Pick the last safety

[757RavensFan]

You're the coach and you have one safety position to fill, who do you keep?

[BmoreBird22]

So far, the coaches are going with Elam.

[Daft Classic]

FS: Webb, Brooks

SS: Weddle, Elam

Cut Kendrick, move Levine to a CB/S/LB role

Problem solved

[rmcjacket23]

Just now, Daft Classic said:

FS: Webb, Brooks

SS: Weddle, Elam

Cut Kendrick, move Levine to a CB/S/LB role

Problem solved

This decision would likely terrify me.

[rmcjacket23]

If its between the two, I'd keep Elam, assuming Levine is in a bit of a different role.

[Daft Classic]

Just now, rmcjacket23 said:

This decision would likely terrify me.

With the current safety situation, is there anything any better? Webb and Weddle are safe for obvious reasons. Levine is too versatile to let go. So you choose some combo of Brooks, Elam, and Lewis to fill out the reserves 

[rmw10]

The fan in me says Brooks, but the fan that is thinking of what the team would likely do is saying Elam.  I don't know how they're going to do it, but I have a feeling they'll end up keeping both in addition to Lewis as long as they continue doing well.

[rmcjacket23]

10 minutes ago, Daft Classic said:

With the current safety situation, is there anything any better? Webb and Weddle are safe for obvious reasons. Levine is too versatile to let go. So you choose some combo of Brooks, Elam, and Lewis to fill out the reserves 

Yes, I'd trust Lewis over Brooks at FS by a wide margin.

Have no issue with Elam as the 4th safety at this point, but I'm definitely not putting my eggs in the Brooks as viable starting FS at this point. He's directly behind a guy who's making the shift for the first time AND has a lengthy injury history. 

[redlobster]

Brooks.

[Boddiebroadus]

Keep both drop Levine and Lewis 

[January J]

21 minutes ago, Boddiebroadus said:

Keep both drop Levine and Lewis 

Yeah not happenin boddie

[Cville-Raven]

I gotta be honest I'm not really a Lewis fan. Maybe they keep all of them and move Levine to LB. If they do pick between the two of them though, I would assume Brooks gets cut. 

[rmcjacket23]

8 minutes ago, Cville-Raven said:

I gotta be honest I'm not really a Lewis fan. Maybe they keep all of them and move Levine to LB. If they do pick between the two of them though, I would assume Brooks gets cut. 

I don't think anybody is really a Lewis fan.

My problem is I don't see how anybody can be a Brooks or Elam fan at this point. And in particular, at least I partially know what I'm getting from Lewis. Not great play, though probably not horrendous play either. I literally have no clue what kind of player Brooks is, and I certainly don't want to give him the backup job to an oft-injured player who's making a position change to a new role.

[JoeyFlex5]

I don't expect much from either, as one has shown lots of mental lapses and struggles to grasp the pro game in general and the other can't do the most basic fundmanetal aspect, BUT elam being a box safety should be the surest tackler we have, but Brooks is a far better tackler and the coverage and instincts part is a tie between the 2.

Honestly I prefer Levine by a mile.

[JoeyFlex5]

42 minutes ago, Boddiebroadus said:

Keep both drop Levine and Lewis 

Levine and Lewis are both far superior to either of them 

[Boddiebroadus]

6 minutes ago, JoeyFlex5 said:

Levine and Lewis are both far superior to either of them 

Even though it was a small sample size from what I seen in preseason I'd rather have both Elam and brooks. With Lewis on the bottom of the list 

[allblackraven]

What is the assumption here? Are they taking the 5th safety spot? If so, I have them both in, alongside Weddle, Webb and Levine. Lewis out. I then see Brooks at some stage pushing Webb out of the starting FS spot.

[RayRocks]

Agree on cutting Lewis, keeping both Elam and Brooks.

We've had years where our top safety was a 6th round rookie (Landry), so I don't think a 1st and 3rd round pick as backups to Webb and Weddle is that bad.  Plus, more than likely Levine would actually be the direct backup safety in the event that Webb or Weddle gets injured.

[K-Dog]

Since I have next to nothing to go on, I am gonna say Elam.

Seems like a decent guy.

