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. The Florida State product posted an overall PFF grade of 87.8 as a rookie, but he has played just 299 total snaps in the two seasons since. Felix Anudike-Uzomah has 19.5 sacks over the past two years, but more impressive is the ball production. 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 This past season, he allowed only 17 catches on 32 targets for 176 yards with four picks and three pass breakups. Reed Blankenship | Middle Tennessee State, https://draftwire.usatoday.com/gallery/2021-nfl-draft-rankings-safety-trevon-moehrig-jevon-holland-richie-grant/, 2023 NFL mock draft: New 1st-round projections with trades, 2023 NFL mock draft: Pre-combine 3-round forecast with trades, comp picks, 2023 NFL mock draft: New 3-round projections with trades, comp picks, 2023 NFL mock draft: 3-round projections after Senior Bowl week, 2023 NFL mock draft: 2-round projections with big trades, and a new No. Subscribe to That all gives Robinson one of the higher floors at the safety position in the class. Both players have shown elite upside and play, but they havent been able to maintain that peak for as long as some others. 8:58 am ET. Branch missed only four of his 173 career tackle attempts. 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. 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. He has lined up in the slot on more than 200 snaps in a season for the past seven years and should get the chance to replace Malcolm Jenkins in that matchup role within New Orleans' defense this year. Between being a former first-round pick, used in a debatable way early in his career and then used as a makeweight in the trade for Odell Beckham Jr., it would be easy to dismiss Jabrill Peppers as a bust, but he is far from a bad player. Smiths rookie season was in 2012, and he has never had a poor healthy season since that point the kind of consistent excellence that Smith has been able to maintain for the Vikings is freakish at the safety position. Since entering the league, Jeremy Chinn may have had the most unique deployment of any safety, to the point that he breaks a lot of position designations and really is operating in a one-man role. Marcus Williams signed a big free agent deal this offseason and has been incredibly consistent in the NFL at a position where consistently high-end play is hard to come by. * No. 1 overall PFF grade at the position and is the only safety who has put up a 90.0-plus grade over that time. Hes been starting since he was a true freshman at South Carolina in 2019 and now has 2,909 career snaps to his name. Tyrann Mathieu is a complete and versatile player who has been a difference-maker within the Chiefs defense since he arrived there. 2022 NFL Draft Safety Rankings Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak. You'll find the 40 time on the Y-axis and on the X-axis the weight in pounds. 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. Another rookie who was far from overawed by the step up to the NFL, Antoine Winfield Jr. was a significant role player in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl campaign. Brisker is one spot behind Michigan s Dax Hill. Over the past two seasons, he has 177 pass-rushing snaps on the blitz and has racked up 27 total pressures on those rushes. Ronnie Harrison, S, Alabama: Round 1, 4. Joseph is able to read route combinations and anticipate breaks in his sleep. Henry To'o'To'o had a higher grade last year than his teammate, Christian Harris, who went No. 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. Send feedback and thoughts to @ShanePHallam. Brian Branch is a flex defender capable of playing safety, fulfilling the nickel-back role and even playing on the boundary in a pinch. Harris hit free agency coming off a season in which he graded at just 63.6 in coverage, and it meant he could only manage a cheap, one-year contract with Philadelphia. That recklessness shows up a bit too often in coverage, but if that can be coached out of him, a drafting team is getting a heck of a player. Techie with an interesting slant on player evaluation? What was concerning about last season was how badly he was exposed in coverage within the Seahawks defense. Amos has been the leagues best-graded safety over the past two seasons. 2004-2023 CBS Interactive. 3: With 2,909 career snaps to his name, Robinson has been an excellent tackler. Savage recorded four picks and seven pass breakups and made several critical hits last year. Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Titans free safety Kevin Byard (31) takes the field before the game against the New Orleans Saints at Nissan Stadium. Gipson missed just seven tackles from 80 attempts in 2020. He has three 80.0-plus PFF run-defense grades in his first five seasons, and his versatility allows him to move around the defense, playing plenty as a free safety and in the slot. He earned a PFF run-defense grade of 85.4, making some plays that caused flashbacks to the way his father played the run with the Minnesota Vikings years ago. His 90.7 run-defense grade led all safeties in college football, while his 24 run stops ranked fifth most in the FBS. Jessie Bates III is only a year removed from a 90.1 PFF grade and a truly elite season for the Bengals. 