“When he became so productive and he asked one day, he was like, ‘Coach, where do you think I should try to play at the next level?’” Ganther said. “I said, ‘Well, how honest do you want me to be?’ And he was like, ‘Brutally honest.’ And the guys know that I’m very brutally honest and I just broke it down to him. And I think he still wanted to play safety, but the production, you just couldn’t deny the production.”
The Detroit Lions saw it that way, too, and, to Vaki’s knowledge, they were the only NFL team that did.
Vaki continued playing both ways in the second half of last season, but said the Lions were the only team he met with at the combine who brought their running backs coach to the room. (The San Francisco 49ers, the other team Vaki said showed heavy interest in him during the pre-draft process, saw him as a safety.)
Epilogue: The 49ers drafted a S in Rd 4 at No. 124 overall.
The Lions traded up for Vaki in Rd 4 at No. 132 overall.
Both the 49ers and Rams had excellent drafts. I hate it. But to the point, Vaki will be a special teamer extroadinaire, and it shows how much we value that phase of the game. I’d love for him to learn both RB and S.
I was on the train with him learning both…but that being said I think he’s an offense guy only. Unless we get ravage midgame by injuries and we need a capable body in the secondary.
That being said, we got a Special Teams star who could carve out a Miles Killebrew type career back there…
…and then have all that upside as RB3 down the road.
He’s a young 22 not a lot of wear and tear.
DMONT 27 years old 2 year remaining on contract
CRAIG 28 years old 1 year contract
I see him as an option down the road for us in a couple years…not right away other than special teams.
I’m pretty envious of their safety depth. Not only is Hufanga a star, but they drafted Ji’Ayir Brown in the 3rd last year and Mustapha this year. Also loved that they added Yiadom and drafted Renardo Green too. Their secondary should be vastly improved.
Was a reach IMO. He’s NFL good but not a day 2 player IMO.
Agreed on Green and Yiadom as I think I made pretty clear this winter/spring.
Getting Hufanga back is probably the most important addition. He has some flaws to his game but some extreme strengths as well and I feel like he’s that D’s heartbeat.
I do think their front seven continues to slide back a bit though. And maybe a good but without Greenlaw and Armstead though Floyd is better than Young IMO. Collins is a solid addition as well. They still have dudes I just think they’re at the stage where they’re pushing back on inevitable decline there.
I don’t care if they have Hotfang (probably what Stafford was going for) and Mufasa (would have been cool on the Lions team, for obvious reasons)…A defense hasnt’ been built that can stop what we’re bringing next season.
Steady Sam
Gibby & Jamo → Freaks
Ra → warrior that outplays his skill level and is an amazing leader
Goff is a surgeon underneath
…and the most offensive offensive line in the game, with Monty bullying them.
Stir in some Vaki Balboa, what the culture brings, and the up’n’coming young WRs.
Dirt Freakin’ Nasty
I wasn’t Brown’s biggest fan but I thought late 3rd was pretty good value. They definitely have a type though, he, Mustapha and Hufanga are all cut from the same cloth. If they’re playing Brown at FS they could definitely be had deep.
Their D wasn’t that great last year imo so I expect it to improve, and I don’t actually think the loss of Armstead was that great (I was really surprised by how bad the middle of their line was, given the talent). Greenlaw will definitely hurt so I could see a step back from the LBs, but Warner is just so good he can cover for a lot. Maybe it’s Dee Winters’ time to shine? I really liked him coming out and he went to a great spot.
Maybe. Personally so think their defensive talent is a bit overrated. Warner, Bosa and Ward are all Uber elite but they really need some of that next tier (Hufanga, Hargrove, Floyd, etc.) to excel. And they may.
IMO their defense has become increasingly game script dependent. A bit like that Dallas in that regard but without Dallas’ extreme boom bust turnover focus at CB.
They’re definitely game script dependent, but there was a time Armstead and Hargrave were studs too, it’s just their talent started to fade at the same time. And I think Hufanga was well on his way before the injury. But I agree they’re built to play with a lead.
I feel like we match up with that D rather well. In general I feel pretty good about a head to head scenario with SF. That presumes both teams are healthy which won’t happen of course.
It’s not possible to learn both. Offense and defense both practice and have meetings at the same time. If you have a rookie spend half their practice and meeting time on both sides of the ball he’s not going to meet the standard at either one. You can have an offensive package for a defensive player, but that’s as far as it goes in the NFL.
Brad said when he was drafted that he was drafted as a RB. Unless there is an unprecedented injury crisis in a game, he’ll never play a snap on defense. In five years in Detroit Cabinda played 0 snaps on defense, and it’s not like we had great LB corps during most of that.
I do too. I thought that last year and so it proved, if only we hadn’t collapsed. I do worry about our defense against QBs who can move like Purdy, in fact that’s probably my biggest concern going into the year. We’ll see how we do against them. Hopefully Jack’s improvement helps. Theoretically he should help a lot against guys like Purdy who are movement connoisseurs in the pocket but not much of a threat to take off.
Sure. They’re an elite team. I’m not downplaying that. I just think that as matchups go they’re less problematic then say a Baltimore for example. In the NFC I think Philly is a worse matchup for us than SF.
Well that would hurt them. Though maybe it’s why they drafted Pearsall. He’s tricky because while I love his talent, is he worth the crazy money of his next contract? For me he’d be in that next tier, but his agent is likely to argue the SF offense was holding him back. And he may be right. Hard to commit to paying him so much though.
If they do trade him they better pray that Deebo stays healthy. If they have to play without both for any sustained amount of time than the rather common Super Bowl loser hangover dynamic will remain in effect.
