2012 NFL Draft Preview: Safeties

It’s time for another preview of a position in the 2012 NFL Draft. For each position review I’ll highlight three players I really like, two I don’t like so much, and one late round guy to keep an eye out for.

Three Studs:

Mark Barron, S, Alabama

Barron could be drafted as high as 14 to the Dallas Cowboys and if he is, it’s not a reach. We’re big fans of Barron at NFLmocks, even though he’s considered more of a box safety he has pretty good range in coverage and ball skills. Good instincts, he’s physical and a leader. He would really improve the Cowboys secondary if he was selected by the Cowboys or anyone else for that matter.

Harrison Smith, S, Norte Dame

Prior to the pre-draft process and the buzz around Harrison Smith I thought he was going to be undervalued. Like Barron he has is a smart player and made a lot of big plays in college. He has terrific size and is a good athlete, though he’s a bit stiff in the hips, he always seems to be in the right position, has pretty good range, and can play the run as well. I’m not a guy who would draft Harrison Smith in the firs round, but think he’d be fine alue if he could be drafted in the middle to end of the second. He might never be a super-star but he will be a reliable safety for is career.

Two Duds:

One could argue that as a whole the entire safety class is a dud, but I digress.

Markelle Martin, Oklahoma State

I’ve always like Martin and thought he often played like a second round safety, but people are going to be surprised when he tumbles in the draft. Every indication I have is that Martin will not be drafted until the late fourth round or even early fifth round. He hasn’t really done anything in the pre-draft process to have his stock drop so much I guess other players have just emerged that people like better. Martin might actually be pretty good value when all is said and done, but I wanted to highlight his fall from grace as it were.

Aaron Henry, S, Wisconsin

Again since there aren’t really any safeties that are going to be drafted very highly I’m just highlighting big name players the casual draft follower might think would go highly. You would think a guy who is 6′ 210 pounds runs a 4.54 and has nearly a 40″ vertical who had productive years at a major program might get drafted highly and it’s true Aaron Henry has a lot of physical ability, but he never put it together at Wisconsin. Henry right now is projected as a 6th round pick.

Sleeper:

Brandon Hardin, S, Oregon State/Janzen jackson, S, Mcneesee State

I’m going into a bonus round today giving you two sleepers. Brandon Hardin is a guy who popped up on a lot of people’s radars after a ridiculous proday. He’s 6’3 217 pounds and runs a legitimate 4.40 forty yard dash and did 24 reps on the bench press causing people to go scrambling to look back at his film. What they say they liked, but in 2010 because he missed the entire 2011 season. In a league that has so many great tight ends emerging a player who is big and fast enough to run and stay with these freak tight ends will be highly coveted.

Janzen Jackson is a former Tennessee Volts standout who has character concerns. I usually put quotes around character concerns, because what does that really mean. Usually it means a kid smoked some weed or had some drinks while he was at college–if doing that stuff in college kept people from being good at their jobs the unemployment rate would be at about 70 percent. Jackson is different though he was arrested for armed robbery–now that’s a character concern. Jackson will be drafted very late, but has day two ability.

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