Grading the Roster - Safeties

[pwny]

How good is our group of Safeties right now?

• Rayshawn Jenkins
• Jarrod Wilson
• Daniel Thomas
• Rudy Ford
• Andrew Wingard
• Doug Middleton
• Josh Jones
• Johnathan Ford
• Daniel Thomas
• Brandon Watson

Are there any of these players that should be let go or traded?

Other questions to consider answering:

Who would you make the starter(s)? Who is the best back up? If a starter went out for any real amount of time, would the backup be able to perform well enough to keep the team on track? Do you expect growth, decline, or similar play out of the players at this position?

 

Previous threads in this series:

Quarterbacks
EDGE
Wide Receivers
Cornerbacks

[Charles]

I went c-.  Trying not to be too harsh, but we were a solid F here last season.  Pretty much everyone not named Jenkins in the group isn't a sure thing to make the final 53 imo.

- charles 

[skaterbirdhouse]

I went C. I'd give it a C+ if we cut Wingard. 

[.Buzz]

17 minutes ago, Charles said:

I went c-.  Trying not to be too harsh, but we were a solid F here last season.  Pretty much everyone not named Jenkins in the group isn't a sure thing to make the final 53 imo.

- charles 

I think Jarrod Wilson is decent. Daniel Thomas showed some serious flashes too before he got hurt.

I'd probably give it a C. 

[LinderFournette]

I'd give it a d.  No real game changer. No guys that have proven to create turnovers consistently.  

Wilson is at best a 3rd safety and jones can go bye bye along with pretty much all of them but Jenkins ford thomas. 

[Tugboat]

I'll call it a D as well.  Tempted to just go with an F, but there's some okay depth guys there, and maybe Jenkins will be decent.  But it basically feels like a collection of depth guys that you hope can play to their top level and give you "serviceable" play if it all goes right.  Sorta hoping for low impact, in that it won't be a positive impact, but maybe it won't be a terribly negative catastrophic impact either?

 

As for when to address it in the draft...?  Hard to really put a stamp on.  Beyond a certain point in the draft, it really doesn't matter so much.  We're talking about a depth/development guy that's going to be a shot at the dart board and take a while to find their NFL footing anyway.  And it's not a position i'm overly ecstatic about spending real top premium picks on either, unless they're really special.

For me, it's really more of a "veteran position" where you can get at least solid play just by paying some guys in FA.  Our monstrous secondary behind Sacksonville was backstopped by a pair of established vet FA gets with Gipson and Church, who were outstanding at what they needed to be at the time.  And i don't think that was a total fluke, or massive outlier scenario.  Teams have a revolving door of safeties all over the place every year.  Just finding a pair of "solid" or at least "decent" guys shouldn't be that hard, even if you have to cycle through them every so often with age.