Matt Elam

Discussion in 'Tennessee Titans and NFL Talk' started by UrbanLegend3, Jan 2, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

    42,307
    15,453
    1,389
    Especially when his biggest negative is tackling.
     
  2. Clark

    Clark #ShoutboxAlley4Life

    15,151
    4,426
    939
    He's a free safety anyways. We have whiffin for that. But Vaccaro will be gone by 20. And he has stud worthy coverage skills. Especially his man coverage. Y'all worried he's from Texas are just overlooking the real facts of the prospect and being naive. But feel free to think Elam is the better prospect. But you're wrong. Elam is run of the mill. You don't get safeties with solid cover skills like Vaccaro every day.
     
  3. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

    42,307
    15,453
    1,389
    It amazes me how often people gloss over the ability or inability to tackle. It's tackle football. Matt Elam doesn't wrap up but it's ok because he's a hitter. Vaccaro can't tackle but his coverage ability makes up for it. Dude's gonna have to tackle someone at some point, and when he's the last line of defense it's a nice trait to have.

     
  4. Clark

    Clark #ShoutboxAlley4Life

    15,151
    4,426
    939
    The reason I say Vaccaro is a better prospect than Elam is because coverage skills rarely change. You can learn to tackle... Elam isn't going to change his cover skills. It's much easier to teach up tackling than it is to get them to cover better. Coverage is one of those knacks.

    Vaccaro will be the first safety off the board. Elam probably 3rd unless someone reeeeeeaaaallllllyyyyy falls in love with personal foul flags.
     
  5. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

    42,307
    15,453
    1,389
    I agree that Vaccaro is a better player, but it amazes me that people just gloss over tackling when we watch a defense every week that looks like a bunch of retards humping a football when they gang tackle.
     
  6. The Playmaker

    The Playmaker pineapple pizza party

    15,292
    3,225
    909
    Still rather have Elam because SS is a bigger position need than FS (even though we suck at both).
     
  7. UrbanLegend3

    UrbanLegend3 Pro Bowler

    4,396
    2,281
    519
    If the safety position was ALL about tackling we'd put a damn linebacker back there. Tackling ability is important for a safety but there are other factors to consider. Elam will learn to wrap up. The willingness to deliver a serious blow is like half the battle when it comes to tackling and we know he has that in spades. If our staff can't teach a guy with a skill set like Elam to tackle then they are truly as incompetent as people believe them to be.

    Vacarro isn't a great tackler either but as previously mentioned he is fast, has outstanding man/zone coverage, and has easily the best ball skills in this safety class. These are the attributes that you look for in a prototypical FREE safety. If he can also tackle well then congratulations you just drafted Ed Reed.
     
  8. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

    42,307
    15,453
    1,389


     
  9. UrbanLegend3

    UrbanLegend3 Pro Bowler

    4,396
    2,281
    519
    So your entire argument is that since Griffin turned out be a poor tackler, then Elam will definitely be one too? Griffin is not the end all be all of safeties. Just because his tackling didn't improve doesn't mean Elam's won't.
     
  10. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

    42,307
    15,453
    1,389
    No, my argument is that Elam isn't a strong tackler and can't cover, so what is he going to do? "He'll play strong safety so it's not like he's going to cover a lot." Yeah, go ahead and believe that if you want to, not like tight ends are a big part of the NFL right now.

    This isn't 1995 when strong safeties were in the box 70% of the time.

    I could be totally wrong and he could end up being Blaine Bishop, but I don't see anything other than a little head hunter.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  • Welcome to goTitans.com

    Established in 2000, goTitans.com is the place for Tennessee Titans fans to talk Titans. Our roots go back to the Tennessee Oilers Fan Page in 1997 and we currently have 4,000 diehard members with 1.5 million messages. To find out about advertising opportunities, contact TitanJeff.
  • The Tip Jar

    For those of you interested in helping the cause, we offer The Tip Jar. For $2 a month, you can become a subscriber and enjoy goTitans.com without ads.

    Hit the Tip Jar