Five Wide Fullbacks returns coming off the bye week and ready for some more Fighting Irish football. But first, we tackle a preview of the NFL Draft, assistant coaching grades, the quarterback controversy, impressive true freshmen, and the desire to coach in Los Angeles or LA the state.
1) The NFL Draft is just over 6 months away even though we’re halfway through the regular season in college football. What’s the status of Notre Dame’s draft eligible prospects?
Let’s take a look at the players who should garner some interest from the NFL while scratching off people who really shouldn’t have any business seeking the pro ranks right (staring at everyone in the secondary that isn’t Kyle Hamilton).
2017 Class
QB Jack Coan
WR Avery Davis
OG Cain Madden
OT Josh Lugg
NG Kurt Hinish
DT MTA
LB Drew White
PK Jonathan Doerer
The veterans of this group, could you guarantee any of these players will get drafted? Swear on your mother’s life? Okay, I think we can safely assume MTA will be in the mix as a versatile defensive lineman and likely to hear his named called. We’re also living in a world again with the ‘Notre Dame bump’ like back in the Holtz days where some borderline guys are going to get a stronger look due to intangibles which is good news for the likes of Hinish, White, and maybe even Davis.
In my opinion, Madden and Lugg have firmly played their way out of a draft pick if it ever was possible.
2018 Class
WR Kevin Austin
WR Braden Lenzy
C Jarrett Patterson
DE Justin Ademilola
DT Jayson Ademilola
This is a really interesting group! Well, except for Lenzy who I don’t think has any shot getting drafted next spring and 10000% should come back to Notre Dame.
Obviously, the big news this off-season will revolve around the decision of Patterson and if he’s ready to move on or not. It’s really tough to be a Top 50 pick as a pure center so he’s a lot like a running back in that the ability to improve his stock is limited. I bet he leaves though, he’s safely a mid-round pick I would think.
My gut feeling is that all 3 of Austin and the Ademilola brothers come back, as well. They are all guys with decent to good pro potential but should return to school.
2019 Class
RB Kyren Williams
DE Isaiah Foskey
S Kyle Hamilton
Hamilton is a lock to leave while Kyren is maybe a hair less likely but still leaning strongly in that direction. Although, everyone should prepare themselves for a 6th round pick for Kyren not because of his abilities but because that’s how it goes these days for running backs.
Foskey is going to be an interesting one to watch. He’ll have the measureables the NFL will like and at least for 2021 the production will be a positive, too. My bias is he needs more seasoning. This could also be a bit of a surprise loss to the Draft in the vein of Troy Niklas a number of years ago.
2) Can we get a current grade on all of the Notre Dame football assistant coaches?
Oh, okay let’s walk down this road. I’m going to hand out grades for everyone.
A: DL/RC Mike Elston, DC/LB Marcus Freeman, S&C Matt Balis
Elston’s tenure at Notre Dame has been so good that selfishly we’d all love for him to stay but you almost feel bad that he hasn’t moved on to bigger and better things. So far, Freeman has lived up to the hype off the field and has the Irish defense ranked inside the SP+ top 20. I’m the guy who always says people get sick of the strength coach after a few years–5 year into this and Balis is still doing great work.
B: OC/QB Tommy Rees, RB Lance Taylor, ST Brian Polian
I go back and forth with Rees but couldn’t justify ranking him lower than this. He’s young, a good program fit, and generally does a good job. Lance Taylor has been an upgrade for Notre Dame and once again has a young back (Diggs) looking ready to contribute again. I like to tease Polian about tagging along next to Kelly on the sidelines and being a little too involved for a special teams coordinator but I guess he’s the associate head coach and works well within the Brian Kelly orbit.
C+: TE John McNulty, CB Mike Mickens
Both of these coaches are in their second years and are doing fine both on and off the field. One guy gets to coach an All-American which helps. Mickens will get some leeway for taking over a young and inexperienced cornerback room but should get props this year for the development of Cam Hart a former receiver.
C: OL Jeff Quinn, S Chris O’Leary
I’m going to zag with the Quinn criticism following the Virginia Tech game. Prior to 2021 his grade did not belong at this low of a level and if they can show steady improvement the rest of this season I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that Quinn actually gets some praise for piecing things together and especially getting Joe Alt prepared to start, incorporating Andrew Kristofic, and likely would’ve also had Blake Fisher starting at a decent level, too. Or, maybe things fall apart and he gets fired.
