I remember how sad I was when I heard that Antoine Wifnield Jr. had signed with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. I mean, it made sense, but Antoine Winfield was such an awesome player on the field that it only made sense that his son would also be a terror in the secondary. And it turned out that he more than lived up to the hype. When he was on the field, chaos ensued, the only issue was staying on the field as he did struggle with injuries during his career as a Golden Gopher. But he was healthy last season and productive as hell. I took a look at his game against Penn State to see what kind of player he might become in the NFL and whether he would make sense to solidify the Bears secondary in the second round.
Before we get into the game tape, let’s take a look at the measurements.
Oh man, you know I am just salivating when looking at that height. A perfectly average 5’9” is really what all ladies crave. On top of that, he ran an excellent 40 yard dash at 4.45 and has a strong broad jump which is a good indicator of explosiveness. He didn’t do any change of direction drills, but looking at his play, this is not an area of concern for me.
With him pulling down seven interceptions this past season, his ball skills should not be put in question, but he does some really great things here.
Usually, this is a matchup that a quarterback is going to love. Just having a wide receiver on a safety is a positive, but having a 5’9” safety makes it even more salivating. Winfield makes him pay. It’s an underthrown ball, and Winfield adjusts before the wide receiver, so when the receiver tries to slow up for the ball, Winfield gives him just a bit of a nudge in order to give himself more space to leap in front and make the play.
Although he is great at reading plays in the secondary, his run reads could use some improvement.
On this play, it’s almost like he’s trying to get blocked by the guard as he runs right next to the linebacker so the guard is able to take care of two guys without having to do a whole lot of work. On the positive side, Winfield continues to hustle and does make the tackle 40 yards downfield.
This pass is really bad, but it’s still a nice job by Winfield.
The key here is that Winfield starts moving to his left the second that the Penn State quarterback opens his hips up in that direction. Because there is no hesitation, he’s able to take advantage of the bad pass and create a turnover.
Winfield has a good understanding of leverage and the importance of it when facing off against larger receivers (which is almost always).
Here, he is guarding a 6’5” tight end in the slot, but he stays right on the tight end’s inside hip and gives him no room to even attempt to make the catch even if it was a better thrown ball.
Overall, I really liked what I saw from Winfield. He’s a guy who can clearly see the field and knows how to make plays by anticipating throws. He’s a good prospect who I would be good with the Bears taking, but I just never saw anything jaw dropping. Adding in the injury concerns, I’m only good with Winfield but not enamored with him. Hopefully he is able to stay healthy, because he definitely has the potential to be an impact safety in the pros.
The Iowa Hawkeyes had three underclassmen to this year’s NFL Draft. The first two, Tristan Wirfs and AJ Epenesa, were no brainers and likely first round picks. The third was a borderline decision in Iowa safety Geno Stone. I say borderline, because he is unlikely to be picked on the first two days of the draft, but I almost always think it’s the right move to leave college and get paid so good on him for getting closer to actually being compensated for putting his body on the line. I took a look at his games against Michigan, Iowa State, and USC to get a better idea of how he could make an impact for an NFL team.
Before we get to the film, let’s take a look at how he tested athletically at the combine.
That is...not ideal.
Geno is clearly looking to jump the route on this play.
He hangs back just enough to give the quarterback a window, knowing that he can break downhill to either tip the ball or get an interception. Since the linebacker remained fairly close as opposed to going to a zone more outside, the Michigan quarterback checks off the route before throwing a really bad pass in the opposite direction.
That play may seem like nothing, but it hints at what can happen when he makes a quarterback believe there is an opening that isn’t actually there.
Here he stays underneath the Michigan wide receiver while still staying close enough to the tight end where it will only lead to a short gain. He knows he has help behind him on the receiver but gives Patterson just enough of a window to make the throw. He doesn’t play the receiver, he plays the path of where the throw has to go and it leads to him making the interception.
He also has great instincts in the run game.
He looks like he has a rocket attached to him as he emerges on the screen and darts directly to the ball carrier to turn what looked like a first down into a play that comes up five yards short.
