Gibril Wilson: The next SS headed to the bench?
In an earlier blog post, I briefly touched on the trend toward interchangeable safeties taking hold in the NFL. With the increase in multiple wide receiver sets and athletic, pass-catching tight ends, defensive coordinators are scrambling to find safeties with two-way skills. The traditional, in-the-box safety is becoming a rarer find with each passing season. Big name safeties that struggle in coverage are finding themselves inactive or relegated to special teams duty on game days, as Adam Archuleta, Michael Lewis and Michael Boulware learned in 2006.
The New York Giants may make Gibril Wilson next on the list. Wilson, a fifth round pick in 2004, exploded onto the NFL landscape early in his rookie year after Shaun Williams suffered a season ending knee injury. Wilson played big in run support and had a knack for the big play, producing three sacks and three interceptions in parts of eight games as a rookie. Over the past three seasons, however, opposing teams have been able to take advantage of Wilson’s inconsistent play in coverage and there were rumblings this offseason that the Giant front office was souring on Wilson as a long term option at safety. Though they tendered Wilson with a second round compensation in RFA this year, there has been no mention of signing him to a long term extension.
So it wasn’t too shocking this weekend when the Giants opened camp with James Butler as the first team strong safety. Butler, a college free agent signee from 2005 who went undrafted despite an impressive collegiate resume, was impressive as a rookie but fell behind after a kidney problem cost him much of the 2006 offseason. The more interesting development is that Wilson was moved to FS, with last year’s starter Will Demps demoted to the second team.
There are a number of ways to look at this from Wilson’s perspective. First, it may be that this is the beginning of the end. Demps struggled early in 2006 as he got his legs back after a 2005 ACL injury, but had a very impressive second half in the boxscores. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Demps back in the starting lineup if he shows he can be consistently capable in run support and coverage. Or it may be that new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo sees Butler and Wilson as his Michael Lewis and Brian Dawkins. Wilson’s big play history parallels that of Dawkins in many ways and the move may be a sign that Wilson may have a similar key role in 2007.
For now, Wilson’s IDP owners should keep a close eye on the situation and hope that Wilson doesn’t follow in the footsteps of his 2006 NFC East counterparts, Archuleta and Lewis.
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