2021 NFL Draft safety rankings: Grant and Moehrig battle for the top spot

The 2021 NFL Draft class does not have any standouts at the safety position, but it does have some prospects who could be good picks late in the first round or early in the second round. In this post, we are going to rank all draftable safety prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft, led by the versatile Richie Grant out of Central Florida.

1. Richie Grant, UCF
6-foot, 197 pounds
2021 NFL Draft grade: First round

The only safety with a first-round grade in the 2021 NFL Draft is Central Florida’s, Richie Grant. Grant has had an outstanding college career and has been a force against both the run and pass. He finished his college career with 290 tackles, 18 pass deflections and 10 interceptions. Grant also looked good in the pre-draft process as he had a strong Senior Bowl and performed well at Central Florida’s pro day.

The top positive with Grant is he has the talent to be either a starting free or strong safety in the NFL. As a free safety, he displays the ability to hold up in coverage in either man or zone coverage and also possesses the ability to make plays on the ball. When asked to play closer to the line of scrimmage, he is a physical player who can come up and make the big hit.

While Grant shows good cover skills he must do a better job of reading routes and communicating in the secondary. If you watch any Central Florida film from last year you will see several breakdowns in coverage and some of this has to fall on Grant who was responsible for making the defensive calls. He needs to work on playing with a lower pad level as well since this can affect how quickly he is able to change directions and hurts him as an open-field tackler.

Teams that play with two high safeties will definitely be high on Grant due to the overall versatility of his game. It would not be a surprise if one of these teams took Grant in the latter part of the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.