I will say that tackling could use some work. I don’t think it’s a big issue, but he isn’t a guy that really laid the wood on his hits, and there were times where he was desperately diving for legs instead of wrapping up.
Last year, I was absolutely enamored with Amani Hooker. He played in the box and at safety and excelled at both roles because his instincts were always right. Geno Stone has great instincts, and the only reason I can’t put him quite on Hooker’s level is that he wasn’t given the opportunity to play anywhere but safety. Still, he was very good at what he did. Analytics sites like Pro Football Focus love him, but anyone who loves raw athleticism isn’t even going to have him on their board. Hooker fell to the fourth round, so I would say that is about as high as we could expect Stone to go. I think he’s likely a fifth round pick who ends up being very valuable as a starting safety in the league. I don’t think he’s an All-Pro guy, but he’s a football player who will be in the right place at the right time and knows how to make big plays. If the Chicago Bears got him in the fifth round, I’d be ecstatic.
This is the scouting report I was most looking forward to writing this year. I was hoping I could wait another year to write it, but I certainly can't fault a great player for leaving early. It was truly a pleasure watching Amani Hooker play for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and he got better and better every year. I admit I have black and gold tinted glasses, and even though I never specifically watched him during a game, it was impossible for me not to notice his contributions. But now, I am willing to take a closer look at the Hooker to see the strengths and look for weaknesses that could hurt him at the next level. I looked at his games from 2018 against Mississippi State, Iowa State, and Maryland with a sprinkling of 2017 Ohio State for good measure.
Aw man, who am I kidding? Let's just go to the first play of the game against Ohio State.
This wasn't just to show something painful for Buckeye fans as I did want to display the way he was able to make plays from the traditional safety position as he played a less traditional role this past year. Here, Hooker plays a shallow zone and just does a great job of reading the quarterback's eyes and breaking downhill for the pick-six. JT Barrett actually does a nice job of working left to right here. But Hooker knows he can't do anything on the left, the middle is well covered, so he picks the dig route to make a break on, and he picks right. It looks like Hooker knows where this ball is going before Barrett does.
Hooker is an interesting prospect as he spent his first two years and part of his final year in a traditional safety role before mostly transitioning to a hybrid role where he was more of a nickel back/linebacker. Here's another nice play from Hooker in a traditional safety role.
Even without the benefit of having a bright yellow cone of vision, it's easy to see Hooker looking into the backfield to read the quarterback's eyes. He does this while staying over the top of the route, so he is seeing the quarterback prepare his release as the receiver breaks to the outside, and he cuts off the route to make the interception.
Here is an example of Hooker playing the run.
He diagnoses the play and sprints to fill the hole. David Montgomery is one of the top running backs in the draft, so he did manage to spin out of the tackle, but his momentum was stopped by Hooker, and he wasn't able to regain control and was quickly wrapped up.
This is a really nice play by Hooker making quick decisions.
On this play, Hooker has the responsibility of the short routes while the cornerback is going to handle anything deep. He sees the slot receiver running down field, and the quarterback thinks that it will carry Hooker with him. Instead, Hooker lets that man go and quickly breaks to the outside to the wide receiver to tackle him just after he makes the catch for a short gain. It's a quick diagnosis that makes this play work as if he's a second slower, the receiver is creating yards after the catch for a likely first down.
A receiver blocking Hooker is not a recipe for success.
That is a massive whiff by the receiver, and Hooker is able to finish off the play because of it.
This was something I consistently saw in games as wide receivers were outclassed when trying to block Hooker on quick screens.
it is clear Hooker is diagnosing the play as he is getting blocked, and then he shucks the receiver and does an impressive job of taking out the tight end's right leg to bring him down for a short gain.
Here is another example of him reading the quarterback while dropping down in a zone and making a quick break on the ball.
On this play, he has the option to carry the inside breaking route but sees the Iowa State quarterback looking to his left, so he makes a hard break to the outside, and even though he can't get a hand on it, he got close enough to distract the receiver enough for him to not catch the ball.
