A scout’s take on Landry | National Football Post

Laron Landry is reportedly scheduled to meet with the Patriots this weekend and the reaction to potentially adding him to the mix has been a mixed bag from Pats fans worried that he’s just another injury prone player.

Personally I don’t really worry too much about guys who are labelled as “injury prone”. You’re going to lose players to injuries every year, but more often than not they’re of the freaky nature of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s impossible to predict who will get hurt, even if you have had a year or two of injuries.

Now Landry definitely has issues with his achilles that needs to be checked out, but if it’s healed I don’t see it as a reason not to bring him aboard. Let’s not forget this is a safety who ran a sub-4.4 at the combine, and was taken sixth overall.

It’s taking chances on guys like this who are attainable at a lesser price due to their injury that can really pay off. Let’s remember Rob Gronkowski was taken off many draft boards because of his back issues.

Some will say he’s not enough of a free safety type to be a good fit with Patrick Chung. To that I say, did you see how many games Chung played last year? The Patriots need talented bodies at safety no matter what their specialty is. We’ll let the “who plays where” of it all work itself out in training camp and over the course of the season.

Here’s what the scout has to say about Landry:

– Plays extremely hard; tough football player – Top tier athlete – More explosion than power; has strength, but will struggle at the point of attack – Limited ball skills – Not as physical as advertised in the run front – More of a hitter; will come downhill on a WR; size up players in the open field – Wants to go low on tackles – Questionable study habits – Will help a team early in the season; but will he stay healthy?