FS- just another CB?

[Yakuza Rich]

I get your idea, but safeties are still safeties and corners are still corners.

A safety has to be a 'downhill player.'

A corner needs to be able to stop, go, cut, get into their pedal, stick and hit.

You can get a corner to play safety, but that's if they have the ability to be a 'downhill player.' Some can do it, some can't.

Ball isn't really a downhill player. I'm not completely down on the guy. And it wouldn't completely shock me if a year under his belt he starts to play very well at safety. But at this point the team needs to find some really good, smart downhill players at safety that can cover.







YR

 

[RoyTheHammer]

I get your idea, but safeties are still safeties and corners are still corners.

A safety has to be a 'downhill player.'

A corner needs to be able to stop, go, cut, get into their pedal, stick and hit.

You can get a corner to play safety, but that's if they have the ability to be a 'downhill player.' Some can do it, some can't.

Ball isn't really a downhill player. I'm not completely down on the guy. And it wouldn't completely shock me if a year under his belt he starts to play very well at safety. But at this point the team needs to find some really good, smart downhill players at safety that can cover.







YR

Im in the same boat on Ball. I still think the kid has tremendous physical talent. He just lacks, as someone said in the thread already, "recognition skills" to play the safety position. He is a willing tackler though and i've enjoyed watching him fly all over the field at times this year. I think with better coaching and more time to learn the position he could possibly be very good. If not though i'd still want him at CB. I think he has alot to offer if we could just coach him up a little bit.

As far as Sense though.. if he's back next year i'll die a little inside.

 

[burmafrd]

its a state of mind not a position.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Im in the same boat on Ball. I still think the kid has tremendous physical talent. He just lacks, as someone said in the thread already, "recognition skills" to play the safety position. He is a willing tackler though and i've enjoyed watching him fly all over the field at times this year. I think with better coaching and more time to learn the position he could possibly be very good. If not though i'd still want him at CB. I think he has alot to offer if we could just coach him up a little bit.

As far as Sense though.. if he's back next year i'll die a little inside.

All I want from my safety is a guy that doesn't let guys get behind him. A guy that is the surest tackler on the team. And a guy that knows the coverages as well as anybody.

The other stuff can be really nice. But I think that's probably Belichick's greatest attribute as a defensive coach, he gets his safeties to do that. Unfortunately, the rest of his defense blows.







YR

 

[Arik2]

How anyone could still be thinking about drafting or moving a CB to FS for us next year after the complete disaster that move was for us this season is beyond me. Have you all not had enough of the "Alan Ball Project" yet this season?

Give me a safety in the draft. A premium pick at the position who has played it their whole career and knows the position, the in's and out's of it and won't have to spend two years just learning the nuances of where to position themselves, how to get in better spots to make plays, etc..

You want a LB, you don't draft a TE. You want a safety.. draft a freaking safety please.

:bravo:

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Maybe at some point, someone who's in the know will comment on AOA's recognition skills.

It would be great to need just one safety this offseason and not two.

 

[TheCount]

I disagree mainly because I think the FS has to be a bit smarter than the average CB and they have to be a bit more aggressive in run support than the average CB. They also have to be able to break down in space better than the average CB.

SS is where things have really changed. The days of the linebacker-like SS are long gone.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I disagree mainly because I think the FS has to be a bit smarter than the average CB and they have to be a bit more aggressive in run support than the average CB. They also have to be able to break down in space better than the average CB.

SS is where things have really changed. The days of the linebacker-like SS are long gone.

Says the guy who want the Cowboys to draft a 6'5 220lb safety! :laugh1:

 

[burmafrd]

6'2" 210 lbs with a 4.4 forty and loves to hit and has the brain to match; and good hands and instincts as well. Not so much to ask is it?

 

[jobberone]

They need to draft a playmaker who can cover.

 

[TheCount]

Says the guy who want the Cowboys to draft a 6'5 220lb safety! :laugh1:

Well technically he's 6'4" and 7/8th

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Well technically he's 6'4" and 7/8th

I stand corrected.

 

[Baileyneverfailey]

All we need is Troy Polamalu.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

All we need is Troy Polamalu.

Funny you should say that.

Watching the video highlights of the safety just brought up to the main roster kinda...

 

[RoyTheHammer]

Maybe at some point, someone who's in the know will comment on AOA's recognition skills.

It would be great to need just one safety this offseason and not two.

I think one of the main problems this team has is we simply draft alot of dumb football players. This team would do well drafting more intelligent, hard nosed football guys.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I think one of the main problems this team has is we simply draft alot of dumb football players. This team would do well drafting more intelligent, hard nosed football guys.

Oh no question that it's been remarked that the team isn't full of "Rocket Surgeons".

But I think it's something that league-wide.

However I think other teams get over that hurdle by practicing hard and often.

This team hasn't or didn't.

Even a dumb dog will learn a new trick if you practice it enough.

 

[burmafrd]

You need real intelligence at a few positions. QB is one; FS certainly is another.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

Oh no question that it's been remarked that the team isn't full of "Rocket Surgeons".

But I think it's something that league-wide.

However I think other teams get over that hurdle by practicing hard and often.

This team hasn't or didn't.

Even a dumb dog will learn a new trick if you practice it enough.

This is very true, but all teams in the NFL practice pretty close to the same amount.

I think however, that some teams draft for physical freaks. They try and get the most athletic players and guy with the best physical tools at every position and just expect that they can coach them all up.

Other.. more generally successful teams, imo.. seem to draft just more intelligent, hard nose football players. I'd take a team of those guys over a team of physical freaks who are dumb as rocks anyday.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

No, FS isn't just another corner.

Just draft a good FS. They pass all the time in college now, too -- if anything the trend started in college and worked its way up to the NFL anyway. So these guys are used to playing passing offenses.

 

[Baileyneverfailey]

You need somebody who cares about working hard as hell at safety too. I remember reading quite a few years back about how when Ed Reed got to Baltimore, he took up with Ray Lewis and the two of them watch film together at home. Not like watch film as a team, but the two guys get together every week on their days off and watch film.

Talent is talent, but things like that are why Ray and Reed are such beasts on the field.