Welcome Jaylen Watkins

[Bolt-O]

The FA safeties are in a tough spot. Teams are looking for "frees", and are valuing slot corners higher than SS. Fleet is right, probably none of these guys will sign, or if one does, they might go quickly, before the draft. I don't know if Watkins is a true replacement for Boston, but the Eagles were willing to just let him go. The evaluation of Boston of being a SS is pretty obvious, and it seems that Boston probably won't be crawling back to the Chargers anytime soon.

[Sgt Schultz]

Eagles are over the cap and didn't want to pay tender money

[Sgt Schultz]

He has good speed to cover but doesn't sound like he'll be much help against the run

[Heatmiser]

[Formula 21]

[Bearded14YourPleasure]

He doesn’t have the top end speed but he’s still great in coverage, especially zone. He plays faster than he times. He also takes really good angles which helps with his lack of speed and is something Boston doesn’t do.

[Heatmiser]

It was his ball skills, coverage and tackling the Chargers liked. That overcame his measurables (height and speed).

TG

[Formula 21]

[Bearded14YourPleasure]

[Formula 21]

Why does everyone think a FS is more valuable than a slot corner?

[blueman]

Good signing.

[Steve]

Slot guys are up close to the ball. FS is a starting job (whatever that means anymore), but because of where it aligns and how little some teams throw deep, it is not the impact position the nickel LB/ CB position is. They are in a position to make more plays simply because of how close they are to the ball.

If we want King to continue to make as big an impact as last year, then we need to leave him at the slot position. Even though he was in on 3 plays in the opener last season, he was in on around 75% of our defensive snaps for the whole season.

I do think he could be a good FS. Iowa used him in that role some, and he made some plays on the ball. He seemed very natural playing deep and reacting to the ball in the air and the receivers coming out of their breaks. He is around the ball more close to the line and in the short zones, so he has many more chances to make plays.

I think Heatmiser covered the Boston situation. Boston played well last year, but he is not some all pro. We can probably get a similar level of play from a lot of guys. I hope Boston comes to his senses, but this is the 2nd year of this. He thought he was worth a lot last year, and a market didn't develop. LA is a good place for him, both because of our D and the NFL network thing. I think Boston can build on last year, and continue to improve. He is a much better fit for our D than the way many NFL teams use the S interchangeably, which doesn't suit him that well. I would not break the bank to keep the guy, but if he comes back it would be nice.

In a pinch, if we can find another in the box S, then we can move Addae back to play FS. Addae is a decent deep S. he can break on the ball and has the movement skills. The problem with that has always been that he goes for the lights out hit and takes our guys out (either himself or a CB). If we get him to stop trying to destroy people on every tackle, he would be an OK guy at FS. Then it is a matter of letting Jenkins or a rookie start at SS, and there are a lot of SS, in the box type S around. We have options and can stick with simply trying to add the best guy, regardless of position.

Watkins has some experience as a deep S, so moving him and letting him compete at FS is not out of the question. He is not necessarily the guy I want there, but he is not horrible, which is about what I would have said about Boston last year. If he doesn't win the starting job, he is the kinda guy who could be a situational sub. Bring him in place of Addae on obvious passing situations. Addae is an OK coverage guy, ad a good tackler, but he struggles against WR and slot guys. Use Watkins as the sub down SS, or maybe even take the Mike LB off the field and play more quarters coverage on obvious passing downs.

[Formula 21]

Like Caleb SturgisVirgil Green, Brandon Mebane, Russell Okung and Michael Schofield.

[Heatmiser]

And like Sturgis, he did not actually play in the super bowl! Or did he do some special teams? Cannot remember.

tG

[Steve]

NFL.com list him as having played (the G category for game, next to GS for game started), but that may mean he was active for the game and never got on the field. He definitely didn't produce any statistics.

He is being brought in to compete for a roster spot. We are out nothing if he doesn't show anything, or if we bring in a rookie (UDFA/draft pick) and they beat him out. This guy is a decent depth guy, and we don't have any depth in the secondary. We had 7 DB who could play at the start of the season, and when Verrett got hurt, we were down to 6, and we used them all regularly. Now we have a little depth.