Safety - is it fixed?

Last spring, we had several threads in which we discussed FA safeties, A few of you wanted Daniel Manning or Chris Clemons after the top FA safeties were off the board. One of you suggested signing Champ Bailey and moving him to safety (not sure if you were serious).

Manning was cut by the Bengals, then signed back with the Texans who cut Clemons to make room for Manning. Champ Bailey was signed by and now released by NO.

Hyde looks good at safety. Dix too. Richardson seems to have built on his strong close in 2013, when he played more than MD Jennings in several games. The jury is out on Burnett, in my opinion. All through camp the coaches insisted he was a starter, and even seemed surprised when questions were asked a couple times about whether his spot was open for competition.

I am hopeful it has all worked out in spite of TT "sitting on his hands" and ignoring the weakness at safety, as some of you argued. Can it be that once again, as seems to happen year after year, perhaps TT has simply "lucked out." :roll:

Or, will the safeties once again crash and burn when the season starts? (I think not.)

They should be better off. With only 4, plus Banjo on PS, fingers crossed for good health.

HHCD looks shockingly competent for a rookie. Maybe it's his jersey number, or his solid tackling, but I feel comfortable seeing him in the game. It looks like he's the #3 or #4 right now but he'll be pushing to start by the end of the year IMO. When they interviewed CM3 during the last preseason game, he specifically mentioned Peppers and Dix as guys who were going to make the D better this year.

I am knocking on the desk as I type this, but there shouldn't be too much of a drop when we start into our depth one deep and two deep at corner and safety.

Well the only one of these guys that's ever had a good year at safety is coming off a pedestrian year at safety. The key is going to be Burnett, he'll get every opportunity to succeed and we need him to bounce back. The good news is that he's got the talent and physical tools to be as good as he wants. Also between what ought to be an improved pass rush and what ought to be the most competent counterpart he's ever played with he should have plenty of opportunities to make plays.

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Originally Posted by Patler

Last spring, we had several threads in which we discussed FA safeties, A few of you wanted Daniel Manning or Chris Clemons after the top FA safeties were off the board. One of you suggested signing Champ Bailey and moving him to safety (not sure if you were serious).

Manning was cut by the Bengals, then signed back with the Texans who cut Clemons to make room for Manning. Champ Bailey was signed by and now released by NO.

Hyde looks good at safety. Dix too. Richardson seems to have built on his strong close in 2013, when he played more than MD Jennings in several games. The jury is out on Burnett, in my opinion. All through camp the coaches insisted he was a starter, and even seemed surprised when questions were asked a couple times about whether his spot was open for competition.

I am hopeful it has all worked out in spite of TT "sitting on his hands" and ignoring the weakness at safety, as some of you argued. Can it be that once again, as seems to happen year after year, perhaps TT has simply "lucked out." :roll:

Or, will the safeties once again crash and burn when the season starts? (I think not.)

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To be fair...many wanted Clemons only after TT took his two week free agency hibernation and all of the quality safeties signed
Many of us wanted Ward, who did a great job starting with the Denver Broncos last year.
Ward was a long term solution..Manning and Clemons were not...although.....they both probably start for us last year

At worst I think we're improved from terrible to somewhat competent.
We just have more talent at the position this year
I really hope Burnett, who I've always been ok with, takes a step ahead this year.

Addition by subtraction by just getting rid of Jennings and that other fool who's name escapes me presently. Hyde, Ha Ha and Richardson are light years better than what we had last year. I'm hoping having competent players along side of him will make Morgan better too.

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Originally Posted by Pugger

Addition by subtraction by just getting rid of Jennings and that other fool who's name escapes me presently. Hyde, Ha Ha and Richardson are light years better than what we had last year. I'm hoping having competent players along side of him will make Morgan better too.

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McMillan.

Both those kids had negative progress. They looked OK for young-uns, but both of 'em regressed to the point somebody probably had to put their uniforms on for 'em.

We are way better off this season, but that may mean our safeties are average.

Last season was the worst season in GBP history for interceptions by safteties...

Zero.

according to the "experts" on twitter, who are the beat writers, it's fixed and then some. the secondary as a whole has gone from a dicey question mark to a strength. hope it's true.

