Safety prospects?

[Kazkal]

Aaron Rouse anyone know much about him? saw mock saying we take him big guy at 6'4 only 220....

Would be intresting to have randy moss play safety.

nfl drafts top 13

# Name College Height Weight 40-Time

1. LaRon Landry L.S.U. 6-2 202 4.45

2. Brandon Meriweather Miami (FL) 6-0 195 4.55

3. Michael Griffin Texas 6-0 205 4.50

4. Aaron Rouse Virginia Tech 6-4 221 4.55

5. Eric Weddle Utah 6-0 200 4.45

6. John Wendling Wyoming 6-1 222 4.45

7. Michael Johnson Arizona 6-2 205 4.55

8. Willis Barringer Michigan 6-0 207 4.45

9. Sabby Piscitelli Oregon St. 6-3 224 4.50

10. J.D. Nelson Oregon 5-11 219 4.65

11. Wesley Smith Memphis 6-3 210 4.55

12. Josh Gattis Wake Forest 6-1 212 4.35

13. Roderick Rogers Wisconsin 6-2 187 4.55

[BlainThePain]

I'm hoping for Laron Landry. He can do it all. Dude would be another Madieu for us.

[Kazkal]

Aye but most likely he'll be gone before we pick so inless can trade up 7-15 area.

[ChadJohnson-85]

Aye but most likely he'll be gone before we pick so inless can trade up 7-15 area.

It would be awesome to see us trade up for LaRon Landry but I dont think we would do that the way Madieu & Dexter are playing.

[Tasher]

Aye but most likely he'll be gone before we pick so inless can trade up 7-15 area.

It would be awesome to see us trade up for LaRon Landry but I dont think we would do that the way Madieu & Dexter are playing.

I can see us putting a rookie behind Jax and Madieu so he can learn and not be forced to play immediately. Just look at Joseph this year. However, I do not see us giving up picks to get up to get Landry, as much as I would love to have Landry. He is a stud.

[BlainThePain]

Whatever happens, we need a safety in the first two rounds. We've had a lot of injuries at safety every year Marvin has been here.

[Kazkal]

and our depth sucks.... Safety rnds 1,2 or 4 I'd be happy with but if we took 4th rnd one I want a 1st one the following year lol.

[Stripes]

If it's a 1st round safety, gimme Merriweather. I doubt my opinion will be the same when this discussion is actually relevant, however.

[Kazkal]

eh

[schweinhart]

Griffin is a better fit for the Bengals than Landry. I would really like to see Madieu play FS whre he is best and spent less time at SS which he would have to do with Landry. But Griffin and Landry are probably irrelevant to consider unless the Bengals trade up. I would say pass on the too light for SS types like Merriweather and pass on the big slow types like Rouse and take a good long look at Wesley Smith in Day 2. I seriously doubt that JD Nelson will clock that slow a 40 time but even if he does come in around 4.6 the dude should get looked at Day 2 because he has some hellacious closing speed and will knock the living slop out of anyone who dares travel through his space.

[Kazkal]

Not often 2 safetys go top 25 (mybe 1 ) but will see I guess hehe hopfully we find someone special.

[schweinhart]

Straight safeties usually aren't 1st rounders. But safeties who've got exceptional speed and cover skills that are considered corner quality whether wide or in the slot do get plucked. Last year there were 2 in the 1st 10 picks in Huff and Whitner. And it might have been 3 if teams there thought Jason Allen didn't have injury risk.

Landry, Griffin and Meriweather look like the most likely candidates this year to fall in that 1st round overall DB category but Griffin isn't as fast as Landry. Landry isn't bashful to hit but Griffin detonates when he hits giving him an advantage as a SS who can also cover TEs. And Meriweather sure looks like a fairly straightforward FS which probably drops him down. There's 2 other safeties who might get evaluated with CB skills in Weddle and Zbitkowski if he enters.

Another factor as to where the top 3 safeties go is the CBs. From the ones I've watched, I'd put Marcus McCauley, Leon Hall and Fred Bennett as the most likely 1st rounders. But I doubt any of those 3 or other CBs get pegged as Top 10 shutdown corners.

[derekshank]

I don't see us taking a Safety in the 1st round. Usually 1st rounders start... and if they don't start... they play a lot. Look at Joseph. He was drafted in the first... and has given immediate impact in the nickle, and will probably eventually take Tory's job.

If we take a safety in the 1st... who's job is he going to take? Madieu's? Nope. Dexter's? Nope again. If we take one, it will be in the 3rd round at the earliest. I expect to see us take a DE and a LB as well as either a C or TE before we go Safety. Those are all areas of greater need that can make immediate impacts.

