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Great job putting this together Kyle!
In looking at the roster, I’m concerned about the safety room outside of DJ and Alohi. JT Woods hasn’t shown he can play (I didn’t get his NFI status last season, either. What happened?). AJ Finley looks like he’s just special teams.
There are still a bunch of S options in FA. Justin Simmons is top of most people’s list but probably too expensive. Who would you like to see?
Thanks Uncle! Personally I've a big fan of the thought of signing Justin Simmons. I'm still holding out hope that Woods takes a step in the right direction this year - but we haven't seen anything thus far warranting us relying on that to happen. Our cap space should be opening up significantly next year (and the following year), so I don't think Simmons is out of our price range if we really want to get him.
However, an interesting thing to note that Ryan and I have chatted about is Tarheeb Still's prowess in run defense actually suggests he might be able to play that "big nickel" role Minter often has for his three-safety set. I think we're planning on doing a video on it at some point, but the last time I talked to @ryanwatkins , he felt much better about the make-up of the secondary room after the draft.
I can see us signing a vet on a cheap contract.
But I can also see a UDFA safety make the 53.
There is Thomas Harper who has a relationship with the safeties coach. The other safety is Akeem Dent. Both look impressive on their highlight tape. But we still have to see how fit and play in Minter's system.
As things stand, if no vet is signed, I expect 2 UDFAs to make the final roster in place of Woods and Finley. They signed 3 interesting UDFA safeties - Harper, Dent, and Phillips. They all seem more interesting to me than Woods and Finley.
As for Simmons, my impression is that he is better in the box / close to LOS than in a free safety role, but that is really what the team needs if Minter intends to play James a lot at the big nickel spot Kyle mentioned to keep him close to the LOS.
@tau837 yes, IMO, I also believe a FS is what's needed to flesh out Minter's defense. And I don't see that guy being Woods.
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