With the added exposure from Jim Nagy’s leadership came added interest from these highly-touted senior prospects and their agents. In recent years, good performances at the Senior Bowl has, at least off perception, helped vault a few prospects to new heights. This year promised a great group of Senior Bowl safeties. In a year with inconsistent schedules and no combine, the Senior Bowl will be the best chance for these young men to prove themselves before the NFL Draft.
Safeties are some of the most scheme-specific players in all of football. It takes particular builds and skill sets to perform different responsibilities within the confines of a defense.
A 6-foot-4, 230-pound heat-seeking missile most likely won’t fit as a single-high free safety. Conversely, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound safety most likely won’t live to fill the backside C-gap. Traditionally, the latter tends to have the upper hand in improving their stock via the Senior Bowl. Unless you’re the rare small-school athletic phenom like Kyle Dugger and Jeremy Chinn were, that is.
Because of the heavy one-on-one and seven-on-seven atmosphere in Mobile, coverage shines more than the ability to defend the run.
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Ranking the top safeties at the Senior Bowl — American Team
Ifeatu Melifonwu, Syracuse
Listen, you might think this is just an excuse for me to talk more about Ifeatu Melifonwu, my pet cat in this draft cycle. Although you’re not wrong, he himself told me some teams had discussed a transition to safety at the next level. I expect him to do a bit of everything in Mobile, Alabama.
His tape against North Carolina and future NFL wide receiver Dyami Brown is excellent. At 6-foot-3 and between 208 and 215 pounds of playing weight, Melifonwu will run in the 4.4 range and has the fluidity and flexibility of someone 20 pounds lighter and three inches shorter. He’s the best physical specimen of all the Senior Bowl safeties.
He’s hyper-focused on his ability to defend the run and screen game, too. That’s probably at least part of the reason some teams see him as a safety. Clemson tested him consistently through the screen game, and he stepped up and used his length and strength to shed blocks and make plays at the line of scrimmage with great tackling form and power for the position.
And with his length, range, and physicality, Melifonwu at least projects to transcend safety positions. He provides scheme versatility because he can play as a center fielder or inside the box defending the C-gap.
Richie Grant, Central Florida
Richie Grant is fluid and explosive in short areas. He possesses the long speed to play between the numbers in a one-high scheme. Cover-3 teams should value his skill set come April. The class lacks a legitimate free safety prospect outside of TCU’s Trevon Moehrig.
Grant’s ball production is nothing to scoff at, either. It’s one of the most impressive of the Senior Bowl safeties. In his time in Orlando, he’s notched 10 interceptions into his left bedpost. On the right side, he’s carved 17 tallies in for the passes he’s broken up. And on the post by his right foot, he has four notches for his fumble recoveries. Down by his left foot, four slashes plus a diagonal for his forced fumbles. That is an impressive résumé. And only a double bed.
Hamsah Nasirildeen, Florida State
Personally, Hamsah Nasirildeen is one of my favorite safeties at the Senior Bowl because of his ability against the run. He possesses the tackle radius of an octopus and the athleticism to pursue an antelope to the sideline. Nevertheless, that won’t be on display at the Senior Bowl.
He must show the ability to dominate tight ends during one-on-one and seven-on-seven situations in man coverage. Nasirildeen must also show more comfortability in deep zones as a two-high safety in seven-on-seven and team drills.
Also, when lined up opposite of receivers, he must show the ability to survive through direction changes. In a league shifting more and more toward receiver/tight end hybrid players, Nasirildeen could be a huge asset as a chess piece versus this new breed of player.
Players who haven’t been formally assigned a team designation
James Wiggins, Cincinnati
If your favorite football team runs much two-high Quarters and Cover-2, James Wiggins is an ideal fit. He is assignment-sound and works well to maintain the proper leverage when reading his coverage keys while playing match principles. He doesn’t have the outright range or athleticism to flourish as a Cover-1 free safety. That said, he has plenty of juice to defend the sideline from the hashes.
He’s certainly not a force against the run, but he takes good angles to the ball. In 2018 (his best tape), he was an above-average tackler, but lapses in 2020 ended in a few miss tackles stemming from poor form. Of the Senior Bowl safeties, Wiggins can help himself dramatically with a good week of practice.
Richard LeCounte, Georgia
Think of Richard LeCounte as the dollar store version of Richie Grant. This is not to say he is a bad football player. On the contrary, actually. LeCounte is an outstanding football player overall and one of the more intelligent secondary players in the class.
Although LeCounte is a former five-star prospect, the tape doesn’t show a typical top physical talent. His coverage prowess is unquestionable. Yet, there are lapses in his ability as a run defender. He doesn’t possess the physicality necessary to consistently be part of the run fit, limiting his versatility to a single-high prospect. The only issue there is he doesn’t have the ideal range necessary for the position.
This most likely leaves him as a rotational spot-starter at the next level, similar to a Xavier Woods type.
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