2011 State of the Franchise: Safety

2011 Starters:

Jim Leonard – 7th Year: Leonard is returning from a broken leg, leaving his punt return days are behind him. Leonard is an undersized safety whose height was taken advantage of by TE’s during last season. He does play the position with excellent intelligence, very athletic, god instincts and speed and a solid tackler. He is a leader of the defense when on the field. He is a solid starter with some short comings.

Eric Smith – 6th Year: Smith is a big hitting safety who tends to launch himself at opposing players. Very physical, intense player who will try to intimidate the opposing players. Ryan has credited Smith with being a very intelligent player as well. He does not possess great speed and natural instincts. Not a great coverage safety, but a great special team player. Similar to Pool, he stepped up his play after the Leonard injury to play well for the defense.

2011 Backups:

Dwight Lowery – 4th Year: Lowery started to be converted from a CB to a safety last season. As a cornerback he just wan not fast and physical enough at the LOS to be counted on as a starter. He has shown good instincts which allow him to make some plays on balls. He is also a good tackler and has good hands. I am not sure if Lowery is going to be able to make the transition to become the starting safety, but until they sign some free agents, he is the best choice.

Brodney Pool – 7th year: Pool does have the ability to diagnose plays quickly and make smart decisions. Best in deep coverage support and zone coverage’s, where he is able to read and react to the plays. He is not as effective of a player when playing in the box. He has the physical attribute to play man, but he tends to get turned around and has a hard time making up the ground. He is not a big hitter. He has had health issues in the past, but insists it was migraines, not post concussion syndrome. Really started to come along and played measurably better after the weeks after the Leonard injury.

Emanuel Cook – 2nd Year: Resigned by the Jets after Leonard was put on the IR. Another undersized safety who is a hard hitter and plays the run well. Good awareness and is able to break up some passes, but is not a ball hawk. Lacks the speed to cover man to man, more of a zone safety. Could develop into a solid special teamer.

Davon Morgan: Morgan has had some injury issues in his college career, but he is an imposing player and could be a good replacement to Eric Smith in the Jets’ scheme. He’s a heady player who, at the very least, could provide special teams depth. http://www.nyjetsdraft.com/2011/07/jets-rookie-free-agent-signings/

Byron Landor - Rookie: Landor is a compact safety who earned All Big-12 honors as a senior. He’s a bit more athletic than signee Morgan, and he may have a slightly better shot at making the team. Yet another secondary piece added to the heap back there.http://www.nyjetsdraft.com/2011/07/jets-rookie-free-agent-signings/

2011 Unrestricted Free Agents:

James Ihedigbo – 5th Year: Ihedigbo is a very athletic safety with good closing speed and delivers punishing tackles, shows good vision on the field. Does not possess good man to man coverage skills, more of a zone safety, sometimes I felt like he was playing OLB when on the field. Great special teamer. The Jets made him the lowest tender offer possible, they are able to match any other offer for him. Unless someone offers him a silly contract, he will be back.

2011 Outlook:

Safety was one of the positions that most of the fans thought was going to be addressed by the Jets during the draft, unfortunately it was not. Thinking about it, I believe that in Ryan’s system it usually takes a Safety a season to learn the responsibilities of the position and how to play it. As it stands today, the Safety position is very weak on the team, I would like to see the Jets resign Pool to a 2-3 year contract and draft the heir apparent to his position within the first 2 rounds of next years draft (OLB with the other pick). This would give the rookie safety a season to be groomed behind pool if need be prior to taking the reins.

Cut:

DaJuan Morgan - 2nd year: May have been brought in to replace Ihedigbo. A physical safety with a nose for the ball. Has good size and excellent athleticism. Reads plays and gets to the action. An energetic special-teams tackler. Is a bit of a risk-taker (losing gambles more often than not) who loves to make the big play, either with highlight-reel hits or big interceptions. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/34479/dajuan-morgan

Richard Taylor – 1st Year: Couldn’t find much scouting information about Taylor. All I know about him is he is a bit short for a DB, has decent speed running a 4.53 40.

 

With Smith re-signed, he should be the started opposite of Leonard. As valuable a special teamer that he is, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Jets sign another safety who is better is pass coverage, preferably tall to help cover the big TE's of the patriots. This will help reduce the defensive PT for Smith so that he could stay on the ST units.

 

I have not heard many good things about Huff's work ethic.

 

Pool was resigned today, our safeties depth just got much better, not sure if this spells the end for Ihedigbo, they may want to keep one of the undrafted FA safeties to develop.