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PA Season Ticket Holder
04-17-2003, 03:16 PM
In the past nine years of the NFL draft, 11 safeties have been taken in the first round, with only one selected in the top 10. The second and third rounds seem to be where safeties will most likely be picked. Over the past nine years, 62 safeties have been selected in these two rounds, including 10 in 2002, the most ever over this period. The two safeties picked in the first round in 2002 started for their teams — Ed Reed (Baltimore) and Roy Williams (Dallas).

In order to be a top player at this position, you need to be a good tackler (many teams now play eight defensive players in "the box" to stop the run). You have to be a good blitzer and you must be able to cover the big tight ends as well as the fast receivers in pass coverage. It is also important to be a good special teams player.


I'm not sure that a safety will go in the first round of this year's draft, but that doesn't mean there won't be some impact players available. Remember Lawyer Milloy, Darren Woodson, John Lynch and Lance Schulters were all drafted in the second round or lower. In fact, two of the best safeties ever were never drafted — the two combined to play in 10 Pro Bowls. One of the starting safeties in the 2002 Pro Bowl, Sammy Knight, was also undrafted.

Here are my rankings for free safeties. Click here to see my rankings for strong safeties.

http://nfl.com/draft/analysis/expert/brandt/s