hooshoops prospect takes...

[ckparrothead]

The reason Duke Williams grabbed a lot of attention at Shrine week and again in the Senior Bowl is because of his ability to come down into man coverage in the slot and fare well there. He's physical in coverage and has the speed and athleticism to keep up with players there. I watched him erase receivers with physical press coverage during drills at Shrine week and he had some of that going for him during Senior Bowl week as well. The NFL loves that. They love safeties they can trust to come down and do that, even though sometimes I wonder why, since NFL defenses don't seem to do it often enough. He definitely plays with an attitude though, has that certain something to him that you think is going to make him a play maker at the next level.

The down side is that when I saw him in regular zone safety coverage, he wasn't that interesting as far as his instincts to the football went in coverage. But he was on USC's radar coming out of High School, he just wanted to play for his home town team.

Also, there are off field problems going on with him that are going to hurt him. He had an outstanding warrant on him for failure to appear in court for a citation, and then in 2011 he got into an accident and the police found that he had an expired license, expired registration and was driving without insurance. He was arrested on the outstanding warrant and also given citations for the other stuff. Previously in 2009 he had been arrested for underage possession of alcohol.

[j-off-her-doll]

The reason Duke Williams grabbed a lot of attention at Shrine week and again in the Senior Bowl is because of his ability to come down into man coverage in the slot and fare well there. He's physical in coverage and has the speed and athleticism to keep up with players there. I watched him erase receivers with physical press coverage during drills at Shrine week and he had some of that going for him during Senior Bowl week as well. The NFL loves that. They love safeties they can trust to come down and do that, even though sometimes I wonder why, since NFL defenses don't seem to do it often enough. He definitely plays with an attitude though, has that certain something to him that you think is going to make him a play maker at the next level.

The down side is that when I saw him in regular zone safety coverage, he wasn't that interesting as far as his instincts to the football went in coverage. But he was on USC's radar coming out of High School, he just wanted to play for his home town team.

Also, there are off field problems going on with him that are going to hurt him. He had an outstanding warrant on him for failure to appear in court for a citation, and then in 2011 he got into an accident and the police found that he had an expired license, expired registration and was driving without insurance. He was arrested on the outstanding warrant and also given citations for the other stuff. Previously in 2009 he had been arrested for underage possession of alcohol.

I was holding off on Safeties, but I've seen multiple mocks have have us going Vaccraro at 12 (including Daniel Jeremiah's latest), so I pushed them up my priority list. Unless I'm just scared off by him as a person/student of the game, I don't think about drafting Vaccaro in the 1st if I can get Williams in the 2nd, but it's sounding like Williams might be around in the 4th-5th range. I'm not saying I'd target Williams in the 2nd. I'm just saying that I don't think there's even a 1-Round difference between he and Vaccaro - based off of my initial impressions. He moves even better than Vaccaro, and though he's not as big, he plays big. Hits like a truck. I do see the occasional false step, but to me it isn't more apparent in him than Vaccaro or Reid. Still early, but I've got one foot on the platform, one foot on the Duke Williams' train.

[Fin Thirteen]

DJ Swearinger would be even better. I rate him as a second rounder with Jefferson and Duke as a third with Elam.

[hooshoops]

i don't think any safety is more fluid than kenny vaccaro...

[ckparrothead]

I like Kenny Vaccaro but his hype is getting away from him IMO. He takes a lot of bad angles. I still like Phillip Thomas and Matt Elam. And I think D.J. Swearinger is highly underrated, reminds me somehow of Major Wright...some team is going to score a hit taking him in the mid rounds.

[Fin Thirteen]

You can't tell me Vaccaro is on a par with Berry or Thomas and yet there he is being talked about in the top 10. Crazy.

[hooshoops]

You can't tell me Vaccaro is on a par with Berry or Thomas and yet there he is being talked about in the top 10. Crazy.

i think he's as good as either of them in man coverage...especially in the slot...but i don't think he an elite playmaker on the ball in the pros...

[Fin Thirteen]

He hasn't got a tenth of the instinctiveness of either Berry or Thomas. He's reactive, not proactive. Very good at it, to be fair.

[ckparrothead]

Great athlete though, with lots of natural ball skills. Great potential. Not quite making good on that potential yet.

[j-off-her-doll]

+1 on the Vaccaro-is-over-hyped train.

I like him in the late-1st/early-2nd range. I'd lose my **** if Miami drafted him at 12.