It seems like the 2020 NFL Draft just happened, but we move fast here at The Draft Network.
Currently going through summer evaluations for the 2021 NFL Draft class, our scouting team of Kyle Crabbs, Joe Marino, Jordan Reid, and Drae Harris are meeting up every day to discuss prospects, traits, and concepts. New to TDN is a daily scouting roundtable where we go through and identify the most important points of conversation from that day’s meeting.
On Wednesday, we talked about Ar’Darius Washington and Reed Blankenship, two safeties with immense range and versatility from the back end.
Washington Shines
We’ll start with the most exciting player that was discussed today, which happened to be TCU’s Washington.
Currently a redshirt sophomore, Washington made a major splash as a redshirt freshman in 2019, racking up five total interceptions and proving to be a natural ballhawk. Although he’s listed at only 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds, Washington is a dynamo in every sense of the word, providing the Horned Frogs with terrific energy, athleticism, and production from the back end.
After reviewing his film, Reid was very impressed by the defender.
“I’ve watched a lot of defensive backs this summer, and he’s my favorite,” Reid stated.
“He comes up and he’s very physical as a tackler. He (also) has fantastic awareness and is extremely reliable in coverage. Now he’s a little small, and that might worry some teams. He’s listed at 5-8 and looks exactly that on film, but he plays much, MUCH bigger than that.”
As for what Reid thought of Washington from a draft perspective, the scout assigned him a top-50 grade, although noting that “if he was 6-0 or 6-1 he probably would’ve gotten a top-32 grade.”
At the end of the discussion, Reid summed up Washington's game in one word.
“Firecracker.”
https://twitter.com/JReidNFL/status/1278421426484252674?s=20
Blankenship Surprises
Another safety with plenty of positives, Middle Tennessee State’s Blankenship may not be a very recognizable player right now, but that’s likely to change very soon. Currently heading into his senior season, the 6-foot-1, 197-pound Blankenship has been all over the field during his three-year career, racking up more than 150 total tackles and eight interceptions.
“He was such a breath of fresh air,” Crabbs said in his evaluation of the defender. “He might cover more grass than any other safety in college football. Against Vanderbilt and Georgia (in 2018), he was head and shoulders above the rest of his teammates as far as being the best defender on the field against SEC competition. I also thought he took a big step forward in his run fits during the 2019 season.”
As far as negatives go, Crabbs didn’t talk about many, although he did bring up potential health issues (he broke his leg in 2019) that could continue to plague the Blue Raider.
“Durability is something that will need to be inspected further. I (also) don’t think he’s the most dynamic long-speed athlete, as he didn’t show a ton of make-up speed in vertical situations,” Crabbs stated.
All in all, Crabbs was very impressed by the sound-tackling safety, mentioning that he assigned Blankenship a top-100 grade, but wanted to rank him even higher than that.
“I gave him a top-100 grade, but I honestly wanted to give him higher. If we get a sizable sample size in 2020, and it’s to the same caliber of play as (2019), I would give him a top-50 grade. We talk about safety as a position that puts an importance on ‘what can you do?’ and he can do a whole lot."
https://twitter.com/GrindingTheTape/status/1278111615762804744?s=20
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