Analyzing our Safety Position

[BleedinBlue]

This article was written back in January and is on the money. My comments at the end

 

New York Giants position breakdowns: Safety

by Ed Valentine link

 

Let's move on the final defensive position in our series of position-by-position breakdowns for he New York Giants. That would be safety, and it is a position where I think we all agree the Giants were atrocious in 2009.

 

Once Kenny Phillips went down for the season after just two games with an arthritic condition in his knee the Giants never found a way to even adequately replace him. The pitiful safety play is the primary reason the Giants surrendered 61 passing plays of more than 20 yards in 2009, including 10 plays of more than 40 yards. Over and over, their safeties proved to either not know what they were doing or to be incapable of making a play even when they somehow got into position.

 

'Bad, Bad C.C. Brown' embarrassed himself, and we all want him run out of town as quickly as possible. Have a nice career in the UFL, C.C. Amazingly, though, statistically Brown was not even close to being the worst of the Giants safeties.

 

According to Pro Football Focus, there were 87 safeties who played at least 25% of their team's snaps in 2009. How bad were the Giants safeties? In PFF's pass coverage grades, three of the Giants safeties ranked in the bottom seven among those 87 players. Ouch!

 

So, let's hold our collectives noses and look individually at each of the guys who tried to play this position. It is going to be painful, but it is necessary.

 

Kenny Phillips: His loss for the season after just two games to patellofemoral arthritis was, quite possibly, the most devastating blow the Giants suffered all season. Everyone around the Giants figured Phillips, in his second season, was headed for stardom. Unfortunately, it may also be a devastating blow to the future of their defense. Phillips underwent what was believed to be micro-fracture surgery on the knee, but his future is cloudy. Let's face it, an arthritic condition is one that will never improve and most reports I have read say surgery is only sometimes helpful.

 

So, if you are counting on Phillips being 100% healthy in 2010 -- and being the same player he showed signs of becoming -- don't. It might happen, but it is more likely that Phillips' career will be shorter and that his mobility will be affected by the condition of his knee.

 

It is unfortunate, but in my mind the Giants need to plan for 2010 as though Phillips will not be in the lineup. If he is, great.

 

C.C. Brown: Let's deal with this one and be done with it. Just like we have to hope the Giants are done with him. Jerry Reese's signing of Brown as a free agent is probably the most bone-headed move of Reese's tenure as general manager. Call him 'Bad, Bad' or 'Can't Cover,' or whatever you want. Brown is clearly not an NFL safety. Yes, he was third on the Giants with 49 solo tackles, but that is mostly because offensive game plans pretty much amounted to finding Brown and throwing the ball in his direction whenever he was on the field (now that hurts - OUCH!!).

 

According to PFF, Brown was -10.6 against the pass. That is 82nd in the league. He was -10.4 overall, 76th in the league. Want one more number to show how awful Brown was? Quarterbacks had a 142.6 rating throwing in his direction, and only Jacksonville safety Reggie Nelson was worse. At least he did play the run fairly well (+2.1), but he clearly is a player who cannot be brought back in 2010.

 

Michael Johnson: As much as we screamed at our televisions while watching Brown, we probably should have been directing as much -- or more -- of our ire at Johnson. Check Johnson's numbers for the past two seasons and you can conclude just one thing -- he is one of the worst safeties in the league.

 

Maybe it is only because the Giants finally got Brown off the field, but Johnson's PFF grades actually make Brown's look almost acceptable.

 

in 2009, Johnson was -19.9 overall, 85th out of the 87 safeties playing 25% of snaps. That included -11.2 against the pass, even worse than Brown. Quarterbacks had a 133.0 rating throwing at him.

 

If you think that was just a poor season for the three-year player, think again. His 2008 numbers? A -15.0 grade, 79th out of 83 safeties playing 25% of snaps.

 

Johnson is atrocious in pass coverage. Either out of position too often due to a mis-read, or not fast enough to get where he needs to be at other times. As a run defender, he is again either out of position too often or missing too many tackles.