I know many are super high on O’Leary with his recruiting abilities but so far we’re getting very little out of the safety position that isn’t Kyle Hamilton. Next year will be a big, big year for this young coach.
D: WR Del Alexander
This is Del’s 5th season with the Irish and while the recruiting has ticked up lately his resume on the field for that long of a period has been meager. The late blossoming of Miles Boykin and Chase Claypool were good stories but what’s Alexander’s next best work? Finke’s final 2 seasons? Getting something out of Javon McKinley? Having Avery Davis be reliable and become a captain?
3) It’s unlikely that Tyler Buchner is going to start over Jack Coan any time soon. How best to handle this situation? Is there a best way?
Unfortunately, there is no best way to handle this situation. It feels like things are coming full circle from when Brian Kelly was initially hired and so many people thought he was the guy who played multiple quarterbacks and juggled them successfully with Tony Pike and Zach Collaros. No, Tony Pike just got hurt, you guys. We went over that a million times in those 2010-11 days.
Obviously, I don’t have all the answers and it’s tough to judge anything without practice reports. Is there a student newspaper reporter with binoculars on top of the library judging the reps at practice like what recently happened at Oklahoma?
My only piece of advise would be to think strongly about starting Tyler Buchner to see how it goes. But more generally, think about a percentage of reps that you’re comfortable with Buchner taking–and then add 10% more to that total. We’re not starting Buchner against our main rival during a night game, not after Lane Stadium was made out to be this terrible den of madness holy hell can we calm down with the Virginia Tech intimidating crowd talk? But, push your comfort level with Buchner.
4) Speaking of Joe Alt, he’s been one of the biggest shocks to start as a true freshman at Notre Dame in recent memory. Do you think there’s anyone in the 2022 class with similar out-of-nowhere potential?
Where does the intersection of opportunity and a lower rated but high ceiling recruit meet next year? I actually remembered Alt being rated much lower in my head but he was the No. 406 rated player in the 2021 class which isn’t that bad for someone most expected to take a couple years to get up to speed.
Taking a look, incoming 2022 freshman Devin Moore from Naples is currently the No. 381 rated overall player in the Composite. It’s quite possible we’re looking at 2 new safeties needed next year so there you go. Almost everyone expects bigger things out of Moore early in his career than most did with Alt, though.
5) Ed Orgeron has agreed to an unprecedented separation agreement down in the Bayou and will not return for 2022. Do you think the LSU job is more attractive than the USC job?
This is tough! It’s a weird comparison because USC should be the place with a higher floor (especially considering conference competition) AND the higher ceiling given their place in the fertile recruiting grounds of Los Angeles and their national/historical prominence.
Yet, if we could simulate 10 football coaches getting 6 seasons apiece at both USC and LSU I feel like the greater median success (if this term makes sense) would be found with the Tigers.
Yeah, it probably does versus L.A. culture.
More specifically, I feel like a good coach could walk into LSU and win more easily whereas at USC you’re dealing with what has comfortably turned into a 13-year cultural problem that could prevent you from getting off the ground for a couple seasons.
That’s pretty much the same length of time from the late Holtz era to Brian Kelly coming to Notre Dame. Although USC has reached higher highs in comparison (10 decent seasons, 7 years finishing ranked, a Rose Bowl win) that’s a long time to reverse program underachievement. I also think USC’s weird aversion to embracing a mobile spread quarterback continues to be really bizarre and troublesome.
The recruiting pipelines for LSU will give you a more consistent defense, the Louisiana per capita treasure trove of talent is a massive comfort, and you’re walking into an automatically more committed and functional (says more about USC, in my opinion) administration and fan base.
LSU is the more attractive job.
Pretty generous grade for Tommy! We’re in Y5 of him being the QB coach, and the QB rIoom is what it is (his QB recruiting has been pretty poor), plus in his second year of OCing we don’t have a top-40 SP+ offense. Basically I don’t see why he’s ranked on the Taylor/Polian level.
That said, as much as I’ve been annoyed with the o-line this year, it’s pretty clear that there’s a clear lowest-ranked coach and it isn’t Quinn. It seems inconceivable that Alexander is still on staff the week after the bowl game.
On the positive side, I think Balis actually should just be an A+ standing alone.
