Back in February I made a post about what the Denver Broncos should do at inside linebacker. I mentioned some names to look at in the draft, but I also threw out an idea that was pretty outside the box, and that is picking up a bigger safety and converting him to inside linebacker. The evidence I gave for this was what the Carolina Panthers did when they drafted Thomas Davis out of Georgia. Davis played safety for the Bulldogs, but could also come up and play in the box. Rather than keep him at safety they had him gain some weight and moved him to the weakside linebacker in the 4-3 defense. Ever since then Davis has proven himself to be one of the most productive, and athletic linebackers in the NFL. With todays move it looks as though the Broncos have positioned themselves to do the same thing with Su'a Cravens.
Coming out of the University of Southern California Cravens was labeled a linebacker/safety. A player who could play either position, and play each spot well. He has the speed to play strong safety, be a TJ Ward type player where he will hang out in the box, and be a nightmare for teams when he blitzes. Another option is he could gain about 10-15lbs and become strictly a linebacker, but with the ability cover tight ends, running backs, and even a wide receiver on occasion. In the Broncos defense he would be an inside linebacker along with Brandon Marshall, and between the two of them probably be the fastest tandem of inside linebackers in the NFL. Should Denver move him to inside linebacker the days of teams being able to take advantage of the match up of a running back or tight end on a linebacker are over. This move gives Denver flexibility like we have never seen here, and I for one am interested to see how Cravens is used. My personal hope is they move him to ILB, and that they use his flexibility to create problems for opposing teams offenses. This was an overall great move by Elway and the Broncos front office.
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