 

Aaron Rouse: Rouse is a little bit difficult to judge. Green Bay released the third-year player because they were tired of watching him make coverage mistakes and take poor angles on running plays. He made some of those same mistakes with the Giants, but I am also inclined to believe some of Rouse's struggles in New York came as a result of trying to find his way with a new team in mid-season.

 

Rouse was -9.8 against the pass (81st in the league) and -11.8 overall (78th). Oddly, though, quarterbacks had just a 68.2 rating throwing in his direction.

 

Of all the players who received significant playing time in 2009, I think I would have the least problem with Rouse being brought back and given an opportunity to compete for a roster spot.

 

Aaron Ross: I talked about Ross in the cornerback discussion, but he also has to be considered here. After all, in the three games his hamstring did allow him to play he was at safety. He was hardly tremendous there, but he was adequate at an unfamilar spot. If he can ever get healthy he would provide more speed and better coverage skills than Johnson, Rouse or Brown from the safety position. Moving him there, or using him as a hybrid corner/safety in the nickel and dime defensive packages is an intriguing option for new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.

 

Sha'reef Rashad: Spent most of the season on the practice squad, being signed to the active roster for the final game of the season. The Giants like his intelligence and athleticism and he will likely be given a chance to compete for a roster spot. Vince Anderson, another safety who spent 2009 on the practice squad, may get the same opportunity.

 

Keep: Phillips, Ross

 

Dump: Brown, Johnson

 

Let 'em compete: Rouse, Rashad, Anderson

 

Draft/Free Agency Priority (1 being the highest, 5 the lowest): 1. The Giants must address this position. No doubt.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Since this article has been written, the Giants have signed free agents: Antrel Rolle (6'0", 210 lbs - 27 years old - 1st round draft pick in 2005 by the Arizona Cardinals - 8th pick overall - from Miami U.) who has played the free safety position...and 31 year old Deon Grant (6'2" / 215 - 2nd round draft pick by the Carolina Panthers - All American out of Tennessee U.) . Both players became available because of their burdensome contracts.

 

Also, Phillips "could" be back at full strength - time will tell. If so, that's a huge blessing for the Giants.

 

And of course, the Giants drafted (stole is more like it) Chad Jones, the top rated strong safety in the draft (actually - he was the overall number one rated safety in the entire draft by Rivals.com and Scout.com) as well as a member of national title team LSU where as a senior, he had 138 tackles and 12 interceptions as a safety and also 464 yards and 12 touchdowns as a running back - unfrickin real!!! Jones is 6'3", 231 lbs - 21 yrs old. Jones also played cornerback in college for the first 2 years before moving to safety (and part time running back). He was also a member of the World Series of College Baseball team as an outfielder and LH pitcher who threw over 90 mph and as a reliever, threw 3 innings of hitless ball when LSU won their national title. Jones is one of only two players in history to be a member of both the football and baseball teams that won national titles. Thank God he chose football over baseball.

 

Is it any wonder when it was announced that "the Giants are now on the clock", that they were at the podium announcing their pick about 10 seconds later. Imagine the war room when they realize Jones is still sitting there. Their jaws must've dropped to the table. And even though Giants' fans were screaming to pick a 2nd tier ILB, the Giants did exactly the right thing and stole a guy who would've been in the front half of the first round in any other year - maybe even top 5 if safety was a huge issue around the league.

 

Bottom line: I think the Giants have addressed their issue at safety. Now if the D-Line holds up and the LB's do their job, the Giants' defense in the secondary has gone from worst to possibly best. Can't wait for the season to start and I'm praying that Phillips is back in form.

[Allstarjim]

Our entire secondary could be the best in the NFL. Webster is in his prime, and one of the top corners in the game. Terrell Thomas is an ascending player, and if he improves on his season last year, then the Giants will have 2 starting pro bowl caliber corners. We'll see what happens, but it's going to be a real battle for Ross to win his starting job back. Right now, I don't think it happens. Either way, I think Ross moves to the nickel and it just strengthens our overall defense. I do think we need another veteran corner, Bruce Johnson, I just don't know about him, and if we get hit with the injury bug at corner again, I'd rather it be a veteran who has been there, done that.

