2011 NFL Draft, Safeties: My, How the Times Have Changed

July 10, 2010   ·   Michael Sudds   ·   Jump to comments

I was given the task of evaluating the free safeties, and strong safeties for the 2011 NFL draft for DraftTek.com. The “Tekkies” wanted rankings for each player’s primary position, and rankings for each player’s secondary position.
So, off I went on my strong and free safety stats hunt. Spreadsheets were constructed. 64 players were evaluated on 2009 tackling skills and ball skills. The free safeties and strong safeties were segregated according to their positions. I ended up with 28 strong safeties, and 36 free safeties. That was the relatively easy part.
Initially, I assumed that I would find that the “measurable” statistics (height, weight, and 40 times) would indicate that the strong safeties would be the larger players. Also, I assumed that the tackling stats (total tackles, tackles for a loss, sacks, and forced fumbles) would translate more closely to the skill sets of outside linebackers.
The free safeties, I assumed, would be ...

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