Ha’Sean Clinton-Dix 2014 NFL Draft scouting report

There’s a bit of a supply and demand issue in the NFL.

Teams want safeties who are capable of playing in single high coverage but also have the balance to move into the box and make an impact in the running game. What Earl Thomas has done for the Seahawks has the rest of the league envying Seattle and hoping to find a similar player.

As a result, he comes to the NFL prepared to take on an NFL playbook and also has the athletic upside to grow into a dominant playmaker in the secondary. He’s not without his flaws, but Clinton-Dix has a ton of tools that will keep NFL teams interested.

Ball skills

Clinton-Dix flashes excellent ball skills at times. He’s able to leap and high-point the football with ease. The only issue Clinton-Dix has at times is being too aggressive. If he anticipated a bit better, his ball skills would come in handy more often. As it is, he’s built to play the safety position and looks natural when attacking the football in the air. Clinton-Dix is physical at the catch point, using his long arms to get a hand in to break up passes.

Coverage ability

Nick Saban trusted Clinton-Dix with a lot responsibility in coverage during his career at Alabama, and for the most part, the long, athletic safety rewarded his faith. Clinton-Dix has the change-of-direction skills and fluid hips to cover a ton of ground in the secondary. He’s also fast enough to play deep middle and get to passes on the sideline. Clinton-Dix wasn’t often asked to play man-to-man coverage and didn’t appear to be too comfortable in those situations. Still, his length and hip quickness make him a capable cover man over the middle of the field. He also has the size to hang with tight ends at the next level.

Instincts/recognition

This is an area Clinton-Dix will need to improve on at the next level. When Clinton-Dix struggles, it’s often because he’s a step late in recognizing what receivers are doing in the passing game. His eyes tend to get caught in the backfield when he’s in coverage, while he’s athletic enough to make up for his lack of elite recognition skills.

On the flip side, Clinton-Dix shows better instincts in the running game. He has a better feel for recognizing whether a play will be a run or pass than he does for what route concepts are being run by the offense. Those recognition skills help make him a balanced safety who can play in the box.

Run support

Given his size and physicality in the passing game, it should come as no surprise that Clinton-Dix is solid in run support as well. He doesn’t hesitate to take on ball carriers in the open field. The most impressive part of Clinton-Dix’s run defense is how quickly he gets to the line of scrimmage and identifies the angle he should take on the running back.

An occasional issue that comes up in Clinton-Dix’s game is him lowering his head when he goes to make a tackle. It can lead to missed tackles for him and makes him a lot easier to avoid in the open field. For the most part, Clinton-Dix shows solid fundamentals when tackling. Like most areas of his game, it’s about being consistent.

Player comparison: Eric Berry, Kansas City Chiefs

Eric Berry and Clinton-Dix are both similar in size and skill set at the safety position. Both rely on their speed and range in coverage to make plays in the passing game. Berry probably had better instincts coming out of Tennessee than Clinton-Dix has, but the two are very similar athletically. Clinton-Dix could develop into a similar level player as Berry.

Final word

Clinton-Dix is a balanced player with the room to grow into a special safety in the NFL. Teams are looking for big safeties who can run and hit like Clinton-Dix can. No other safety in this class demonstrates as much balance at the position and few are as athletically gifted. Clinton-Dix is one of the top 10 players in this class and could be drafted as such in May.