Zimmer on the challenge of drafting good safeties

[dead_poet]

The safety position in college football really is hard to find guys now at least in my opinion, guys that have the coverage ability that you are looking for,” Zimmer said two weeks ago. “There are times in my career that I always thought, ‘Let’s play with three corners and one safety and make the other guy a safety because of the throwing that’s been going on in the league.’”

Zimmer continued: “The bigger corners that may not be quite as fast that are better tacklers, that are more physical, smart -- they have to be smart -- we always have a little category for those guys to be a possibility of being safeties. And Rick [Spielman], their group upstairs, really they have little niche places for all of these guys so they’ve been doing it for a while.”

Robert Blanton played cornerback at Notre Dame but was immediately moved to safety after he was drafted by the Vikings in 2012 (he did get some snaps as the team’s nickel cornerback in 2013). They took a similar approach with Mistral Raymond, who played both corner and safety, like Exum, at South Florida. They said he had the size of a safety and could cover like a corner.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikin ... 83871.html

[UltraNasty850]

Hopefully Zimmer can work his magic with some of these guys in the secondary. Flex players are huge, especially with a healthy roster. I can't wait to see how Harrison responds to Zimmers defense.

D-Line will be fun to watch as well.

[Lash Man]

Its refreshing to hear a coach that actually has plans to develop talent and put them in the best position. I can't wait to see the defense this coming season , how long has it been since we didn't have to cringe when the defense took the field knowing that a 80 yard 8 minute scoring drive was about to commence .

[Demi]

And Rick [Spielman], their group upstairs, really they have little niche places for all of these guys so they’ve been doing it for a while.

And doing a horrible job of it, considering our safeties. Only above average players we've had in how long at safety has been a first round pick.

Hopefully Zimmer and company can coach up someone from the rest of the scrubs they have back there.

[Purple bruise]

Yeah Harrison Smith the scrub

[Demi]

Reading comprehension helps. Or just foe me and quit replying to my posts.

I clearly said they had one above average who was a first round pick, and the "REST", was I not clear enough?



Do I need more smilies?

[Purple bruise]

Reading comprehension helps. Or just foe me and quit replying to my posts.

I clearly said they had one above average who was a first round pick, and the "REST", was I not clear enough?



Do I need more smilies?

So you call Smith an above average safety, got it.

[Demi]

He had a great rookie year, and was hurt half his next season, I don't know what to call him yet. But as of right now? Yeah, I'd go with above average. He could easily be more, much more, but he hasn't made it more than a single season, in his young career.

[Purple bruise]

He had a great rookie year, and was hurt half his next season, I don't know what to call him yet. But as of right now? Yeah, I'd go with above average. He could easily be more, much more, but he hasn't made it more than a single season, in his young career.

He has been on the team for 2 years and was injured his second year so when you say he has only played for one full season it seems misleading. This kid is the best safety the Vikings have had since Joey Browner IMO.

[Slick Rick]

And doing a horrible job of it, considering our safeties. Only above average players we've had in how long at safety has been a first round pick.

Hopefully Zimmer and company can coach up someone from the rest of the scrubs they have back there.

Yeah, that's not the safeties. Our defensive line has been terrible for about 3+ years despite our exceptional edge rush. When you're soft up the middle, teams are going to be able to have their way with you. Not sure how we went 4 years without addressing our interior line needs, but Fred Evans and Letoilet Guion should never be counted on as much as we did last year. Especially in a system that relies so much on gap control and rushing the passer. It'd be like rotating Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel in at QB in a really, really conservative offensive scheme... Just the thought of it. I can't even imagine if both of those things happened to one team during the same season.

[Demi]

Yeah, that's not the safeties.

Outside of Smith, who has our front office found in the last decade? Trotted in average veteran free agents, drafted below average scrubs you could replace with undrafted free agents and be just as well off.

Linebackers? Greenway was solid, but that's it. A liability in coverage, against backs or tight ends. No sideline to sideline speed whatsoever, and he was heads and shoulders above the rest of the linebackers we've had.

The ends are all we've had. And Kwill, solid but unspectacular. Every non-Winfield corner has pretty much been garbage. Every non-Smith safety. And every non-Greenway linebacker. What has the front office been doing? A couple first round picks, and a free agent. Throw in KWill and Allen on the line. You'd think they'd hit at least accidentally now and then. But nope, nothing. Between the front office and defensive coaching?

[Slick Rick]

Outside of Smith, who has our front office found in the last decade? Trotted in average veteran free agents, drafted below average scrubs you could replace with undrafted free agents and be just as well off.

Linebackers? Greenway was solid, but that's it. A liability in coverage, against backs or tight ends. No sideline to sideline speed whatsoever, and he was heads and shoulders above the rest of the linebackers we've had.

The ends are all we've had. And Kwill, solid but unspectacular. Every non-Winfield corner has pretty much been garbage. Every non-Smith safety. And every non-Greenway linebacker. What has the front office been doing? A couple first round picks, and a free agent. Throw in KWill and Allen on the line. You'd think they'd hit at least accidentally now and then. But nope, nothing. Between the front office and defensive coaching?

I would call a bad safety someone like Husain Abdullah, or Tyrell Johnson. They were terrible, but Sanford is actually above average. He's a plus in run support and bad against the pass. In most schemes, he's your classic strong safety. I wouldn't call him a scrub, I wouldn't call him good, I'd call him slightly above average and that's about the extent of it. We'll see about Exum and all of the other guys we've got right now.

Greenway, Henderson, and Leber were all above average at what they were required to do. Gap maintenance is really all you need out of your linebackers. It's all you've ever needed. Why does everyone now seem to think that linebackers have been these guys who are supposed to cover? Their #1 responsibility is against the run. What do you usually see on the field? 4 receiving targets? Sometimes 5? And you've usually got 4 or 5 guys on the field who are better in coverage than linebackers who are going to be assigned to cover those targets. We've been running a zone coverage scheme that's designed to contain plays while the pass rush forces a bad throw or makes a sack, and there's really no coverage skills needed to run something like that. Your cornerbacks play more like safeties. What is Greenway supposed to get better at? If his line can't create pressure the QB's going to have his way with the zone. It's that simple.

Good/great players transcend schemes. Solid contributors, which is what makes up nearly all of your roster, are made from good coaching and chemistry. Seattle just has a bunch of role players man, look at how good they were on both sides of the ball. You don't need great or even good players all over the place. I think having an assertive coach like Zimmer is the exact opposite of what we've seen with Frazier. It's a quality that allows the coach to see which guys are good at what, and how he'd like to use him to compliment another guy. Like how Barr's good at chasing down players from behind. I bet Zimmer puts him on the blind side, and then has a guy on the right who's good at containing plays (Greenway). With Frazier it was always the square peg into the round slot thing. Henderson at MLB, Robinson in the slot, and how long did it take him to give Audie Cole a shot when he was clearly just as good if not better than Henderson? That's the classic symptom of a coach who doesn't know what they're doing.

I think we've added 2 very key role players to our defense this offseason in Munnerlyn and Joseph. I think Munnerlyn is a poor man's Antoine Winfield, and Joseph is if anything a better player than Pat Williams because he's significantly more athletic. Just as dominant in the run game as Pat was in Buffalo before we got him, and he has a certain veteran edge about him. If Floyd can compliment him, our interior line is going to be dominant again, and if your interior line is strong the rest of your defense is going to play a lot better than it would otherwise.