down into a “lurk” role after the snap in a 3-deep coverage. There was about 3 minutes left in 4th quarter of Penn State game when this play happened. Wade undercut a deep crossing route for a pass break-up.

It was just 1 play… but he looks like a possibility as a rangy FS type. I even found an article by Daniel Jeremiah from January 2020 that mentions a possible comp to Minkah Fitzpatrick… due to the possibility that a team could want him as a CB or a safety.

Here is part of the article…

He reminds me of: I don’t have a perfect comparison for Wade, but I see some similarities to Minkah Fitzpatrick when he was coming out of Alabama. Both guys can play all over the secondary. They possess outstanding instincts and toughness. Fitzpatrick had noticeably better ball skills, but I’m hopeful Wade will make some strides this fall to improve in that area.

Teams were split on where Fitzpatrick would best fit at the next level. Some thought he would be an elite nickel back, others liked him at free safety and a few believed he could hold up outside at cornerback. After moving around during his brief time with the Dolphins, he settled in at free safety for the Steelers after being traded to Pittsburgh early last season. I believe teams will have similar discussions about Wade. I’m hoping he will land with the right team, one that will find the perfect role for him.

Seems like a lofty comp… but I do like the idea of having a player with CB experience playing safety for the Lions.

Thoughts?

I really like this kid. Nothing overly flashy but he has great range and just has the feel of a long-time NFL starter to me. Like to go around the pick 100-120 range.