I may have found a safety/linebacker hybrid for Gregg Williams. Obi Melifonwu, who Doug Dieken hopes won't be picked by the Browns, is listed as a free safety on most boards. He is 6'4", and around 220 muscular pounds.
He was Mike Mayock's second favorite practice player at the Senior Bowl.
Obi is far from perfect. He was a sucker for play action passes, is not instinctive, plays the receiver rather than the ball, and isn't the sort of punishing hitter his size leads you to expect. He also sometimes takes poor angles when trying to make tackles.
To go with his size, he is expected to clock 4.5 and knock his agility and explosive tests out of the park; he is literally a physical freak. He also had TWENTY FOUR tackles in ONE GAME.
Most scouts say he should not be a single high safety, at least any time soon, but his Senior Bowl week performance may have changed that (Mayock didn't get specific, but I have a hunch).
Prior to the Bowl, he was projected as a second or third rounder, but now an impressive combine performance could get him into the first round.
This is not a guy you draft at twelve, but atop the second round, he could be the guy.
Melifonwu is a good tackler, and can sift through trash. He can (easily) run with tight ends, most running backs, and tall wide receivers. As a Gregg Williams semi-linebacker, he has all the requisite physical tools.
Most of his negatives are as a free safety. The best ones read the quarterback and can anticipate throws. Obi tends to wait for the ball to be in the air, then rely on his raw speed to get to the target.
This has made him "late" at times in college, and this gets exponentially worse in the pros. The bad angles also show up here too, as he is covering a lot of ground to head the ballcarriers off.
The different nature of the hybrid Williams role would mitigate against these two issues, and he could be much more effective at this position, where he would set up closer to the line of scrimmage.
Melifonwu may have the upside to grow into a true single high safety in time, but here Gregg could "start him out at guard".
I've got to think that Gregg Williams would simply order him to look for and go after the ball instead of always trying to knock it loose, solving one bad habit in short order.
And this is Gregg Williams, so you KNOW he's going to be calling him a soft sissy and asking him if he pees sitting down until he starts laying the wood to ballcarriers.
Jared Mueller also mentioned this player as a hybrid candidate. He could be gone by the time the first round ends, but maybe not.
UPDATE: The Browns just signed ex-Buckeye Bedford native Seahawk safety Tyvis Powell off waivers. He has much better ball skills than Melifonwu, and better instincts, but gets similar knocks for a lack of physicality.
This guy IS a candidate to start at free safety. Scouting reports vary, and if you read enough of them you'll learn that he's a future Hall of Famer who is the worst safety in history.
Well, he did get signed as an undrafted free agent by none other than the Seahawks. He was only active for eight games, and got little playing time aside from special teams, but this was valuable training and experience, although the Seahawks actually moved him to cornerback.
He will return to the NFL as a more polished player, and no doubt Gregg Williams can't wait to get his own hands on him.
I'm trying to sift through the trash here, but for now I think I see a guy with good anticipation and ball skills who takes good angles in run support, but tends to sort of wait for ball carriers rather than attack them.
He missed 14 tackles as a senior, and too often got dragged for additional yardage. Williams won't tolerate this. Fortunately, Powell is a really smart guy and already knows this. If he wants to make this team, let alone start, he has to take some nasty pills and start blasting people.
His first chance will be at free safety, but he also does have some ability at cornerback, so if he fails to sieze the safety spot, he could still stick around as a depth guy and special teamer (he's pretty good on teams).
Cross your fingers. This guy is very smart, and a terrific athlete with a very high cieling, entering his second season in the NFL. IF he can be more aggressive and punishing, he has a great chance to fill a critical role in this defense.
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