His ability to adjust on the fly and break laterally is arguably the best in the draft class. Athlon Sports. Johnson has earned overall PFF and coverage grades of at least 80.0 in every healthy season he has played in the NFL, and now he gets the opportunity to show he can stay at that incredible level with a new team after his offseason move to Cleveland. The 2023 NFL Draft safety class should provide a deep talent pool throughout Day 2 of the draft. 8:58 am ET. Had it not been for injury, James might be the best safety in the league, and football fans everywhere have their fingers crossed that the injury bug is finally behind him so we can see the kind of special player he can be. Send feedback and thoughts to @ShanePHallam. 75 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. Christian Gonzalez will certainly check the height, weight and speed boxes, and the same is true of Kelee Ringo. SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION HOLIDAY BOWL. Smith may be declining from his elite best (his past two seasons have earned PFF grades of 74.3 and 77.9, down from 90.0-plus), but he still ranked 12th at the position in 2021 for a defense that lost a lot of talent. The NFL combine will be important in sorting through the top of the cornerback group. With the NFL Scouting Combine getting set to begin positional workouts, heres a look at the biggest combine snubs at each position in the 2023 NFL Draft Class. Tyrann Mathieu is such a matchup weapon that for several years of his career he was a pure slot cornerback more than he was a safety. From a testing perspective, theres a chance he puts up the most lackluster numbers at the combine of any player on this list. 2021 NFL draft: Safety rankings led by TCU's Trevon Moehrig USA TODAY Sports Network Prospect rankings by position: QB | RB | WR | TE | OL | Edge | DT | ILB | CB Kyle Hamilton can do it all -- he has the perfect size and agility for the position combined with nice coverage skills, hard tack Jaquan Brisker is a great athlete with an elite combination of speed, size, tackling, and natural coverage ability to be a pro-bow Hill has played all over the secondary for the Wolverines, and this versatility is always in demand in the NFL especially when pa Kyler Gordon has been shooting up draft boards lately - at the end of 2020 he was a likely late-round pick, but after an elite yea Cine is an athletic hard-hitting college safety who will likely be looked at as a box player at the next level. He collected 16 stops in the run game this past fall and proved to have one of the more versatile skill sets in the draft class. Brisker is one spot behind Michigan s Dax Hill. Tier 1 consists of the players expected to be taken in the first round. The fact that Martin also has 851 snaps at outside cornerback in his career most coming as a freshman and sophomore is icing on the cake for his pro projection. 2018 NFL Draft Safety Rankings - DraftUtopia.com S Rankings 2017 NFL Safety Rankings Projected Rounds: 1. By: CollegeFootballNews.com. 6-keys: media/spln/nfl/draft/free/stories, By pressing sign up, I confirm that I have read and agree to the. Jack Campbell has great size and production for the linebacker position. Bryan Bresee is a player who has the coveted athletic qualities, but plays a bit stiff and lacking urgency. If youve watched Kyle Hamilton in his role this season with the Ravens, thats a good idea of what we can expect from Johnson at the next level. Pick Six Newsletter Crafted By The Best NFL Experts Get the day's big stories + fun stuff you love like mock drafts, picks and power rankings. Ronnie Harrison, S, Alabama: Round 1, 4. Marcus Maye was the deep-lying free safety who allowed Jamal Adams to be the do-it-all star in the Jets secondary. Thats the kind of defender you want around the football. Broad: 9-8. Notre Dame s Hamilton has long been hyped as the top safety in the draft, and he tops Brooks latest top five at the safety position. Henry To'o'To'o had a higher grade last year than his teammate, Christian Harris, who went No. 2018 NFL Draft Safety Rankings - DraftUtopia.com S Rankings 2017 NFL Safety Rankings Projected Rounds: 1. Sanders, an Alabama transfer, has spot edge rusher potential in addition to having the size necessary to hold up at the point of attack. WebGet the latest NFL Draft prospect rankings from CBS Sports. 40 Time: 4.45. Its the 2022 NFL Drafts most underappreciated group at maybe the most Justin Reid, S, Stanford: Round 2, 5. The former Notre Dame star had a relative down year in 2020, but he still recorded five picks, five pass breakups and better-than-average grades in every facet of play. WebSafety Rankings 2022 NFL Draft Home Positions S ALL QUARTERBACK RUNNING BACK WIDE RECEIVER TIGHT END OFFENSIVE LINE DEFENSIVE LINE EDGE LINEBACKER DEFENSIVE BACK #1 RANKED - SCOUTING REPORT 14 Kyle Hamilton POSITION RANK #1 OUR RATING 91.6 S All Scouts Average Overall Rank 4.8 All Scouts Average Position Rank 1 Height Feet Maye earned a career-high PFF grade of 82.9 last season, also notching career highs in snaps from the slot and in the box. McCourty wasnt the only player who struggled for the Patriots in 2020, so maybe he can bounce back with the reinforcements they have assembled this year. Willis has back-to-back