Washington Redskins draftee Su’a Cravens hasn’t yet played a snap in the NFL, but he’s already drawn a few comparisons to Sean Taylor, the hard-hitting safety that once roamed the Washington backfield. It’s obvious that Cravens is very talented, but can he really be expected to be as elite a ball-player as No. 21 was?
Photo credit: Ralph Cheung, Dailytrojan.com
One thing is certain; there will never, ever be another Sean Taylor, and D.C. football fans will be the first ones to tell you that. For the three short seasons that he spent in Washington before his tragic murder in 2007, Sean was one of the best safeties in the game (to be honest, he was just beginning to reach his golden years by the time the 2007 season rolled around).
Taylor played with such a violent, enforcing nature and the man put fear in the hearts of every football player who lined up across from him. The 2-time Pro Bowl safety was a big man for his position, who had tremendous range and a nose for the football that few in the entire league could match.
His pure instincts and playmaking ability aren’t like anything we have ever seen; he had a nose for the football and found his way around it often. In his three seasons in the NFL he recorded 299 tackles, forced eight fumbles and while he only had two sacks, he knocked a number of tailbacks senseless as well. He also managed to find the endzone twice in his career.
Sean Taylor made so many memorable plays in such a short span of time, some of which we may never forget like this one.
Taylor was so influential that so many of today’s players, rookies and veterans alike, have gone on the record saying they not only loved the guy but have modeled their style of play after him. Cravens is no different.
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The Los Angeles native said he “idolized” the former Redskins safety growing up, and we can guess for ourselves why Cravens chose the number 21 (Taylor wore it during his final 2 seasons).
The Redskins have even announced that Cravens will be wearing the number 36 jersey that Sean wore his rookie year in the league, so this is actually a pretty big deal.
Observing Cravens, he compares almost identically with Taylor in several ways. The former Trojan measures in at 6 feet and 1 inch tall and 226 pounds compared to 6 feet, 3 inches tall and 220 pounds for the former Redskin.
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When it comes to how he plays on the field, Cravens is a phenomenal talent. Looking at his film, several things immediately stand out, and one thing is that he has a knack for making game-changing plays. The young man finished his career at USC with 34 tackles for a loss (199 for his career), 10.5 sacks (5.5 came during his last season), nine picks and forced four fumbles.
Even more impressive than his big-play potential is how he got it done. Cravens entered college and started out as a safety, but he gained some weight and moved down inside the box to play outside “will” linebacker. It paid dividends for USC as he was great at covering the bigger-bodied tight ends and could also stick his head in to play defense against the run.
It did even more for Cravens as he makes his transition to the big leagues. In today’s NFL we’ve watched the evolution of the safety position (mainly the strong safety spot) as big, heavy hitters who can come in the box and play linebacker in dime defenses. In many ways it started with guys like Sean Taylor, and its continued today with guys like Kam Chancellor in Seattle, Eric Reid in San Francisco and especially Deone Bucannon in Arizona.
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Bucannon is a very unique situation, because he actually is designated as a linebacker after playing safety all through college. He made the transition beautifully in 2015 when he registered 112 tackles, three sacks and an interception, and he brought a new dimension to Zona’s defense; he can take away underneath threats as well as big tight ends that come over the middle. The way the Cards used him is more closely related to the schemes in which Washington might use Cravens.
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Then there is that defense in which Cravens is going to. For starters, he’ll be reunited with the man who recruited him out of high school in Joe Barry, so it’s a possibility he’ll have familiarity with the system he’s in.
If that’s not enough, think about this: The Redskins’ defense, with the personnel they have, has the opportunity to be better than any of the squads Taylor had with him.
Cravens could very well be the final piece to the puzzle that is Washington’s vastly-improved secondary, which now includes the elite corner in Josh Norman that Washington has not had since the Champ Bailey days. As for the pass rush, it’s a “pick your poison” situation with the edge-rushers Ryan Kerrigan, Preston Smith and Junior Gallette, who figure to give the Redskins a host of plays to dream up, and interior linemen Chris Baker and Ricky Jean-Francois give them some quality play and pass rush in the middle as well.
The sky is the limit for this defense, but especially for Cravens. The Redskins believed in him enough to draft him and bless him with Taylor’s number (even if it wasn’t No. 21), and the fans are extremely excited about him, so now it’s up to him to make things happen in 2016.