I had watched three games, but I wanted a little more. Did I get obsessed with watching Hooker and just go to a highlight video? Yes, admittedly, I did. But it reminded me of this play which I didn't even comprehend its greatness until seeing it on this video.
Hooker covers THREE guys on this play, just by reading the quarterback's eyes. First, he carries the slot receiver coming up the seam before breaking inside on the next receiver's short crossing route where the linebacker picks him up, and then Hooker drifts back to the outside receiver who tries to run into open space, but Hooker again reads the quarterback's eyes, finds the receiver, looks back to the quarterback, and makes the leaping interception. If you're a scout trying to convince your team to draft Hooker, this is the play you show them.
Here's the thing with safeties. They are damn near impossible to evaluate off of television tape. They are barely on screen and immediately offscreen at the snap, so it's tough to show the ins and outs of great safety play. That being said, I have watched Amani Hooker for years. I've seen the minutiae of what most people would call meaningless replays and how the dude is ALWAYS around the ball. For an NFL comparison, I would say he reminds me of Tyrann Mathieu. I don't expect him to test off the charts, but he should do well, and the most important thing is that the guy just makes plays. He has incredible football instincts that you simply can't teach, and there was a reason that Big Ten coaches named him the defensive back of the year despite lining up most of the year in a non-traditional secondary role. He can play a traditional safety role or play as your nickel back, but it's easy to find a way to utilize a guy like Amani Hooker. His versatility and ability to read and react would make him an asset to any defense. As a Hawkeye fan, I'm certainly going to miss him.
In anticipation of Vince McMahon bringing the fun back to football (more concussions, woohoo!), Lukewarm Jonah and I went back and forth to do an XFL Draft. Instead of breaking this down round by round, we are going to go by position groups.Today, we finish up with the real football players (kickers and punters still to go) with each team’s safeties.
Safety Jonah: Dwight Lowry, Shiloh Keo, Calvin Pryor, Russell Siavii Joe: Ed Reynolds, Gerod Holliman, Taylor Mays, Tino Sabbatelli Joe: Ed Reynolds was a stud safety at Stanford where he was not only a first-team All-American but also won the Jack Tatum award for the nation’s best defensive back. He bounced around in his few years in the league and was released by the Browns after sustaining an injury. He should be healthy for the XFL season, and at just 26 years old should be able to step in and make a difference. Gerod Holliman has an even more impressive resume as he was an All-American, Jim Thorpe award winner and had an incredible 14 interceptions during his junior year at Louisville. On top of that, he was a big safety who knew how to lay a hit on people. But the NFL was not impressed and he is now playing in the National Arena League. Yep, not even the Arena Football League. I’m pretty sure we can pry him away from that lucrative gig to play in the XFL. Taylor Mays is an athletic freak. Big, strong, and fast as hell. The only thing he can’t do is change directions, so hopefully that won’t be a problem in the secondary. Either way, he’ll look great in a pair of shorts. But my final guy doesn’t look great in a pair of shorts, he looks great in a speedo. I’m a heterosexual male, and when I see Tino Sabbatelli in a wrestling ring, even I’m like, “Dayummmmmmmmm.” I’m not trying to check him out, but the dude has some glutes on him...this is getting weird, isn’t it? Oh, anyway, before he got into wrestling, he played six years in the NFL while using his real name of Sabby Piscitelli, but this is the XFL, so he’s Tino in our league. At age 34, he’s a grizzled vet, but if age has slowed him down, we can always count on his tag team partner, Riddick Moss, to interfere and make the save.
Jonah: Dwight Lowry was a 16 game starter for the past three years, but a free agent this year. He played well enough over the past three years to be somewhere, but for some reason isn’t. He’s healthy, 31 and has nine years of NFL experience. He’s a solid veteran at my safety spot.