impressive seasons for the Colts since coming into the league as a fourth-round pick. Thats because, at 205 pounds, hes more than willing to mix it up. JL Skinner will be one of the more impressive prospects in Indianapolis this week. Jamal Adams was thought to be this matchup weapon on defense, a player capable of lining up anywhere and doing his job well, But in Seattle, he has been struggling badly in any role other than one close to the line of scrimmage as more of a classic strong safety. Watching him, you get the real sense that he is on the precipice of being a genuinely great player rather than the very good one that he is right now. USA Today Network NFL reporters break down the draft position-by-position. Tyree Wilson is a long, explosive athlete who has shown growth over the past year, but still has a ways to go before he repays the top-five draft capital likely to be used on him in April. ', Greek transport minister resigns over train crash; 36 dead. Despite his size, Gillespie That snap breakdown is precisely what most safeties at the next level will be asked to do. Peppers has made 27 defensive stops in each of the past two seasons and has at least 10 total pressures in each of the last three. After ranking the best players at every position as a part of PFF's 2021 NFL season preview, we have finally come to safeties. Poyer allowed just 8.7 yards per reception from 55 targets last season. He h Nick Cross is an intriguing prospect who is an elite athlete with outstanding speed and explosiveness. He made a lot of spectacular plays as a rookie yet was also on the wrong end of some big gains for the offense. 2,909 career snaps to his name, Robinson has been an excellent tackler. He is still a talented player, but perhaps his role is more limited than originally thought. Tyree Gillespie, Missouri. 9 of 11. Thornhills second season was something of a letdown, given how good he was in his first, but a torn ACL in Week 17 of that debut season probably impacted his play in Year 2. 2021 NFL Draft: Safety Rankings. Jessie Bates III is only a year removed from a 90.1 PFF grade and a truly elite season for the Bengals. Hes been starting since he was a true freshman at South Carolina in 2019 and now has 2,909 career snaps to his name. Send feedback and thoughts to @ShanePHallam. Derwin James, S, Florida State: Round 1, 2. The 2021 NFL draft is just a couple of months away, so its time to update our prospect rankings for every position He racked up 10 picks over the course of his career and allowed only 80 yards on 17 targets with Notre Dame this past season. One could not find a pass rusher more productive than Will Anderson Jr. over the past two seasons. Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer each fit into this category for the Buffalo Bills and together may form the best safety duo in the league. Just behind his teammate is Poyer, a similarly versatile safety who allows the Bills to run any kind of coverage shell they want to. Production often translates and Anderson has the height, weight and speed to be a top-10 edge rusher in the NFL. We dont particularly know how hell fare if asked to expand his horizons in the NFL. Jackson has earned three of the best five overall PFF grades of his career since turning 30 and is coming off back-to-back years with a mark north of 80.0 overall. S. All Scouts Average Overall Rank 42.9. Projected Round (2019): 1-2. Theres nobody better at this than Derwin James. Byards play has dropped off recently after two seasons of spectacular PFF grades above 85.0. The results are (sometimes) interesting but what it really does show, is that on the whole - NFL teams would have done better by putting their feet up and just switching on autodraft. Take a look, we have every team's draft since 2011 rated. Hyde is often put in a good position by the defensive scheme in Buffalo, but he responds by making the plays he is given the opportunity to make. You wont find a more experienced safety in the draft class than Robinson. Visit CBSSports.com for an aggregate look at the2023 NFL Draft prospect rankings! There's Bryan Cook was a distinctly unremarkable playing heading into 2021 and looked like a probable UDFA prospect, however, following an Cam Taylor Britt is a good NFL prospect who really elevated his stock with an impressive combine and senior bowl performance. WebGet the latest NFL Draft prospect rankings from CBS Sports. Safety in the NFL DeShon Elliott, S, Texas: Round 1, 3. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) 2. He can get past a block or knife into the backfield in the blink of an eye. 2023 NFL Draft Free Safety Rankings John Vogel October 31, 2022 in 2023 Rankings - 6 Minutes 1. In 2021, Harrison should be surrounded by a dramatically improved supporting cast and able to build on the overall PFF grade of 76.6 he posted in limited snaps last year. Jackson had one of the best seasons we have ever seen at the safety position back in 2018, earning an overall PFF grade of 93.2 and a coverage grade of 94.7, but since Vic Fangio left town to coach the Broncos, Jacksons elite play has evaporated and he has posted seasons of 67.0 and 59.5 in terms of PFF grade. That season brought forth his best career PFF grade by more than 10 grading points, although the campaigns on either side of it might be why the Bengals have seemed reluctant to hand him a monster new contract. 