Dallas Cowboys Draft: 7 Rounds of 7 Safeties

2nd Round

Hamsah Nasirildeen, Florida State

Value: Reach

I bet you were expecting Richie Grant. Unfortunately, he kept getting selected four to five picks earlier. SOOOO…

The Florida State safety has had an incredibly productive four-year career totaling 233 total tackles, 133 solo tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack, four interceptions, and nine pass deflections. At 6-foot-3, 213 pounds, Nasirildeen has the build of a box safety and the production of a free safety.

Nasirildeen displays solid athletic ability displaying good foot speed, solid acceleration, solid play strength, and solid change of direction. However, he does display adequate explosiveness which is important at his size.

The Seminole displays solid instincts in the deep 1/3 and deep 1/2 of the field. He has an adequate understanding of route patterns but displays solid range to overlap routes because of his solid acceleration and good foot speed that allows him to transition quickly towards the ball even if he is delayed in reacting to routes in his zone.

Nasirildeen will get beat because his instincts keying the QB are inconsistent and allows routes to go behind him Throw in his adequate explosiveness at his size, he will struggle to consistently win in the back end if he has to cover deep 1/3rd and deep 1/2 of the field.

Where the senior will likely be most effective as a professional is in the box. He displays good size and strength to tackle ball carriers near the line of scrimmage in the alley and possesses good competitive toughness to take on blocks from wide receivers and tight ends. Word is he could gain some weight and be a linebacker, but the versatility he provides now could actually be of greater value for a lot of teams in a passing league.

When coverage hook and flat zones, he displays solid instincts matching receivers that enter the zone and solid mental processing to key the QB. Unfortunately, his adequate explosiveness leads to adequate short-area quickness which means QBs can beat him on holeshots in Cover 2 and Cover 3.

Nasirildeen has one of the more intriguing skill sets in the class and has the potential to be a top player. Unfortunately, given his injury history and film thus far, it feels like a reach to draft him within the top 50.