01 March 2007

A Safety for the 2007 NFL Draft


Sabby Piscitelli, Safety, 6’ 2” 224 lbs. Oregon State



Today I want to highlight an extremely under-rated prospect for the 2007 NFL Draft. Sabby Piscitelli might have a weird name, but he has emerged as an elite Pro Prospect. Safety LaRon Landry from LSU seems to be getting all the publicity recently, but I think Piscitelli actually had a better over all NFL Combine performance. While playing at Oregon State he has shown to be one of the best safety prospects in the nation, this past season he recorded 75 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 11 pass breakups and 5 interceptions. He has been a very durable player, playing in 47 consecutive games and has made 34 straight starts. Over his illustrious career, he has recorded 15 interceptions, 188 tackles and 28 pass breakups. Selected to the Pac-10's All-Conference first team last year, Piscitelli has also played corner back so he is good in pass coverage as well as being a huge, hard hitting tackler.

If you watched the 2007 NFL Combine on the NFL Network, then you had to notice Piscitelli. He is a physical marvel, 6’ 2” 224 pounds and not an ounce of fat on him. His 40 yard dash time of 4.46 seconds was spectacular for a man his size. Even though he appears muscle bound, he is very flexible and can start and stop on a dime. He clocked a time of 11.42 seconds in the 60 yard shuttle and his 3-cone time of 6.84 seconds was 2nd only to Eric Weddle’s time of 6.78 seconds. His time of 3.90 seconds in the 20 yard shuttle was the top time from all defensive backs at the combine, even beating out all the much smaller cornerbacks. With that combination of size and speed he will definitely hear his name called on the first day of the 2007 NFL Draft.

The safeties in general were outstanding to say the least, this NFL Draft is very strong at the safety position this year.

Some other top performing safeties at the 2007 NFL Combine:

1. Eric Weddle, 5’ 11” 203 lbs. Utah (4.52 forty)
2. Michael Griffin, 5’ 11” 203 lbs. Texas (4.45 forty)
3. John Wendling, 6’ 1” 222 lbs. Wyoming (4.49 forty)
4. Darren Stone, 6’ 3.2” 218 lbs. Main (4.58 forty)
5. LaRon Landry, 6’ 213 lbs. LSU (4.34 forty)

*For complete NFL scouting Combine coverage visit the dog at NFL DRAFT DOG.com

1 comment:

Azmir Ismail said...

Nowadays, more and more safeties chosen, are a hybrid of LB / safety mold. Piscitelli may be the better player, but Landry would probably be the first safety taken.

I would love to see the Skins get one of the prospects you listed. We need another good young safety after Sean Taylor.