Gotta keep in mind that Landry WAS one of the best safeties in the league period. Had it not been for his injuries, I think hed unquestionably be a top 3 safety right now (and not on our team). I dont expect him to come out and play at that level in his first healthy year in a while, but I dont think its outlandish to say Landry could easily be a top 10 safety this year if healthy.
IDC what safeties we have back there, if you dont get to Brady hes going to kill us period. The best way to shutdown the tightends is to not let the ball even leave Bradys hands. I think Rex wants Laron to beat the crap out of Gronkowski at the line, make him take at least 2 seconds to just get off the line, and then hopefully by that time someone is in Bradys face and Gronkowskis back is turned toward Brady so Gronk wont even have time to turn around or run a full route.
Rex wants in the box safeties..guys that play the run well, can execute cover 1,Cover 4 & quarters coverage schemes, tackle well & don't get beat deep. That last part is where they struggled last season. Smith lacked recovery speed & Poole got caught out of position too often. They aren't asking their safeties to mirror WR's(There are only 3 or 4 Safeties in the NFL who can do that)...all they have to do is play face up & be able to turn & run. Landry has 4.3 speed & hits like a truck.Bell is disciplined & always around the bell. You don't think these 2 are a major upgrade over what was here last year?
I don't think that was ever the case. In fact, the only time he really looked good was when he was playing next to Sean Taylor (who was playing at his best). In my estimation, and I think his lack of production after Taylor's tragic death attests to this, he was a beneficiary of an excellent safety playing across from him. He's average to above average otherwise. He's still an upgrade over an injured Leonhard & any type of Eric Smith, but I still think safety is a concern.
Didn't Sean Taylor die in 2006 and wasn't Landry drafted in 2007? Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
Taylor died in November 2007, so he played with Landry for just over 2 months. Looks like DCM beat me to it.
Landry is a guy who teams are shying away from at this point in his career for health reasons. The Jets are a team that is taking risks on players with this concern this year because they don't have a huge chunk of cap space to spend on top tier free agents. Landry isn't a great cover guy and doesn't solve the Jets problems with coverage from the safety position. He IS a very talented athlete with top end speed when healthy. He can also really lay the wood and be an intimidator over the middle. It will be very interesting to see how an innovator on the defensive side of the ball will use his skills if he's healthy. I do think he's one of the few safeties that can be more physical than Gronk, which could lead to some interesting strategy from Rex/Pettine.