Shiloh Keo comes to us from the football factory of the University of Idaho. He was an absolute monster when he played there and I loved having the privilege of watching it. Unlike some of the other Vandals on my team, Keo was drafted and has had a decent NFL career. He started for the Texans and the Broncos. He sealed the AFC championship game for the Broncos eventual Super Bowl win so you’re welcome Peyton Manning. He’s 30, a big hitter and can cover.
Calvin Pryor is my big name young safety. He was a first rounder in 2014 and made the all rookie team that year. He played pretty well but was on the Jets and the Browns so you can only expect so much. He was on the Jaguars earlier this season but was released. He’s 25 and still a free agent so I’ll take him.
Russell Siavii is of course another Vandal. Move over Rock’s family because there’s a new Samoan dynasty and it’s the Keo and Siavii safety dynasty. You can never go wrong with a Samoan playing safety and hitting people. He’s a strong tackler and covered well. He’s also a great special teamer.
Joe: Since I love name recognition, I definitely appreciate the pick of Calvin Pryor as he was a hard hitting safety with really good athleticism who will fit in well with the lax rules of the XFL. Dwight Lowry is a fine veteran to put back there as he knows where to be and when to be there. Keo and Siavii are both Vandals; this much is true.
Jonah: Keo is less a homer pick and just more of someone I kept track of throughout his NFL career. He started as a rookie in Houston and was the Broncos starting safety in their Super Bowl run so he’s not just an Idaho guy he’s a safety who would play well. Siavii is pretty much just a homer pick, probably my worst pick but I like giving my guys chances. Reynolds should be pretty good, not sure about Holliman. With those guys starting I’d be pretty freaked out having Taylor Mays a big name who couldn’t actually play football as a backup. Rex Grossman could probably pick Taylor Mays apart. Tino Sabbatelli has to chase those NXT tag team titles so I’m not sure if he’s showing up to camp or not. I think you have a real issue at safety.
Joe: Apparently you don’t remember what Tino looks like…
I think we’re going to be just fine.
Jonah: Oh I do, butt implants for sure. Also, you have to pay him enough so he can buy his own Maserati.
Joe: With the XFL, he might have to downgrade to a Kia, but that'll have to do. And that wraps it up for real football players. Next time, it’s our kicking specialists.
I live in Clearwater, Florida, and tonight, I am going to experience my first hurricane when Irma rolls into town. Even though I stayed, it no way means that I am brave, and it also doesn't mean that I'm a dumbass. I just made the logical choice.
As a native Iowan, I never really had to worry about hurricanes, but I did once have a tornado roll right by my apartment complex during college. I was too drunk to really care about it, so it didn't greatly scare me, but considering that we experienced 155 MPH winds, I'm at least prepared for the winds of a hurricane. Tornadoes are far less stressful, and not just because their size is nowhere near a hurricane; it's mostly that a tornado pops up, runs through your area in the next couple hours, and then it's over. A hurricane is the slowest natural disaster imaginable, as we have known about Irma coming for a full week. It is just so damn slow
With that (lack of) speed, things have had so much time to change. It was going to get slowed down in the Caribbean when it hit Cuba and Puerto Rico. Then it was going to just rise up the east coast where we'd be on the outer range. Then it was going straight up the middle, and finally, in worst case scenario, it is now coming up the west coast. That's bad for me, but the whole leadup led to an awkward situation. By wishing for it to not hit me, it meant that I was wishing other people harm. Would I have preferred that it went somewhere else? Of course, that would have been a preferable outcome for me, but even in less than ideal outcome, I'm likely going to be fine.
This leads to the next question: Should I have evacuated? Even knowing what I know now, I still feel good about my decision to stay during the storm. My plan was always to stay unless I received a mandatory evacuation notice. Although Zones A&B did receive the mandatory evacuations, I'm in Zone C, which means that I am good to stay. Would it have been safer for me to go? Yeah, getting out of the way of a hurricane is safer than staying in the way, but I am tucked away in a neighborhood so I should be fairly blocked off from debris, and I'm in the best possible area to avoid flooding. I'm prepared if our house ends up sustaining some damage, and I'm prepared to lose power for a few days if it ends up coming to that, but physically, I feel as if I'm about as safe as taking a flight. Sure, something incredibly weird could happen, but the risk is so slight that I am in no way putting my life in danger.
