Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Safety Is Just Around The Corner

Remember Irving Fryar? I remember him torching New England in a game back in the day and instantly thinking this is what the wide receiver position would be like in the future. Well not so much for the Dolphins. Truth is, we haven't had anyone with Fryar's skill-set since, though we have had a few exciting players at the position - McDuffie, Gadsden, etc.



That said, those other guys in the AFC East, they've got some electrifying receivers. They've got guys who have that swagger that Fryar had (some of them in excess). And to stop them, or at least slow them down, we need to improve our secondary. Now I have a lot more confidence than most fans in Jason Allen, and I believe he can, teamed with Will Allen, Gibril Wilson, and Yeremiah Bell can play up to a high level and compete with T.O., Moss, Welker, Evans, Cotchery, etc. But what happens if the Pats/Bills/Jets add a Britt-Nicks, or a Harvin, or a Robiskie to the fold. It's one thing to bring our secondary up to the level of our competition, but if the competition improves itself as well, then we'd need to dig deeper.

And digging deep, we'd see we have little to no quality depth in the secondary. How do we improve the depth? By drafting starting-quality corners and safeties to compete with our current starters. At the end of the day, one guy wins the starting spot, and the other guy plays special teams and nickel/dime. No matter who wins we end up with two potential starting quality players at the same position. We need to be able to defend a 5 WR set at some point so we're going to need quality talent on the bench.

Here are the currently ranked top 10 CBs and top 5 safeties per NFLDraftScout:

Cornerbacks:

  1. Malcolm Jenkins
  2. Darius Butler
  3. Vontae Davis
  4. Alphonso Smith
  5. Sean Smith
  6. DJ Moore
  7. Kevin Barnes
  8. Jairus Byrd
  9. Mike Mickens
  10. Sherwood Martin
Safeties

  1. Louis Delmas
  2. Patrick Chung
  3. William Moore
  4. Rashad Johnson
  5. Chip Vaughn
Looking at this list you might infer that good quality players will be available in the late 2nd thru the mid 3rd round of the draft. You might also infer that none of the players that could be considered 1st round picks are must-have players. Example: I really like Darius Butler, but in the end is he that much better than DJ Moore? Is Louis Delmas significantly better than Chip Vaughn?

Do you think Malcolm Jenkins would defend Randy Moss any better than Sean Smith? Could Patrick Chung run-blitz better than William Moore?

The truth is that any one of these players could be a bust, a diamond in the rough, or an absolute beast through and through. That's why the Dolphins would be best served not spending a high pick on a defensive back. They could wait until the third and get a similar player to one in the first round. I've already theorized that Miami will go big in the first. Well now I hypothesize that they will continue going big in the second. This range might be their best bet in THIS draft to get a quality tackle for the o-line. And it will likely be the best spot to get a tight-end.

While history shows certain trends, the undeniable truth about THIS draft, is that teams around the league are after a lot of the same thing and that is trench guys. The big fellas will go first. Then come the corners and safeties.


A whole lot of them, full of good value, and ready to compete.


Of the above listed players, who would you like to see defending Moss and TO?

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