top safety prospects

[AGrizzlyBaer]

benard pollard out of purdue. he is a jr. but this guy is a hell of a ss and i know marvin likes guys that can do both but i think it would be a solid 2nd or even 3rd round pick if he came out

[bengalindian]

AJ Hawk won't make it out of the first 10, let alone after 25.

[Stripes]

benard pollard out of purdue. he is a jr. but this guy is a hell of a ss and i know marvin likes guys that can do both but i think it would be a solid 2nd or even 3rd round pick if he came out

Homer!

I don't want another early draft pick nicknamed Polly until our current Polly is playing up to his potential.

[schweinhart]

I believe the proper nickname for Pollard is "Bonecrusher".

I don't know what the Boilemaker fans are drinking (Boilemakers maybe?) but they come up with some choice nicknames.

I'm still liking "The Silent Assassin". Maybe we see some of that name foot the bill on Sunday.

[AGrizzlyBaer]

I believe the proper nickname for Pollard is "Bonecrusher".

I don't know what the Boilemaker fans are drinking (Boilemakers maybe?) but they come up with some choice nicknames.

I'm still liking "The Silent Assassin". Maybe we see some of that name foot the bill on Sunday.

its bizarre the bengals fans up here drink irish car bombs go figuare

[NJ29]

I haven't had a chance to watch Huff, but if you're tellin' the truth schweiny, he'll be a good fit.

[turningpoint]

any safety but greg blue in the 1st 5 rounds...

man is dumb and all he does it hit people, looks like he is to slow also.

he's a 6th round pick, watch and see.

btw where the f**k is ernest shazor??? did the cards cut him..

i must do some investigative work.

on the practice squad for the cardinals...ouch.

[schweinhart]

Not the Greg Blue Train!

Seems like Blue should have a better shot as a weakside backer than Shazor had, though, and still might go first day.

I didn't get on the Shazor Train but sure was on the James Butler bandwagon. Butler didn't get drafted either, but does play for the Giants. If the Bengals had drafted him in the 7th round, he'd proly be starting right now.

[Whur CHad At?]

1st-Nate Salley

2nd-Gabe Watson

[cincy9275]

i know aj will be picked in the 10 -15 range in the first . but how can you say we have more pressing needs than some who can stop the run if he is better than the d-lineman in the draft you take him period . and as for nate sally he is listed at 6-3 220 and did a good job yesterday against mich pass game . i would not complain if the took him late in the first round . who are the top t/e's coming out this year and are the worth 2nd round pick ?

[Whur CHad At?]

TE Pope from Georgia is the best, but he will be a first rounder for sure.

[schweinhart]

Nate Salley doesn't look like he's hurt his stock on the field this year and will have the chance to boost his stock at the combine. If he can break 4.5 and show up in the cover drills, he should jump up.

I like about 10 other safeties who are seniors for the Bengals needs.

1. Michael Huff Texas

2. Anthony Smith Syracuse

3. Jahmile Addae West Va (would like to see him in a game where he's thrown at a lot)

4. Dwayne Slay Texas Tech

5. Tyrone Culver Fresno St

6. Marcus Hudson NC State

7. Trevis Coley Southern Miss

8. Harrison Smith Cal

9. Roman Harper Bama

10. Dawan Landry UGA

I'd like to catch a glimpse of Daniel Bullocks Nebraska, Marcus Demps SDSU, Wesley Smith Memphis, and Jarrad Page UCLA.

[Whur CHad At?]

Darnell Ding from USC???? Ko Simpson from South Carolina???

Salley would be an excellent 2nd or 3rd round pick i guess.

[AGrizzlyBaer]

Darnell Ding from USC???? Ko Simpson from South Carolina???

Salley would be an excellent 2nd or 3rd round pick i guess.

Darnell Bing is a jr. so he isnt on that list just bernard pollard

Purdue junior SS Bernard Pollard, one of the top safeties in the country, will forgo his final season of college eligibility to enter the 2006 NFL draft. Pollard is the second Purdue underclassman to announce he is leaving school early after junior DE Ray Edwards made the same announcment on the weekend. The 6-2, 226-pound Pollard is a big, physical hitter with decent range in coverage. This season he had 92 tackles and had three interceptions.

well pollard declared im gonna miss him but good luck to ya in the pros

[schweinhart]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/stor..._len&id=2232567

Nice blurb about Pollard. I haven't seen him since the Minn.-Purdue game and think of him more playing forward than in coverage downfield. Looked like a Thomas Davis type but I doubt Pollard is as fast. Definitely a big hitter who might get more interest from some teams as a weakside backer than a safety.

