Is William Gay a candidate to move to safety?

With the Steelers not selecting a safety in this TALENT safety rich draft,
maybe they have other ideas going into OTA's? Or maybe they aquire
someone else through trades? We are close a ball hawking safety would put us
over the top.

 

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/05/one-big-problem-steelers-defense-hasnt-solved/

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/05/devils-advocate-trust-golden/

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/05/2017-offseason-questions-will-steelers-add-safety-help/

there are some still out there.

 

I would like to see them play Brian Allen at free safety in pre season, he has that FS size 6-3 teams look for, and he is a ball hawk, a smart guy who has his bachelors degree already and is married and mature and he just signed his 4 year contract, Carnell Lake is high on him....

http://www.steelers.com/news/transa...ear-deal/ab4e3201-da3f-4dc0-9a21-559e6ef0840a

 

Absolutely not.


William Gay has never played that position before.


Much like Mac and Diamond alluded to, Brian Allen may have a better chance playing safety given he far exceeds Gays ceiling.

 

That may be.


Even so, given Brian still does not have a defined role yet, molding him into a safety would not be a bad idea for his redshirt season.

 

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/0...ler-compares-new-cb-brian-allen-s-sean-davis/

allen did play some safety his jr. year it says. i think he should make the roster and at least get used to playing on ST's instead of the PS. heck we are still teaching mitchell to tackle too.

 

I'll have to ask PWP and get back with you. Sit tight. LOL!

 

Yoy LOL I would hope he would exceed his ceiling, Gay is about done.
But we need help in the short term at this position, and maybe Gay could help out
until we find a real safety. The only weak link on the Steeler roster
and it wasn't addressed. Go Figure.

 

I'm no pessimist, but to say that safety is the only weak link on the roster is stretching it a bit...

 

i think we are in pretty good shape elsewhere thig. d-line now, o-line now. LB'er. CB. WR. TE. RB. QB. all are in good shape. especially with another year under they're belts.

 

What is expected from a free safety, not an easy position to master?



Wikipedia:

The free safety tends to watch the play unfold and follow the ball. The free safety is typically assigned to the quarterback in man coverage, but as the quarterback usually remains in the pocket, the free safety is "free" to double cover another player. On pass plays, the free safety is expected to assist the cornerback on his side and to close the distance to the receiver by the time the ball reaches him. Offenses tend to use the play-action pass specifically to make the free safety expect a run play, which would draw him closer to the line of scrimmage, and reduce his effectiveness as a pass defender. Furthermore, quarterbacks often use a technique to "look off" a free safety, by looking away from the intended target receiver's side of the field during a pass play, with the intention to lure the free safety away from that side of the field. This phenomenon often tests how effective a free safety's wit and athleticism are at defending long pass plays. If the offense puts a receiver in the slot, then the free safety may be called upon to cover that receiver. Free safeties occasionally blitz as well. When this happens, the pressure on the quarterback is often very severe since a blitz by a defensive back is not usually anticipated. Because of their speed and deep coverage, free safeties are especially likely to make interceptions.

 

I say yes. For his last year. He'll replace golden who gets cut.

Gay is a solid tackler, knows the defense and even has good hands. He was never fast and is getting slower. He'll help bridge the gap as the youngsters take over.
Roster safeties
Mitchell
Davis
Dangerfield
Gay
Brian Allen

Cajun

 

As long as we don't have injuries....

 

Well, one thing you can count on, we will have injuries starting in training camp, we always do and this year wont be any different and that's why it's important to have depth..........

 

thats the same with any team. long term injuries are bad, short term we are in decent shape for that.

 

Yep - though wardismvp seemed to suggest it was the only need going into the draft.

We had other needs which the draft addressed.

 

That and cornerback and OLB. we drafted everybody but a safety that was
badly needed. I like our roster, I just wish we had the coaching staff to go with it.

 

Well, we had the picks we had. I also wanted a safety, but the cards fell in different ways which addressed other areas of need.

 

i do tend to agree about the staff in a sense. i have seen what happened to our offense from bringing in some coaches that were really good as position coaches. mann, munchak, saxon.

 

They will address the free safety position high in the draft next season. Tired of the hitter, time to find a ball hawk that can cover. That is not Mitchell.

As far as Gay is concerned who knows. The secondary is young but that's the direction it needs to be. Moving to safety might save a roster spot for him.

 

it's not a matter of not being up to snuff at all but just a knowledge of different types of defenses being able to be taught. the whole defensive side of the ball coaching staff are from a 3-4 zone blitz style of defense. they played it and coached it and learned it.

i just believe they are all trying to learn some new changes to a hybrid to change up the same old same old. mitchell, butler, porter, olsavsky, lake are all from the same 3-4 mold and now you want them to master and then teach technique of a different type to instill in this defense. porter olsavky and lake have not coached for long and are considered newbies to NFL coaching when they were added here. they know what has been taught here and what they played in here. i think overall it's more of a learning curve for coach and player alike to change and add. remember MT was trying to teach the cover two just a couple of years ago to this group.

the offense has a ton more coaching experience than the defensive side. those groups have improved by leaps and bounds. the receivers, o-line, rb's, TE's all these groups have long time knowledgeable teachers at their disposal.

 

How Gays 10 year career grades out from highs to lows:

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/03/blast-past-william-gay-graded-prior-2007-nfl-draft/

 

Well yeah because we have Golson still.