NFL making clear safeties no longer worth the money: Why league’s view on position has changed in recent years

It’s not often a team releases a four-time All Pro safety coming off another All Pro season like the Denver Broncos did with Justin Simmons.

It’s also not often a team decides to let a 24-year-old safety coming off a season with 11 passes defensed walk out the door like the New York Giants did with Xavier McKinney.

And the Seahawks released Quandre Diggs, and the Bills released Jordan Poyer, and the Jaguars released Rayshawn Jenkins and so on and so forth.

Though they’re all individual decisions within teams, the league at large is speaking loudly on how it feels about safeties: They generally aren’t worth the money.

Just like the running back market has cratered in recent years, the safety position has done something similar. There are some safeties worth paying, like a Derwin James or Antoine Winfield Jr. or Kyle Hamilton in a few years.

But more than $103 million across the league has been saved in 2024 cash salary at the safety position, according to Over The Cap. That’s the most by far of any position group, outpacing the cornerback salary shed by early $40 million.

“There’s so much opportunity to overcome physical talent with high level intellect and intangibles. So you don’t have to overspend to get production,” one NFL personnel executive told CBS Sports. “You can draft these guys Day 3 or put low free-agency resources into them and get production back if they are smart.”

Said another personnel executive: “It’s essentially a similar but not equivalent argument to running backs. So many teams are playing with third-to-fifth-round picks at the position and doing just fine. There are other areas of your team to spend on that impact the game way more.”

To no one’s surprise, coaches see it differently.

“There’s a disconnect between how coaches see the position and how personnel see the position,” one defensive backs coach told CBS Sports. “It’s a very scheme-dependent role…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-making-clear-safeties-no-longer-worth-the-money-why-leagues-view-on-position-has-changed-in-recent-years/

Author : Jonathan Jones

Publish date : 2024-03-07 23:01:17

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