Overall, I haven't been too worried throughout the process. When I took my lunch to pickup some bottled water last Tuesday, and there was nothing to be found at Sam's Club or Publix, I didn't really worry, I just picked up some Gatorade and figured I'd be good. When I heard that gas stations all across the state were running out of gas, I wasn't too concerned, because I didn't think I'd have to evacuate. When they started announcing evacuations in my area, I didn't really concern myself, because those were coastal areas, and of course they were going to need to evacuate. Even driving through town Saturday and realizing that everything was closed, I wasn't really worried, it just meant that I could go 100 on the highway, because what cop would pull somebody over for speeding when there is a hurricane coming (Also, there was a brewery open over in Tampa, so grabbing a beer with the wife and dog seemed like a good way to celebrate Iowa's victory).
I would say the most concerned I got was when my friends texted me in a group chat to tell me that I should evacuate. My friends are not concerned people; they're idiots, and that's why we get along so well, so it was a tad unnerving that these guys were actually worried about my safety.
But when I balanced everything out, it made sense for me to stay. The most likely outcome is still that everything will be totally fine, maybe lose power for a while. I could sustain some house damage, and I could be without power for days, but I'm prepared for either situation. We've got a safe spot tucked away in the middle of the house where physically, we'll be fine, although the dog may be freaking out a bit. She's always a spaz, so I think we can handle that.
I'm doing some quick looks at the Bears draft picks. The Chicago Bears first move got all the publicity, but the rest of these guys are going to be incredibly important on whether this was a successful draft for the team. Since the Bears did not have a third round pick, we move on to the fourth round where the Bears first selected Eddie Jackson, a safety out of Alabama. I checked out his games against Tennessee and Texas A+M to get a better look at him as a player.
The first thing to note about Eddie Jackson is that he was good enough to start at Alabama. That's a pretty great start for any prospect. He's already got to have a pretty high floor. He's an in the box safety as opposed to a center fielder, and although I didn't see any thumping hits, he certainly didn't shy away from contact. He seemed solid in his role.
Another thing that I was excited to see was that he was also a returner for Alabama, which gives you an idea of his athleticism, which is good since he wasn't able to do any of the speed drills during the combine. And yeah, stuff like this is pretty cool.
I can definitely get behind that.
As for how he performs in coverage, there wasn't a ton to go off of. He seemed solid in man coverage, but gave quite a bit of cushion when he was running a deep zone where there was enough room for receivers to make plays. It's always tough to judge safeties off of limited looks, as that may have been the design of the play.
Overall, you have to love the athleticism, and you have to hope the coverage skills are there enough for him to be a starting strong safety. I mean, he was good enough to start for Alabama, so there's likely less competition to be a starter for the Bears.
Desmond King is one of my favorite Iowa players ever. He started as a true Freshman and played pretty damn well. From there, he got better and better. Then he had every reason to leave after his Junior year as he won the Thorpe Award for best cornerback in the nation and had nothing left to prove. Still, he came back and basically shut down half the field for most of the season. Quarterbacks just refused to throw that way, so even though his stats were down, his play was just as good. Still, being a great college player does not make one a great pro, so I took a look at his games against Nebraska and Purdue from 2016 and Wisconsin and Indiana from 2015 (since people actually threw in his direction that year).
Something that stands out in King's play is his physicality. He isn't someone who can get physical; he's someone who looks to get physical. You see this a lot on how he tackles guys as he's looking to either make a big hit or go for a strip. Also, he plays through the whistle...and sometimes needs the benefit of a really long whistle.
Iowa's defense relies on their cornerbacks being able to make tackles in the open field and King always did a good job of containing the edge and finishing plays.
Where his physicality is more important is in his coverage, as he can make up for not having top end speed by physically punishing opposing receivers. What also helps is he is incredibly quick. Adding that to his decisiveness, and it's no wonder he's able to stick to receiver like glue (If you're looking for King on these plays, he's basically always the cornerback on the left side of the offense).
