NOTE: Sigmund Bloom, Matt Waldman and I -- along with Cecil Lammey and a host of other great guests -- will be providing live analysis of the draft from the first pick of the draft on Thursday night through the end of the third round on Friday night. Produced as a Google Hangout, you'll be able to join and watch the live feed (or as an on-demand replay) here. We'll also have both shows on our podcast page and iTunes podcast feed early the following week.
Defensive Line | Edge Players | Off LOS Linebackers | Secondary
changing trends in the back seven
Both cornerback and safety have always been highly sought after prospects. There was a brief period where safety had become something of an afterthought, particularly during last decade's resurgence of Cover-2. It became a time of interchangeable safeties and a move away from the traditional in the box strong safety paired with a deep coverage free safety.
Although finding a safety that can cover is still key and the league has trended toward a mix of zone coverages, there are again teams who like a safety that can defend the run in the box. They provide flexibility for defensive coordinators looking to put a sixth defensive back in the game against a spread offensive set, only to use one of those defensive backs as a hybrid linebacker.
Last year was very deep at the safety position. That's not the case this year, but we may still see 4-5 safeties drafted before the end of the second round, as teams snatch up anyone with a chance to play a role in the base defense or subpackage before someone else does.
WATCH LIST | EARLY ROUNDS
The table below includes players generally considered to be first or second day picks. The draft grade is based on a consensus of multiple draft writers, but shouldn't be taken as anything close to a lock. There will absolutely be players not listed in this table -- many of whom I'll list later in this feature -- who will be drafted before the third day of the draft. The scheme fit column is my assessment of the roles each player will fit best. The players are listed by consensus draft grade, not my personal ranking for NFL (or fantasy) purposes.
| CORNERBACK | SCHOOL | HT | WT | CONSENSUS ROUND |
| Darqueze Dennard | Michigan St. | 5-11 | 199 | 1st |
| Kyle Fuller | Virginia Tech | 6-0 | 190 | 1st |
| Justin Gilbert | Oklahoma St. | 6-0 | 202 | 1st-2nd |
| Jason Verrett | TCU | 5-9 | 189 | 1st-2nd |
| Bradley Roby | Ohio State | 5-11 | 194 | 1st-2nd |
| SAFETY | SCHOOL | HT | WT | CONSENSUS ROUND |
| Ha Ha Clinton-Dix | Alabama | 6-1 | 208 | 1st |
| Calvin Pryor | Louisville | 6-0 | 207 | 1st |
| Jimmie Ward | Northern Illinois | 5-11 | 193 | 1st-2nd |
| Terrence Brooks | Florida St. | 5-11 | 198 | 2nd-3rd |
| Deone Bucannon | Washington St | 6-1 | 211 | 2nd-3rd |
| Lamarcus Joyner | Florida St. | 5-8 | 184 | 2nd-3rd |
big corners rule the day again
The five players with the best shot of going in the first round are all players with size. Jason Verrett may not be tall, but he's an aggressive, rock solid 189 pounds at 5-9. There's a contingent of draft analysts who are in love with some of the smaller school prospects this year. Each of them are projectable due to their good size. Pierre Desir, Walt Aikens and Keith McGill are all well over six foot and around 200 pounds.
wide range of NFL comparisons for ha ha clinton-dix
Dix has drawn comparisons to Earl Thomas, Jairus Byrd, Kenny Vaccaro and others. He's generally considered the best cover safety in the draft, but he was also a physical presence against the run at Alabama. There were instances on tape where he flashed a downhill style that reminded me of Bob Sanders. But I'm not sure he has the elite coverage upside of Thomas or Vaccaro and I'm hesitant to say he'll be able to play with a Sanders-like aggressiveness in the NFL.
He's likely to be the first safety to be drafted, mostly because his interchangeable skill set will be attractive to more teams than that of Calvin Pryor.
second tier safety prospects with upside
Three players I really enjoyed watching at the Senior Bowl were Jimmie Ward, Deone Bucannon and Terrence Brooks.
Ward has a narrow frame, but was very fluid and instinctive in coverage. He's not at Dix's level in coverage, but I don't think he's far behind. If he was more physical against the run, he'd rival Dix and Calvin Pryor as the best prospects in the class.