 

The only thing Giants fans can gripe about on 'D' is our linebackers. And even then, I think we have one of the better weakside linebackers in football, plus have a high round draft pick on the strong side. We have a lot of bodies for MLB, so we'll let them work it out. Even if it's Chase Blackburn, he's showed enough to warrant some confidence that he will do a pretty good job for us.

 

And the D-line.... well, we have quality up and down that DL. I think Bernard will be cut at some point, but I expect Canty will have a bounce back season. I realize that others don't share their optimism on him but I don't believe that they are accounting for the hamstring problems he had last year. He does have talent and will be a good player for us. Alford is coming back, and he can penetrate the inside, Coefield is steady, we bring in Linval Joseph who will be a force against the run. And Tuck will be healthy again, Osi and Kiwi will be pushing each other hard, and then JPP is going to come in and provide some depth and maybe make an impact with some big plays this year.

 

One thing is for certain if our horses stay healthy... teams will not be able to be nearly as pass happy on us this year as they were last year. It aint gonna happen.

[Treehugger]

Man, we could have problems with our safeties bitching about being starters soon.

[BleedinBlue]

Man, we could have problems with our safeties bitching about being starters soon.

It's a great problem to have when the depth is so solid that we have players on the bench better than starters on other teams. However, I expect Jones to be worked in slowly and Grant, although a solid vet, will probably be happy playing less time for big bucks - especially considering he's the old man on the safety squad at 31.

 

We could have the same problem all across the defensive line as well. Another enviable problem that few teams ever experience.

 

Regardless, I don't think our plethora of high end safeties is a problem unless Phillips is back and in pro-bowl condition and even then, I don't think it will become a problem. If that's the case, I see Rolles and Phillips as starters and Grant and Jones spelling them.

 

It's a great cross-section of experience and up and comers - a 10 year vet, a 5 year vet who went to the 2009 Pro Bowl, a 2-year potential star and pro-bowler working his way back from injuries, and a stud kid learning the ropes from these guys. I love it!

[Treehugger]

Regardless, I don't think our plethora of high end safeties is a problem unless Phillips is back and in pro-bowl condition and even then, I don't think it will become a problem. If that's the case, I see Rolles and Phillips as starters and Grant and Jones spelling them.

Yeah so do I, I just can't help but wonder if Rolle/Phillips/Jones will develop into a Tuck/Osi/Kiwi situation in 2-3 years.

[BleedinBlue]

Yeah so do I, I just can't help but wonder if Rolle/Phillips/Jones will develop into a Tuck/Osi/Kiwi situation in 2-3 years.

Rolle/Phillips/Jones sounds soooo much better than C.C./Johnson/Rouse

Man...the line that stuck out for me on that article was, "the oppositions game plan was to throw to anyone being covered by Brown (or Johnson)" and the ridiculously high QB rating against those guys. Oh well...I think our future looks much brighter in the defensive secondary. It was a travesty last year.

 

 

BTW, what the hell....I loved your old avatar. I thought it was perfect for you being an Australian and beer conniseur. Just my opinion. I'll miss it.

[Treehugger]

BTW, what the hell....I loved your old avatar. I thought it was perfect for you being an Australian and beer conniseur. Just my opinion. I'll miss it.

It's a Tributetar, I'll sport it until the season starts.

[Sephiroth]

 

The only thing Giants fans can gripe about on 'D' is our linebackers. And even then, I think we have one of the better weakside linebackers in football, plus have a high round draft pick on the strong side. We have a lot of bodies for MLB, so we'll let them work it out. Even if it's Chase Blackburn, he's showed enough to warrant some confidence that he will do a pretty good job for us.

 

 

 

Goodell said that we weren't allowed to play Blackburn for more than 30% of the defensive snaps, saying that "a season where a team goes 16-0 and has zero points scored on them is not good for the league."

[Mr. P]

It's a Tributetar, I'll sport it until the season starts.

 

its fuckin brilliant.

 

 

do you have a link to the fullsize picture of it?

 

id love to possibly rock it from time to time when im feeling feagly.

[Mr. P]

nevermind just checked the other thread.

[Treehugger]

I knew PDub would appreciate my genius.

[Bigblue25]

Bleedin you should be Jerry Reese's publicist, never seem to amaze me