The bold is the key for both Pryor and Allen. At worst I think we all are confident they both can play in the box. There are just questions about their range as FSs, Allen way more so than Pryor who already proved it at the college level. I think Allen's fate as a "starting safety" hinges on Pryor. Being the first round pick, he's pretty much guaranteed one of the safety spots. If he can't perform the FS role of being the last line of defense effectively in the pros, Landry would get that other spot because he has that versatility Allen lacks.
Rex's schemes don't always have the SS covering the TE. AA was good at covering a few TE's last year but often the TE is covered by the nickel CB or safety. The Jets haven't had a guy like Pryor in forever and a day. Rex could use him like the Steelers use Polamalu in their 3-4, sometimes covering the TE but just as often a couple of yards off the left guard and threatening to blitz on the snap or lined up just outside the TE or inside the slot receiver and again threatening a blitz. On neutral downs they could have Pryor lined up 7 to 10 yards deep and just let him do what comes naturally like Polamalu does in those situations.
Though not at the level of a Polamalu, AA did a lot of what's mentioned above for us. Are you saying Pryor is a better more versatile version?
AA was a spur linebacker in college. That's about half the job Pryor did for Louisville. AA has progressed significantly in his two years in the NFL and now appears to be a competent strong safety, albeit with some strange responsibilities in Rex's scheme. I expect Pryor will be better by quite a bit once he gets acclimated.
Totally agree which brings it back to my original point of Pryor likely replacing AA. Pryor pretty much makes Allen moot as a starter unless 1 of 2 of the following occurs: 1. Pryor becomes that "reliable guy behind" the roaming safety you referenced earlier rather than the actual roamer. 2. Allen becomes at least the 2nd best CB on the roster.
they're gonna do both, its not that clear cut obviously. He's gonna HAVE to block at some point, defenses need to be kept honest and may need to be mislead into thinking he is or isn't going out for a pass or blocking. Its not like they have him as a pure in-line blocking TE or something, nor will he just be in a slot recover role in a classic XYZ kind of sense all the time. He's gonna be everywhere, used in multiple ways, he won't just be split out all the time. Its like how they used Winslow last year, I expect Amaro to take one this role.
Actually I think we're saying let Pryor do his thing and see which role he excels in the most. From all accounts in college, Pryor was a strong safety known for laying the wood. So in reality Pryor is a SS that the Jets are trying to put at FS. I don't agree with AA at corner. Even his college position coach thinks it's a stretch. I think Pryor at SS and Allen at FS would make a nice pair. I want Allen on the field for this D. He's one of the bright spots and showed me something last year in limited action. Again all this position shifting that the Jets are trying, to make up for the lack of corner talent, goes directly back to how this team didn't address the position properly in the offseason. This should've been addressed and now we're seeing the fallout.