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Originally Posted by Bretsky

To be fair...many wanted Clemons only after TT took his two week free agency hibernation and all of the quality safeties signed
Many of us wanted Ward, who did a great job starting with the Denver Broncos last year.
Ward was a long term solution..Manning and Clemons were not...although.....they both probably start for us last year

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You're confusing me Bretsky. T.J. Ward played with Cleveland in 2013 and just became available as a free agent earlier this spring when Denver signed him. He hasn't played in a regular season game with the Broncos yet.

It's one big picture, not just Safety. Yeah, we should be better there - having somebody good to pair with Burnett. Dix looks very good; Hyde looks good too. I'm still not thrilled with Richardson - even against K.C., both against what they started and against their scrubs, he consistently made nice tackles - AFTER the pass was caught by the receiver. Same with Banjo - I wish they could cover.

Anyway, having a better pass rush is bound to make the Safeties at least seem better, as they and the Corners won't have to sustain coverage as long - hopefully. The problem is still gonna be underneath throws, as our ILBs are barely adequate to put it charitably. Having Safeties behind them to prevent underneath throws from becoming big plays should help - all four or five of them seem to not be prone to stupidly being out of position that way - again, hopefully.

They will start off competent, make a few more plays, then will start to gel as the season enters the second half. I like the group now. Burnett was not blameless, but you always looks worse covering for someone else's errors.

I would bet there will complaints early as the get used to facing an unfamiliar offense weekly. But I think it will get quite a bit better.

APRH

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Originally Posted by Bretsky

To be fair...many wanted Clemons only after TT took his two week free agency hibernation and all of the quality safeties signed
Many of us wanted Ward, who did a great job starting with the Denver Broncos last year.
Ward was a long term solution..Manning and Clemons were not...although.....they both probably start for us last year

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You are all mixed up. Ward was the "big name" THIS offseason. He hasn't played a meaningful game for Denver yet, so we have no idea if he's a long-term solution for Denver. I personally think he's overrated. Decent player on a bad team. I think he'll get exposed in coverage.

EDIT: I see somebody else has already called you out on this BS.

Bretsky's point still holds. If we are going to evaluate how the Hyde, Dix and Richardson moves pan out (Patler asks a fair question), we need to give consideration to all the alternatives.

Ward was one alternative.

Yes, at $22.5M for 4 years with $14M guaranteed. Then, we have to figure out how that would affect other potential contracts (Nelson, Cobb).

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Originally Posted by HarveyWallbangers

Yes, at $22.5M for 4 years with $14M guaranteed. Then, we have to figure out how that would affect other potential contracts (Nelson, Cobb).

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You're preaching to choir here Harv. But its still a valid point of comparison.

yes,we did get somewhat lucky by getting the best safety in the draft. when free agency was here, it looked like our chances were pretty slim of getting haha

so obviously, some of us wanted us to go after a vet that would improve our shit secondary

some of us wanted to draft a guy high, AND sign a vet. some also wanted hyde to be switched from CB to safety, which at the time MM said wasn't going to happen

mark me as one of those people. burnett was shit last year, and just as big of a problem as MD or mcmillian was IMO. the guy had no clue what he was doing without someone to hold his hand. so IMO, we will be better, but not fixed until one of the big problems is out of the starting lineup

and from what i saw, we now have 3 guys on the roster who look better then burnett did last year. its up to fat mike to have the balls to make the switch, but hearing how he sounded "shocked" by reporters asking him if burnett could lose his spot, i'm guessing that fat fuck has no clue and won't make the required switch.

so for me. we will have one competent safety (hyde, haha, or richardson), and one that has no clue what the fuck he's doing. so, an improvement over last year

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Originally Posted by SMBASS

You're confusing me Bretsky. T.J. Ward played with Cleveland in 2013 and just became available as a free agent earlier this spring when Denver signed him. He hasn't played in a regular season game with the Broncos yet.

