Sir Purr
Well-known member
- Mar 16, 2019
- 1,969
- 0
That will continue to be the plan with Chinn, though nature may eventually move him deeper into the defense. At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, he's slighter than most linebackers, and the burden of more collisions can wear on a body over time.
That never appeared to be the case last year, when he led all rookies with 116 tackles, and became the first rookie since 2000 with at least 100 tackles, two defensive touchdowns, one sack, one interception, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one tackle for loss.
But his background is in the secondary, and Simmons was always convinced he would be an excellent safety if that's all he did.
"People always talk about his size and blitzing and his run-support, but when he was coming out of Southern Illinois, I thought he was the best pure safety in the draft," the veteran secondary coach said. "I thought he had the best ball skills in his class. I remember seeing him high-point a ball for an interception against South Dakota and getting his feet down, and you could just tell the way he moved he was different.
"Really, he's a 6-3 guy who moves like a 5-10 guy."