I don’t know, you really have to put an insane amount of weight on recruiting to lower Rees’ grade in my opinion and I don’t think anyone really blames the offensive ranking on Rees more so than the OL problems. Even still, the highly touted true freshman is already ahead of schedule compared to where everyone thought he’d be a couple months ago and looks like there’s a bright future ahead.
If you had your choice, would you want ND to stick with Tommy as OC next year? Do you think ND can win a title with him at OC? I decidedly do not, and I would prefer we go out and look for a new OC.
And while I certainly still have high hopes for Bucnher, he’s currently completing 45% of his passes with 2 TDs and 3 INTs. Not sure that’s really a feather in Tommy’s cap.
We’d fire 8 assistants every year if the bar was set at winning a title or not. The head coach himself would’ve been gone a long time ago, too.
I don’t think Buchner’s completion percentage really takes away from the fact that Rees has juggled 3 quarterbacks in 6 games and they’ve each had crucial moments leading to victories and done good things. It’s not Heisman talk but man that’s really difficult to do.
Yeah, I don’t care so much about Buchner’s completion% and that’s he’s made a few throws he shouldn’t to result in INT’s, I’m impressed enough that he can even get on the field and contribute in positive ways as a true freshman in meaningful portions of the game (especially considering his COVID+injury recent years). That feels like a big player and coaching win, not any type of negative.
That expectation changes in year 2 and 3 as he needs to grow, but for now it’s all encouraging on the Buchner front to me. I think Buchner could be Book+ the ability/mentality to let it fly, which feels like the ideal for Rees’ system.
I’m certainly not down on Buchner, and I’m hopeful he’s the guy who leads us back to the playoff in 2023. But I’ve seen freshmen QBs play better than him every single year. I don’t think he should be a star right now, but I also don’t see anything to praise Tommy about yet. He looks exactly like what we were told he would be; a solid runner who throws the ball a little funky, which can lead to some bad passes. And his decision making is still has a long way to go, which is to be expected since he missed so much time due to covid.
So personally, I guess I just don’t see what Tommy should be getting credit for here.
Credit Rees/Kelly for getting a freshman QB ready to go into the game to help the offense where it is weak (running the ball, becoming more of a dynamic threat to stretch defenses). It has added a badly needed dimension and been a smart adjustment to make.
That said, my point wasn’t to throw Rees a parade for it…Just that completion % and a few interceptions doesn’t mean Rees deserves criticism for having to live with mistakes made by an inexperienced player. Locking in on that misses the bigger picture of what is being accomplished.
Man, you’re looking at this year’s QB juggling situation as a positive? In my view, we’ve handled the position pretty much like garbage since the beginning of the season. The only reason we only have one loss is because of the defense.
Jack Coan’s numbers are decidedly worse than when he was at Wisconsin. Drew Pyne is completing exactly 50% of his passes. Buchner has more INTs than TDs, while completing less than 50% of his passes. This obviously isn’t all on Tommy, but I certainly don’t think any of this makes Tommy look Good. But maybe I’m just overthinking it.
The OL has torpedoed the offense, though. We ranked Coan 13th best on the ND roster heading into the season and I don’t recall anyone making a big stink about it because he was supposed to be so talented. When the OL has held up, he’s been fine and more productive than at Wisconsin (where he never threw for 300 yards in a game against a P5 opponent).
I put almost nothing into completion percentage with such small sample sizes. Pyne/Buchner have combined for 50 attempts most of that coming while trailing and they’re inexperienced. Do we know they’re inaccurate? If so, is that an indictment on Rees? It seems way, way too early to draw conclusions based on that stat.
Either way, surely their important moment/plays enormously overshadow a stat like completion percentage?
I would say the interceptions at inopportune times have overshadowed any “important” plays. The offense stinks, and the defense is the only reason we only have 1 loss.
Also Jack Coan has thrown for 300 yards once so far, against Florida State. A team who immediately went out and lost to Jacksonville State after our matchup. If we’re giving Rees props for that, our standards have dropped significantly.
Disagree. I don’t know man, seems like a lot of missing the forest for the trees type of analysis to me.
Sure, but giving him a lot of credit for Buchner doesn’t seem that fair either. He should have recruited (at least) one Buchner-level QB between Jurkovec and Buchner, so that we didn’t have to rely on true freshman Buchner much or at all.
