One of the hardest things for me to gauge is how I should feel with draft prospects at the safety position.
Here's the depth chart right now for 2023:
Justin Reid
Bryan Cook
Nazeeh Johnson? He's more of a corner I guess.
Current practice squad players: Ugo Amadi, Zayne Anderson, DiCaprio Bootle?
Juan Thornhill and Deon Bush are UFAs
I think Bryan Cook is really the biggest question here. Which is harder for us than it is for the coaching staff, because they're around him all the time. We haven't seen a ton of him on the field, and the performance has been typical of a rookie: some ugly moments, some great moments. A clutch deflection-for-interception in the AFCCG.
Is Cook a full-time starter next year? And if not, does that mean Thornhill has to come back or we draft a stud safety, perhaps Antonio Johnson in the 1st or Brandon Joseph in the 2nd? Or do we just bring back Deon Bush as insurance?
Spags seems to be moving the safeties around a ton now. He used to have Mathieu in the slot, Sorensen in the box, Thornhill deep. Now Thornhill, Reid, and Cook played everywhere this season. Does that effect what you think of the safety need this team may have?
Lots of questions right now. And thanks to healthy seasons from Reid and Thornhill, not a lot of answers past those two right now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Direckshun:
LOL at that Chenal % in the AFCCG.
No doubt.
I do, however, really wonder if the Chiefs could trade Willie Gay this off-season.
Spags didn't normally play Gay more than about 65% of the time this season. Super Bowl Gay had 8 tackles and 2 tfl playing in 3 times the snaps as Chenal who had 6 tackles, 1 tfl, and 1 sack.
Gay isn't all that great in coverage and you didn't notice any kind of drop with Chenal. In fact, Chenal allowed a much lower completion rate, albeit there is a significant snap count discrepancy at this time. They also subbed in a CB or S frequently and took Gay off the field in obvious passing situations.
Gay has definitely improved every season but he is going into his last year and that's a time teams will trade an ascending asset, especially when they have a replacement.
Ideally, you'd have a better coverage LB as the 3rd guy. Wouldn't mind a guy like Henley in round 3 if they did do something like that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by :
[Edwards] has superficially only a third safety as far as I understand. It is Reid and Cook, they are the two, and then it's [unclear]. From what I understand at OTAs, Edwards and Chamarri Conner split a lot of the reps, with Deon Bush getting about 10% on defense. Deon's is a special teams player, I think we all know that.
The question is: are they forcing reps to Conner in OTA because that is the key learning time. What happens when they hit camp, that's going to be the question there. I think Edwards probably ends up being the guy that starts the season as the third safety, in the dime sets in particular. And as that comes on, especially as Tranquill gets up to speed, I think you're gonna find them leaning -- if not away from -- out of the traditional three-safety sets, more towards a Tranquill set. But then you can bring in Conner if you want to get some pressure, because that's probably his best attribute coming out of college.