Tim Graham: YBell was most efficient Safety in the NFL

I liked Bell last year. He's a strong safety who's a great tackler. He has soft hands so he can catch. A ball hawking Free Safety would only have helped him because he'd have had more opportunities to tackle RB's.

 

I never understood the knocks on Bell. He makes plays, runs down very fast Wrs and Rbs, and can hit. A knock is being injury prone. But the guys a baller.

 

All it took was to watch the games last year and see Bell was solid. I never understood the knocks either. He even had a few picks last season, something he's not known for.

 

Yeah, he's much faster than many people give him credit for. A very nice quality to have in a SS. In fact, I think he saved a few TDs last year due to his speed.

 

It's too bad that he is already on the wrong side of 30. He still has several years in him though if he can stay healthy. Love that guy though, he is definately a player.

 

I believe it.

 

We get a good FS playing with him, he'll be a fan favorite again.

 

Bell should have a lot of years ahead of him to take opponents to the turf if he stays healthy... he didn't enter college immediately and came to the NFL at 25.

Bell consistently and quietly makes a ton of plays, not the most nationally recognized player but very valuable. Awesome to see how the tackles stats break down so much in his favor.

 

Good validation to something I kept telling you guys all along.

You guys who were going on about how we should cut Y. Bell and retain Gibril Wilson ought to have your heads examined.

 

move Bell to linebacker!

 

Respect the bullfrog son..

 

Being the "most efficient" tackler at S is not the same as being the "most efficient" S in the NFL. Being an efficient tackler is a great thing, but it is not the whole thing at all.

I'm thinking misses have to be subjective too (a bit like drops), because I saw Bell miss a tackle on Tony Gonzales near the right flat in week 1 that Gonzo took for a TD. I'm a bit skeptical that that was the only miss all season.

 

Thats about as crazy as moving Zach Thomas to Saftey.

 

Plus playing with Rookie CB's and a poor partner at Safety I'm sure the field looked awfully big last year to Bell.

 

He basically is a miniature linebacker with man coverage responsibilities, which gives me hope since Culver can cover a zone well and is a solid bet to be the starter at FS.

 

The question is, did you see a second one?

 

There were lots of missed tackles, at times, I don't know who the culprits were. I specifically remember that one because it went for a TD.

 

What makes you draw this conclusion? Our players and coaches have said numerous times that we are a base Quarters team, and that we also run a little of everything. We played more zone than we did man last year.

I like Culver, but I think he's already playing in his best role with us as a special teams player and Nickel / Dime type of guy.

 

...Don't even try that. Our tackling was very poor last year in general.

 

Coach, you don't see Culver starting for us at FS at all?

 

We deviated plenty of times and that scheme is gone. Bell had man responsibilities at times especially against better TEs.

I can't see why Culver can't play FS. He was the best coverage safety we had period last year and both stats wise as well as what you could see from game tape I was impressed.

 

So you have Bell for one and they have Bell for one. That is the only missed tackle I remember that I know for sure was Bell's.

Does someone have a second one?

 

Don't even try asking for more evidence?

Doesn't mean everyone's tackling was poor.

I remember that miss tackle of Bell's. Unless someone can point to a 2nd missed tackle, then as of right now the PFF is accurate.

Just because you remember the tackle he missed does not mean he has more.

 

Yeremiah had one missed tackle in the 2009-2010 season, according to PFF. In the 08-09 season he had 8.

The people who need to have their heads examinded because they wanted to release Bell instead of Wilson are the same people who thought Bell had a 14 million dollar roster bonus coming up. Also, we knew Wilson could replace Bell's production, considering he has better seasons than him at SS.

Really, there isn't a difference between the two. Both are the same to me, but I give the slight edge to Bell considering he is a better tackler.

 

Yeah I don't think Bell has the softest hands but the dude can tackle and is one of the best in the league chasing people down from behind. He has been solid for us and I'm anxious to see how Nolan uses him.

 

I remember Bell getting toasted by TE's in passing plays a lot last year. Im pretty sure no one would knock Bell for his tackling abilities though.

 

I'm sure you mean you wanted Clark to replace Wilson.

 

I think rankings like this have value but cant be trusted in a vacuum. For instance I agree with Stitches that missed tackles is probably a bit subjective and that doesn't account for the percentage of plays that he made the right read. For instance someone could be a tackling machine but if he was consistently making bad reads where he was not even in position to make the tackle then while he wouldn't go down as having a negative play for this stat breakdown, in reality it was still a bad play.

What this tells us is that when Bell was in position to make a tackle he made it at a higher percentage then all or at least most safeties in the NFL. Which is a very interesting and valid stat, but it dosnt tell us how effective he was overall as a safety.

That being said I am a Bell fan and am very glad he was retained while Wilson was let go. My only complaint with Bell over the years has been his lack of ball skills and injury history.

The only reason I wrote this post at all is that rankings like these kinda irritate me because most of the people who do these rankings bill them as the end all of player evaluation and the fact is that nothing tops film study. In this case though it back up my impression of Bell from watching him play which is pretty much the what these things are useful for. Something to gauge your impression of a player against.

 

How about the tackles he missed because he was out of position?

What I mean is he missed his assignment and should have been in a spot he wasn't?

Because that happened a ton on this team late in the game.

 

Exactly. I watched all the games but am not good enough at breaking down film to answer that question.... But I would say its significant that he still has a job while the highly paid current FO's answer at the position was let go after just one year. Even though Wilson was younger and with less injury history.

Its also worth noting that Bell has been talked about in the past as a guy who knew the defensive assignments well and had a lot to do with trying to get our secondary lined up properly. He has never had the rep of a guy who blows a lot of assignments and constantly gets out of position. From time to time I'm sure he does but for the most part I am comfortable with him back there.

Its also worth pointing out that he has the right attitude. Dude worked a in a steel mill for 2 years before walking on at school and has had to fight for everything he has gotten. For me at least its really hard to not like the guy.

 

I agree 100%. The title of this thread is misleading, done perhaps to support the premise the OP wants to convey

 

Between Culver or Clemons starting for us this year, my money would be on Culver.

 

Re: Tim Graham:YBell was most efficient Safety in the NFL

And he was always at least a yard behind them. Bell may have great straight line speed for a SS (I remember him running down Welker last season after he let Welker run straight by him for some reason) but his coverage skills overall are pretty poor. He also has terrible hands.
I think he's a very good in the box safety but last season he was poor.
Maybe a combination of rookie CB's and a terrible partner next to him but Bell can't be absolved of the general crapness of our defence last season.

 

Agreed although I will say that he was always gets the toughest match-ups as opposed to the LBs who couldn't cover Mt. Cody if he played WR.

 

injury prone ? he missed 18 games with 15 1/2 comin in one year because he ruptured his achilles, but he has played 16 games 4 times, 13 games once and then the achilles year, he is pretty durable i would say

 

I was surprised at his speed as he caught up with skill position players from behind on some occasions.

 

ill never forget him running down deangelo williams and basically saving the game (we ended that drive with a nate jones int) i was at the game....that was incredible. D-Will is fast as ****!

 

He also ran down Jamaal Charles of the Chiefs a couple of seasons ago (the freezer game) but it didn't save a touchdown as I think the Chiefs still managed to score that drive. Hell of a play though as I'd argue Charles is actually faster than Williams.