Plus freshman-level Buchner isn’t *that* good right now. I’d liken him to a poor-man’s freshman-year Bo Nix. It’s serviceable, and impressive for an 18-year-old, but it’s not clear we’re looking at a future All-American.
That said: you do have to give Tommy some, maybe a lot, of credit for Book. As far as I know it still hasn’t been fully reported out what led to the 2018 switch, but presumably he was involved significantly and that was one million percent the right call.
Whoever made the decision on Book deserves a world of credit, and whoever turned him into a 4th round pick after being a 3 star recruit deserves a world of credit. I would assume that Tommy deserves most, if not all, of that credit.
I can also say that in year 5 of Tommy as OC, we have never had an offense that has come close to looking like it could make us a contender. And this year’s offense looks bad and unimaginative. Both things can be true.
Isn’t it year 2 of Tommy as OC?
Good point. And wasn’t last year the best points/game (up until the end anyways) in the Kelly era? Short of a drastic transformation to a spread offense and really switching the identity of the team, I don’t really see how much better it’s going to get than last year’s offense for Notre Dame. And it was always fairly acknowledged with this year’s line and QB situation made it a bridge/reload year for the future.
I guess it’s kinda human nature to always feel like it’s lacking, or lasted 5 years instead of 1.5 or aspire for something top of the line and I guess Rees kinda inherently is just going to be the symbol for “kinda good but also uninspiring” to many.
Last year was the highest scoring year ever. We were 27th in points per game.
ND offensive FEI the past 5 years.
2021: #39
2020: #17
2019: #25
2018: #28
2017: #12
Beyond that, ND offense was sitting at 37.7 points/game in the 10 regular season games. Would have been averaging 40+ if not for that bad day against Louisville.
Looked back to 2007, where FEI data starts. We hit #12 in 2009, #19 in 2012, and #7 in 2015. Those are all our top 20 finishes.
Sorry, year 5 of Tommy being involved in the offense. Good call.
Two things can be true:
1. The offensive staff, including Tommy, did a great job managing the switch to Book and wringing every last bit of potential out of a three-star Wazzu commit.
2. Kelly has never fielded a national title caliber offense at ND, and this offensive staff doesn’t appear to be moving the needle on that at all.
Kelly keeps going back to this idea that what we need to compete with Bama is a crazy chaos havoc defense. Maybe he’s right, but we also need an offense that can score more than 14 points against teams like that.
Also if Tommy flips the LSU kid and gets another 5-star next year the recruiting complaints will cease 🙂
Hopefully Kevin Austin returns at WR. I could see Lenzy transferring for his final season. I think younger guys can and should fill his spot. Del Alexander’s job may hinge on how the 2022 class ends up. If Walker leaves the class and they don’t get a good player to fill his spot landing only two WRs will be disappointing, even if the two they landed are as good as Williams and Merriweather. It seems every year of Alexander’s tenure we are left hoping that a senior or two will finally reach their potential. When was the last time we had a returning WR that we knew was established and ready, Will Fuller? The position should be in better shape than that. It’s what Lance Taylor has done with the running backs.
It’s hard to believe the state of the Southern Cal program. Who would have believed where things stand right now 15 years ago? They should be the flagship program of the PAC 12 and therefore the premiere program from the Rockies west. They seem unable to hire a quality AD let alone a top notch coach. ND’s resurgence started with Jack Swarbrick not BK, perhaps AD is where SC needs to look first.
That is a great point.
It seems like Mike Bohn is a step in the right direction for them. The Mike Garrett –> Pat Haden –> Lynn Swann years are just insanely wild to look back upon for a program like USC!
Does anyone have a good sense of why Del is still on staff? I feel like 5 years is a long time for someone with his track record.
I’m locking it up that he’s gone after this year.
You could argue that his unit has been hamstrung by injuries, but after five years (God has it really been that long?) if you’re not cutting it then there’s no good excuse for not trying to find someone better.
Injuries/half the players he’s coaching leaving the program.
I think a transfer makes sense for Lenzy too.
My other pure hunches:
Patterson: stay
Jayson Ademilola: leave
Justin Ademilola: stay
Austin: should stay but not convinced he will
Foskey: leave (with 6 sacks in 6 games he’s trending towards a double digit year, wouldn’t be shocked for a 2nd round projection)
Kyren and Kyle: gone as gone can be (wonder if either would play in a NY6 bowl)
Unless Foskey does about zilch the rest of the year, I’m entirely convinced he leaves. Too good of measurables and a breakout year of production means he’s getting a nice paycheck.