[schweinhart]

Yeah safety probably slides. There's a bunch of Day 2 SS types who could fit the bill like Jesse Daniels, Sabby Piscitelli, Kedrick Alexander, Garland Heath and Curtis Keyes. If they could get Daniels in the 4th, by all means, but after that the most interchangeable of them I'd say is Keyes who gets to the ball and hits big deep from what I saw of him vs. Central Florida. Alexander is the more solid hitter in the box, showd up around the ball a lot in coverage and could be a good one late. Piscitelli and Heath are pretty much the same type of big SS or WSLB at the next level. Heath plays rover at NC State and was a constant disruption vs. Florida State able to react quick to RB cutbacks, get outside fast and read slot routes well. Plus he goes after the ball when he 's in on tackles.

[BlainThePain]

I don't see us taking a Safety in the 1st round. Usually 1st rounders start... and if they don't start... they play a lot. Look at Joseph. He was drafted in the first... and has given immediate impact in the nickle, and will probably eventually take Tory's job.

If we take a safety in the 1st... who's job is he going to take? Madieu's? Nope. Dexter's? Nope again. If we take one, it will be in the 3rd round at the earliest. I expect to see us take a DE and a LB as well as either a C or TE before we go Safety. Those are all areas of greater need that can make immediate impacts.

Since Marvin has been here we haven't drafted a first round pick that has started right away. We drafted Chris Perry when Rudi was already a proven RB. It's BPA and there looks to be three safeties worthy of a first round pick. I think our chances of drafting a safety are pretty good.

[Kazkal]

I don't want safety inless one that is just no brainer pick falls to us,I rather see day 2 pick this year for depth...then 1st day following year so he can sit behind and learn from dexter.

[schweinhart]

I don't see us taking a Safety in the 1st round. Usually 1st rounders start... and if they don't start... they play a lot. Look at Joseph. He was drafted in the first... and has given immediate impact in the nickle, and will probably eventually take Tory's job.

If we take a safety in the 1st... who's job is he going to take? Madieu's? Nope. Dexter's? Nope again. If we take one, it will be in the 3rd round at the earliest. I expect to see us take a DE and a LB as well as either a C or TE before we go Safety. Those are all areas of greater need that can make immediate impacts.

Since Marvin has been here we haven't drafted a first round pick that has started right away. We drafted Chris Perry when Rudi was already a proven RB. It's BPA and there looks to be three safeties worthy of a first round pick. I think our chances of drafting a safety are pretty good.

I think Pollack would've started minus the holdout and injury and Joseph is for all intents and purposes a starter given the importance of the slot nickel. And Perry would've seen significant action his rookie year if not for the hernia. So a 1st rounder has the same expectations for the Bengals as every other team, not that BPA doesn't factor in with the length of 1st round contracts and cap management over a 3-year window.

But I don't see 3 safeties worthy of a 1st round pick. Rouse and Merriweather aren't 1st rounders IMO. I like Josh Gattis as a dark horse, though.

If it comes down to DB in the 1st, I'd rather see them take a CB because there should be a good one there.

[.coltrane]

I would do whatever necessary to get LaRon Landry here if we feel that he is the guy to get a safety. This is a team that is just missing a couple key pieces and is pretty set for the future, so it's not like we can't afford to trade up for a difference maker, despite it obviously not being Marvin's style.

I'm also on the Mike Griffin train. I see him as being anothr guy capable of being a corner / strong safety, just as Madieu has, and just as Mike Huff has.

[Tasher]

I would do whatever necessary to get LaRon Landry here if we feel that he is the guy to get a safety. This is a team that is just missing a couple key pieces and is pretty set for the future, so it's not like we can't afford to trade up for a difference maker, despite it obviously not being Marvin's style.

I'm also on the Mike Griffin train. I see him as being anothr guy capable of being a corner / strong safety, just as Madieu has, and just as Mike Huff has.

Well, we might be with the losing streak we are on!

[Kazkal]

Ya then we may get shot at top available de

[schweinhart]

I'm also on the Mike Griffin train. I see him as being anothr guy capable of being a corner / strong safety, just as Madieu has, and just as Mike Huff has.

I also like Mike but in his shot at Huff's position this year, he has shown that he does not have that kind of speed or reaction. But he has shown he's every bit as physical as Cedric Griffin was, which still should land him between the 2 draft day -- late 1st/early 2nd.

Rouse didn't show much back drop speed or range vs. Boston College last week. And coming up into the box vs. run, he looks too high which given his size throws him off balance. As a prospect, he looks somehwere between what Pat Watkins and Darnell Bing were last year, though I'd say he lacks Watkins speed and range in coverage and isn't quite as physical as Bing. I'd say Rouse is 3rd rounder.

The safety who has opened my eyes this year is Kevin Payne of Louisiana Monroe. He plays like Rodney Harrison. Downside with him is age -- he'll be 24 next year -- and a metal plate in his right radius, which he broke as a RB in 2003. He's in his 2nd year at safety after missing a year but I'm not sure how enthused Marv or the organization might be about a safety with metal in his forearm ala Kim Herring.