2010 Safeties

Playing the safety position in todays NFL is a very tough task. To be an elite safety you're expected to cover like a corner and hit like a linebacker. There aren't many players gifted enough to excel at both of these traits. This year there is. Eric Berry is one of the most dynamic prospects to come out in recent memory. He is the #2 overall player in this years draft behind Ndamukong Suh. He is one of two or maybe three players this year that is truly and elite NFL prospect. Berry has the coverage skills to run with anyone and he combines that with elite hands and dynamic skills with the ball in his hand. Any team could feel comfortable playing Berry in centerfield and let him roam free and call it a day. But thatd be a mistake in my opinion. Berry is a Charles Woodson clone. Not only can be play safety, he can be left alone on an island against a receiver as an outside corner, you can plug him in at nickel, and you can let him blitz off the edge. Berry hits like a truck, and tackles as good as anyone. Combining those run stuffing skills with his 4.4 speed and elite athleticism makes Berry a true weapon. You can line him up anywhere and he can do it all. There really aren't enough good things one can say about Berry. He dominated in the SEC for three years and has shown the ability to play anywhere in the secondary. Berry routinely tops safety rankings this year, but one well known draft analysis has him as his #2 safety....crazy talk I say! Mike Mayock is the best in the business, and for the most part, when Mayock talks, you should listen. He has access to a ton of tape, has a proven track record, and his analysis is usually spot on. Rating Eric Berry behind Earl Thomas to me though is pretty ridiculous.
Thomas is a fantastic cover guy. He can run with anyone, and he showed his ball skills this past year notching 8 picks. Like Berry, hes fast and athletic and can turn and run with anyone. His problems are that he isn't that strong, he misses some tackles, and he's not exactly a physical presence. His best fit may come at corner at the next level. In fact, had he stayed in Texas, thats where they may have moved him for next season. So while Thomas is no slouch, he just isn't even in the same league as Berry.

Both of the aforementioned guys are first round locks. The next guy on the list is Taylor Mays.
A lot can be said about Taylor Mays. He is probably the hardest prospect to evaluate this year.
I can start with this... Mays may be the biggest athletic freak the NFL draft has seen in many, many years. He is nearly 6'4, 230 lbs... and he can run a sub 4.3 40.... that is Chris Johnson territory folks. Thats right... a guy who is big enough to play linebacker who runs at a similar speed to the fastest guy in the league. Thats absolutely mind blowing. Though his combine official times say he ran a 4.4, anyone with half a brain can look up his 40 yard dash video and manually time it and have it come up in the 4.3 range every time.
Okay. Enough about his phycial freakishness. How is his tape? Difficult to tell... Mays played in a one deep base defense pretty much his entire time in USC. Teams knew what he was going to do pretty much every play... he roamed center field exclusively. It was some pretty clear cover one or cover three type zones. So it wasn't hard to avoid him...which gives us a difficult task in terms of evalutaing his NFL potential. Teams often steered clear of throwing deep on him, but when they did challenge him Mays could never really display any ball skills of any kind. Where he shines is in run support and in laying the huge hit on helpless receivers. He is a real intimidating force. He does struggle in diagnosing plays and he takes some pretty brutal angles at times resulting in bad technique and missed tackles.
Mays played in a difficult system to scout, but what is apparent is 2 things.
1- He has world class athleticism. He's got the speed, he's got the strength.
2- At times he played flat out poorly. Bad angles, bad technique, and no ball skills to be seen.
So where does that put him in the draft? Tough to say. I think he's worth a first rounder. Guys with his skill set dont come along often. Maybe his best position will be as an in the box strong safety instead of the deep cover one rover. That position would allow him to come in and easily cover a tight end or slot guy while also allowing him to shoot up the middle and attack the run. Mays has a sky high ceiling but he also has bust potential. I think he's worth the risk, but buyer beware.

Here are my rankings:
1) Eric Berry, Tennessee (Top 10)
2) Earl Thomas, Texas (Round 1)
3) Taylor Mays, USC (Round 1-2)
4) Nate Allen, USF (Round 2)
5) Morgan Burnett, Georgia Tech (Round 2)
6) Chad Jones, LSU (Round 3)
7) Reshad Jones, Georgia (Round 3)
8) Larry Asante, Nebraska (Round 4-5)
9) Darrel Stuckey, Kansas (Round 4-5)
10) Major Wright, Florida (Round 4-5)