IMO Patterson is gone.
If Austin can play consistently the final 6 games, he will leave too- even though his ceiling will be 3rd or 4th round
Foskey- gone
Kyren- gone
Kyle- gone, that’s a stone cold lock barring an injury.
Ademilola brothers- both staying & starting
Lenzy- staying for sure if Austin leaves and likely if he stays
The OL should be much better next season, even with Patterson gone.
Fisher- Kristofic-Correll-Spindler/Carmody-Alt with Baker as the tackle back up.
As noted, there are plays in the playbook that just can’t be run this season because how ineffective the OL is.
If ND was to strike out on Nwankpa and have confidence in their returning corners (Lewis, Henderson, maybe Bracey playing a 5th, Offord, 4 current freshmen), would they consider moving Hart to Free Safety?
I thought I was bear-ish on the leave/stays, had nothing on you 🙂 Could be right though, Patterson is 5th highest ranked player on the team per PFF, which may/may not be accurate but probably does mean something in the big scheme..
The “who the heck plays safety” next year question is going to be a good one. Hadn’t considered Hart but that’s an interesting thought, not sure based on his sometimes iffy tackling though if that’s what you want from a safety.
Kinda odd that for once CB could be the strength with Hart, Lewis and Bracy in the slot and then they just have to figure safety out now. Maybe a grad transfer? And he goes with a Brown/Wallace rotation? Doesn’t sound the most promising. Would be nice if Khari Gee or some other 2021 guy gets in the mix.
Nwankpa changes everything. He would have an excellent chance to be a day one starter. That will not happen at OSU. Have to believe Iowa being exposed helps ND’s chances. I’ve also read chatter about Watts at safety.
Watts HS:
On defense, totaled 68 tackles and three interceptions, returning two for touchdowns
That would be tight, but I’m not ready to get my hopes up yet. A couple crystal balls for Nwankpa recently went to Iowa after he visited. A few were Ohio State when he went there for a visit. Seems like he’s a “whatever way the wind blows” and is high on wherever he is at that moment, which is no knock at all, but IMO there’s a long way to go..
Could mean Notre Dame could be in the mix when they get him around. I know Brendan has been optimistic about where ND was recently with Nwankpa, so we’ll see. I’m not getting my hopes up to pencil him into the lineup until he’s committed, it looks like it’s a three horse race and some stout competition. Would be a great recruiting win.
On recruiting, looks like we’re back in the thick of it for Schrauth and Walker Howard is visiting for the SC game. Flipping Howard would change the QB room dramatically.
That was welcome news to hear, looking like 4 top-175 OL this class which is needed and awesome. I guess maybe it’s the nature of recruiting (kinda happens at LB and WR as well) but it’s weird how ND isn’t smooth and they’ll get a ton of great players at one position and then nothing for a year. They need to go to the Elston school of ‘crootin.
Howard would be tight, maybe the Coach O non-sense hitting the fan will have him consider somewhere else. His dad was a great LSU QB though, so I don’t know…But, either way, pretty good to see them aggressive with going after a 5* even though they have Angeli in the class. Good sign. Also seems like between the kid in Cali and the one from Detroit that they’re trending well for a 5* in 2023, one way or the other..Promising times!
When did his Dad play? I don’t remember him.
1992-95, still ranks 5th all-time in LSU career passing yards
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSU_Tigers_football_statistical_leaders
Wisconsin looking very mediocre helps ND a ton with Schrauth.
Walker Howard has the rankings, but he’s maybe an inch taller than Pyne (who FWIW I like, plays a bit bigger with high and quick release).
On some sites, he’s rated the best QB in the country and his measurements look to be a legit. Neither of which you could say for Pyne. 6’1″ same height as Buchner, BTW.
Drew Pyne is listed at 6’0 and we all know he is not 6’0. Not sure what that has to do with Howard anymore than pointing out Baker Mayfield is 6’1 and did pretty OK for himself if we’re just going to throw out totally unrelated statements of fact.
Agree on Lenzy. He averaged 15.5 yards per carry in 2019. He’s gotten 0 carries in 2021. If I were him, I would for sure be looking at the transfer portal.
