The Buffalo Bills toyed around with the idea of moving strong safety Donte Whitner to free safety. In the end the Bills did the right thing by not moving Whitner.
The Bills solved their dilemma by selecting cornerback Jairus Byrd in the second round of this past April’s National Football League Draft who will be moved over to the free safety position.
The problem in the first place was that last year’s starter Ko Simpson did not create any turnovers as he has had no interceptions in the last two seasons.
What also prompted the idea is that when it comes to the Bills passing coverage the two positions are the same as the Bills play a cover two defense.
That means both the free and strong safety are both playing really deep, with each covering half the field, in order to prevent any wide receivers or tight ends running deep routes from catching the ball and gaining large chunks of yards.
As much they are the same the fact is the two positions are still different as the strong safety is responsible for helping to stop a ball carrier on running play close to the line of scrimmage as possible by flying up from his deep position.
The free safety on the other hand stays back as a safety valve to prevent the ball carrier going all the way to the endzone.
The Bills were smart to take Byrd and leave Whitner where he is because veteran players get into habits and certain ways of playing, which is much harder to break.
A rookie on the other hand is more open minded as they are new to the league and will do whatever it takes to get into the starting lineup
In the end the Bills defense should be better for going this route.
