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What position does he play?

Ah cool.

Great pick. We def needed a safety and he's one of the best rated in college this year.

Would have preferred Winfield Jr, but hey, this kid doesn't look bad either. We got our two best positions of need.

Also found it kind of funny that the Giants got first pick of Tackle and Saftey. The Browns got the next choice of Tackle and Safety, and then the Buccs got the leftovers for both spots. Will be interesting to see who made out the best.

Even after a rough junior season, LSU safety Grant Delpit is a good analytical prospect

By Eric Eager
Mar 24, 2020



[Editor's Note: PFF's new college-to-pro projection system is powered by AWS machine learning capabilities.]

After a sophomore season in which he earned an 84.4 overall grade in 847 snaps, Delpit regressed a bit his junior year to 68.7, missing 20 tackles and allowing 14 of 22 passes into his coverage to be completed. Injuries were a big reason for this decline, as an undisclosed preseason injury lingered throughout the season.

Using our college-to-pro system, we will look at Delpit’s projected performance during his rookie contract. This projection uses his play-by-play data from college, adjusts it for play- and opponent-level context and weighs more-recent data more than past data.

How Delpit Projects as a Coverage Player

Coverage is the most important thing a safety does, and Delpit projects well there. Only Geno Stone of Iowa projects to have a bigger “playmaker rate” — rate of passes broken up and interceptions per primary coverage snap — than Delpit does in the context-free environment:

Grant Delpit’s projected completion percentage allowed and playmaker rate during the first five years of his NFL career in the context-free environment.

No safety plays in a context-free environment, though, as some guys are predominantly slot guys, some play deep and others play in the box. Delpit split time almost equally a season ago between deep safety (385 snaps) and slot cornerback (316). If we give him said split as a coverage player, his projections get even better (and more narrow, since the uncertainty of “what will he do?” largely goes away):

Grant Delpit’s projected completion percentage allowed and playmaker rate during the first five years of his NFL career in an environment where 20 percent of his coverage snaps are in the box, 40 percent are in the slot and 40 percent are deep. Median rates for free safeties in the NFL are represented by the dotted lines.

Of course, Delpit’s role will be largely determined by who drafts him, and George Chahrouri and I went with Tampa Bay in Round 1 in our mock draft. If Delpit were deployed more like Jamal Adams was in Todd Bowles’ scheme in New York in 2018, which was more of a 55% box, 15% slot, 30% deep split, his projected coverage data takes a little bit of a hit, but still lands him as one of the most efficient playmakers in his class:

Grant Delpit’s projected completion percentage allowed and playmaker rate during the first five years of his NFL career in an environment where 55 percent of his coverage snaps are in the box, 15 percent are in the slot and 30 percent are deep.

Delpit's projections in coverage come with some impressive statistical comps: Earl Thomas, Tony Jefferson, Ricardo Allen, Montae Nicholson and Tavon Wilson.

How Delpit Projects as a Pass Rusher

Over the past two seasons, Delpit has been a good pass rusher, taking part in six sacks and generating 18 total pressures. He was better in 2018 than 2019, but the talent to do some damage in that area of the game is there.

Grant Delpit’s projected pressure and sack rate during the first five years of his NFL career in the context-free environment.

While this pressure rate is not as high as some of his contemporaries (Kyle Dugger, Antoine Winfield Jr., Xavier McKinney), it increases with different usages and is certainly passable at the position.

How Delpit Projects as a Run Defender

Run defense is one of those things that teams probably overvalue in safeties, but it exemplifies traits that are important to have in the passing game as well (being able to make tackles short of the line the gain). In this regard, Delpit is one of the best in his class in terms of stop rate (rate of tackles that elicit an unsuccessful play by the offense) and positively graded play rate in the run game:

Grant Delpit’s projected stop and positively graded play rate in the running game during the first five years of his NFL career in an environment where he plays 20 percent of his snaps in the box, 40 percent in the slot and 40 percent deep.

Despite some regression during his junior year, Delpit is a great pro prospect at an important position. Due to recency bias, we’ve seen his stock decline over the past year, meaning that whoever selects him come April will get a value — especially for a ready-made defense in need of a playmaker.

Thoughts Vers? You like the pick?

It's okay. Kinda hard to talk on here because each year we read how great every pick is.

Not sure he is as great as folks are saying, but I don't dislike the pick. I would say it seems to be a decent pick.

Wow!!! That video was simply awesome! That is the type of highlights you usually watch for 1st round picks.

Actually, I think we have picked one first round pick and one second round pick. Anything else is an opinion most likely based on homerism or the opposite.

No thats your opinion, Most "experts" opinions is Delpit was a first rounder!!!!

No, it is NOT my opinion. Wills was drafted in round 1 and Delpit was drafted in round 2. Those are facts.

What? I left the Draft Day thread because cfrs was being a blank.

I'm stating facts here. You are stating opinions as facts and then getting upset if you are corrected by actual facts.

Is this in any way a productive use of time? Geesh. Enough already.

I'm very happy. Delpit was one of three remaining players I wanted at that spot. They gotten two players with 1st round talent so far. Very nicely done.

