Here Come The Cornerbacks
April 30th, 2011
Well, the Bucs finally drafted a cornerback Ahmad Black from Florida.
Pat Kirwan on Sirius NFL Radio is not high on Black at all due to his slow 40 times.
“He doesn’t fit in [Raheem Morris’] defense if he is really a 4.7 [in a 40-yard dash] guy, but he can play fast. His cone drills say he can move faster.
But [the Bucs] are not playing press-man there. They play some off-man, but they will play around with a guy like this to try to find a spot. He will be around the football and he will break in as a special teams guy and if he continues to run slow he will be cut in a couple of years.”
April 30th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
This is a perfect Strong safety and a great hard hitter next to grimm.
April 30th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
i like this pic i hope we get that rb for uconn if hes still around
April 30th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Is he definitely a CB? NFL Network has him ranked as the 2nd best safety in the whole draft. Too small for safety? He’s bigger than Cody Grimm, surely.
April 30th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
He is a tackler. More of a safety rather than corner. Should be a guy used during running plays and special teams at first. Wonder if he can cover though.
April 30th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Yes the RB from ucon would be nice.
April 30th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
He’s a safety not a CB.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Ummm Black is a safety. Do you know something about the Bucs plans for him that we don’t?
April 30th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Safety who can play corner.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Joe- What are you smoking. Ahmad Black is a safety. He was in college. He will be in the NFL. There is ZERO chance Black sees any time at cornerback. Black was drafted to replace Sean Jones as the starting strong safety. He doesn’t have good clocked speed but was as big a playmaker as safety as there was at the college level. He could challenge Sean Jones hold on the starting SS spot from day one.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Think he will be a free safety, and Grimm moves to strong safety.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
MAYBE he can play corner, but he is definitely a safety. He is the same size and build as Ronde, and he plays faster than his 40 time. Great pick, IMO.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
He’s listed in the draft officially as a Safety.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Ahmad Black is just a football player guys… He might not be timed the best, but he definitely will be contributing all over the place. If we get in trouble in the defensive backfield, he can be plugged in anywhere, but I’d liken him to a slow Bob Sanders. 😛
April 30th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
First time I can say this for this draft: I don’t like this pick at all. Doesn’t Cody Grimm already occupy the ‘slow, short, safety’ spot on the roster?
April 30th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
Black and Grimm are very similar in that they are both great instinct guys. Grimm is the better tackler more in the box guy, Black more of a ball hawk. But I think Dominik is just trying to duplicate his success from last year. And I think he got a good one.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
I think Cody Grimm is about 6-1, 200#s. He ran a 4.54 – 40. Black is 5-9.5, 187 and his best posted 40 I saw was 4.74 and 4.83 at the combine. I don’t think he’ll beat out Cody. I can’t complain about anything Dom has done so far. They saw something in Black.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
gitarlvr:
Joe is smoking what Pat Kirwan and Gil Brandt are smoking. Joe has to confess Joe is not a Gators fan and never saw him play. Brandt and Kirwan were talking about Black playing cornerback. Both scouted him; Kirwan extensively. Joe is in no position to question those two.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
It doesn’t really matter at this point who is playing FS and who is playing SS in the Bucs defense. Raheem alternates both positions between playing in the box.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Black is a FS/Center fielder type…he is a ball hawk 13 picks in career at Florida and a sure tackler (200+). 40 time doesn’t matter, safty is about position and angles, and this guy has OUTSTANDING game speed. I don’t care what he ran in his underware he makes plays. Great pick.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
I still hope we can keep T-Jack. Hopefully him, Grimm, and Black will be our 3 main safeties.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
That guy is history. One more slip up and his career is over. He’s a free agent when he returns. Dominik isn’t about to re-sign him.
