Kenny Vaccaro signs with Tennessee (1 Viewer)

[matttyl]

Thoughts?  Chance at 80 total tackles there?

 

[Hankmoody]

I don't know anything about the scheme they will be running so I'm staying away.  Too many guys run two-high and therefore tackles are unreliable, I remember a couple years ago when Corey Graham went from stud to bum overnight and it was foretold by one of the IDP writers based on the changing of the guard at DC in BUF that year.  It's too easy to find replacements year-by-year if you pay attention and are active on the wire so I'll let someone else find out.

 

[nirad3]

I don't know anything about the scheme they will be running so I'm staying away.  Too many guys run two-high and therefore tackles are unreliable, I remember a couple years ago when Corey Graham went from stud to bum overnight and it was foretold by one of the IDP writers based on the changing of the guard at DC in BUF that year.  It's too easy to find replacements year-by-year if you pay attention and are active on the wire so I'll let someone else find out.

 

Rotoworld lists him as the SS starter but Ourlads has him as the backup FS.  80 combined tackles?  Doesn't sound too outlandish.  Maybe closer to 70 as as the SS starter.  Like HM alluded to above, though, it's too easy to find a handful of guys in similar situations that might have more upside.

 

[Bri]

He is a SS.

They have "no depth" so you can expect him to play

 

[Hankmoody]

He is a SS.

They have "no depth" so you can expect him to play

I have no doubt he'll play but if their scheme is a "2 high" scheme, one in which the safeties both play deeper or are always on the same side of the field and rotate the "strong" safety responsibility based on the alignment of the offense, that will limit his opportunities a lot.  IDP guys are looking for the old-fashioned pure SS guys, that are always lined up tight, involved in primary run support, and picking up either a TE or RB coverage responsibility.  Those are the guys that rack up a ton of tackles.  It's even ok/better if they aren't super athletic and/or are limited in deep coverage skills because that ensures they will be playing in tight (as long as they don't get removed from the field as a result).  Kind of like I don't want my TE to be such a good blocker that they keep him in to block a lot (Witten) as long as it doesn't cost him targets for being so bad - Jimmy Graham and Antonio Gates being primary examples of what we want.

Landon Collins, Reshad Jones, Keanu Neal - these are the S studs.  Byard put up huge numbers too but I didn't think he was the SS type and was completely unprepared for that, having him in no leagues, all the press I read and thought was that he was a FS type of guy.

The reasons I'm worried about Vaccarro are two-fold.  One, Vrabel is the kind of stubborn-my-way-NEP-way-or-nothing guy that is likely to just play his scheme and if the guy doesn't fit it keep looking for someone that does.  If that scheme is a 2 high scheme, it doesn't matter how good the guy is, it will ruin his (both S, actually) IDP value because it splits the tackle opportunities.  The second concern is that Byard might actually be the better pure SS, so even if they go more traditional, it might not even be Vaccarro that benefits.  I didn't watch much Titans defense, but Byard's numbers were way, way out of whack with my expectations for him.

 

[Bri]

Wonderful post. He will need to step up but he is new so that probably is expected.

There has been a ton of talk of going back to three safeties as in 2016. Brown and Ryan have played S.

Demontre Hurst was a shockingly good fill in when Cyprien went down. No one expected it and Pees said he has a great head on his shoulders so it was worth a try. Hurst could be a monkey wrench here but I doubt it. He's always been a corner.

With Vaccaros ability to cover the slot I think they will continue to try and switch things up on the offenses but that's just a lot of smoke n mirrors. 

Byard was running a mishmash of a Polamalu role that Lebeau created. Aaron Wallace actually ran it well in camp and then his surprise injury put Byard there. (This was occasional not every down) The gist of it is simply 10 disciplined defenders allowing one to roam and read. Vrabel doesn't have much Pitt background but he does have a strong respect for Lebeau. I think he may keep this occasional piece of the puzzle.

Adoree has played outfielder in camp on super long 3rd downs and obviously if a fake punt.

They love the all pro Byard. The staff shouldn't matter. He'll get his. I don't think we know of Vaccaro til he is comfy. They can't even move him around til he gets the basics down.

 

[Hankmoody]

but if their scheme is a "2 high" scheme, one in which the safeties both play deeper or are always on the same side of the field and rotate the "strong" safety responsibility based on the alignment of the offense, that will limit his opportunities a lot.

Exactly what they did on the first two drives, Vaccarro right and Byard left on the first, and Webb/Vaccarro on the 2nd.  When they did shade someone up it was Byard although that could have been about the offensive alignment.  Vaccarro was the deep option on a couple of plays that had run fits.