2013 NFL Draft all-overrated team: Eric Reid, Phillip Thomas overvalued safeties

Between now and April 25, we will be unveiling our All-Underrated and All-Overrated teams for the 2013 NFL Draft. Each team will be revealed position by position with a first-team selection, second-team selection and honorable mentions as we see fit. We continue with the all-overrated safeties.

by Matthew Fairburn

Apr 22, 2013, 5:00 PM UTC

Streeter Lecka

Part Of

2013 NFL Draft all-overrated team

see all updates

After a down year for safeties in the 2012 NFL Draft, the 2013 class seems to be stronger at the position, and a handful of players could come off the board in the top 50 picks.

Kenny Vaccaro and John Cyprien have been getting most of the attention at the top of the class and are likely first rounds picks. After that, four or five safeties are lumped into a second tier and could come off the board anywhere from the end of the first round through the second round.

To wrap up the all-overrated team for the 2013 NFL Draft, we take a look at the safeties.

First team: Eric Reid, LSU

While Vaccaro and Cyprien are considered to be the top two safeties in this class by most people, there is quite a bit of uncertainty after that. Some have pegged LSU’s Eric Reid as the next guy off the board and a late first round pick. Reid flashes on the field due to his aggressive style, but that may be what hurts him in the NFL. Both in the running game and the passing game he gets too anxious to make a big play and leaves himself open to allowing one on the other end. In and of itself the aggressiveness isn’t a fatal flaw, but combined with his lack of recovery speed, it drops Reid down a notch.

Second team: Phillip Thomas, Fresno State

Phillip Thomas is a Reggie Nelson-type safety who flies around the football field and has the ball skills to be a tough free safety to beat. But he lacks the ability to make plays in the running game on a consistent basis due to his poor tackling technique and lack of size. He’s more of a third round pick that could be over-drafted because of the athleticism he flashes in the secondary.