One reason I would have liked for Thomas Davis to still have been around when the Bengals picked in the 1st last year was the versatility he had between the safety and LB positions. Pollard looks to me like he's got that SS/WSLB versatility -- IOW he looks like a tweener.

As someone who hopes the Bengals use their first for a Safety who can switch between FS and SS and a weakside backer in the 2nd, Pollard has some appeal even though he most likely won't be fast enough to play deep FS. As a junior, the last chance to see him in action has come and gone since he won't be playing in any senior all-star games obviously and Purdue gets no bowl game. How he does in positional drills and his measurables -- especially 40 time and vertical -- are going to play a factor along with the tape as to how teams view him.

[NJ29]

I also really like Roman Harper of Bama. But Huff would be GREAT to have. Anybody here think of moving Jimmy Williams to safety? He's definately big for a corner, has some safety in his background, and he doesn't have trouble tackling. Just a thought.

The Bottome Line in this draft for me, is that we need to pick up an impact player in the first round who can contribute in a big way right off the bat. Our second round picks have been good (see Keiwan, Odell and Madieu), but Perry didn't make an impact until this year and Pollack has yet to. Huff, Landry and Addae seem like guys that can do that for us.

[schweinhart]

West Virginia plays Pitt tonight at 8 in the Backyard Brawl. Should be an ESPN channel.

Addae may get more into the mix for this one if the Pitt line can give their QB some time to go downfield. Don't blink, though, because he comes flying into the screen when the play is in front of him.

If the Bengals prioritize safety in the draft, they should seek players like Huff and Addae who should also be able to play man vs. a slot receiver in the NFL to allow more flexibility for confusing the QB with different coverages. Landry would be a solid safety prospect if he enters early because he could play either safety position well. But I'm not sure how well he could cover a WR in the slot in man. I'd put Roman Harper in that same category.

As for Jimmy Williams, he looks to me like more of a safety than a corner. If teams look at him that way, he'll fall in the first round. But this draft looks a bit lean on top flight cover corners and Williams may get picked with the hope that he is one. Tye Hill of Clemson and Will Blackmon of BC look like his main comp to go 1st at CB.

One CB who I think can climb up draft boards is Dion Byrum of Ohio. The few times I've seen him this year, he makes things happen, has got great timing on his jump for picks, and lets no one beat him. Plus he's a special teams star in the making. Solid senior game play and showing at the combine should get him in the first day at the very least IMO.

[alleycat]

Schwein,

What's you opinion of Jason Allen? I know he got hurt pretty seriously, but I didn't really get to see him play and wonder if he might be a second or third round steal because of the injury.

[schweinhart]

Allen coulda played either safety spot and maybe lined up well enough in man vs. bigger posession WRs and smaller TEs out of the slot. Doubt he coulda hung w/ smaller faster WRs out of the slot.

His hip injury was pretty severe and that position requires as much hip pivot to change direction at full speed as any other except for CB...How he recovers will be the test and if he can get to the combine and show teams he can swivel in coverage and burst downfield, he'll help himself. I'd say he's pretty much in the same boat Ben Wilkerson was in last year, only Allen looked like he'd have been a higher pick had he stayed healthy. I'd say he won't get drafted either but who knows?

Gotta say a couple things about Jahmile Addae after watching the 1st half and some in between the Game of the Week last night:

1. No Fear. He stood up a 235 lb Pitt back at the second level w/o a second thought...and it wasn't like he was ankle tackling, either. He took the dude on straight up.

2. Closes extremely fast laterally when play goes down sideline.

3. Looks like he very much enjoys coming in to clean up when the run gets stacked at the line.

4. Right place at right time. I saw 2 fumble recoveries. One a gift, and one he had to scrum for.

One thing I noticed about him that gives me second thoughts about him is that he was real late in making his break to help overtop on a 60-something yard TD catch where the WR had beat the CB by a few steps. On the replay ove the middle, you could see Addae was froze in centerfielder and just flat out broke too late to help. Of course, when he does his job on a play like that, no one notices on TV because it's just not shown since the play gioes elsewhere.

The other thing would be his weight. I'd say he's closer to 190 than 200.