Delpit had a high ankle sprain for good portion of the 2019 season which may have led to this notion of poor tackler. 2018 was a much better year for him.

No thats your opinion, Most "experts" opinions is Delpit was a first rounder!!!!

Then why didn't he go in the first round? Why didn't he go at the top of the 2nd where people often move up to get the "first-round talent" that dropped? We moved back and still got him. I'm not knocking the pick, I'm just saying he's a 2nd round pick. He may stud out. 2nd round picks often do. But making him out to be the best ever blah blah woof woof is homerism. Not reality. I hope he does stud out. Doesn't make him a first round pick.

Was the bad angle thing only last year when he was hurt or over his whole college career?

Then why didn't he go in the first round? Why didn't he go at the top of the 2nd where people often move up to get the "first-round talent" that dropped? We moved back and still got him. I'm not knocking the pick, I'm just saying he's a 2nd round pick. He may stud out. 2nd round picks often do. But making him out to be the best ever blah blah woof woof is homerism. Not reality. I hope he does stud out. Doesn't make him a first round pick.

Desperate for a safety, Cleveland made a trade in the second round before selecting LSU's Grant Delpit with the No. 44 overall pick in the NFL draft Friday night.

LOL................this dude should write for a politician.

Dude is pretty versatile. I actually like the pick. I think things just got twisted on this thread.

I do have a question that is a repeat question from Rish.

Did anyone watch Delpit a lot in 2018? All the reports say he was way better in that year. Did anyone notice his angles during the 2018 season? I'm asking the football guys, not the homers.

Dude is pretty versatile. I actually like the pick. I think things just got twisted on this thread.

I do have a question that is a repeat question from Rish.

Did anyone watch Delpit a lot in 2018? All the reports say he was way better in that year. Did anyone notice his angles during the 2018 season? I'm asking the football guys, not the homers.

Agreed. Delpit didn't forget how to play and tackle from 2018 to 2019. Whatever issues there were in "19 was because of the injury. Very good player and pick for us.

I did. Watch SEC football all the time. Best Conference BY FAR.

Delpit is a STUD. In 2018 he played outstanding. He jumps through the TV all the time. Massive closing speed quickness. This Kat is all over the field weekly. There is ZERO ISSUE with his tackling.

The high ankle sprain happened early 2019. I saw it right away. Thought to myself, Pit isn't showing that awesome explosion today. Sure as hell, it then gets reported he's fighting a high sprain.

He still looked awesome even playing through it. That's the type of injury that would put most guys down for extended periods. Just ask Myles Garrett.

This kid will make you forget about Randall.

Thought they called him Little Jamal (Adams)

Matt Waldman’s RSP Boiler Room No.240 S Grant Delpit (LSU): Steps Ahead
by MATT WALDMANSEPTEMBER 3, 2019

https://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2019/09/03/ma...su-steps-ahead/

Matt Waldman’s RSP Boiler Room examines LSU safety Grant Delpit, one of the best prospects Waldman has watched in 2019 because of his ability to execute steps ahead of his competition.

Grant Delpit is one of the most intuitive players I’ve seen in a while. In the middle of executing a good decision, the LSU safety makes split-second adjustments that transform his choices into excellent outcomes.

These moments are happening at a speed that a player cannot think about—many of them can’t be practiced. These are flashes of intuition that come from piecing together disparate athletic, intellectual, and technical skills into exact solutions needed for a given moment.

I could probably do a four-hour film room on Delpit with the supply of impressive plays I’ve seen from him as a pass rusher, run defender, and executor of man and zone coverage. There will be plenty of people who will take the time to give you that kind of tour of Delpit’s game.

Instead, I’d rather show you three plays that reveal the invisible thread that elevates Delpit’s game to elite prospect status. The first is pass-breakup. The second is a quarterback sack. And the third is an assisted tackle to stop a fake field goal.

All three plays illustrate how Delpit consistently thinks a step ahead of the action happening to him, crafting and executing solutions before that action is even complete. In the way that photographers in the past used multiple cameras to take shots and piece them together for a 360-degree view, Delpit can scan a wide range of the field and not only remember what’s happening outside his immediate periphery but also anticipate what should happen next.

Special players possess this type of feel for the action. Delpit illustrates this on the first play when he understands there’s little separating the receiver from the open field after he tips the ball from the receiver but the path of the ball still gives his opponent a second-chance opportunity.

On the second play, Delpit begins his counter move to overcome a well-designed block that sends him to the ground before he even hits the ground.

And on the third play, Delpit gets stiff-armed to the ground but displays uncanny body awareness to slow the ballcarrier with the pinpoint placement of his hand on the football, while on the ground and turned away from the opponent.





I like a lot of football players in this 2020 NFL Draft class but if Delpit declares his eligibility, you can have the rest of them. Delpit is the type of player that makes quarterbacks, receivers, and ball carrier’s take the Lord’s name in vain. They probably just say “Grant Delpit,” it has the same first letters and syllable count…

Let's say hypothetically, worst case scenario that the guy can't tackle all that well. It's not like the only time in your life you can ever learn to tackle properly is Pop Warner. All you need is the willingness to learn and a coach who emphasizes it.