Bills hosting FA Safety Robert Blanton

[Ed]

Mike Rodak
ESPN Staff Writer

The Bills are hosting free-agent safety Robert Blanton on Friday, the team announced. Blanton played the past four seasons for the Vikings, mostly as a reserve. The Bills have a need at backup safety after not tendering restricted free agent Bacarri Rambo earlier this offseason.

[bleve]

Add another name to the list of spectacular FA additions.

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2016/3/18/11264066/robert-blanton-signs-with-buffalo-bills-free-agency

[OpIv37]

He was good at ND but I didn't follow his NFL career

[Scumbag College]

I don't think anyone here expected high priced, big name free agents coming here this offseason.

Safety is a big question mark on this team and it's good to bring in a few guys with experience to compete with Duke Williams, Meeks, et al, especially with Aaron Williams having neck injury concerns.

[Buffalogic]

He signed. Go go special teams.

[Mace]

I used to know some Blantons with a son Bobby. Don't think it was him though, the child was too short and if he tried wearing pads he wouldn't have been able to move.

[YardRat]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25521938/vikings-safety-robert-blanton-headed-to-buffalo-to-visit-the-bills

Blanton had an excellent 2014 season for the Vikings as their starter at strong safety, but he played behind Andrew Sendejo (http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/playerpage/1786001/andrew-sendejo) for most of 2015 -- he saw his snap percentage drop from 91.7 percent to just 29.1 percent, per Pro Football Focus.

[Night Train]

Bills did sign him for depth,per local news.

Showed a 2014 highlight of him getting an INT off Orton at the Ralph.

[Night Train]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25521938/free-agent-safety-robert-blanton-agrees-to-a-deal-with-the-bills

[ParanoidAndroid]

Not a bad move considering the thin and questionable S crop in this draft. This is not a position you want to be forced to draft this year, and nor is WR. Hopefully we find a stop-gap there, too. There is value at LB, DL and OL all throughout this draft and that is hopefully where the focus will be.

[YardRat]

I dunno, I think there is some depth at safety in this draft, especially when you consider guys listed as lbers and cbs that will probably switch at the pro level.

[Night Train]

We assume so much when we sign guys. They could be camp tryouts and little more.

Bills have 8 picks coming up. Let the off-season play out. Conclusions in March aren't worth squat.

[ParanoidAndroid]

I dunno, I think there is some depth at safety in this draft, especially when you consider guys listed as lbers and cbs that will probably switch at the pro level.

Maybe you're right. I just keep seeing things like "box only safety" or "CB in college but needs to convert to safety in pros because too slow."

[DraftBoy]

Maybe you're right. I just keep seeing things like "box only safety" or "CB in college but needs to convert to safety in pros because too slow."

Just my opinion, but the primary reason Blanton had to switch to safety wasn't a straight line speed issue as much as it was a fluidity issue with his hips. He just wasn't smooth enough with his hip flip when transitioning from his back pedal to sprint to stay with most of the WR's in the NFL. He did run a 4.52 at his pro day in 2012.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Just my opinion, but the primary reason Blanton had to switch to safety wasn't a straight line speed issue as much as it was a fluidity issue with his hips. He just wasn't smooth enough with his hip flip when transitioning from his back pedal to sprint to stay with most of the WR's in the NFL. He did run a 4.52 at his pro day in 2012.

My comment was more directed toward the current draft class. I can't pretend to say I really know. It's just what I see repeated beyond the top 4 or 5 guys at the safety position.

[Mace]

My comment was more directed toward the current draft class. I can't pretend to say I really know. It's just what I see repeated beyond the top 4 or 5 guys at the safety position.

Thing is, they evidently told him he'll have a chance to compete for starter. That's not so unreasonable, A. Williams makes me nervous, a safety needs to hit.

In the draft class, Cravens is an OLB who is probably best as a ss hybrid, Jayron Kearse is an interesting dev prospect, there's a few as you slip down that might fit the Ryan concept for safety, the Ryan concept for safety not being necessarily what everyone else figures. I still like Cravens moving around and spelling Williams.

Thing is though, I came to appreciate Jim Leonhard who was not necessarily who you'd want at safety, but was tough, smart and handy in Ryan defenses and sort of became who you were happy with at the position despite never having the best skills.

I'm not sure about Blanton, maybe, but there's some decent draft maybe's too. Probably all comes back yet again to what Ryan is looking for. Might be Blanton, might not be, but I'm less worried about Ryan and db's/lb's than I am about just about everything else he does at this point.