DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2018 NFL Season 2018 NFL Draft Derwin James

I know most see this guy as a strong safety but the more I watch him the more I believe he’s a free safety. A free safety who can do some things that you’d ask your strong safety to do. For me he checks every box for a safety. Speed, can cover, fill in the run game, can tackle, big hitter, can play the slot, match up on a TE, play deep safety, blitz, and this guy does it at 6-3 211lbs, his athletics is said to be off the charts, plus from what I’ve read he’s a great locker room guy, leader. He’s basically everything Fitz is in a bigger package, I will say Fitz looks a bit more instinctive, possibly smarter.

This guy could be a lesser Sean Taylor, could very well see Dorsey liking this guy if he shows out at the combine, he is a guy that likes those height, weight, speed numbers, could also see Gregg Williams pounding the table for this guy. Maybe he sees a Sean Taylor like guy too. Like what he had while in Washington.

I don't think he has looked as good as he did before his injury. He had a fairly poor year that probably hurt his draft stock.

This thread is right on time me and my sons were just watching some YouTube of DJ and Minkah yesterday (they were making them in madden).

I remember watching and hearing about him as a freshmen and he was considered a freak athlete then. He's back on the field after his surgery and should be even further back to being himself next year. So I think his dynamic athleticism is still there.

Many defensive coaches view the S spot as the lynchpin of their defenses.

There is a love of the game that jumps out when I watch DJ. Imo his love and enthusiasm for the game shows through in his play. He's active. He's versatile. His play suggests to me that he's a natural leader. His hits are tone setters, I try not to get into the personality/mentality when scouting but with DJ its hard not to mention it. And he's been uber productive tackles, passes defensed, fumbles not many interceptions though (but imo that's a by product the scheme and how he was used)

But, like with many dynamic and versatile college DBs they used all over the field so it will be projection for him to FS.

But he is definitely someone I would love to have on my defense, leading my secondary.

His speed is right there with Minkah. That was my question. So if we go Chubb or Saquon as our second selection, I wish we'd consider trading up for this guy.

I'd guess that we would have to trade up pretty high to get him.

Wouldn't even know how to gage it but there's a lot of talent there so I suppose depending on need... Say he's still there at 15-16. Not sure what it would take to get there either but man is he a beast.

MockDraftables has their spider graphs up (they are really cool). Derwin James is ridiculous:

https://www.mockdraftable.com/player/derwin-james

Not for me, pastor, I actually like James more then Fitz, and could see him playing either safety position.

Me Neither if we take our QB at #1 and James at #4 I would a happy Browns fan on day 1 of the draft

I'm glad I'm not alone.

I think we're going to trade down at #4 if Bradley Chubb is not available, after the trade down I think James is in play.

I think Minkah Fitzpatrick is going to fall a bit and that James might even go before him.

It's not ridiculous. He's going to be a really good player IMHO. Long, hard hitting, nose for the ball. If he's their guy I wouldn't hate it. I do think it more likely though they'd go Chubb or even Saquon. Maybe Ward or Fitz, though FS seem to be dropping on the boards for some reason, another reason I don't think we take him.

JMHO

I would love to have that dominate S again, Eric Turner was a beast ...

Could happen. Seems like the Alabama players are sometimes a little overrated.

But Derwin James has been injured, no? Since we have Jabril, I prefer Fitzpatrick. I think he's a great fit at FS. But James is good too

We already have our starting safeties so yes it's silly to think we will draft one at #4.

Yeah, I think at 4 we'll either trade down or get Bradley Chubb. I guess some of it depends on how much we like Demarius Randall and how much we liked Deshone Kizer

No disrespect intended but isn't there a Derwin James thread and a Safety thread already?

Anyhow i think at pick 4 you gotta have Barkley, Chubb and Ward ahead of James.

But...James would solve the problem with covering TEs.

If we trade down I think it will be for Marcus Davenport.

It has nothing to do with him going to Alabama. It seems like the league has devalued the safety position based on some of the contracts given out to players at the position this off-season.

Maybe, although besides that Reid guy, is there any very good safeties? I heard Kenny Vacarro's play has gone down a bit. That Morgan Burnett guy got swept up by the Steelers.

I doubt anybody would question how good Earl Thomas is

Tyrann Mathieu got a one year contract. There are more too. . .

Jason La Canfora wrote an article about safeties. I'm posting part of it here.


It's pretty bizarre. Even guys who can make plays on the ball are being largely shut out or limited to no-frills negotiations at a time when even running backs and two-down inside linebackers have gotten paid. There has been almost no movement at this position, and guys like Eric Reid (age 26), Kenny Vaccaro (27), Tre Boston (25), and Ron Parker (30) all still trying to find work, to say nothing of a group of older veterans who have still performed at a high level in recent years, like Corey Graham, Darius Butler and Reggie Nelson.

