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Written by Alen1

Who Are They & Where Do They Fit In?

Tony Sparano and company went through there second draft as part of the Miami Dolphins organization and left some fans scratching there heads over there selections. Who expected the organization to take Vontae Davis of Illinois, a prospect that wasn’t on the radar much for fans going into the draft. Other head-scratches include Pat White of West Virginia who was selected with the first pick in the second round and was considered by most as a “luxury pick”. Another prospect was Ohio State’s Brian Hartline who was selected in the fourth but wasn’t expected to go any time before the sixth according to some draftniks. With all that said, I hope I can shed some light on these players and how they will fit in with there new teams.

Illinois cornerback Vontae Davis was selected twenty-fifth overall by the Miami Dolphins in April’s draft. Davis was a highly regarded player during his time at Illinois as he made game changing plays and was a superior player than his opposition. Vontae is at his best when sitting back and attack the ball downhill in zone coverage. The reason for his success when attacking downhill is because of his good ball skills. Davis does a good job of recognizing routes and jumping them. One of my question marks in pass coverage with him is if he can play man to man coverage down field. I realize that Davis ran a 4.49 forty yard dash at the combine on a slower turf than the RCA Dome’s but when I watch him on tape, I fail to see him staying in the hip pocket of the wide receiver down field consistently. He displays quick hips when changing directions but appears to be faster in shorts than on the field. Despite his lack of ability to play man to man coverage consistently, Davis has good recovery speed and can be a big time player if put in the right scheme that fits his strengths, which is why I’m led to believe that is the reason the Dolphins selected him at twenty-five.

In the Quarters coverage, it is basically a zone coverage, varying from cover 2, cover 3 and cover 4. In zone coverage, Davis will be asked to sit back and make plays on the ball going downhill, the aforementioned strength of his game. He will be asked to cover post and fade routes, which is something that will require him to stay in the hip pocket of wide receivers; and as you will notice, I listed earlier that as one of my concerns and issues with Davis. While that is a concern of mine, it only pertains to him playing man to man coverage, meaning starting at the line of scrimmage and running down field with the opposition and in the zone coverage, that won’t be an issue because the play will be in front of him and he will be able to recover to the wide receiver if he is beaten. With the pass coverage strengths addressed, one has to wonder what are the weaknesses in Davis’ game that can be exposed in the Quarters coverage. The biggest thing that stands out to me with Davis is that he has blown coverage quite a bit during his time at Illinois and that’s an issue because wide receivers that he’s covering will likely run a double move at one point during the game and that is something that gives fits to Davis from time to time.

One of the best characteristics of Davis’ game that is pointed out is his aggressive play in run support. Davis is indeed an aggressive player against the run. He does a good job of wrapping up when tackling, he can lay the wood and is very willing. While he is a good player in run support, Davis will have games where he’s a dominate player, making plays on the ball and in run support, and then games where he will turn off the motor completely. He will start jogging around the ball carrier or will not be a willing player. That’s something that I loathe to be quite honest but is likely not to be a major issue as far as him doing his job on the field. What I mean by that is in the Quarters coverage, the cornerback is not asked to play much run support; actually very little. The cornerback, in this case being Vontae Davis, is likely to be the last defender to make the tackle.