"Scary Interest" in USC S/LB Su'a Cravens

[NYPantherFan]

Saw a report last night from the USC ProDay that that Panthers have "scary interest" in the hybrid safety/linebacker.

Kid has great instincts and projects as a 2/3 round pick.

[Riverboat Ron]

Imagine if we had "spooky" interest.

[jumpman910]

Love this, wanted him for awhile.  No way he makes it to the third. 

[SOJA]

looks like he will be an in the box safety- hmmmmm sounds like we're not sold on Boston 

or alternatively we're planning for life without Coleman- Boston at FS and Cravens at SS

[Bartin]

Not a fan of his at all. He's nearly athletic enough to play safety and would be a very undersized LB. He's basically Shaq Thompson but slightly worse in every way. We already have Shaq and he only plays 30% of the snaps. Why would we want a worse version to play even less? He's the complete opposite of a need and in my opinion wouldn't be BPA until like the 3rd round. I hope this is a smokescreen.

[imminent rogaine]

Doesn't look like a LB at all.

Does he have any RB experience? I like my safety/linebacker hybrids to have RB experience.

[Razeyfingers]

The problem with safety is that their are a damn near infinite amount of them to choose from various locations. . . . Bars, golfcourses. . .supermarkets.

[Bartin]

5 minutes ago, Promethean Forerunner said:

Shaq is gonna be TD's replacement. Cravens could be our new SS. That's why we're showing interest. Not shocking at all. 

I really don't like slow, unathletic box safeties. It's a dying position in this pass happy era and really only works when you've someone like Earl Thomas who can cover the entire back end of the field. I like Kurt but he isn't in the same stratosphere as Earl in coverage.

[AppHeel]

8 minutes ago, Promethean Forerunner said:

Shaq is gonna be TD's replacement. Cravens could be our new SS. That's why we're showing interest. Not shocking at all. 

I'm a big Cravens fan, but as a SS and not a LB like you mentioned.

Cravens is a kid that will "tag your fanny"

[Matthias]

1 hour ago, carolina-chuck2 said:

Thought of that scenario too. Would not mind. 

 

I'm not sold on Gman having Boston as the clear cut starting SS next season. 

 

31 will be down to a DE or DB.

I agree.  In fact, Boston shouldn't be a clear cut anything, though he has the potential to shut me up.

If we do consider drafting Cravens, we would have to trade up in the second round. (May even trade up in the first if we really like him)

[Bartin]

Just now, Promethean Forerunner said:

Cravens is the type of guy Gettleman is attracted to. You say he's slow but he has 'game' speed. Remember, Shaq ran a 4.6 and he was considered slow too. Su'a has the traits we're looking for. He's tenacious, smart and a hustler. At SS, he wouldn't be a bad idea, especially since we're building a dominant front seven. It's no different than when we had Harper back there. Except, Cravens is faster.

Shaq is a LB and was drafted to play LB. He was slow for a safety. He has average long speed for a LB, but has elite times in the agility drills. Cravens has about the same speed as Shaq, but not nearly the same burst and change of direction and we'd be playing Cravens at a position that requires more speed and agility. He's a worse version of Shaq and we didn't even consider Shaq at SS.

[imminent rogaine]

8 minutes ago, Promethean Forerunner said:

Cravens is the type of guy Gettleman is attracted to. You say he's slow but he has 'game' speed. Remember, Shaq ran a 4.6 and he was considered slow too. Su'a has the traits we're looking for. He's tenacious, smart and a hustler. At SS, he wouldn't be a bad idea, especially since we're building a dominant front seven. It's no different than when we had Harper back there. Except, Cravens is faster.

Agree.  He looks to be elite in terms of getting in the back field and in coverage, his closing speed is unexpected.

 In gman we trust. He has a knack for ignoring any sort of definition that the metrics or critics might place on a guy and repeatedly lands "Football players". Guys like coleman, shaq, bene jump to mind; they aren't necessarily prototypical but you put them on the field and good things happen.

[Kevin Greene]

We need someone who can post up against Gronkowski in Super Bowl 51.

[Bartin]

1 minute ago, Promethean Forerunner said:

Guess again. Every team (according to the reports) wants him at safety. You know, the position he was an All-American for? Again, you keep bringing up speed as a factor but it's not. On tape, Cravens is flying all over the place. That's all that counts.

If he has elite agility then his change of direction is not a problem, since they're both connected. In addition, Su'a has fluid hips and good footwork. I mean, that's more than good enough to play SS with us.

I meant Shaq has elite agility, not Su'a. Sorry if that wasn't clear in my post.