Plucking An SEC Safety
April 2nd, 2019
Mississippi State safety Johnathan Abram.
Someone at the NFL Network needs to give this man a job.
One of the hardest workers and smartest guys Joe has met when it comes to the NFL draft is Emory Hunt. He glosses himself as the “Czar of the Playbook” but he needs no glossing, though the nickname is fresh.
Hunt absolutely scours the country looking for talent. It is common for Hunt to find himself at a Division-II or a Division I-AA game, in part due to his broadcast duties, but Joe sees Hunt each year at Shrine Game practices in St. Petersburg and of course at the NFL combine doing gumshoe work gathering up info.
Below is video of Hunt’s seven-round mock draft. In the first round, Hunt believes Kentucky manbeast Josh Allen will fall to Tampa Bay. Hunt believes what the Bucs have done in the offseason suggests they (smartly) won’t draft an inside linebacker in the top-five for the first time since 1993.
In the second round, Hunt thinks the Bucs will go after another SEC safety, this time Mississippi State’s Johnathan Abrams.
You can see all Hunt’s analysis of what he foresees the Bucs doing later this month below.
Joe’s a big fan of Hunt, not because of what he predicts, but Joe knows this man is not outworked researching players and ge puts in a lot of effort to give readers an intelligent take on how teams will use the draft to stock their rosters.
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:05 am
Love Emory, but there will be quality O line talent to be had at the top of the second round. Much higher priority than yet another safety.
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:09 am
I like Abrams, but I agree with @bucsfaninchina
The Bucs need to build through the trenches in the first few rounds of the draft.
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:16 am
Hoping we spend a second round pick on a right guard or right tackle.
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:20 am
“Damn, dont we have already have 15 corners and safeties Gump drafted the last 3 years…
Licht the Gumpster Fire!”
Kobe Faker
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:25 am
Another one??? I’m watching highlights of the pats defense from last season. Belichess can’t be that much smarter than every other coach. See while here in jbf land everyone hungers for sacks. Belichess on the other hand could careless about a sack. All thru-out they’re highlights you Bill rush 3 and drop 6 or 7 in coverage. The one LBbr of importance to him whose always visible D’onta Hightower. Smart mind Bill says find a passing lane. I dare you.
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:29 am
Good stuff Joe!
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:37 am
like hunt but he’s wrong about a safety that early…..
first 3 picks have to be for the trenches….DT/DE/OL….DE/DT/OL….OL/DE/DT….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!!
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:46 am
Word on the street is that they are targeting a RB in the 2nd to no later than top of the third, and will be prepared to move up if they get nervous!!!!!!!!! With that 3rd round pick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 season will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!
Free The Realist Joe!!!!!!!!! Do not moderate the Truth!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:51 am
Good article and great thoughts about the young Safety.
But I have to agree with several before me.
We MUST address some OL help.
April 2nd, 2019 at 9:57 am
Hunt is probably swayed by the fact that the Bucs have 2 2nd round safeties coming in for private visits – S Darnell Savage/Maryland and S Jonathan Abrams/Miss State. Why spend the time and money if not at least a possibility?
April 2nd, 2019 at 10:21 am
7 round mock is a waste of time and a fantasy. I put no stock in anything past 1 round. I’m sure he’s a good evaluator but he doesn’t have the pulse of the Bucs. With MJ Stewart now working at safety, there is no real demand at safety in the first 4 rounds. Unless Abram’s can play lockdown CB or OLB, I don’t see it happening. Too many other real glaring needs. OL can not be ignored if we are to have any semblance of a run game.
April 2nd, 2019 at 10:27 am
Both Josh Evans and Whitehead are fast and Whitehead is a great tackler too. Evans is a playmaker as well and only needs some better development in best tackling training and wrapping up. Whitehead never gets hit with targeting penalties either. We have a Veteran Safety in Free Agency and Stewart being trained as a backup Safety. We don’t need to waste a second round pick on another Safety. We need an OG or OT in the second round and we can take a premium DE or DT with the first pick or move down and get more picks but fix our trenches first! Third round we need a powerful back with great hands for our third down back and backup to Barber. We lost Cross and our diminutive former Third Down Back is gone and was terrible when the other side blitzed or used twists. We have three speedy change of pace backs and don’t need another one!
April 2nd, 2019 at 10:50 am
realist
word on the street is that you have no inside info at OBP and you still like smitty…….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!!
April 2nd, 2019 at 10:55 am
anonymous
i agree….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!!
April 2nd, 2019 at 11:34 am
Not happening. Evans, Whitehead, and now Stewart. If not Lindstrom, needs to be a different top tier olineman in the second.
April 2nd, 2019 at 11:50 am
@Anonymous … “The one LBbr of importance to him (Belicheck) whose always visible – D’onta Hightower. Smart mind Bill says find a passing lane. I dare you.”