Indiana ran this play earlier in the game while Iowa was in a zone and it went for 20 yards. Here, King sees the quick break, avoids the pick (watch the receiver in the slot flail at King), and the Indiana quarterback has no choice but to throw the ball away.
The big concern is his lack of top end speed which means that many teams view him more as a safety prospect than a cornerback. As much as I love King, I do think it's still a question mark. He handled all varieties of B1G receivers, but how many of those guys were really top end talents? Also, the ones that were future NFL players likely didn't have a NFL level quarterback throwing them the ball to take advantage of any of King's weaknesses.
King would occasionally get beat deep by receivers. The problem with this is whose responsibility that was in Iowa's coverage. Iowa's safeties were not the most dependable players these last few years, so it was unclear whether there should have been a safety over the top or whether King just got beat. He also would often give too much of a cushion and allow 8-yard comeback routes without having any chance to break up the play. Again, that could be the Iowa defensive play call to drift back in the zone and allow the underneath route, or it could be King playing it safe with his lack of top-end speed.
His speed is definitely a concern, but this guy is a football player, and I would like to at least see him get the chance to stay at corner at the next level.
The biggest positives for King's ability to stay at cornerback are his intelligence and instincts.
Here, he follows the deep post over the middle until he sees the slot receiver going for a wheel route. He then spins around to break on the ball, make the interception while managing to still get a foot in bounds.
Another reason that I think King can stay at corner despite not having top end speed is the quickness and athleticism he has shown as a kick returner.
This sort of body control is impressive, and it is far more important than speed when trying to mirror receiver's actions.
And finally, he does things like this.
His ability to mirror receivers and basically run their route for them while undercutting any pass is really a treat to watch.
Right when the receiver breaks towards the outside, King turns back to look for the ball to make a play. King is a very smart player and knows the situation where that is the end of the route and he has a safety over the top so he can look to make a play on the ball if the quarterback decides to throw it. A pushoff from the receiver isn't enough to stop King from making the interception.
The biggest debate for King is whether he is a corner or a safety at the next level. It's a fair question, especially considering that nearly every recent Iowa cornerback has transitioned to safety when going to the NFL. I do think King has enough other skills to stay at corner despite the lack of straight line speed, but ultimately, I don't think it really matters. King's best trait is that he's a football player. He's a guy who consistently makes plays and those instincts will transition to any level.
The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:
Next up, we have the Bears sixth round pick, DeAndre Houston-Carson, a free safety out of William and Mary. To say I knew nothing about Houston-Carson would be completely accurate, as I had never even heard his name before the Bears selected him late in the draft. I had pretty much assumed that this was going to be a quick and easy one, because who on God's green Earth would cut up tape of a William & Mary Free Safety? Draft Breakdown, that's who. They had tapes of his games against perennial powerhouses Villanova, Richmond, and Lafayette.
On the positive side of things, DHC is a very adept tackler. He's not putting big hits on guys, but he knows how to wrap up and bring a guy down. On the not-so-positive side of things, he often got taken down the field on blocks and had a really hard time shedding guys once they made contact with him. He was always around the ball, but a lot of times, guys got an extra 5-10 yards because he wasn't able to shake loose a block and make a play earlier.
If you're looking for a highlight, it doesn't get much better than this.
DHC has good coverage, adjusts to an underthrown ball to make the interception., and, most importantly, once he gets the ball in his hands, he looks like the most explosive player on the field as he sprints by everyone for a touchdown.
There is only so much you can see from game tape with a free safety. Although he had the interception, there were also plays where he gave guys way too much space in order to make plays on the ball. Again, it was a very limited sample, but it still wasn't ideal, especially against a slower game at a lower level of college football.
