Who is your #1 safety in the 2025 draft? (1 Viewer)

[Donnybrook]

I don't watch a lot of college football and rely on draft boards, draftniks, media personalities and occasional highlights to get my information.

Currently PFF has Starks ranked as the #9 player in the draft and Ennamwori as the #45 overall. Daniel Jeremiah has Emmanwori as his #19 best player and Starks as #25. I listen to interviews with both players and both seem be intelligent and very good communicators. I think that matters for understanding defensive schemes and coachability.

Probably not really fantasy relevant unless you play in IDP but I just want to know more about them.

 

[rockaction]

Nick Emmanwori was the combine freak with an RAS of a 10.0 out of 10. He had what they are calling the best combine ever for any position. That is how good it was. From South Carolina, he’s a Gamecock.

He’s 6’3”, 220 with a vertical of 43” and a broad jump of 11’06”

He ran a 4.38 at 220 for a speed score of 119.6, which puts him in the 100th percentile.

He’s the only combine guy to ever run a 4.4, jump 11’ in the broad jump, and have a 40” vertical.

His arm length is 32.5”

That’s your underwear champ. But how does he play? Welp, never saw South Carolina, so I don’t know. As for the rest of them, I honestly don’t know again. Not up to speed on safeties yet.

 

[menobrown]

Daniel Jeremiah has Emmanwori

You may have alreay listened to this but one of his last podcasts with Bucky Brooks(who has become so boring) they were trying to predict over/unders of positions going in round one and they both said Emmanori was a lock and the only lock at Safety.

As rock is saying Emmanori is a physical freak but Starks projects a lot better in pass coverage so depends what you are wanting out of the position.

 

[Biabreakable]

2025 Profile - S Carolina's Nick Emmanwori

The All-American safety set a new bar for performance testing; what about the tape?

bobsturm.substack.com

 

[Biabreakable]

Listening to podcast talk I've heard some serious bidness tape watchers say they have concerns about his tackling. Which you can see he missed 16 tackles in 2022. That's more than 1 per game and would stand out I think watching those games.

Some said he is maybe too tall, struggles staying with quicker receivers on their breaks.

 

[Biabreakable]

In regards to Starks sounds like he is the complete package.

The Vikings focused stuff I listen to most do not expect him to be available past the top 12 or so.

 

[Biabreakable]

I voted other because I hope the Vikings take a guard if these guys are available or not.

 

[travdogg]

Hot take, I don't even have Emmanwori 2nd, that would be Xavier Watts (Notre Dame)

Emmanwori in my opinion is a little bit of a player out of time. I almost think he should be a LB, but he's very much in the tweener bucket, a little bit like a similar athletic freak from a few years ago, Isaiah Simmons. I will say his combine was impressive but also raised questions. Why wasn't he better in college if he was an all-time athlete? Why didn't he run a 3-cone or shuttle? My guess is it would have looked bad, because his tape shows some change of direction issues. This might sound funny but being as they went to the same school and have similar athletic freak more than skill profiles, I kinda feel like he might be this year's Xavier Legette, and one of my biggest thoughts after round 1 last year, was how the hell did this guy go over McConkey, who had WAY better tape? I wonder if teams will make the same South Carolina athlete over better Georgia player mistake again?

Starks isn't the athlete Emmanwori is, but I think he's clearly a better player, at least right now. A freshman starter at Georgia should always grab your attention. Starks to me has no real weaknesses to his game. His athletic testing wasn't good, but it wasn't a disaster either. Starks excelled everywhere from the slot to deep safety, to occasional nickel LB. He also seemed like he plays a lot faster than his times. Maybe as a Safety that's an anticipation thing, despite running a 4.5, he never really gets beat deep.

I want to mention Watts, because I really like him. Obviously the 4.56 40 doesn't look great, but Watts is the playmaker at the position. He had 4 more INTs than any other player in college football over the last 2 seasons. He has great hands and reads QBs like he has a copy of their playbook. His only knocks are speed, and he's a mediocre tackler.

I'd also give a look at Kevin Winston (Penn St) he missed pretty much all of 2024 due to an ACL injury but looked like a 1st round talent in 2023. Like Emmanwori. he's a bigger Safety (6-2 215) and he seemed like he'd be in the 4.4s before the injury. A bit of a throwback as a dominant tackler/hitter, but also good enough in coverage. I could see Pete Carroll (or simialr defensive schemers) seeing another Kam Chancellor.

 

[rockaction]

Kyle Hamilton tested poorly and he worked out pretty good for Baltimore. Safeties don’t need to run like corners do, but they still need to hit minimums.

Starks ran an okay 4.5 but a weak shuttle and three-cone. He placed in the seventh percentile for those and in the nineteenth percentile for his jumps. Not good, but there are guys that make it in the NFL regardless, so . . . he’s just got a hill to climb.

Watts didn’t work out at the combine. His 4.56 pro day time should get bumped up to a 4.61 or something like that if you do it Player Profiler style. He had a broad jump of 9’10”, and a vertical of 35”, both of which are weaker numbers. He did not run the shuttle or the three-cone, so we just won't know his agility and speed with cutting and stopping in tight.

So those are the numbers from Starks and Watts—one tested decent in speed and poorly elsewhere, and the other was even weaker than that. Leaves me less than sanguine for their future, but it’s not the playing field and is just testing. I guess.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Hot take, I don't even have Emmanwori 2nd, that would be Xavier Watts (Notre Dame)

Emmanwori in my opinion is a little bit of a player out of time. I almost think he should be a LB, but he's very much in the tweener bucket, a little bit like a similar athletic freak from a few years ago, Isaiah Simmons. I will say his combine was impressive but also raised questions. Why wasn't he better in college if he was an all-time athlete? Why didn't he run a 3-cone or shuttle? My guess is it would have looked bad, because his tape shows some change of direction issues. This might sound funny but being as they went to the same school and have similar athletic freak more than skill profiles, I kinda feel like he might be this year's Xavier Legette, and one of my biggest thoughts after round 1 last year, was how the hell did this guy go over McConkey, who had WAY better tape? I wonder if teams will make the same South Carolina athlete over better Georgia player mistake again?

