Crazy Patriot Guy

[]Tennessee Titans likely to franchise safety Michael Griffin, according to source - ESPN

I know we have a thread for franchise tags but considering Branch and Goldson are already off the market and we're heading into a draft with little to offer at the safety position, I figured this would get a lot of discussion.

It certainly gets tricky now. With the overall talent left in free agency at that spot, it will be tough to sign anyone without being forced to overspend. (similar to re-signing Bodden)

supafly

It's more than possible that (unfortunately) our safety core may be improved via the draft and a low level castoff/cut FA signing.

We'd then go into the season with:

--Chung
--McCourty for subs ?
--low level vet/maybe even a chance on a guy like Dawkins/Landry or similar
--Ihedigbo as a 4th safety/situational guy
--high draft pick (first 2 rounds) to battle it out with the vet pickup

(probably a 5-6 safety, since DMcC will be classified as a CB still--that would be a guy like Barrett/Brown etc)

It may not be ideal, it actually may look pathetic to many; but the bottom line is that the position should still be improved. We saw it improved a bit as the season went on.

The improvements would be hopefully made by:

--another yr of McCourty's knowledge at the position, even though he would only be rotational and probably wouldn't play in 'all' sub-packages. Regardless, he should improve over his play there last year

--a young rookie for speed, depth, and competition. It may take a full yr before any kind of contribution is truly made that is very beneficial

--a vet who has some of the qualities that BB will look for, even though it won't be the big name that we'd hoped for. Our coach will likely be looking for decent value here, and feel as though the said player is an upgrade at the position

--another yr of knowledge and improvement from Ihedigbo, if he returns. While we wasn't anything spectacular, he filled in decently at times as an average JAG role player. What we don't wanna see is his presence on most downs. Either way, it may not be a huge stretch to think that he can get better with a full off-season, mini-camps/TC and improved cohesion with the unit and Belichick

--Guys like Barrett and Brown etc are wild-cards, but there must have been something that BB liked about them in the first place

I suppose to wrap it up, it's still possible to make an improvement at the position without the kind of guy that most are assuming for whatever reason, that we'd get. Personally, I wasn't too sure that a guy like Griffen or Goldson would end up here, so it would be as much of a let-down for me personally.

All in all, one of the big name FA guys would be great, but they all have their pluses and minuses, so we'll have to trust Belichick in this case. It can't be as bad as it was last yr, and they should have won the SB.

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Wilfork#75

To be honests, taking all things into consideration, I would prefer his teammate Jordan Babineaux anyway. I don't like any of the high priced FA's this year and the draft is incredibly weak. I would move McCourty to FS full time, draft another big, physical CB to pair with Ras-I and sign a cheap vet like Babineaux to add depth at safety.

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supafly

And a route such as the one you mentioned may very well be the way they go.

In the infamous words of Richard Seymour regarding the 2008 season, "there's more than one way to skin a cat."

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Patiently waiting to defend the next "bubble" player in this summer's training camp.....

Fencer

If everybody's healthy, our four best DBs will probably be Chung, Dowling, McCourty, and Arrington, in some order. Having all four play in the base package is fine by me.

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UK_Pat37

The safety position is getting weaker by the day in free agency. I'm high on the Pats picking players like Dennard or Trumaine Johnson who project nicely at safety as well as a little corner. If people can stay healthy I wouldn't be overly concerned. IMO we need a more consistent pass rush.

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supafly

Yes, the position of safety is probably not too hot right now as far as upper-echelon free agents.

However, I am pretty confident that Belichick can possibly find someone who did not attract a lot of attention during the past few weeks, and that person can still come in and contribute effectively.

Another way to go is targeting the CB spot with a potential FA (such as Marshall etc), and that would trickle down to the safety spot too.

Regardless, a draft pick is probably in the works also at one of the positions.

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Patiently waiting to defend the next "bubble" player in this summer's training camp.....

patsfan-1982

could see #32 at FS full time next year if there is no upgrade

patsinthesnow

And now Dwight Lowery is the #1 FA available.........

Ihedigbo needs to be sign cheap for emergency backup fail plan.

Edit: Really, when you look at the available FAs and the draft, it's almost a given FS will be a hole in 2012.

Rob0729

Not surprising. Forget free agency and the draft, there are just very few good safeties in the league these days. Ironically with the growing impact of TEs through out the leagues, the NFL is at a low in terms of safety talent. You look around the league and few teams have one good safety never mind two. Even some of the elite safeties had bad years last year.

I would consider Dwight Lowrey (although LaRon Landry is now the top safety in free agency, not him). In his first year at safety, he did pretty well. The Jets were stupid to let him go.

I would stay away from Landry because of his injury history. He is a lite version of Bob Sanders just a little less talented and injury prone.

One out of the box consideration is Richard Marshall from the Cards. He is a CB, but actually played really well filling in at safety for Kerry Rhodes when he was injured. You could platoon him and McCourty at both positions (although I am still holding out hope that McCourty rebounds after a sophomore slump).