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. Smith can really cover some ground. Thats because, at 205 pounds, hes more than willing to mix it up. College Senior Penn State. It offers one of the best groups of slot cornerbacks in recent memory along with some size-speed freaks and versatile safeties. With the rise of two-high safety looks in the NFL, the slot position has evolved into an integral part of so many defenses around the league. The safety After ranking the best players at every position as a part of PFF's 2021 NFL season preview, we Bench: 16. 2023 NFL Scouting Combine: See the prospects invited, by position, NBC Sports EDGE's 2023 NFL Draft Content Hub, 2023 NFL scouting combine: List of draft prospects, workout schedule, TV and streaming info. Reid was dragged down by the unit as a whole in 2020, and his coverage grade of 67.2 was the lowest of his career, but his previous two seasons had been flirting with an 80.0 grade, and he has increased the number of defensive stops he has made each season. SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION HOLIDAY BOWL. 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. One could not find a pass rusher more productive than Will Anderson Jr. over the past two seasons. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports. Over the last two seasons, Simmons has the No. Jack Campbell has great size and production for the linebacker position. 1, 2023 NFL mock draft: New 2-round projections for Senior Bowl week, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. In-depth prospect rankings with linked reports and all updated player information. Collins isnt that far removed from a genuine Defensive Player of the Year kind of season, but he has declined sharply since that spectacular 2016 season. Thats because, at 205 pounds, hes more than willing to mix it up. Thankfully, that couldnt be further from the truth with Branch. Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports. Brown racked up six picks and six pass breakups in large part due to that make-up speed, but also because hes an all-around fluid athlete in space. Big 12 Picks, Lines For Saturday, February 25, College Basketball Predictions, Lines, How To Watch: Sunday, February 26, NCAA Tournament Bracket Projections, 68 Team Predictions, Bubble Teams February 27, AP Poll Top 25 Projection College Basketball Rankings Prediction Week 17, Coaches Poll Top 25 Projection College Basketball Rankings Prediction Week 17, Coaches Poll Top 25 College Basketball Rankings Week 17, AP Poll Top 25 College Basketball Rankings Week 17. WebOUR RATING 95.0 OG All Scouts Average Overall Rank 3.9 All Scouts Average Position Rank 1 Height Feet 6-7 Weight Lbs 350lbs College Junior Alabama Forty Time Secs 5.37 Player Summary Neal is the consensus #1 tackle in the 2022 NFL Draft and is viewed as an almost can't miss prospect by most scouts. 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. Similar to his twin brother Chase, Sydney can flat-out fly. A few years ago, this meant Earl Thomas-type players who occupied the single-high zone in defenses playing almost exclusively Cover 3 or Cover 1. Find out where your favorite Position stacks up against the 2023 class and view expert mock drafts. 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. He has converted three of his five interceptions into touchdowns over the past three seasons. Tier 1 consists of the players expected to be taken in the first round. Rankings the 2023 NFL Draft safety prospects with all of their scouting reports linked to their draft profile. He is still a talented player, but perhaps his role is more limited than originally thought. Alabama's Brian Branch takes top spot: The slot position has evolved into an integral part of an NFL defense a role Branch can handle with ease. He is a tall, high-waisted player capable of flashing downhill or impacting pass lanes. His in-season tape is clear evidence, but you can also watch the practice/training camp footage that emerges every year of James going one on one with Keenan Allen one of the best route-runners in the game and covering him like a blanket. 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. You wont find many true freshman starters on defense at Alabama for head coach Nick Saban. PFF's exclusive metrics provide matchup previews, position rankings, grades, and snap counts. Antonio Johnson, Texas A&M, Jr, 6-3, 190 3. Adams was often deployed in favorable coverage matchups with the Jets, but he was on the receiving end of that too often in 2020. Harrison Smith has long been the prototype for this group of safeties. Catch up with our positional rankings here. Armani Watts, S, Texas A&M: Round Hes one of the best tackling defensive backs PFF has charted in college. He also has ideal size, loo Verone McKinley III was an elite high school player, a good college player but may only ever be an average pro. Joseph rarely pops off the tape as a high-end athlete. You'll now receive the top The Draft Wire stories each day directly in your inbox. One player who seems to sit atop big boards around the league is Brian Branch of Alabama. Over the past two seasons, he has 10 picks and four pass breakups. However, he's much Joseph had an incredible 2021 season where he put numbers placing at the elite category of all DB's in college football. 40 Time: 4.45. The 2023 NFL Draft safety class should provide a deep talent pool throughout Day 2 of the draft. Hes missed 14.9% of his tackle attempts in his career and will have some ugly ones when asked to wrap up from a standstill. Weight: 205. Player Antonio Johnson's season was not as inspiring as the 2021 campaign, but he has a versatile skill set. 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