List of College sateties who became NFL starting cornerbacks

[RayClay]

Well?

I can't think of any. Many many cornerbacks have switched to safety. People seem to feel they can "decide" Meriweather will be a cornerback.

Thoughts?

 

[Hok]

Meriweather played some nickel for Miami, didn't he? If so, it might not be entirely accurate to pigeonhole him as a strictly a safety.

 

[SeanBruschi54]

Tebucky Jon......


O wait i cant think of any either.

 

[RayClay]

Meriweather played some nickel for Miami, didn't he? If so, it might not be entirely accurate to pigeonhole him as a strictly a safety.

I'm not pigeonholing him. He's cross training and probably will play some nickel as Sanders has.

Posters have him pegged as a starting cornerback. BIG difference.

Troy Brown wasn't a complete cornerback either.

 

[RayClay]

Tebucky Jon......


O wait i cant think of any either.

Truly, he was projected as a cornerback and it failed.

Second basemen don't switch to shortstop, but shortstops do switch to 2nd or 3rd base.

Cornerback is the elite skill and athletic ability position. If you have that speed, agility and ability in college, that's where you play.

 

[RayClay]

Meriweather played some nickel for Miami, didn't he? If so, it might not be entirely accurate to pigeonhole him as a strictly a safety.

He played corner of some sort a few games, maybe more than nickel.

Neverthless, players play lot's of positions in college, this is the NFL.

 

[thecrazyeye]

Rashean Mathis played mostly safety in college.

 

[PonyExpress]

Mel Blount.
Wasn't Rashean Mathis a FS?
The Titans drafted Griffin last year to be a cb, and still have plans for him there.
Matt Ware was a combo player at UCLA, and the Eagles drafted him at cb.
There are rumblings that the Jaguars may try to convert Reggie Nelson to cb.
Jason Allen played FS at Tennessee and was drafted to be a cb (it failed)
Michael Huff could probably still make that transition.
There are definitely a few players out there.

 

[unoriginal]

Asante Samuel was a safety his first few years at UCF before he got moved due to injuries.
Eric Warfield was a safety at Nebraska.
Rashean Mathis was a free safety at Bethune-Cookman.
William Bartee was drafted as a safety out of Oklahoma but played a lot of cornerback for the Chiefs.

There are probably plenty of others.

 

[RayClay]

Rashean Mathis played mostly safety in college.

I'll congratulate you on that one. It says he played both and it looks like he started as safety in the pros.

I'll never say never for that reason, although he wasn't listed as strictly a safety, so he was a starting corner in college also.

Looks like he switched from corner to safety and back. Certainly seems to have played more safety than corner in college, but had the ability to start the last nine games at corner as a freshman.

http://www.nflplayers.com/players/player.aspx?id=34502

 

[TP76]

I think it depends on the program the player is coming from. Frankly, the best athletes in the defensive backfield are generally cornerbacks in college. Programs like Miami and some of the other bigger programs that seem ooze speed and athleticism at every position, I would think would have a better chance of having a safety that could make this difficult transition.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Going old school. But, I believe Lester Hayes was primarily a S at A&m. I think our Ray Clayborn played a little S at texas too. Along with a million other positions; rb,wr,cb,kr,etc.

 

[unoriginal]

I should have remembered, Rod Woodson was a free safety coming out of Purdue.

 

[cstjohn17]

Rather than just play in inneudos, I will come out and say it. Merriweather has limited utility as a CB, his coverage skills are not good enough to play anything beyond a nickel CB. The kid can hit and the most important trait for a safety is the ability to tackle. He should be a pretty good safety, the Pats play a lot of deep safety coverages, he won't be locked into many 1:1 coverages, mostly he will cover the deep part of the field.

He also has the worst hands I can remember with almost no natural instincts or ability to catch the ball. But still he has potential and will be the number 3 Safety picking up additional playing time in nickel sets and on special teams.

 

[NE39]

Carnell Lake. He played S only at UCLA and for most of his time with the Steelers, but when shifted to CB when Rod Woodson got hurt. He was a great S and a good CB.

Ronnie Lott played both S and CB at USC and in the NFL.

It should be noted that Meriweather played some CB in college as well as S. I think he will be a better S than CB, but that doesn't mean he isn't talented enough to do both. You can either cover or not.

 

[RayClay]

Asante Samuel was a safety his first few years at UCF before he got moved due to injuries.
Eric Warfield was a safety at Nebraska.
Rashean Mathis was a free safety at Bethune-Cookman.
William Bartee was drafted as a safety out of Oklahoma but played a lot of cornerback for the Chiefs.

There are probably plenty of others.

I'm sure there are. Nevertheless, if we eliminate the players like Mathis, who obviously had the ability since he started the last nine games of his freshman year, there aren't a lot.

I'm talking about players who didn't demonstrate the ability to be a starting corner in college. Of course defensive backs have been moved according to team needs.

Some players have played 5 or 6 positions in college.

 

[unoriginal]

And Brian Williams, the other cornerback for the Jags, was also a free satefy in college (NC State). He was primarily a safety when he played for the Vikings as well.

 

[unoriginal]

I'm sure there are. Nevertheless, if we eliminate the players like Mathis, who obviously had the ability since he started the last nine games of his freshman year, there aren't a lot.

I'm talking about players who didn't demonstrate the ability to be a starting corner in college. Of course defensive backs have been moved according to team needs.

Some players have played 5 or 6 positions in college.

I'm sure if you eliminated all the corners-turned-safeties who showed safety ability in college, there wouldn't be a whole lot of switchers either.

 

[RayClay]

Carnell Lake. He played S only at UCLA and for most of his time with the Steelers, but when shifted to CB when Rod Woodson got hurt. He was a great S and a good CB.

Ronnie Lott played both S and CB at USC and in the NFL.

It should be noted that Meriweather played some CB in college as well as S. I think he will be a better S than CB, but that doesn't mean he isn't talented enough to do both. You can either cover or not.

If that's true about Lake, he would be a real example. Many players started games at corner, but moved because of need.

I don't know if Meriweather only played in nickel packages the 4 games he played in college, but it seems that's what he did in training camp. Of course we've had a WR and a safety (Brown and Sanders) play that position.

I don't think we're calling for Troy or sanders to become a starting corner.

 

[RayClay]

I'm sure if you eliminated all the corners-turned-safeties who showed safety ability in college, there wouldn't be a whole lot of switchers either.

Are you saying it's equally likely for a safety to switch to corner as a corner to safety?

In the NFL, I mean. It's fairly commonplace for College or pro corners to switch to safety when moving up a level or getting older IMO.