[NJ29]

Yea, he looked like a some idiot sittin' on top of that pile on his second recovery, and he ended up with the ball somehow. And schweiny, I think he's a good 200. He's pretty thick. Oh well, I'd take either him or Eric Wicks from that team.

[schweinhart]

Wicks definitely drills people. So does the 3rd safety, Mike Lorello. Wouldn't mind seeing any of the them in stripes, actually, as long as they got the NFL foot speed to make up ground when needed.

Laron Landry and Daniel Bullocks both looked real good yesterday, too.

I'd like to check out Dwayne Slay of Tex Tech and Tyrone Culver of Fresno one more time.

[Stripes]

I watched some of the ESPN game between Wisconsin and Hawaii. That boy from Hawaii, I can't recall his name (I'll try and find it), looked very good at safety.

*edit* I found him. He's Lamar Broadway, senior, 5'11", 180 pounds.

[schweinhart]

I watched bits of that Wisc.-Hawaii game, too, mainly just to laugh at Jerry Glanville.

But I was mainly tuned into Wisconsin players like center Donavan Raiola, Joe Thomas LT (a junior), Brett Bell CB, and the Wisconsin WRs Jonathan Orr and Brandon Williams (who was already injured and out the game by the time I started watching.)

Can't say I even notice Lamar Broadway but good God, he's got a 1st Round name.

Did get a chance to watch more of Tyrone Culver of Fresno State and liked what I saw. He's a true centerfielder who looks like he can interchange to strong w/o sacrificing too much pop on the tackle vs. RBs.

But, Dawan Landry of Ga Tech looks better and bigger. Didn't watch the whole Ga Tech-UGA game but of what I saw Landry continues to show he's a legit first day pick at safety and can interchange. Greg Blue had a wicked smack on a WR in that game in downfield coverage but I still think Blue can't turn and recover fast enough to be an NFL safety in coverage. He's fine moving forward...and fearsome when he hits.

[HairOnFire]

Just for the record, Darnell Bing has just been quoted in todays Los Angeles Daily News about his plans to declare early. He's leaning heavily towards coming out, and has again expressed some interest in being introduced with the seniors prior to the game against UCLA.

BTW, the Sunday LA Times included an article about which USC and UCLA players were NFL quality based upon the opinions of three NFL scouts. One claimed that Bing would immediately go to the top of the safety rankings, another scout stated that Bing's hitting ability, and more importantly his desire for contact, reminded him of Ronnie Lott. The third scout claimed he was a love or hate prospect that would likely be drafted no higher than the top of the 2nd round.

The scouts also claimed that USC TE Domonique Byrd would likely go higher than his actual production projected due to his physical upside. He was described by all three as being extremely raw, and one scout went so far as to say that "somethings missing".

Last, all three scouts gushed about UCLA TE Marcedes Lewis, but went on to predict that he may fall in the draft after teams time him at the combines. They're in agreement that he plays faster than most, but predicted slow 40-times will hurt him. They penciled him for late in the 1st round.

[schweinhart]

Adding Bing to the draft mix would be a good thing because he'll go high and mean another quality safety should drop.

Safeties aren't generally prized as 1st rounders regardless unless they're total freaks of nature like Sean Taylor or have shown they should be able to play cornerback at the NFL level, like Mike Huff.

For the Bengals, I would hope they target a safety who can also play CB, from the slot at the very least. But how high that priority is seems like it will be more determined by how they view Herring in their plans and how urgent they feel it is to bring in 4th CB to work in with James and Keiwan. These factors -- obviously -- without dipping into free agency instead.

The one thing about Dominique Byrd that stands out in my mind was the spectacular catch he had last year in the Orange Bowl. It wowed. The athletic ability it takes to make a catch like that won't be lost come draft time provided he doesn't lose it in the meantime.

The one thing about Byrd that I'd wonder about is the same as it is with Marcedes -- run blocking. Lewis looks like a willing blocker to me but that might not be enough to dispel doubts that may surface about his blocking. As for his speed, I would doubt that will dissuade teams looking for TE from putting him at the top of their lists because his height and size should overcome that out of the slot or vs. a safety. Height and route separation should also trump speed even if he's slower than the average NFL LB on crosses and down the seam.

But if Marcedes does freefall to the bottom of the first round, I for one would hope the Bengals considering snatching him above whoever is on their board. I would like to watch him play again, though. It's been awhile.