*shrugs* 

[Newsome is Awesome]

Of the two, I'd keep Brooks.  Not certain of Brook's upside, but have seen quite enough of Elam.  If Lewis is also eligible for final safety cut, it might be close between Elam and Lewis, still would let Elam go and not think twice about it.

[BmoreBird22]

4 hours ago, allblackraven said:

What is the assumption here? Are they taking the 5th safety spot? If so, I have them both in, alongside Weddle, Webb and Levine. Lewis out. I then see Brooks at some stage pushing Webb out of the starting FS spot.

Has to even make the roster and it looks like he is squarely the fifth safety (not including Levine)

[52liveforever]

Brooks. B.c he can lay wood.

[Ravensfan23]

34 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

Has to even make the roster and it looks like he is squarely the fifth safety (not including Levine)

I don't think anything is squarely right now. Lewis not being a practice is a huge opportunity for Brooks and it seems like he's taking full advantage of it. Brooks started the season as the 3rd FS because both Webb and Lewis finished the season in front of him last season. However over the last week leading up to the preseason game Brooks started getting more and more 2nd team reps with Elam. Now with Lewis out he's getting all the 2nd team reps and the pair of Elam and Brooks are actually getting first team reps as well. Obviously Weddle and Webb are firmly entrenched as the 1st team guys but I think the Ravens want to see just how Elam and Brooks looks with the 1s. If Lewis doesn't return to practice tomorrow, I doubt he'll play in Indy and that means Brooks will have nearly the entire game to again stake his claim to be the backup FS to Webb. 

I honestly don't think the decision will come down to Elam and Brooks. I think It's Brooks vs Lewis and I think that even if Lewis was healthy Brooks may have very well leapfrogged him in practice this week. 

[Ravensfan23]

20 minutes ago, 52liveforever said:

Brooks. B.c he can lay wood.

He's also the best coverage guy of the reserve Safeties imo. He's a really good blitzer and it seems Pees wants to add his DBs to the blitz packages more this year. 

[hawkprey]

Is it crazy to think we could have 5 safeties and only 5 corners? Would Webb really be worse as a CB than Maurice Canady or whoever the 6th seed would be?

[RayRocks]

35 minutes ago, hawkprey said:

Is it crazy to think we could have 5 safeties and only 5 corners? Would Webb really be worse as a CB than Maurice Canady or whoever the 6th seed would be?

Well, the plan is for Webb to be the starting safety, so I don't think he'll operate at a corner in any capacity unless it's an emergency.  I could see him moving up in to a nickel or dime role to cover a slot receiver, but I think his days as an outside corner are pretty much done.

However, I don't think the idea of 5 corners is completely crazy, given that BOTH Webb and Levine have experience there and could fill those roles in a pinch.  I just don't see the team feeling comfortable with only 5 corners based on the fact that we had so many injuries there the past 2 seasons.

[allblackraven]

1 hour ago, hawkprey said:

Is it crazy to think we could have 5 safeties and only 5 corners? Would Webb really be worse as a CB than Maurice Canady or whoever the 6th seed would be?

I think we'll have 5 regardless and 6 corners.

[Davesta]

Isn't Elam gone anyways after this year? Can't imagine we resigning him when he's pretty much a backup this year. I would keep brooks. One more year after this upcoming season, with Webb and weddle getting older. I don't see us holding on to Webb for too long at his pay, unless he REALLY balls out. 

[JoeyFlex5]

Where is everyone getting this praise for Brooks? I get it he's a fan favorite, but he's given us nothing but exactly ONE big hit in the regular season and has been wildly inconsistent and unreliable in every role we've asked him to play when he's been healthy. the bias is real. If we wanna be honest, Elam has shown us more, because regardless of his 2nd season his rookie year gave us double the production brooks has given us his whole time here. 

[BmoreBird22]

9 hours ago, Ravensfan23 said:

I honestly don't think the decision will come down to Elam and Brooks. I think It's Brooks vs Lewis and I think that even if Lewis was healthy Brooks may have very well leapfrogged him in practice this week. 

This is about the only way that Brooks is going to get in. Brooks has got to show more in a game, though. He always seems a step late and just seems to not have the best deep awareness. He is certainly the best athlete back there, but if that game doesn't slow down for him, he won't be getting playing time.