My mind chooses to believe that they don’t try this out of scheme problems that the line can’t block or seal the edge enough to bother running in a game. Doesn’t make sense why they don’t do jet sweeps or pop passes or other misdirections based off fakes to pre-snap motion for Lenzy (and also Tyree).
Seems like these types of runs this year have gone for like -74 yards on 6 carries so far, sooo yeah.
Avery Davis is the only WR with a carry this year, 1 carry for 8 yards.
We’ve tried more to Tyree and even Kyren I believe.
Thinking these just get blown up in practice EVERY TIME by penetration. Does leave me hopeful that with improved line play we could see a few of these in the second half of the year at some critical times.
Theoretically these are the types of plays where if your interior line gets blown up, it shouldn’t really matter too much. Look at the counter action here for example: we actively allow 3 USC players into the backfield, and it doesn’t matter; Lenzy is too fast for it to impact him.
https://www.nbcsports.com/video/notre-dames-braden-lenzy-cant-be-contained-51-yard-td-against-usc
Or on this handoff, there’s literally no way a D Lineman could get off the ball quick enough to make a play here. The LT either whiffs on his man or just lets him go on purpose, and it doesn’t even matter.
https://www.nbcsports.com/video/notre-dames-braden-lenzy-explodes-long-touchdown-vs-boston-college
Younger guys? We only have like 2 other receivers on the entire team right now. I get that we’ll have at least two more promising recruits arriving in ’22, but I also can’t imagine Lenzy will find another spot with a better opportunity for him to get PT than here. Unless they’re super excited about fishing in the transfer portal for one or possibly two receivers, I doubt the coaches will be encouraging Lenzy to walk, either.
Certainly ND is not deep at the position. But 2 ? You could be right, they may want him back. Though I think, he’ll be in a battle for playing time if he returns.
I wonder what they will do with Watts, maybe he should switch back to offense next year once the defense gets healthier and numbers back. I also think the play should be to bring back Wilkins as the veteran leader (if he would come back, which I don’t see why not).
Then if Austin does come back the depth chart is:
Austin, Colzie, Styles, Watts, Merriweather…And for the slot they would have Wilkins, Thomas and Williams to work in as needed.
Not terribly experienced, but young and has upside. If there’s a 2022 version of a 2020 Skowornek, that would be a nice add too.
Would be fine if Lenzy does come back, and he is getting playing time, but not a lot of targets, let alone catches so it might be best for him personally to find a better fit somewhere else. He’s always seemed square peg, round hole on the field at Notre Dame
I think the staff will definitely want Lenzy back. But I certainly don’t feel confident he will stay. The staff mismanaged his injury, and they really don’t seem to know how to use him. Combine that with the fact that the starting QB next year will probably be a guy with less than 100 passes thrown in games over the past 3 years, and I could definitely see him wanting a chance to make an NFL splash elsewhere.
They don’t know how to use him ? Perhaps he’s not that good, drops etc. If you mean they haven’t run a few sweeps and reverses with him, ya, there’s that. NFL splash ? good luck with that.
19 yards per touch in 2019. 14 per touch in 2020, with 0 carries. I don’t think he’s going to be drafted, but he certainly does. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he thinks transferring gives him a better shot at being drafted.
Thoughts on who from the grad assistant/analyst staff is next to be promoted or leave? Nick Lezynski’s name seems to pop up a ton with recruits – will we be able to keep him?
Can he coach WRs?
I had that question too when I was looking through the staff list online, lol. I think he was a defensive back at ND, but he’s flipped back and forth between offense and defense as an assistant/analyst.
It’s always interesting when you see coaches career paths. So many of them jump around to different positions, even different sides of the ball.
Interesting tidbit is that DJ Brown actually has the highest defensive grade according to PFF. HOWEVER, he’s only played 102 snaps (Hamilton for comparison has played 431). And Brown has played 80% of the snaps in coverage where apparently he is playing well – though has been less good with the 20% of snaps in run defense. He’s also been a good tackler.
But you are right since Griffith has been underwhelming and has played the rest of the snaps at safety. We’ve really only played 3 guys back there this year it seems. Griffith has been a good tackler but not good in coverage – which as a safety is not very helpful.
Though PFF lists Roman Henderson as a safety, has he really been playing safety? Only 57 snaps total anyway and has not been good in that small sample.