Dallas Cowboys Draft: 7 Rounds of 7 Safeties

5th Round

Joshuah Bledsoe, Missouri

Value: Slight Reach

Gillespie’s fellow teammate, Joshuah Bledsoe makes an appearance on this list. He is the Yang to Gillespie’s Yin, the box defender to Gillespie, who often played as a free safety. Bledsoe is roughly the same size as Gillespie but plays the game with a different level of physicality and intellect.

The draw with Gillespie was his single-high safety ability; Bledsoe will make his money playing near the line of scrimmage and in man coverage against slot receivers and tight ends. He displays good athletic ability with good lateral quickness, solid acceleration, solid foot speed, and good explosiveness.

His play strength and good physical toughness help him consistently take on blocks in the alley and he displays the ability to disengage from blockers in order to tackle ball carriers. He also shows consistent tackling technique and pursuit angles.

He is solid in man coverage displaying the ability to consistently mirror WRs and TEs footwork at the line of scrimmage and through the route stem. He can struggle to play press coverage as his body control is hit or miss as contact through the stem can leave him losing leverage in the route stem.

Much like his former safety partner, he doesn’t display much ball skills with only one interception to his name. He displays good effort and solid transition quickness to get in a position to knock the ball, he just doesn’t have the hands to pull in catches.

Bledsoe could provide a nice nickel option for the Cowboys if they feel their nickel cornerback situation isn’t secure, but Bledsoe’s lack of range in deep 1/2 and deep 1/3rd of the field would likely leave him in weird situations if he were the long safety in the backfield with young cornerbacks.

How much can the Cowboys value a box safety when they already have two on their 53 man roster?