While conversing with a colleague of mine, and interesting idea was brought to my attention: if the Chiefs have faith that somebody like Donald Washington or Brandon Carr could move to safety, then wouldn't it make sense to draft Joe Haden and have two lockdown corners that would create the best cover corner tandem in the league?
This idea intrigued me greatly. Not necessarily for the stand alone prospect of Joe Haden (I think he is a phenomenal corner and worthy of a top 5 pick, just not one of the Chiefs glaring needs), but for the prospect of Haden and the implications drafting him would have for the rest of the team.
The implications would be somewhat far reaching and I think it could make the team better and eventually lead to the Chiefs having the best secondary in the league. Easy.
With the continuing increase of the passing game and the growing importance of pass defense in the NFL, you can never have too many good corners or safeties, in the Jeff Reports humble opinion. Consider this, 2 out of the last 3 and 3 out of the last 6 years have seen the NFL select a cornerback or a Safety as defensive player of the year. This is not including how many more cornerbacks or safeties are finalists every year. Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, Charles Woodson, Darrelle Revis, among others have found themselves in the discussion seemingly every year as defensive player of the year. This just shows not only the importance of pass defense this day and age, but how much of an impact these defenders can have.
So what are the implications of drafting Joe Haden and why am I OK with this selection? Well, there are many. First, if Joe Haden is drafted he steps right in and becomes starting cornerback opposite Brandon Flowers. Flowers is already one of the rising stars in the league at cornerback and should be a pro bowler next year with all-pro in his future. This means you are putting a top 5 talent at cornerback in tandem with an already established stud. If Haden turns out to be the stud everyone thinks he'll be then that means in 2 years time the Chiefs could have the best cornerback duo in the league.
The next question this raises is what do the Chiefs do with what they already have? Why would they draft a cornerback when they already have Brandon Carr, who isn't at the level of Brandon Flowers but certainly has shown talent, and what do they do with Donald Washington whom they drafted just last year? Well, there are a couple of options. First, the nickel cornerback has become increasingly important due to the prevalence of the slot receiver in recent years. This means you could take a corner we already have that has starting talent, and move him to nickel corner to lock down the slot receiver. This means the top 3 receivers on the opposing team are locked down. This is quite an asset to have in a defensive backfield.
However, that means only one of the two players in question is taken care of. So what to do with the other player? Well I think at that point the ultimate answer is to move the other one to safety. Some may be taken aback by this idea, but stay with me on this. First option is Brandon Carr. Carr was selected and some thought he had the size to be safety as he is 6' and 207 lbs. In comparison, Chiefs starting safety Jarrad Page stands at 6' 225 lbs. Carr has already displayed the coverage skills necessary for a safety, but what he has also shown is the ability to tackle. This is why he was drafted in the first place, to be a Cover 2 corner who is physical and can help in run support. Carr averaged over 50 tackles a year in college and is currently averaging 55 tackles a year for the Chiefs. Here are Ed Reed's tackles for the last three years, 39, 41, 50 (only played 12 games). This shows Carr has all the skills necessary to be a solid safety in the NFL. At 6', 197 lbs. Donald Washington has similar size and could potentially play a role at safety as well. If one of these two can play safety then again you have a scenario where one pick shores up two positions, which is an efficiency that Pioli would love.
Now, conventional wisdom would tell you that you make the secondary better by making the front 7 dominant, and conventionally, that is true. However, it can also work the other way, being able to cover receivers well can force the QB to hold onto the ball and allow the front seven to get into the backfield. This could come in handy next year as the Chiefs are still adjusting to the 3-4 and while Tamba Hali is a solid pass rusher, the Chiefs are unlikely to get an elite pass rusher by the start of next season. One would realize it would help even more by watching tape from last season where you will see the likes of Hali and Glen Dorsey constantly in the backfield disrupting the QB but never quite getting there (9.5 sacks between them). Many a time, if given even one more second that sack could've jumped up to somewhere in the 15-20 range. That immediately has an impact on the Chiefs D and is yet another reason why this makes more and more sense.
Finally, another reason why I think this could happen is because nobody has said a word about it including Pioli. Pioli knows how to play the game and he has been throwing up smokescreens since day getting everyone to believe he is into Bryan Bulaga when I highly doubt that is the pick at #5. Pioli knows how important it is to have a good secondary, and although he doesn't think safety is worth a top 5 pick, I would bet he would value a shut down cornerback at that high.
This is something that I wouldn't have really thought of but the more and more I think about it the more it makes sense and the more intriguing it will become. Do I really think the Chiefs will draft Joe Haden? No. Does this idea intrigue me? Absolutely, it is something I can get behind much more than drafting someone like Bryan Bulaga. We will see, what say you Jeff Reporters, am I crazy? Is this a good idea or not?
No doubt a playmaker, but I think the game is won in the trenches. Look at the four players named as gamechangers in the secondary: Reed, Polamalu, Woodson, and Revis. In 2009, all played for top ten rushing defenses. Does that necessarily diminsh their impact on the game? No, but it certainly points to other factors that contribute to their success.
ReplyDeleteSo, here's the question if you take someone in the secondary: does Haden have a greater overall impact than Berry? That's up for debate, I suppose.
No question, though: If somehow, by a stroke of luck, that Okung is still available, you take him with the fifth pick. I think there's probably some good value left at cornerback in the second.