Su'A Craven - interesting hybrid prospect for a bowles defense

This guy is not a LB in our system, he would be moved back to saftey. When we do go to 4 man fronts we rarely play 3 Lb's. Not big or powerful enough to set the edge in our system to play LB. Whave much greater needs than another safety. Bowels is big on stopping the run and speed in his defense. I don't see craven fitting the first art of that mold enough to warrant a big investment from the Jets.

 

Love the idea of an anti-Gronk. Whether it is this guy or someone else. That would be an excellent strategy for Mike Mac this offseason.

 

Jayron Kearse is a better fit for this sort of role.

 

Honestly i wouldnt be mad if we took this kid, he would be used just like Deone Bucannon in bowles' system playing a lot of LB and often rushing the passer

 

Kearse has come up small in the national championship game. He hasn't made one stinking play and has looked slow. Was he the safety that failed to cover the TE 3 times and gave up long TDs? I don't think I want Kearse. We have other more pressing needs and positions that will help the D a lot more than a S.

 

Not that I disagree with what you're saying but it was the other safety that blew the coverages on those TD's. I think his name was Greene?

 

Thanks. That's why I asked. I wasn't sure if it was Kearse or the other safety. I was very disappointed in Kearse that he didn't make at least one big play in the game. In fairness to him, he may have been helping keep Ridley blanketed until late in the game, but I truly don't recall ever see him do anything except run down the field looking slow. He certainly didn't look like a player with 4.3 speed.

 

I was watching for him specifically after seeing him mentioned here in the draft forum and unfortunately came away with about the same impression you did. Noticed him seem to slow/give up on a couple of plays as well.

 

I was watching Kearse closely after I mocked him in a draft earlier, I didn't come away with the impression I wanted to but he did play pretty good coverage because Ridley was shut out in that game even after Mack Alexander left with his injury and i believe he was sharing responsibilities to help cover him.

OJ Howard had his way with that D but that was the other safety that let up those plays on him. Like I said more of a 2nd round because he has the tools and potential but didn't play up to it, didn't hustle like I wanted, wasn't flying to the ball.

I think he has the chance the be a better pro than in college but he could have made some money the other night and he didn't take advantage of it.

As far as Cravens, probably a better football player than Kearse at this point but he doesn't exactly fit this D, maybe possibly at ILB but he's reportedly added some weight to play linebacker full time

 

While I agree for most teams, keeping lineman off our linebackers doesn't really seem to be the problem especially playing next to David Harris who eats blocks up like they're candy. If we keep Mo and Snacks, we have plenty of beef up front for a guy like this to free roam.

With that being said, I know next to nothing about the prospect so I can't comment specifically on him. If you go back and watch game tape, Demario Davis ran free through gaps on running plays a ton. His problem is his lack of an ability to tackle (and cover anything).

A lot of similar things were said about Lawrence Timmons coming out of FSU at I believe around 225 pounds. I used to heavily buy into the fact that these guys have 0 chance of succeeding in a 3-4 when in actuality it's not true especially once they're put on NFL workout plans or fed HGH

 

Don't we technically have a similar player in Antonio Allen?