Defensive backs should never be the focus of your IDP fantasy football team but they're still important and small advantages add up. Here we'll take a look at some of the ball hawks who project as second-year studs and help you avoid those second-year duds in the secondary.
Johnathan Cyprien, Jacksonville
Cyprien was a consensus top two rookie safety a year ago preseason. I have to give our staff credit for correctly predicting he would be more productive than fellow rookie Kenny Vaccaro. This season Cyprien could be even better.
The Jaguars defense is patterned almost identically after the Seattle unit that just won the Super Bowl. In Seattle Pete Carroll uses his long athletic corners to play a man-cover 3 combo coverage along with the free safety Earl Thomas. This allows strong safety Kam Chancellor to roam extremely close to the line of scrimmage often and make plays in the running game as well as when opponents attempt to pass.
Cyprien is Jacksonville's Kam Chancellor and he'll be a stud in the role this year.
As a rookie Cyprien impressed immediately with his blend of speed and physicality. With a full season of starting experience under his belt I expect him to be more comfortable with all the little things safeties are asked to do.
A year of NFL experience will translate to him being positioned more effectively pre-snap and should allow him to diagnosis plays faster than a year ago. I also expect the Jags coaching staff to use Cyprien as more of a weapon around the line of scrimmage than in 2013.
If early preseason action is any indication, that's the plan. Cyprien should be a stud performer in year two for your IDP fantasy football team. Last year he was right at the top of the DB2 heap. Expect DB1 numbers this season.
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