Eagles hint Landon Collins not a 1st-rounder for them – Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
The more you hear about Landon Collins, the more it seems that 2015 won’t be the year the Eagles finally use a first-round pick on a natural safety.
Several analysts have said the former Alabama star is the best safety of a weak class but his struggles in coverage make him unfit for the kind of the scheme the Eagles employ. Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis wants his safeties to occasionally man the slot and line up across inside receivers along with playing the box and post.
In his sessions with the media Thursday, Eagles director of player personnel Ed Marynowitz seemed to fuel the concept that Collins lacks enough versatility and coverage acumen for the Eagles to take him at 20th overall Thursday night.
“He can do it, to a degree,” Marynowitz said. “I think all these guys have strengths and weaknesses. Landon has the potential to do that. Maybe not to the degree that some other guys do, but he certainly has the ability to do that.”
Marynowitz joined the Eagles in 2012 after spending four years at Alabama alongside iconic coach Nick Saban. His familiarity with the program should give the Eagles an advantage in knowing whether former Crimson Tide standouts make good fits for Chip Kelly’s program.
Shortly after Kelly promoted him to lead the personnel department, Marynowitz hired ‘Bama’s director of football operations Joe Pannunzio to join the Eagles’ scouting staff. Pannunzio had worked in Tuscaloosa since 2011.
Marynowitz seemed to be more impressed with former Alabama safety Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, who went 21st overall last year to Green Bay, one spot ahead of where the Eagles were slated to pick. The Eagles, who opted against trading up for Clinton-Dix, ended up trading back in a deal with the Browns and at 26th overall picked outside linebacker Marcus Smith, who barely played his rookie season.
Last year, Clinton-Dix told reporters that Marynowitz had texted him during the pre-draft process about a potential reunion in Philly.
“He sent me an article and I was on the front of it, about going to Philly and what not,” Clinton-Dix said last April in New York City on the eve of the first round. “I told him to tell them to come get me, please. Whatever it takes.”
The Eagles, who have never used a first-round pick on a safety, have struggled over the years to find safeties high in the draft. They used two high second-round picks in the past five years on Nate Allen (2010) and Jaiquawn Jarrett (2012), neither of which is still with the team. They drafted Ed Reynolds in the fifth round last year and he didn’t make the team.
None of their middle-round safeties have emerged into a sleeper. The Eagles picked Earl Wolff in the fifth round in 2013, Kelly’s first season. After a promising rookie year, Wolff never emerged into a starter and had his second season end prematurely after undergoing knee surgery. He’ll be in the mix to start this year but doesn’t appear to be the first option.
Kurt Coleman, Victor Harris and Quintin Demps and C.J. Gaddis — other low-round safeties picked by the Eagles since 2007 — either never made the team or didn’t make much of an impact outside of special teams.
Because some believe Collins is exclusively a box safety, former Arizona State safety DaMarious Randall has gained steam over the past month and emerged from a mid-round pick into a potential first-rounder. Randall is Collins’ inverse, a safety who can run with receivers and tight ends but isn’t strong inside the box.
Still, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock recently usurped Collins with Randall as his top safety prospect.
“He’s by far the best cover safety in this draft,” Mayock said. “And two months ago he was considered a third- or fourth-round pick. Now he’s a first-round pick, and he’s going ahead of Landon Collins because Collins is more of a box safety or a dime linebacker.”
Collins clocked a 4.53 in the 40 at the combine, so straight-line speed isn’t an issue. But he plays around 230 pounds, which could be problematic if asked to move down into the slot against an inside receiver.
The scarcity of elite safeties who can cover and tackle has prompted the Eagles to examine several big, physical college corners who might have the versatility to play safety.
“I think the safety position, or the traditional safety position, is a little bit of a dying breed,” Marynowitz said. “You don’t see as much of the true box-down safeties anymore. It’s becoming more of a pass happy, spread league and the majority of the guys with size and length are playing corner now.
“I mean, there is certainly an affinity for those guys to cover the big wideouts now. So a lot of those guys, especially the ones that we look for, we’re looking for guys that can cross-train and maybe play both. The way we play our safeties, we like those guys to be able to roll down and play slot coverage. In order to play man coverage, they have to have the athleticism to do that. Typically, the traditional box-safeties don’t have that.”
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