So that's where we're at with DHC. He shows some flashes of athleticism on the field but sometimes seemed a little too hesitant for my liking. There's a reason he fell to the sixth round, and even squinting, it's tough to see more than a special teams contributor out of DHC. There's nothing wrong with that. With all late round picks, you're hoping to find buried treasure, but I'm thinking the Bears may have just found some loose change. That's still better than nothing.
The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:
And today we move to the Bears final fourth round pick, a guy near and dear to my heart hometown state, Deiondre' Hall, a defensive back from the University of Northern Iowa. The first thing that you may notice is that I'm using the vague term of defensive back instead of cornerback or safety, because it's still unclear where he might fit in. He's not only 6'2", but he is long. I mean, just look at that picture up top. He is Stretch Armstrong come to life (with a little bit of a tan as well). He fits the mold of the big corner, but he did dabble at safety last year as well, so his role is still up in the air. For a mid-round pick, Hall is actually a very good athlete. His 40 time at the combine was only 4.68, but he was able to run a 4.55 during his pro day, and I think had he done that at the combine, he may have gone a round earlier. Thanks to Draft Breakdown, I was able to check out his games against Portland State and North Dakota State. One of these is not actually a state. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know which one.
If you want a safety who is going to lay a punishing hit on anybody coming over the middle, well, Hall probably isn't your guy. He's a bit of a Deion Sanders tackler, as he seems to avoid the big contact and goes for the ankles of running backs. Sometimes it works better than others.
I will admit that he did seem more willing to lay a hit on people during the Portland State game, but there were still examples of him trying to make the tackle with as little contact as possible, and that's not a recipe for tackling success.
He had 13 interceptions in college, but it was tough to judge his coverage skills as Northern Iowa played a lot of soft zone coverages where Hall gave guys plenty of cushion. I can't say whether this was by design or he was super cautious, but I would assume it was more the former than the latter. What I did see was a guy who had a good backpedal and appeared to be fairly fluid in turning his hips when necessary. With that, I think he fits better as a safety than he would as a corner as he seems more used to playing in a zone than man coverage.
Overall, well, it's defensive back tape. There wasn't a whole lot there. He seems like a fairly fluid athlete, and since he played both corner and free safety in college, it wouldn't be too surprising if the Bears saw him in a similar role where he could fill in where they were weakest. I think he's a depth guy to start out, and hopefully he can develop into a starter down the road.
The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:
And today, we take a look at the Bears second fourth-round pick, Deon Bush, a safety out of Miami. As you probably could have guessed from a fourth round safety, he's not some incredible athlete that set the combine on fire. He is nothing special athletically, but doesn't look to be a liability either. Safety is always a tough position to evaluate, as they aren't even on camera half the time from the normal television feed. Luckily, the good people over at Draft Breakdown had the tape from his games against Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Nebraska.
One of Bush's strengths as a safety is that he can come up and make a hit when necessary. There were a few examples where he worked through blocks to impact a running play. This was one where he took the easy way out and just avoided the fullback and took down the quarterback on this failed sweep attempt.
More importantly, he'll lay the wood on a receiver going over the middle.
If that isn't Tyler Boyd going across the middle, that's probably going to be an incomplete pass.
And here's an example of that.
As you can see, for a less talented (white) receiver, they aren't able to hold onto the ball, as he does a very good job of breaking downfield on the receiver and knocking the ball loose.
Maybe the most impressive aspect of Bush is that he clearly has Jesus Christ himself doing him favors.
You can work hard as a safety to make great plays, but it always helps to have the Big Guy on your side.
As I stated, safety tape is limited. Still, from what Bush showed in these games, he has the ability to be a successful safety in the NFL. His athleticism isn't great, but his instincts seem to be there. With the Bears lack of talent on the defensive side of the ball, Bush has the ability to come in and start on day one. I don't think there's pro bowls in his future, but even without elite athleticism, I think he has enough instincts to not be a liability in the secondary. Worst case, he's a special teams contributor, which means he is exactly the type of player you're hoping to find in the middle of the draft.
