FanPost

Why Move Tru to Safety at All?


It seems like the first thing we heard after the draft wrapped was people clambering to move Trumaine Johnson to safety. Why? Safety was one of our strongest defensive units last year, and the unit that picked up a lot of the slack for the hurt CBs. We have 2 excellent starters at safety, I see no reason to force Tru to make one of the harder transitions in football and risk wasting not only his draft position but also the talents of Quentin Mikell and Darian Stewart.

As I'm sure we all recall, one of the biggest acquisitions last offseason was Mikell from the Eagles. He brought a solid veteran presence which we still sorely need in the defensive backfield even with Finnegan's deal. He has 1 Pro Bowl and 2 All-Pro selections under his belt. He was on a team that played in the Super Bowl. Although not stellar, he played very solidly last year - I was much happier to see Mikell running up to tackle a WR than our 47th string CB. Combine last year's performance with decent coaching and BAM, we have an awesome safety returning to the Pro Bowl!

As for Stewart, I think this play right here earned him the chance to compete for a starting job this year if nothing else:


The guy is a UDFA entering his third year in the NFL. We all know that third year players just love to break out, and Stewart showed flashes last year of what he can become. Let's not ruin his progression by taking him out of a stacked backfield with veterans like Mikell and Finnegan. Remember, he gained his starting spot faster than Mikell, another UDFA. He was asked to learn both Safety spots, special teams, and even a few LB spots the past few years. From that article:

In addition to learning both safety spots, Stewart was asked to begin working as the weak side linebacker in nickel packages and to learn a variety of spots on special teams.

As for Tru, he may have the dimensions of a Safety, but why start over retraining him in that role? I am not a believer in moving fresh CB draft picks to one of the more difficult positions on pro football. One of the biggest reasons that older CBs get moved to safety is because they have the game experience to make the reads. Young players new to the position are at a huge disadvantage. Let Tru dip his toes into the NFL defensive game first, then let's talk about where he should play.

Let me qualify, moving Tru to safety might make sense in the future for depth and development purposes, but we definitely do not need him at safety. Not now. I like Stewart, he is in a great spot to do some really great things this year with Fisher and that backfield, let him at least try!