It’s far too early to say whether the new-look safety room for the Cincinnati Bengals can eventually surpass the one from the last few seasons.
But the new safety room does have one big thing going for it — the starters and immediate depth are super athletic.
Vonn Bell and Jessie Bates are both gone, with Dax Hill and Nick Scott the new starters. The former is the first-round pick from last year, the latter is the new arrival this week from free agency.
It’s fun to step back in the immediate aftermath and look at what the Bengals are trying to do in terms of athleticism at the position.
Using Relative Athletic Scores from Kent Lee Platte, here’s a look at Scott’s athletic profile:
With pick 243 in the 2019 NFL Draft, the #Rams select Nick Scott, FS, Penn State.
Nick Scott posted a Elite #RAS with Poor size, Elite speed, Elite explosiveness, Good agility at the FS position. pic.twitter.com/0E9Suqy3W3
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 27, 2019
The average free safety RAS score? Roughly 5.23.
Now check Hill’s scores from last year:
Daxton Hill was drafted with pick 31 of round 1 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.06 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 83 out of 868 FS from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/slJpeVswjm #RAS #Bengals pic.twitter.com/5xbNTiE8kO
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 29, 2022
Now, try not to forget the immediate depth provided by sophomore Tycen Anderson, too:
Tycen Anderson was drafted with pick 166 of round 5 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.49 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 45 out of 864 FS from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/azwgNFTjgs #RAS pic.twitter.com/RGEhjGSTJE
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) February 27, 2023
Bates and Bell? They had RAS scores of 7.2 or less.
This is just one way of viewing Cincinnati’s revamped safety room. But given the work of the last couple of years, it’s blatantly clear defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has a type and the hope is versatile, super-athletic guys can keep things rolling.