2021 NFL Draft: Safety Rankings. Over the past two seasons, he has 10 picks and four pass breakups. Bates recorded the highest overall PFF grade among safeties last season at 90.1 he was one of two players with a PFF coverage grade north of 90.0. How do the top players at every position stack up? He was one of the most reliable slot defenders in the country, especially in tracking down ball carriers. Kyle Hamilton can do it all -- he has the perfect size and agility for the position combined with nice coverage skills, hard tackling, and Jaquan Brisker is a great athlete with an elite combination of speed, size, tackling, and natural coverage ability to be a pro-bowl level sa Hill has played all over the secondary for the Wolverines, and this versatility is always in demand in the NFL especially when paired with Aspiring college or profootball journalist? Strong safety used to be a coveted specialty role in the NFL, encompassing those who played more like auxiliary linebackers and patrolled the box, defending the run and covering short zones underneath. His 2022 tape is littered with such splash plays, as he attacks with no fear despite being on the smaller end for the position. Some team sources said they graded Davis in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Pick Six Newsletter Crafted By The Best NFL Experts Get the day's big stories + fun stuff you love like mock drafts, picks and power rankings. PFF BIG BOARD RANK: 112. His 26 coverage stops over that span were the fourth most among Power Five defensive backs, as his 91 targets went for only 368 yards (4.0 yards per target). Jordan Battle, Alabama, Sr, 6-2, 210 2. Bench: 16. Sign Up. In many schemes, a switch to linebacker may even be in the cards. Mathieu hasnt been at his best for a few years now, but his alignment versatility makes him incredibly valuable to any defense. What was even more impressive was the development he showed over the season, with his overall PFF grade jumping from 53.1 to 74.4 from the first half of his season to the second. Thats because, at 205 pounds, hes more than willing to mix it up. For the purpose of the NFL Draft Bible big board, we have done our best to separate prospects into free safety and strong safety designations. Kyzir White, S, West Virginia: Round 2, 6. As part of our ranking of the position groups in the 2023 NFL Draft class, we have the safeties ranked No. As we look ahead to the next big mile marker in the predraft process, the NFL Scouting Combine, heres an updated look at how we rank the top safety prospects in this years draft: Sign up for the The Draft Wire newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. Thankfully, that couldnt be further from the truth with Branch. Subscribe to Armani Watts, S, Texas A&M: Round Which prospects should boost their draft stock at the NFL Scouting Combine? His range is average at best, and his change-of-direction ability doesn't come close to that of others on this list. Richie Grant, UCF (first round) 2. Even the players on this list need to have more strings to their bow than simply stuffing the run from heavy formations. Catch up with our positional rankings here. Emmanuel Forbes has recorded 14 interceptions, six of which were returned for touchdowns, over the course of his career. From the college perspective, here are the best safety prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft. Unlock all tools and content including Player Grades, Fantasy, NFL Draft, Premium Stats, Greenline and DFS. Thats all well and good, but it's fairly meaningless if you cant cover. Unfortunately for Baker, the most memorable play of his season and arguably his career is getting chased down from behind by a flying D.K. Joseph rarely pops off the tape as a high-end athlete. Over the past two seasons, he has 177 pass-rushing snaps on the blitz and has racked up 27 total pressures on those rushes. We've compared players post combine 40 times and weight and charted them on the scatter chart below. PFF's Big Board for the 2023 NFL Draft offers three-year player grades, combine measurables, position rankings, and in-depth player analysis for all of the top draft prospects. Its why I think he can be so skilled in a coverage-first role in a two-high scheme. 2021 NFL Draft Safety Rankings 1. This past season, he allowed only 17 catches on 32 targets for 176 yards with four picks and three pass breakups. Derwin James, S, Florida State: Round 1, 2. And while some positions in the league are extremely thin, highlighted by just a few stars but lacking any real quality beyond that, the safety position seems to be in excellent health. The worry is what happens when he cant play around the line of scrimmage. Jackson is still just 26 and has too much talent to never find elite play again, but he needs to find a solution this offseason. One player who seems to sit atop big boards around the league is Brian Branch of Alabama. Another player coming off a down season, this was the first play we had seen from Harris dating back to college that had been anything but good. Winfield is a playmaker and exceptionally good in coverage, where his ability to read the play quickly really comes to the fore. Maintaining high-level play in the secondary over time is an extremely difficult task, yet Simmons has had back-to-back excellent years for the Broncos. 