It would be beyond foolish to re-sign Jackson. He simply cannot be trusted and his actions show how selfish he is to let his teammates down time and again.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Black played corner in high school but he;s definitely a safety now.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Well, whatever happens I hope he doesn’t end up with Carolina or some other NFC South rival. I sure wouldn’t want to be facing him twice a year. I say re-sign him and trade him to an AFC team that we’ll only play once every 3 years.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Joe- Whatever you say dude. The rest of us know Ahmad Black is a safety. He started off playing corner as a freshman at Florida and was moved to safety for the rest of his career. So since he was too damn slow to remain at corner in college now he’s going to all of a sudden become one again at the NFL level?????? For christs sake he fell all the way to the fifth round because teams question whether or not he is even fast enough for the safety position let alone cornerback. Regardless, he was all over the field making plays as a SAFETY at Florida and could very well play a lot faster than his timed speed in the NFL.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
G,
Did Joe really piss you off that much? Joe is not one known to admit he was wrong readily, but his next article was about safeties and Black.
Think you are being a little too hard on Joey there Gitarlvr.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
They say his best time was a 4.68. The guy made a lot of very instinctive plays. Who’s to say that maybe he has a small broken bone in his foot like Julio Jones did or something else that inhibited his speed. I like this pick, same as the rest.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
I thought tenard had on year on his contract
April 30th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Well if Joe got his info from Pat Kirwan then I’ll give Joe a pass. However that makes me lose a lot of respect for Kirwan because he was clearly running his mouth about a player he didn’t know anything about except for a 40 time, even what position the guy plays. I know thats what lots of these media pundits do but I would expect more from Kirwan.
April 30th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Weneeddefense:
Joe has to watch his step around gitarlvr or Joe will find a voodoo doll burnt to a crisp at his front door.
April 30th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Sabby ran a 4.44 time in the combine in 2007, let’s go pick him back up since he runs faster than Black…
April 30th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
@gitarlvr
He is a safety, but his strengths are deep protections…hense there is a chance he could become a CB…especially with the way injuries hurt this team.
Not saying it’ll happen…just that there IS a chance.
April 30th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Tanard is not a free agent. He did not get credit for any of the 2010′ season. He was a CB in college and the Bucs worked him at Safety in the Senior Bowl practices to see how he did. They were right on the money for him as a Safety and I think the practice is becoming more common.
April 30th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
The QBs we’re throwing the ball right at him in the highlights..
April 30th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Why do people on this blog keep calling CODY GRIMM slow, when he had the 5th fastest 40 time of any LB at the 2010 NFL Combine??
http://weblogs.dailypress.com/sports/college/accblog/2010/03/virginia_techs_cody_grimm_rips.html
(yeah, that’s called a fact, some of you should look them up)
April 30th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
HGO…
I know Cody Grimm played LB in college, but everyone knew that wouldn’t be his position in the pros…everyone knew he would transition to safety. I think he is a hell of a player, I’m not knocking him. I just wonder what his 40 time was in comparison to safeties.
That would be like saying Dontay Moch had the fastest 40 time of all DEs this year, when we all know he will be a LB in the NFL.
Btw I don’t think 40 times mean much tho, I think as in the case of Grimm, good instincts could get you where you need to be before pure speed with no smarts. Lots of great players (Ronde, among others) have succeeded by overcoming a perceived lack of speed with incredible instincts. One of the many reasons I’m excited to see Mason Foster come down to Tampa…
April 30th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Cody Grimm certainly isn’t slow. He also had the best 3 cone of all linebackers which was also the 3rd best 3 cone of ANY position in the draft.
Ahmad Black was the strong safety at Florida and will be expected to compete with Sean Jones for the starting SS spot. Grimm was just fine at FS and he will remain the starter there. Besides being slower than Grimm, Black is actually better at dishing out the nasty hits despite his small size. Grimm is a great wrap up tackler but Black is fearless and should bring a few of those John Lynch style bell ringing hits back to the SS position.
April 30th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Big MArlon B- The only safeties who posted faster 40 times than Cody Grimm at the 2010 combine were Taylor Mays, Eric Berry, and Major Wright. He is at least as fast as the average NFL safety. Period. End of story. People need to stop acting like he is more suited for SS. Give the guy time to continue to hone his coverage technique and we will start seeing more splash plays from him in pass defense. He is still learning the position but there is no question he has the speed and athleticism for it. If not then Sean Jones would have moved back to FS where has played with the Eagles and Grimm would have played SS from the get go. That wasn’t the case because FS is where the Bucs want Grimm. SS and not FS or freaking CB is where they want Ahmad Black.