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crap...you are all right...patlerized be4 patler could do it..my bad

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Originally Posted by red

yes,we did get somewhat lucky by getting the best safety in the draft. when free agency was here, it looked like our chances were pretty slim of getting haha

so obviously, some of us wanted us to go after a vet that would improve our shit secondary

some of us wanted to draft a guy high, AND sign a vet. some also wanted hyde to be switched from CB to safety, which at the time MM said wasn't going to happen

mark me as one of those people. burnett was shit last year, and just as big of a problem as MD or mcmillian was IMO. the guy had no clue what he was doing without someone to hold his hand. so IMO, we will be better, but not fixed until one of the big problems is out of the starting lineup

and from what i saw, we now have 3 guys on the roster who look better then burnett did last year. its up to fat mike to have the balls to make the switch, but hearing how he sounded "shocked" by reporters asking him if burnett could lose his spot, i'm guessing that fat fuck has no clue and won't make the required switch.

so for me. we will have one competent safety (hyde, haha, or richardson), and one that has no clue what the fuck he's doing. so, an improvement over last year

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This may sound crazy, but do you even consider the possibility that Burnett will play better this year?

Anyone know how Calvin Prior has looked in camp/preseason?

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Originally Posted by mission

Anyone know how Calvin Prior has looked in camp/preseason?

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Looks like he is the one bright spot in a bad secondary. http://www.newsday.com/sports/column...dary-1.9079000

I think safety is a tough position to evaluate because they are usually the last line of defense and covering for a breakdown elsewhere. Also, unless you have all-22 access you might not be able to see where they are lined up.
That said, Burnett has missed a lot of tackles and I sometimes got the impression that he was playing hesitant. Having someone like Hyde or HHCD should be an upgrade to Jennings/McMillian and I think it will be reflected this year. Getting an improved pass rush will make a big difference too.

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Originally Posted by HarveyWallbangers

You are all mixed up. Ward was the "big name" THIS offseason. He hasn't played a meaningful game for Denver yet, so we have no idea if he's a long-term solution for Denver. I personally think he's overrated. Decent player on a bad team. I think he'll get exposed in coverage.

EDIT: I see somebody else has already called you out on this BS.

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I thought folks were drooling over Byrd?

I think it's going to take some time to be truly "fixed", but APRH this unit sure looks the part. Very pleased at what's back there now. Been a while since we've been able to say that.

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Originally Posted by mission

Anyone know how Calvin Prior has looked in camp/preseason?

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Joe's link is about right.

I saw a Jets game where he came up and filled like crazy. He is a banger.

Going into the draft, I wanted HaHa. Prior does get burned bc of his aggression, but man, he can hit.

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Originally Posted by KYPack

Joe's link is about right.

I saw a Jets game where he came up and filled like crazy. He is a banger.

Going into the draft, I wanted HaHa. Prior does get burned bc of his aggression, but man, he can hit.

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How do you feel about HaHa so far?

He's not blowing guys up but he looks like he can really knife in there to make the tackle. To me he looks accurate? smooth? certain? I'm not sure how to describe it, but it looks like he belongs in there.

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Originally Posted by Pugger

I thought folks were drooling over Byrd?

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Everybody knew TT wouldn't pay top price for Byrd. Ward was the cheaper alternative that people wanted.

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Originally Posted by denverYooper

How do you feel about HaHa so far?

He's not blowing guys up but he looks like he can really knife in there to make the tackle. To me he looks accurate? smooth? certain? I'm not sure how to describe it, but it looks like he belongs in there.

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He looks like a player. I was hoping he would be a standout type, but yeah he seems like he'll contribute for us. Prior has made some splashes, but both guys could be career safeties.

I hope we don't see a lot of him on Thursday, that'd mean Hyde went and hid.

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Originally Posted by denverYooper

How do you feel about HaHa so far?

He's not blowing guys up but he looks like he can really knife in there to make the tackle. To me he looks accurate? smooth? certain? I'm not sure how to describe it, but it looks like he belongs in there.

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I know what you're saying there... just really smooth and the game seems pretty slow for him. He's not knocking guys out, but I'll be shocked whenever he misses his next tackle. Just looks very sure of himself and steady.

I don't see this guy as an 8 INT kind of guy, but 4 seems reasonable with tons of tackles and a couple FF. Rarely out of position and always bringing guys down. Eventual leader of the secondary. Very long frame-- LOOKS the part.. wait til he adds 10 lbs of NFL big boy muscle to that! What he does with the ball in the air is still in question, but I think he'll be pretty good there too.