Great post Anonymous; spot on. Easy to spot Hightower on the field going all the way back to his Bama days; of course he is 6’3″ & 260 lbs which is pretty fair size for a LB. Belicheck knows that you don’t go THROUGH D’onta Hightower; you go AROUND him. Would love to have someone in the middle of our defense that opponents had to go AROUND instead of THROUGH. Oh wait, we could draft Devin White and fill that square. And as an added bonus watch Joe cry because BA didn’t listen to him & draft an edge rusher when we already have JPP & Nassib (with Barrett & Gholston for cleanup) but NO MLB.
April 2nd, 2019 at 11:53 am
Guy from cbs has us trading McCoy to the patriots for the 32nd pick and taking the CB from Washington with that pick. Absolutely would die if we took a CB at the end of the 1st rd.
April 2nd, 2019 at 12:05 pm
DR
if you havent noticed we have LB’s that fit TB’s scheme:
LVD-2nd round pick(who BA said would be blitzing more)
K. minter- 2 round pick(can play MLB & knows TB’s system)
d. bucannon- 1st round pick(knows TB’s system)
s. barrett- seasoned vet(knows 34 defense)
no need to draft white with GMC headed out the door…..gotta get his replacement in the first round….Ed Oliver or Quennin Williams…..draft vosean joseph or tre lamar in the 4th round…..MLB wont do anything if the DL is weak…..OL will be sitting in DW’s lap all game….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!!
April 2nd, 2019 at 12:07 pm
rashad
i saw that too….i would be pissed also….
gotta stock pile the DL…..
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!!
April 2nd, 2019 at 12:47 pm
I don’t care if we take a LS with that 32nd pick as long as Softie is outta here!
April 2nd, 2019 at 12:49 pm
I would not be very happy with that draft.
Sure Allen is a very nice piece to add. But the Bucs already have talent on the edge in JPP, Nassib, Barrett, Spence.
And a safety in the 2nd??? Hell no – we already have 3 young, athletic safeties chosen in rounds 2, 2 and 4 in the last two drafts.
RG is a gaping hole and MLB needs a major upgrade from who we currently have to play alongside LD54….
Bucs need to come out of this draft with a RG, a MLB, a pass catching/play making RB and some youthful talent for the trenches (OT, DT, DE)
April 2nd, 2019 at 12:50 pm
I would not be very happy with that draft.
Sure Allen is a very nice piece to add. But the Bucs already have talent on the edge in JPP, Nassib, Barrett, Spence.
And a safety in the 2nd??? Hell no – we already have 3 young, athletic safeties chosen in rounds 2, 2 and 4 in the last two drafts.
RG is a gaping hole and MLB needs a major upgrade from who we currently have to play alongside LD54….
Bucs need to come out of this draft with a RG, a MLB, a pass catching/play making RB and some youthful talent for the trenches (OT, DT, DE)
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:18 pm
Pickgrin … B-I-N-G-O! Your last sentence would be the perfect Bucs’ draft.
I know everyone’s sleeping on Gholston, but I have a suspicion that he could resurrect his career under Todd Bowles’ leadership just as well as some of the others folks have already mentioned.
And I’m convinced that GMC won’t be here as a 13 million dollar man, but the Bucs could very well keep him at a reduced salary (say $8 mil). But BOTH the Bucs AND GMC need to want for that to happen for it to become reality.
April 2nd, 2019 at 3:34 pm
Sleeping on him? Doesn’t a player actually have to do something to write that?
You know, something since he left Michigan State?
April 2nd, 2019 at 6:07 pm
@Joe … “Sleeping on him? Doesn’t a player actually have to do something to write that?” Will hasn’t had a spectacular career, but from 2014-2016 he showed some decent performance & steady improvement, enough for Licht to give him a 2nd contract (for which Bucs overpaid IMO, but that’s not on Gholston).
o 2014: 15 games – 41 tackles – 2 sacks – 9 TFL – 6 QB Hits – 3 PD – 0 FF
o 2015: 16 games – 67 tackles – 3 sacks – 8 TFL – 8 QB Hits – 2 PD – 2 FF
o 2016: 14 games – 50 tackles – 3 sacks – 9 TFL – 7 QB Hits – 0 PD – 1 FF
His snap counts? 2018: 402 (38.4%) … 2017: 447 (42.2%) … 2016: 585 (55%) … 2015: 671 (61.3%) … 2014: 570 (51.4%). So he’s been a fairly steady performer, averaging OVER 50% of the defensive snaps … UNTIL these past 2 seasons. I wonder if there’s any chance that he was misused? Ya right. Far too much of his time on the field these past 2 seasons was spent on the INTERIOR of the DLine, possibly because our DTs weren’t getting the job done? Nah, surely that wasn’t it.
I still want to see what Todd Bowles can do with him. Only time will tell Joe.