With their pick in the fifth round, the Chicago Bears took Adrian Amos, a safety out of Penn State. I was fairly bitter at this point, so I mentioned that Amos had been an honorable mention for All B1G the last three years, which basically just means that he played in a lot of games and showed a baseline competence. Not the sexiest accomplishment out there. But I'd be lying if I said I had ever focused on Amos's game, so I decided to watch his games against Ohio State and Indiana and see what I could figure out about the Bears new defensive back.
Watching his game against Indiana, I was initially taken aback by how little balance he seemed to have on contact. He got put on skates when blocked, and he seemed to trip over his own feet when trying to make a tackle when the quarterback broke free.
And if you are expecting a big, hard-hitting safety, you are sure to be disappointed by Amos. He not only does not provide any sort of big hits, he seems to actively avoid contact. He's no thumper, and even being a humper would be a huge step up in the way that he finds ways to get blocked as opposed to making open-field tackles.
The most appealing trait that Amos has is his versatility. It is tough to judge a safety in his coverages, but he seemed to be in the right area at the right times. Where he really impressed was when he came up to the line of scrimmage and played press-man coverage successfully against larger receiving targets.
Overall, I'm not sure if that versatility makes up for the fact that he doesn't shine in any one area and is a below average tackler. Having a safety that can come down and cover a slower wide receiver is great, but having a safety who doesn't tackle well means that you just have a replacement level corner. Coverage is something that is very difficult to judge from the sideline camera, so maybe the Bears were able to see something I wasn't, but from what I saw on film, I don't see anything more than depth at the safety position.
The Bears traded their fifth round pick this year and another fifth round pick next year in order to move up to select Minnesota Safety, Brock Vereen. Although I would have loved for them to have used that extra pick to go up and get Timmy Jernigan (I'm not bitter; I'm just sad), but safety was a definite need for them, so it made sense to go up and get a guy that they clearly liked. I broke down his game against my alma mater, the Iowa Hawkeyes to see what Vereen brings to the table.
The first good sign that I saw for Vereen is when teams went to spread formations, he was the most likely safety to come up and take man coverage on a wide receiver. Unfortunately, he wasn't real great in man coverage. I feel more comfortable with him giving up size to a tight end as his technique leaves a little to be desired so wide receivers can beat him bad if he is forced to match up in man coverage, but he has speed to recover against a tight end. Here is an example of Kevonte Martin-Manley, who as much as I love is probably an undrafted free agent at best next year, burning Vereen on back-to-back plays.
The first play, KMM jukes to the outside and crosses in, leaving Vereen in his dust in the process. The second play is more of the same, although it could have been much more costly. The last replay of the second play is the most important. KMM jukes his head to the outside, and it is enough to get Vereen to turn his hips and even take a step backwards with his right foot. At that point, he's toast, and a slightly better pass probably leads to a touchdown.
I would describe his work in the run game as hesitant. He seems to shuffle his feet a lot and jump into piles as opposed to coming in like a missile trying to take a running back head on. I know that isn't exciting, but considering he is likely to be a free safety, this is not that big of an issue.
One positive that I saw was his acceleration. He gets up to top speed very quickly and seems to have good speed to go along with it. When he isn't burned badly in coverage, he has makeup speed that can get him out of some bad spots.
The one thing that I rarely got to see were his abilities to play in a zone and make a break on a pass. Luckily, the one time he did get a chance, he made the most of it.
Neither angle is ideal on telling whether the quarterback made a really poor read or if Vereen just made a very good play, but the end result of an interception is certainly nice.
Overall, Vereen displays the tools to be a good safety. He has shown that he can read a pass and make a good break and create a big play. He has very good acceleration and speed which helps him as he does make false steps. The false steps and his hesitancy in the run game are both concerns, with the former being far more important than the latter, although fans may get just as frustrated with both. Watching one game, I saw flashes of a good safety and flashes of things I have seen too much of from Bears safeties in the last few years. The Bears watched enough to trade up in the draft for him, so I am going to hope that he makes less false steps than Chris Conte. If he can do that, he can use his athleticism to make a difference in the middle of the field, and the Bears will add a vital piece to their secondary.
