Interesting breakdown and I think we might be able to throw Matthew Wells into this mix as well. This position is important in robber coverages, as we saw last year with Patrick Chung doing some great damage against the run. Then there’s the “Money” sub linebacker position but as long as Mayo/Collins are healthy I don’t really see that being the necessary role that it once was when linebackers weren’t as athletic as they have to be today.
So to be honest, I don’t really get it. The trend is clear though, reaching on these guys in the early rounds when every pundit out there had them ranked significantly lower.
The easiest answer I think might just be that it’s an unending search for a strong safety who is just as good in the box as he is on the back end. That’s ideally what you want in today’s NFL and if you have two of them that never have to come off the field it would be the goal.
This is why the safety competition and reps will be so interesting to watch unfold. Richards is really the wild card. Most agree he should bump Tavon off the roster, but what how will he impact Chung/Harmon and how will the evolving secondary have a trickle-down effect on who’s playing the safety spots in certain situations?
