Jaden Hicks was the No. 1 safety on the @dpbrugler board, and Dane knows his stuff. Never imagined Hicks would be available in the fourth round. Incredible value there.
Originally Posted by O.city:
Any chance they envision him stepping in and playing that Willie Gay in nickel and dime role?
At 210 lbs?
I mean the guy's physical for a safety but he's still a safety.
I mean he's essentially built like Justin Reid. Plays very similar as well. I don't see them trying to make a linebacker out of him. Gay played a lot of SAM sort of stuff; they didn't have him out there doing Dirty Dan's job or anything.
Short term he might be a Sorensen replacement. Long-term he steps in for Reid. And I still think Conner complements that sort of player better than Cook so I'd like to see Conner get that FS sort of role with Cook in a battle with Hicks for the starting Box role and the other guy ends up playing the S3 sort of thing we were doing back with Dan. [Reply]
I mean the guy's physical for a safety but he's still a safety.
I mean he's essentially built like Justin Reid. Plays very similar as well. I don't see them trying to make a linebacker out of him. Gay played a lot of SAM sort of stuff; they didn't have him out there doing Dirty Dan's job or anything.
Short term he might be a Sorensen replacement. Long-term he steps in for Reid. And I still think Conner complements that sort of player better than Cook so I'd like to see Conner get that FS sort of role with Cook in a battle with Hicks for the starting Box role and the other guy ends up playing the S3 sort of thing we were doing back with Dan.
Who's going to take the Mathieu role of being a big ole bitch and throwing your hands in the air when someone misses an assignment? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla:
I honestly thought Hicks might be the best safety in the draft AND he can also play some corner. Honestly, he might be the Chiefs best pick by far.
Let me reiterate and just say that I think dude is playing from Day 1. [Reply]
I mean the guy's physical for a safety but he's still a safety.
I mean he's essentially built like Justin Reid. Plays very similar as well. I don't see them trying to make a linebacker out of him. Gay played a lot of SAM sort of stuff; they didn't have him out there doing Dirty Dan's job or anything.
Short term he might be a Sorensen replacement. Long-term he steps in for Reid. And I still think Conner complements that sort of player better than Cook so I'd like to see Conner get that FS sort of role with Cook in a battle with Hicks for the starting Box role and the other guy ends up playing the S3 sort of thing we were doing back with Dan.
Rumor is that Conner is actually getting the NCB snaps at the moment with McDuffie and Williams out wide.
I think I like that idea. Conner demonstrated some excellent athleticism in his limited snaps last year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Rumor is that Conner is actually getting the NCB snaps at the moment with McDuffie and Williams out wide.
I think I like that idea. Conner demonstrated some excellent athleticism in his limited snaps last year.
I think that might be one of the most important parts of the defense bc they can’t pigeon-hole McDuffie in the slot. A team like the Bengals requires him being outside to cover Chase or Higgins.
Conner was such a surprise last year. I didn’t think he could be a NCB but he really excelled there [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
I think that might be one of the most important parts of the defense bc they can’t pigeon-hole McDuffie in the slot. A team like the Bengals requires him being outside to cover Chase or Higgins.
Conner was such a surprise last year. I didn’t think he could be a NCB but he really excelled there
That's what made me nervous about letting Sneed go. I really valued the ability to move McDuffie inside and out. As well as Sneed depending on matchups.
And Watson is more of a backup to Williams than he is that sort of player, IMO. I think it's Williams but less. I don't think he's capable of being as versatile as Sneed was and McDuffie is.
So unless you were willing to roll Williams/Watson at CB1 and CB2 with McDuffie moved into the slot for Nickle sets, you were really kinda limiting your flexibility. And I don't think Williams is good enough for that job.
So yeah, Conner being able to play NCB or 3rd safety and letting you use a few different packages to create some confusing looks would be awfully nice. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
Williams and Watson make me a bit nervous as the pure #2 guy. I think they can do it, but there's some potential issues there.
At a point we have to acknowledge that we were a little spoiled last year.
It's not often you can expect a team to have 2 legitimate shut-down corners in their defensive backfield. What we got last season was pretty damn rare.
Williams, IMO, would be as good as #2 CB as we've had since Carter/Hasty (last year notwithstanding). I think the defensive backfield will just be normal ol' run of the mill good.
Rather than one that put up one of the best combined efforts of the modern era.
Good is gonna be good enough if we continue to develop and make gains elsewhere. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
At a point we have to acknowledge that we were a little spoiled last year.
It's not often you can expect a team to have 2 legitimate shut-down corners in their defensive backfield. What we got last season was pretty damn rare.
Williams, IMO, would be as good as #2 CB as we've had since Carter/Hasty (last year notwithstanding). I think the defensive backfield will just be normal ol' run of the mill good.
Rather than one that put up one of the best combined efforts of the modern era.
Good is gonna be good enough if we continue to develop and make gains elsewhere.
It was just what had to happen.
They'll just have to be a bit more matchup specific, but hopefully, the front 7 has a stronger year and allows them to give those two some help. [Reply]