The Coon

Any thoughts on this guy late first early 2nd? My thought is that Williams is drafted as a FS who can also cover in the slot, just a guy who can play at different positions. We know BB loves versatility. Could we go all defense round 1 and then focus on the offensive line on day 2 of the draft?

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jays52

He's decent. He's a good athlete with nice footwork and hips to compensate for his lack of speed. Texas kids get a red flag from me because I think Mack Brown doesn't get his kids ready for professional life but that's just a personal quirk. I wouldn't take him as high as he's going to go, though.

The guy I like for the role you described is Ahmad Black from Florida. He tested poorly so he's going to drop but he was phenomenal in college, playing quite a bit faster than he tested. Nevermind what appeared to be a great compete level and clear understanding of schematic design. He also did it against the highest competition with the fastest players in amateur football.

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The Coon

I like Ahmad black but hes 5'9" compared to Williams at 5'11" and he ran a 4.7 compared to williams 4.5. I just think Williams offers up much more versatility as a Free Safety whereas black is built more as a SS with special teams capabilities and we have that guy in Chung. I was looking at Williams as an eventual replacement to Meriweather

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patchick

Anybody want to jump aboard the Ras-I Dowling bandwagon?

SamBamsFan

I wish I had seen more of him. I liked his instincts/ speed when I saw him in 2009. I do agree that he would work out better as a FS.

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Samuel Johnson

The Coon

Yeah Dowlings got the size speed combo that would work at FS. Is he there at 60?

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SamBamsFan

I would expect that there would be some teams that have him 3-5 in their db groupings, so he would go in the 1st half of the 2nd round. We'll know on Friday.

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patchick

Beyond measurables, he's a smart player with good vision and awareness, which bodes well for FS. Has the all-important team captain designation, too.

I'd count it very lucky if he stuck around until 60. It's easy to imagine a trade back from 28 or 33 that would leave the Pats in good position for him, though.

Patriot Missile

I liked him before the combine. He shocked me at the combine. I never thought in a million years that he was gonna perform as well as he did.

jays52

I like Dowling as well. Virginia puts out good Pats type players. It's like Michigan south.

I think it's important to note that the SS/FS line is going to blur in my opinion. A lot of what the Patriots did last year was give that two high safety look to disguise coverage. Consequently, that cover-1/cover-3 anti run 34 SS is starting to be less important. The classic strong safety is my favorite defensive position, but if they keep to the trend of hiding coverages the safety position becomes a numbers game with less differentiation between FS and SS.

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