2014 NFL Draft: Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix Scouting Report

By Casey Conroy on Wednesday, April 9th 2014
2014 NFL Draft: Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix Scouting Report

Position: Safety

School: Alabama

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 208 pounds

 

Strengths

Coverage: Clinton-Dix is outstanding in coverage. He can move sideline to sideline and isn’t often fooled by quarterback’s eyes.  Clinton-Dix is in prime position to disrupt passes and change games. He sometimes gets caught hitting receivers before the ball gets there, and not turning his head to the ball on jump balls, but these are minor problems that can be fixed. Clinton-Dix is everything you’d want in a coverage safety.

Size: At 6’1”, 208 pounds, Clinton-Dix is perfect size for an NFL safety. He has the size to compete with receivers on the boundary, and tight ends over the middle. He has long arms that will easily allow him to bat away jump balls from receivers that may be taller or have a better vertical.

Tackling: Clinton-Dix is an aggressive, hard hitting safety who isn’t afraid to dish out a big hit, or play in the box. He has the size and ability to drop the shoulder and put someone down, but he’s also smart and keeps his big hits legal by not leading with his head. When not putting people down the hard way, he’s making solid tackles, wrapping up ball carriers and ending plays.

 

Weaknesses

School: It’s typically foolish to call a school a weakness, but in recent years there has been a serious trend with Alabama players. They appear to be maxed out, and already at the top of their game, and this is a problem. Alabama players are great players, but nearly all have struggled to succeed in the NFL.

Run Support: This isn’t a big problem, in fact at this point it’s more nitpicky than anything. Clinton-Dix is really only 50/50 when he comes up to play the run. He reacts well and quickly on run plays, but can find himself out of place. He’ll step into a hole to block the running back, but it’ll often be the wrong one. As a free safety, he hopefully won’t have to be the run defense’s savior, but it’d be nice if he could be the savior.

 

NFL Comparison, Devin McCourty, New England Patriots

Both players have the range and ability to upgrade a defense. McCourty has been incredible for the Patriots since his move to safety, and although Clinton-Dix won’t be switching positions, he doesn’t have a ton of starts under his belt and could take time to grow. Clinton-Dix will step in and shore up a secondary’s struggles.

 

Draft Outlook

Clinton-Dix is seen by many as the top safety in this draft class, and he’ll be selected like that. Safeties aren’t typically selected super high, few in the top 10, so he’s likely to be picked in the 10-15 range, but he’s almost assuredly going to be a first round pick. As the NFL becomes more and more of a passing league, better and better safeties are needed.

 

Best Fits

Two NFC North teams that will be selecting in his range that both desperately need safety help are the Detroit Lions, and the Green Bay Packers. Both teams would be seen as the high and lows of his range, 10-21, so more than likely the Packers would have to move up for him. Detroit cut Louis Delmas and they need help against the passing weapons that the NFC North has. The Packers need help with many parts of their defense, but safety is the biggest, plugging that hole could give the Packers a nice pass defense.

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