Bucannon looks like a strong safety in the lower body but was better than expected in coverage. He's not an elite prospect, but he's an every-down player in the NFL.
Brooks continually caught me eye in coverage drills with his quick change of direction and instincts in reading routes. He's physical and willing against the run, but he's not a prototypical finisher from the secondary.
OTHER PLAYERS OF INTEREST
A player I didn't list above who's been generating some late buzz is Stanley Jean-Baptiste. A huge cornerback prospect at 6-3, 218 pounds, Jean-Baptiste drew the eyes of many at the Senior Bowl, but concerns about stiff hips and technique haunted him early in the evaluation process. But it's hard to ignore his size and physicality. There are rumors this week that Jean-Baptiste could go as early as the end of the first round.
Marcus Roberson, Pierre Desir, Keith McGill, Terrence Mitchell, Walt Aikens, Antone Exum, Aaron Colvin (ACL), and Jaylen Watkins are other corners that have proponents in the draft community.
The safety group isn't as deep this year as last, but Dez Southward, Vinnie Sunseri (ACL), Jemea Thomas and a handful of others will get looks on the third day of the draft.
SMART WAYS TO PREP FOR THE DRAFT
DraftBreakdown.com ~ There's no substitute for your own eyes. The guys at Draft Breakdown make scouting college games easy with 7-10 minute videos edited down to include every snap taken by a player in a single college game with the player highlighted for easy reference on each snap. Every prospect has a library of five games (and sometimes as many as 10-12).
Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio ~ I'm clearly biased, since Matt (along with Sigmund Bloom) are my closest friends in the business. But you won't find a more detailed draft guide that stays true to process. You may not agree with every conclusion Matt makes, but you owe it to yourself to consider them.
Dane Brugler's Draft Guide PDF ~ Clean, easy to follow, packed with details and information and film study, this PDF rivals anything a long time draft lover like me enjoyed about the guides put out by Jerry Jones, Frank Coyne and Russ Lande over the years.
Sigmund Bloom's On The Couch podcasts ~ I'm continually amazed at how much depth Bloom gets out of his guests each week. This show runs nearly year-round, but the months of March and April are dedicated to draft talk you shouldn't miss. The warehouse link to the Audible podcast feed will also take you to a handful of great draft interviews by Cecil Lammey.
Fran Duffy's Scout's Notebook series ~ If you're not sure what to look for while watching the Draft Breakdown cutups or why those you follow on Twitter focus on the traits they do, this video series is a great primer. Separated into short positional segments, Duffy is joined by Mike Mayock, Greg Cosell, Josh Norris and Phil Savage and many others to talk about what they're looking for when watching tape.
Ross Tucker's interviews with Greg Cosell ~ Tucker and Cosell got together every Wednesday for the past two months to discuss their feelings on the draft by position. If you've missing missing your Cosell - Doug Farrar fix, you can get a quick fix here.
Doug Farrar's SI 64 ~ The Shutdown 50 has become the SI 64, with Doug (along with Chris Burke) profiling their top draft prospects. I'm still holding out hope that Doug can find a way to bring back his amazing podcast series with Cosell. Until then, his strong work at the Audibles blog is not to be missed.
Twitter follows ~ I'm hesitant because I know I'm going to miss somebody I shouldn't here, so the safest thing to do is subscribe to Bloom's draft list. But it'll be hard not to be distracted by Twitter while doing our live draft hangouts waiting for comments by Dane Brugler, Lance Zierlein, Evan Silva, Eric Stoner, Doug Farrar, Mike Tanier, Greg Cosell, Eric Galko, Cian Fahey, Russ Lande, Ryan Riddle, Josh Norris, Rumford Johnny, and Alen Dumonjic. They are all strong year-round follows but make sure they're on your timeline on draft weekend.
Follow and ask questions on Twitter @JeneBramel. Reading the Defense will be a regular feature this offseason with free agent commentary, draft prospect previews, tier discussion, links to our offseason IDP roundtable podcasts and much more. Subscribe to The Audible on iTunes or download our IDP podcast here.
