Broncos Draft Fits: 3 Safeties to Beware
If there's one thing Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio is known for, it's that he wants scheme fits in his secondary. That holds true for cornerbacks and also safeties, but there is a lot more to it for the latter.
Fangio's scheme puts a lot on the shoulders of his safeties, which means the players' football IQ must be high with quick processing speed to break down what they’re seeing and get into proper position. Fangio’s scheme may be one of the more challenging ones for safeties.
The football IQ intangible can make it hard to isolate the bad fits outside of doing interviews with the players, which will be exceedingly more difficult for teams this year with the NFL Scouting Combine not happening in the conventional sense. Deducing a prospect's football IQ based on film allows us to identify scheme fits and the specific traits Fangio likes in his safeties, including reliable tackling — which is paramount.
While that won’t fully narrow it down, it will provide a much better idea as to who may fit and those who really don’t. In the video above, I took what I can of these prospects, their game tape, to highlight three bad fits for what the Broncos do.
- Joey Blount, Virginia
- Joshuah Bledsoe, Missouri
- JaCoby Stevens, LSU
Drafting to fit Fangio’s scheme is important, even with him being firmly on the hot seat for next year because GM George Paton will want to give his head coach the players to succeed.
Narrowing down your list from well over 1,000 prospects to maybe 100 is a monumental process. These few traits and intangibles represent a handful of what NFL teams prioritize when winnowing down the class and constructing their big boards.
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