via media.al.com
This somewhat looks like less of a need pick with Chung and Williams in the fold but the Eagles still need a Strong Safety literally and figuratively unless you think Kurt Coleman and Nate Allen are NFL quality safeties.
Allen had one good year, one bad one and one middling one. And Kurt Coleman has his 'heart' in the right place, but like every late round pick Coleman lasted where he was for a very good reason:
Coleman's not a very good football player. That's why we need to address the position with this guy:
Standing at 6'0, 225 with a great combination of arms(31 3/4) and Hand (10 1/4). Dude is a freakish athlete. He had a great combine(4.6 40 yarder) and a 4.4 short shuttle.
With that combination of size and speed, he's translated it into sure fire tackling.(78 in 2009, 93 in 2012)
Johnathan Cyprien vs Louisville (2012) (via Aaron Aloysius)
Johnathan Cyprien vs Western Kentucky (2012) (via Aaron Aloysius)
You can see he has a good nose for the ball and he generally has good awareness of where the play's going to develop. However, he has to do a better job using his athletic prowess as I see he gets dominated by blocks far too easily and even though he makes the correct read, he's often too late to make the play.(Though I imagine his "assisted" tackles as a result are probably high too)
For right now, he's probably a rotation guy. For the future? If he works to using his athletic prowess to shedding those big, taller guys he could be an impact player.
If you want size, strength and tackling at the safety position, Cyprien's your man.
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