2023 NFL Draft Eligible Safety Prospects 1. The best days of Devin McCourty may be in the past. Directly comparing a true coverage free safety to a box defender or a tight-end matchup weapon on defense is a fairly arbitrary construct, so in this article we have split out the top safeties in the league into their differing roles. 2004-2023 CBS Interactive. No player has the production of Ji'Ayir Brown over the past two seasons. Battle is sort of a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none. Unlock all tools and content including Player Grades, Fantasy, NFL Draft, Premium Stats, Greenline and DFS. This most recent season saw him post career-low marks in overall grade (65.8) and coverage grade (61.5), which drags him outside of the top 10, such is the strength of competition. The 2023 Senior Bowl is officially in the books, and after another revelatory week of action in Mobile, its time to update our prospect rankings for each position group in the 2023 NFL draft class. A few years ago, this meant, Strong safety used to be a coveted specialty role in the NFL, encompassing those who played more like auxiliary linebackers and patrolled the box, defending the run and covering short zones underneath. And then his relatively long wingspan for a safety affords him leeway as a tackler. Its a rough NFL Draft year for several positions, but safety is sneaky-good. 2022 NFL Draft Safety Rankings Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak. 2023 NFL Mock Draft: Panthers trade up for their QB, NFL combine burning questions: Young's size and more, NFL combine 2023 snubs and how other non-invites fared, Young-Richardson: Debate between production, potential, NFL combine 2023: Dates, times, how to watch, prospects, 2023 NFL Mock Draft: Colts, Bucs trade up for QBs, NFL Draft: Defensive positional rankings pre-combine, Seven burning questions for the NFL combine, Top DL prospect Carter tied to crash that killed teammate, Report: PGA Tour trimming some fields, ending cuts, Seahawks hint at drafting QB while talking deal with Smith, Kane trade grades: Rangers ace deal for former MVP, Detroit's Davis closing in on Maravich NCAA scoring mark, Trade tracker: Kings' Quick era ends with deal to Jackets. His ability to get sideline to sideline, as well as downhill in the run game from a deep alignment, will serve him well at the next level. Adams is a better player than he showed last season in Seattle, albeit likely not one good enough to justify the two first-round picks in the trade that took him there. He also forced two fumbles, making five in total over the last two seasons. Techie with an interesting slant on player evaluation? Budda Baker is a heat-seeking missile in the Arizona defense, amassing 160 defensive stops in just five seasons of play. Ward is coming off a season in which he earned better-than-average PFF grades across every facet of play. College Senior Penn State. That size does show up at points as a tackler, though. NFL Draft Profile: Rhys Byrns, Punter, Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns NFL Draft Profile: Robert Carter, Safety, West Georgia Wolves NFL Draft Profile: Gurvan Hall Jr, Safety, Utah State Aggies Brandon Joseph, Notre Dame, Sr, 6-1, 192 4. Keeanu Benton is a proven run stopper who showed a bit more pass-rush potential at the Senior Bowl. Dax Hill | Michigan. Super informed fan? You'll now receive the top The Draft Wire stories each day directly in your inbox. WebThe NFL Draft Bible Primer Series concludes with a look at the top safety prospects, as we get set to depart for the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, buckle up! He is coming off a season with a career-high 90.4 overall PFF grade and a 90.9 coverage grade. Hand: 9.50. Get ready for the 2023 NFL Draft with positional and big board rankings from the team at The NFL Draft Bible. Kyzir White, S, West Virginia: Round 2, 6. Ranking safeties in todays NFL is becoming increasingly complex because of defensive evolutions and the various roles the position encompasses. at That range rarely got exposed, though, as Battle has put up three straight seasons with 80.0-plus coverage grades. Theres nobody better at this than Derwin James. Since moving to Pittsburgh and being allowed to play his natural position, Fitzpatrick has blossomed into one of the best safeties in the NFL. Heres how we stack this years safety class: 1. The strong safeties of old continue to be replaced by hybrid matchup defenders, players who can line up in the box but also cover tight ends and running backs in single coverage from the slot or in other alignments as if they were cornerbacks. Hes extremely fluid for a 220-pounder and can easily be a tight end eraser at the next level. Still, at his age, it feels wise to err on the side of caution. Even the players on this list need to have more strings to their bow than simply stuffing the run from heavy formations. Thats obviously not as big a deal in a deep role, but the team drafting him may have to accept some role limitations.

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