KC Chiefs: Why drafting safety early on could be smart move
By Shade Piper
Reasons to Draft a Safety
1. Lock Down the Middle of the Field
Taking away the middle of the field is one of the toughest things to do as a defense. You don’t have the sideline to help you out as an extra defender, it is just yards of open turf in which opposing quarterbacks love to take advantage of.
However, as difficult as it is to lock down the middle of the field, if it can be done , the defense will have a lot of success. Thornhill and Mathieu are good enough and can get the job done, but Thornhill-Mathieu-Grant Delpit (or Xavier McKinney/Antoine Winfield Jr.) not only could get the job done, but would absolutely terrify opposing quarterbacks of the middle of the field.
2. The Element of Surprise
Having three elite safeties who are all versatile allows teams to do a lot with disguising for defense pre-snap to attempt to confuse opposing quarterbacks.
Look, NFL quarterbacks are smart and can have their mind preprogrammed before the ball is snapped of which look is likely to be open. When all of a sudden that luxury is taken away from them, a lot more are prone to mistakes and that’s what defenses want to do.
3. Mathieu Manning the Slot
Mathieu may be the most versatile safety in the league and because of that, it allows him to play from basically any position in the secondary. Last season he thrived in the slot where he may seem undersized, but he gets the job done.
Having two other safeties who can play at the typical strong and free safety positions at a high level allows Mathieu to play in the slot more frequently, where he is an absolute nightmare.