Starks isn't the athlete Emmanwori is, but I think he's clearly a better player, at least right now. A freshman starter at Georgia should always grab your attention. Starks to me has no real weaknesses to his game. His athletic testing wasn't good, but it wasn't a disaster either. Starks excelled everywhere from the slot to deep safety, to occasional nickel LB. He also seemed like he plays a lot faster than his times. Maybe as a Safety that's an anticipation thing, despite running a 4.5, he never really gets beat deep.

I want to mention Watts, because I really like him. Obviously the 4.56 40 doesn't look great, but Watts is the playmaker at the position. He had 4 more INTs than any other player in college football over the last 2 seasons. He has great hands and reads QBs like he has a copy of their playbook. His only knocks are speed, and he's a mediocre tackler.

I'd also give a look at Kevin Winston (Penn St) he missed pretty much all of 2024 due to an ACL injury but looked like a 1st round talent in 2023. Like Emmanwori. he's a bigger Safety (6-2 215) and he seemed like he'd be in the 4.4s before the injury. A bit of a throwback as a dominant tackler/hitter, but also good enough in coverage. I could see Pete Carroll (or simialr defensive schemers) seeing another Kam Chancellor.

I can appreciate that Nick had an outstanding combine
I also have Watts No 2 on my list

-I like Sebastian Castro and he should be around in the 3rd-4th, has nice upside and doesn't cost as much for those who miss out on Starks and Watts early
Nick Emmanwori has massive upside if he can prove his abilities in run support, he's got the skills vs the pass.
You can get away with semi-poor tackling at Cornerback but Safety many times has to sellout on stopping the run, especially on short yardage where you can't afford missed tackles.

 

[Biabreakable]

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[Biabreakable]

The above a discussion of Emmanwori.

As far as if the Vikings are interested in him or if he will even be available to them I will always defer to Flores.

Yes he might have some flaws in his game but if Flores is on board with him so what?

I still think the Vikings should take a guard. Just too many good ones (including the tackles that might move to guard) for that to not be a good option.

 

[Donnybrook]

@WillRagatz

One prospect I’d be pretty surprised if the Vikings took on Thursday is South Carolina S Nick Emmanwori. Ridiculous RAS guy, but so was Lewis Cine. Doesn’t seem like the most fluid/instinctive coverage player. If they’re gonna take a safety early, Starks feels like the guy. I’d also prefer Watts or Winston in R2 to Emmanwori in R1, I think

 

[Hankmoody]

IDP wise I have Lathan Ransom and Kevin Winston circled. Ransom is a downhill box guy and he knows it. He got better every year which I always like seeing. He's got just enough coverage and depth chops to not be a liability, but it's not a strengh and DC's aren't going to try to leverage that often. In IDP leagues (mine anyway that are tackle-centric scoring) you don't want guys that roam the deep 1/2 and are all-pro pass defenders, you need guys that are hitting for a living. That's Ransom. Winston's mostly the same guy, we just saw a bit less of him with only one big year of production.

 

[Grahamburn]

This Bucs' armchair GM has his eye on Starks at #19.

 

[steelcityman]

Emmanwori, just put a freak of nature back there, and let him do whatever they want him to do within the team defense.
Starks would be 2.
Watts is 3, ball hawk.
They all play different type of S tho. So its more likely to be team fit that determines destinations.

 

[Jayded]

Watts is a converted WR that only converted in college. So what you're seeing in him as a previous Nagurski winner is a guy only a few years into the craft. Since he is already close in consideration to a few others in this class, I might suggest he'll be the best value because he's still got a lot of room to grow.

 

[Biabreakable]

Watts is a converted WR that only converted in college. So what you're seeing in him as a previous Nagurski winner is a guy only a few years into the craft. Since he is already close in consideration to a few others in this class, I might suggest he'll be the best value because he's still got a lot of room to grow.

I have heard good things about him and I like defensive backs who play the ball.

The WR experience is helpful no doubt.

 

[Jayded]

Watts is a converted WR that only converted in college. So what you're seeing in him as a previous Nagurski winner is a guy only a few years into the craft. Since he is already close in consideration to a few others in this class, I might suggest he'll be the best value because he's still got a lot of room to grow.

I have heard good things about him and I like defensive backs who play the ball.

The WR experience is helpful no doubt.

It also easily explains the ball hawk nature. I found It somewhat funny when analysts or TV talking heads talked about that without a clue that he used to be a WR, and especially when they said it in the vein of feigned surprise that a DB could catch.

 

[BobbyLayne]

The PFF Big Board:

1. Starks (9)
2. Winston (33)
3. Watts (36)
4. Mukuba (62)
5. Emmanwori (67)

Hoping the Lions pickup Jordan Hancock, Malachi Moore, Jaylen Reed or Craig Woodson (S11-S14) on day 3 to replace Ifeatu Melifonwu as the third S.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

The PFF Big Board:

1. Starks (9)
2. Winston (33)
3. Watts (36)
4. Mukuba (62)
5. Emmanwori (67)

Hoping the Lions pickup Jordan Hancock, Malachi Moore, Jaylen Reed or Craig Woodson (S11-S14) on day 3 to replace Ifeatu Melifonwu as the third S.

Yeah the safety group after Joseph and Branch seems to have more drop-off compared to their other position groups.