"We're barely even getting phone calls, and we're not the only ones," said one agent who is involved in the safety market. "You can't even get (BS) offers. We're literally getting nothing. I'm not even talking one year, $3 million. Nothing. And it's not just us."

Indeed, league sources indicated that several of the best remaining safeties on the market have been in communication with one another, sharing their experiences and trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Parker, Vaccaro, Reid and others have spoken about the fact that they can't seem to find a market, with different theories being espoused as to why. Going back to the combine it seems teams were taking a hardline stance on around $5 million to $7 million per year on safeties, and no one was getting close to what they had originally hoped for. The safety who did the best, actually, didn't do a thing, as the Rams placed the franchise tag on Lamarcus Joyner, which will earn him more than $11 million in 2018.

Kurt Coleman got a deal quickly with New Orleans after he was cut by Carolina last month -- he didn't have to wait for the league year to open to officially sign -- but that three-year, $16 million was an outlier. Morgan Burnett had aimed for $10 million and couldn't get $5 million per year on a three-year deal with the Steelers. Tyrann Mathieu had hoped to reach around that figure as well when he turned down an offer to stay in Arizona on a reduced salary and ended up getting from the Texas $7 million on just a one-year deal, roughly half of what he was set to make originally in 2018.

Whole article can be read here...

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/safet...big-reason-why/

I don't think it's out of the question at all.

j/c:

No offense to anyone, but I think Fitz is far superior to James.

The way we are loading up on safety's and CB's I would think we may go O on our 1st and 4th pick, QB and RB, unless our FO feels that Chubb is a better fit for us at #4 than SB.

I think they are trying to get rid of glaring needs so they can draft BPA at #4. I don't pretend to have any clue what they intend to do at #1.

If giants trade up to #1 we get either rosen or darnold and either way we can't lose on that pick and chances are we end up with saquan at #4 too then. Either of those two QBs and Saquan and our offense could quickly become a real monster for a very long time to come.

If they don't want either QB I could see us trading back from #2 with the Bills for both their firsts this year and next year's first. We could wind up with 3 first round picks next year after making 3 first round picks this year. It gets just a little insane. Mason would still be there at 12 and chances are a very good CB or WR still there at 22.

If Dorsey can't turn a franchise around with 6 first round picks ... then we are doomed forever.

I like James and before the injury he was arguably the best safety in this class. If we can trade down I'd really consider him. I don't think there is a huge difference between James and Fitz but I think Fitz is a more pure cover safety whilst I think James would be able to play strong and free. Either would be great. However, the dude from Green Bay may be the guy we are penciling in at free safety.

James got rave reviews on the last NFLN show I saw ... calling him the next Chancellor

Chancellor is a SS. We have Kindred and Peppers at SS.

I truly hope that Randall is our answer at FS, but it is risky to put your stock in a guy who hasn't played the position in the NFL.

I think Fitz is going to be one of those players that who really stands out in a number of positive ways. Jordan Ramsey is a true difference maker at corner. Earl Thomas is a true difference maker at FS. Jamal Adams looks to be a real difference maker at SS.

I don't think the Browns will draft Fitz, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't. I think the dude is going to be a star in this league and I think he is the best player in the draft.

Not only that, Fitz can play corner. I mean shut down style.

We just picked up some good players, but none are all-star type players. By all accounts, Fitz will be a top 4-5 DB in the league no matter where you play him.

That said, I am leaning towards Chubb if given the choice.

I think we seem to be gearing up to be able to pick whoever we want at 4 (or have a solid option to trade down too). Covering our FA needs.

The one position I feel like we might be thin at is WR (and LT, but not much we can do about that).


But at this point, Fitzpatrick, Chubb, Barkley; I think we can draft whoever we think is best, with need not being much of a factor.

Fitzpatrick I rate higher than James, I just think he's more of a FS than a corner. But I think there's a lot of ways you can use him. And I think that he'd be a great compliment to Jabril Peppers.



I also think that Chubb and Barkley could easily make big differences too

I'm a big Derwin James fan. I think he's more versatile then Bam-Bam but they have similar on the field 'enforcer' personas.

I think James instantly solves the problem covering TEs.

I give the edge to James over Fitz because of size and athleticism but it splitting hairs really Fitz gets a boost because he has an unusually high endorsement from Saban.

I wouldn't let Peppers/Kindred stop me from drafting James or Fitz....Gregg has run 3 safety defenses with success before.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000922683/article/move-the-sticks-podcast-derwin-james-360



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