2020 NFL Draft safety rankings and analysis: X marks the spot
1. Xavier McKinney, Alabama
You’d be hard-pressed to find a player that filled the stat sheet like Xavier McKinney did for Alabama this season. In 2019, McKinney posted 95 total tackles, 5.5 for loss, three sacks, three interceptions (including a pick-six), five pass breakups, a fumble recovery and four forced fumbles. Those are the stats of someone who truly does it all.
A big reason why McKinney can do all these different things on the football field is that he sees the field so well. He always seems to have a sense of what’s going on and where he needs to be. Even if the play is to the opposite side of the field, McKinney will usually show up on the screen before the play is over.
He is a very good pursuer of the ball carrier and is a very sound tackler with big-hit capability and a get-ball focus once he gets there. He is very capable in man-to-man coverage but thrives in zone when he can read and react a little more. He is a very effective blitzer as well, with the ability to come around the edge or shoot gaps throughout the line.
He has the instincts, ball skills and athleticism to play single-high, but is best suited as a two-deep safety with the flexibility to move up around the line of scrimmage on occasion to make plays. McKinney does just about everything at a very high level and should hear his name called pretty early on night one of the 2020 NFL Draft.
2. Antoine Winfield Jr., Minnesota
Antoine Winfield Jr., son of the former Ohio State great and All-Pro cornerback, is a playmaking, ball-hawking safety. Winfield is an instinctual center fielder with outstanding ball skills. He reads the quarterback, reads the field and always seems to end up in a position to make a play.
He excels playing deep where he can read and react but is also an effective blitzer. He can shoot gaps and make his way into the backfield with ease. He is not overly physical, and won’t be taking on blockers or laying eye-popping hits, again, lending himself to being effective as a true free safety.
Winfield has the ball skills and the hands to finish off plays, catching interceptions and returning them to set his team up with good field position. He was even a punt returner in his junior year, returning one of three punts for a touchdown before he went down with an injury.
His sophomore and junior seasons did both end prematurely due to a hamstring and a foot injury after just four games, so durability may be a concern at the next level. But he bounced back with a full and very impressive senior season, with seven interceptions and 83 total tackles.
Winfield is very productive deep safety with enough versatility to contribute in a variety of ways. He is a true ballhawk who should contribute as a starting free safety immediately out of the 2020 NFL Draft and could be a Pro Bowl-caliber player if he stays healthy and continues to grow.
3. Ashtyn Davis, California
A former track star who walked on the football team at Cal and began playing as a cornerback, Ashtyn Davis is a versatile and athletic safety prospect. Davis is a true free safety in the 2020 NFL Draft who excels in a deep zone, allowing him to read and react and use his speed to go make a play.
Even lining up deep in the secondary on most plays, Davis has a high motor and will usually enter the screen before the play is over in pursuit of the ball. He already shows solid field vision and instincts, and should only get better as time goes on and he gets more experience at the position.
He has the speed and quickness to close on the ball very fast, the hands to catch an interception and the return skills to take it back and give his offense good field position. He returned 39 kicks his sophomore year and 70 total in his college career.
He was the team’s Most Valuable Special Teams Player in both of his first two seasons before really coming into his own as a safety. Also with experience at corner, Davis brings another dimension to his game with the speed and agility to stay with some of the fastest receivers in the game. He’s not super physical and won’t be roaming around the line of scrimmage and taking on blockers, but he is an effective blitzer and a solid tackler in the open field.
Davis does a lot of good things on the football field right now and should only get better as time goes on. He could be a starting free safety right away with Pro Bowl potential if he continues to learn and grow as a player.
4. K’Von Wallace, Clemson
In a bit of a similar fashion to his Clemson teammate Isaiah Simmons, K’Von Wallace seemed to do a little bit of everything for the Tigers throughout his college career. He is very astute as a nickel corner, roaming safety and downhill blitzer around the line of scrimmage.
He doesn’t have the best range as a deep safety but has the instincts and ball skills to make plays as a two-deep zone filler. As a corner, Wallace is very physical and can contest catches with tight ends and can stay with some receivers. Wallace really seems to excel around the line of scrimmage.
At times he looks like a linebacker, lining up in the middle of the field and making plays in the run game, and others he almost looks like an edge rusher, excelling at bending around the corner on his way to the quarterback.
In the NFL, a creative defensive coordinator should have fun deploying Wallace in a variety of ways. He is truly a playmaker with grit and tenacity in everything he does and will excel at many different tasks at the next level. Wallace’s tape really impressed me, becoming one of my favorite safeties in the 2020 NFL Draft.
5. Grant Delpit, LSU
Grant Delpit is a versatile safety who is good in coverage and can lay a big hit but is a very inconsistent and ineffective tackler. He generally has very good instincts and ball skills in zone coverage, making a lot of plays on the ball, especially in 2018. He has the instincts and ball skills to play as a single-high one safety, but he doesn’t quite have the speed and closing ability to really cover sideline-to-sideline as the lone safety in centerfield.
He will thrive at the next level as a two-deep safety with the freedom to roam up around the line of scrimmage or man up against a receiver or tight end in the slot. He has good size and physicality to man up bigger targets and can hold his own around the line of scrimmage in the run game. He is a very effective blitzer who can pressure the quarterback or blow up a run play in the backfield.
Where Delpit really struggles is as a tackler. He may have won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best safety in the nation last season, but has a serious flaw in his game. If he’s not laying the boom, he’s probably not making the tackle. He’s not a very willing or effective tackler in the open field, and that could really weigh him down at the next level.
If he can straighten up these inconsistencies, he could become a very solid NFL player. But until then, I don’t see Delpit being quite at the level of some of the other safeties in this class and I may be lower on him than most evaluators for the 2020 NFL Draft.
6. Kenny Robinson Jr., West Virginia/St. Louis Battlehawks
Kenny Robinson Jr., formerly of West Virginia and the XFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks, is a very dynamic playmaker at the free safety position. Robinson spent two (very productive) seasons at West Virginia before he was dismissed due to a code of conduct violation. With his mom being diagnosed with colon cancer around the same time, Robinson took the chance to earn some money to help her and took the jump to the XFL.
Robinson spent his third year out of high school with the St. Louis Battlehawks, thriving as the team’s free safety. In just five games, Robinson racked up 21 tackles, two interceptions, two pass break-ups and a sack. There are arguments to be made about how the level of play in the XFL stacks up against that of the Big 12, but he was incredibly productive nonetheless.
In his first two playing seasons at WVU, Robinson was productive as well, totaling 123 tackles, seven pass breakups and seven interceptions. He has outstanding instincts and ball skills in zone coverage.
Whether it is single-high or two-deep coverage, Robinson can read the field and the quarterback and break to make a play. If he doesn’t get there in time to catch the ball for an interception, he waylays the receiver to stop him dead in his tracks and trying to jar the ball loose. He is capable of these big hits across the field and can be a serviceable tackler in the run game, although he does miss a lot of tackles in the open field.
Robinson has taken an unconventional route to the 2020 NFL Draft, as the first and likely the last player to opt for the XFL until he was NFL Draft eligible. But he gained valuable professional experience to add to his impressive college performances and he should be a very viable starting option right away in the NFL.