Titans sign Sly Williams

Overpaid lol

 

Well funny story, his "overall" (87.8) was heavily influenced by his run defense grade that he was given. (98.8) - #1 in that category and few deny that ability... it was his 59th ranked (71.6) pass coverage grade that most are concerned about considering he's supposed to be a S not a LB.

 

**insert generic "but our team won't use him in coverage." rebuttal.**

 

Sure we will, we will be forced to even. Teams will target him knowingly. They'll install reactionary audibles based on him being in the lineup depending on who/what they see him assigned to.

Teams will find ways to pick on him. They won't let us free willingly hide him in scheme every play.

 

raise your hand if you thought a "Titans sign Sly Williams" post would get 15+ pages of responses.

 

People are completely disregarding that he's the best run stuffing safety in the league and are knocking him for idiotic reasons. Is there a single SS in the league who's a savior of their pass defense? No, there's not. Let's not forget that Byard was knocked for being pretty awful in man coverage in college, but at the SS position, was given coverage duties he excelled at in Tennessee's scheme.

Let's look at Mayock's analysis of the draft pick:
"Makes a ton of sense to me. He's an enforcer in the box, and that's what (the Jaguars) are looking for. He will play the role of tough guy in the middle of the field."

This is what he's supposed to be. Just because Tennessee's corners were horrific shouldn't be held against Cyprien. Nor should the fact that Jacksonville's idiotic coaching staff used him out of position for 3 seasons, and that their entire defense was awful.
They need corner cover guys, not a SS "cover" guy, to turn it around. Cyp will be great at what he does, and is bringing in a guaranteed 100+ tackles. Stop complaining.

 

Yet we have PK and fans thinking he was good in coverage/or can be.... that's the point to be made as well as in THIS NFL... 90's box Safeties don't hold as much value. Even our FO mentioned some of his coverage "skills"

Also your statement about him being the 7th best safety in the league was pretty real skewered. Doesn't hold as much value when the other side of the coin is so weak.

They will find ways to target and pick on him in coverage. Even if we relegate him to Curl/Flat/Slant zones.

Since PFF's Safety grades are combined (FS/SS) it's hard to get an exact read where he lands in coverage for a SS, though if we just figure 2 starting Safeties per team. 64 Players, he's at the very bottom of even SS' in coverage. Top 32 players averaged an 80 in pass coverage.

The other half scored an average of 75. Still below average even for the second S on the field.

 

He's got value as a pass rusher, so don't discount that. And Jacksonville had one of the top pass defenses in the league, so he clearly wasn't that much of a detriment.

 

I don't discount that, I probably was the first to highlight it, even prior to JRob mentioning it. He's a forward moving SS, no surprise.

 

He was used more like a chess piece last year than having a true position. He actually spent most of his time at LB at 38 percent, 11 percent of the time at edge rusher, 27 at CB, and 24 at Safety.