Huff CB/FS? (1 Viewer)

[Biabreakable]

Raiders have Huff do a safety dance

The second-year pro out of Texas has put in practice time at several safety spots.

By Jason Jones - Bee Staff Writer

Last Updated 12:26 am PDT Thursday, June 7, 2007

Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C3

ALAMEDA -- Michael Huff is having fun as a human chess piece.

Instead of playing near the line of scrimmage, Huff has been the "left safety" while Stuart Schweigert mans the right side in offseason workouts.

Last season, Huff worked at strong and free safety in training camp but played strong safety all season with Schweigert at free.

"I may be strong safety, I may be free safety," said Huff, the seventh overall draft pick last year out of Texas. "We can disguise (coverage) a lot more."

Coach Lane Kiffin said Schweigert and Huff are considered candidates at different positions. Schweigert (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) is bigger than Huff (6-1, 198) and could play strong safety with Huff at free.

Regardless of where he plays, Huff wants to build on a solid rookie season that nonetheless featured no interceptions or fumble recoveries.

"I think last year I kind of didn't want to mess up, didn't want to make a mistake, didn't want to get beat," Huff said. "I think this year, I'm going to kind of go out there and make more plays. And that's what they brought me here to do: get picks, make plays."

http://www.sacbee.com/raiders/story/209395.htmlAs one can decifer from the article both safeties roles will be interchangable. However having Huff focus more on coverage and getting turnovers does indicate that Shweigert may have more of a run support role than he did last year even if Huff and SS are not changing where they line up on the field.

Shweigert is a very smart player who will still likely make some big plays even if being used in more of a run support role. His numbers were decent last year. Maybe they will increase in 07 however if he is used more in run support as this article suggests.

 

[spec1alk]

 

[Hoodoo]

OK, not sure why my other thread got deleted so I'll try again another way.

I read an article this morning noting that Michael Huff was being worked out at CB and it was speculated that he could be moved to play nickel in passing downs while Scweigart & Darius would man the safety positions. How would this affect his value positively or negatively and on the opinion of him moving to FS, given that it is his natural position does he seem to fit the bill of a Sean Taylor type or will he continue to disappoint fantasy owners who had very high hopes for him coming out of the draft

Link to the story?

 

[Jene Bramel]

OK, not sure why my other thread got deleted so I'll try again another way.

I read an article this morning noting that Michael Huff was being worked out at CB and it was speculated that he could be moved to play nickel in passing downs while Scweigart & Darius would man the safety positions. How would this affect his value positively or negatively and on the opinion of him moving to FS, given that it is his natural position does he seem to fit the bill of a Sean Taylor type or will he continue to disappoint fantasy owners who had very high hopes for him coming out of the draft

Link to the story?

Your earlier thread may have been deleted because there have been two threads in addition to the ongoing Darius thread that have started discussion on Huff's role in 2007 here and here. I understand they get fragmented easily, so I'm going to merge this one with one of the others to prompt a little more discussion on your particular question.

 

[Hoodoo]

OK, not sure why my other thread got deleted so I'll try again another way.

I read an article this morning noting that Michael Huff was being worked out at CB and it was speculated that he could be moved to play nickel in passing downs while Scweigart & Darius would man the safety positions. How would this affect his value positively or negatively and on the opinion of him moving to FS, given that it is his natural position does he seem to fit the bill of a Sean Taylor type or will he continue to disappoint fantasy owners who had very high hopes for him coming out of the draft

Link to the story?

Your earlier thread may have been deleted because there have been two threads in addition to the ongoing Darius thread that have started discussion on Huff's role in 2007 here and here. I understand they get fragmented easily, so I'm going to merge this one with one of the others to prompt a little more discussion on your particular question.

DOH! Such a noob move. Thanks Jene...

 

[Jene Bramel]

It's hard to know exactly what the plan is here.

My guess is that, despite the questionable offseason statements that the Raiders were comfortable with Sam Williams and Robert Thomas, the Darius move means a return to the Big Nickel as a base defense on early downs. It reads a little confusing to say the Raiders will play more Big Nickel while saying Huff is seeing time at corner. In reality, they will often be the same defensive alignment.

In that situation, IDP value will depend on who has what role among the safeties. I'd think that Darius gets the in-the-box value, although the Raiders could use Huff down there because of his better coverage skill over the TE. It's just one of many situations we're left to wonder about this time of year (every year, ) until we begin to see how things break out in camp.

The big picture, however, appears to be that the Raiders don't see Huff as an in-the-box player, either because he doesn't have NFL SS size or because they'd prefer him in more of a coverage role. The interchangeable L-R safety plans before Darius, his increased role as a slot cover corner and now a possible return to a three safety look with the more in-the-box capable Darius are telling. Huff is a nice player and I wouldn't give up on him yet, but it's hard to see him approaching 75 solos anytime soon.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

OK, not sure why my other thread got deleted so I'll try again another way.

it wasn't deleted...it was merged with the Darius thread, which had much of the relevant discussion about how his signing impacts Huff and Schweigert...it also already had the same blurb you mentioned posted in it.

 

[Biabreakable]

Well Darius now cut and Huff still going to be used in more of a roving pass coverage role.

So in my eyes that leaves SS being the primary run support safety here and he had decent tackle numbers last year that could improve slightly.

A few more turnovers from SS than last year could make for a pretty decent performance from him.

I thought he might be a cut for me but looks like his smarts are still paying off and he will stick.