I'm a big Pat Kirwan fan, but to be honest I was a little disappointed by this article. I didn't think it added much to the basic fact that defenses are struggling with the combination of the spread offsense and the big, versatile TEs who can overpower DBs and outpace LBs. If the Jets really think that LaRon Landry and Yeremiah Bell are the answer to Gronk and Hernandez, I can't wait to see what happens.
The word "hybrid" is used a lot these days, but clearly it seems like defenses need big, physical guys with size and movement skills. I call them "raptors" for lack of a better term. From this point of view you can look at the Pats' secondary and see that there are an awful lot of guys with decent size (5'10"-6'2" and around 190-205#) who are physical enough to play safety and quick enough to play CB: Devin McCourty, Ras-I Dowling, Kyle Arrington, Tavon Wilson, Steven Gregory, Sterline Moore, Alfonzo Dennard, Will Allen. That's 8 guys with tremendous positional versatility. Pat Chung is really the only "traditional" safety with any significant role. I personally think that that kind of approach is more likely to be successful than trying to ask guys like Landry to cover.
If you liked Kirwan's article, Jeff Chadiha from ESPN had a really great article last year on the evolution of the safety position:
NFL shifts from big, physical safety to a more versatile model - ESPN
Among other things, Chadiha talks about the TE dilemma and dealing with offensive mis-matches:
Guys like Brandon Hardin (6'3" 217# with 4.38 speed and a 6.8 3-cone) are exactly that kind of "2-guard" option that Gonzalez was talking about. Hardin was taken in the 3rd round after being initially considered a late round prospect.
This discussion may also explain why the Pats "reached" for Tavon Wilson in the 2nd round - guys with actual safety experience with the kind of quickness and man coverage ability needed are rare birds. One can argue that neither Mark Barron nor Harrison Smith actually fits that prescription, which is partly why I wasn't as enthusiastic about those guys as man others on this board. Tavon Wilson arguably does, which could make him a very valuable asset. If not, there are 7 other guys currently on the roster with some combination of those skills.