Less than one month from the 2022 Draft, there are a number of questions surrounding some of this year’s top prospects. While much has been said about the possibility of edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux falling down the board, Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton may have joined him in that regard. 
[RELATED: Thibodeaux Could Fall In The Draft]
As noted by ESPN’s Jordan Reid and Matt Miller, the defensive back faces a number of factors currently hurting his stock. The first – and the one which was always going to be a concern, regardless of his pre-draft testing – is his position. The very fact that he is a safety (albeit one who is lauded for his versatility) has led many to believe his overall position in the draft order would undersell his skillset.
Secondly, Miller notes that Hamilton had “an uneven showing at his pro day”. That has amplified concerns related to his athletic profile, something which isn’t helped by the knee injury which ended his third and final season with the Fighting Irish. As a result of those factors, Miller writes that “it’s possible he falls all the way into the second half of Round 1”. While that would represent a considerable slide from his once-presumed top-five status, the insider further states that “the consensus around the league is that a drop is expected”.
In three seasons at Notre Dame, the six-foot-four, 219-pounder totalled 138 tackles and eight interceptions. That production, coupled with his positional flexibility and leadership has led to a connection with the Jets on multiple occasions. New York currently holds the fourth and tenth overall picks, but if their view of Hamilton becomes more congruent with that of the rest (or at least a sizeable portion) of the league, he may find himself waiting until after their selections to hear his name called.
Washington will gladly take him at #11
Safety’s are the least important position. They shouldn’t make any tackles if defense does it’s job and they cover 3rd or 4th best receiver on passing downs.
You know absolutely nothing about defense in football
Polamalu didn’t have anything to do with Steeler success for a decade?
K so I guess Ed Reed wasn’t an important part of those Baltimore defenses.
Strong Safety typically covers the TE.
Very ignorant statement . Safties are extremely important . Often the leaders of the secondary have to play the whole field and react .
Excuse me, can Ronnie Lott have a word?
@ElGaupo77 Tell us you don’t watch football without telling us you don’t watch football.
Every mock draft I do, I always keep having him go to the Commanders.
Think he’s a perfect fit for them at that defence.
who r the Commanders again?
If either drops to 8 the Falcons better not force WR or QB. But probably they will.
Agreed Yoda.
Falcons should just draft line, both sides. Have a semi functional offensive line for when you draft QB next year.
I wouldn’t go near this guy in the Top 10. He has bust written all over him.
Because…?
Probably bc OP hates ND.
The positional value thing is overblown. He’s a hybrid player. The idea that his value is drastically different from an off-ball linebacker is silly. Isaiah Simmons, Devin Bush, and Devin White were all top ten players in recent years. Derwin James should have been if he weren’t in a draft with so many QBs. I don’t know exactly how Hamilton will translate to the NFL, but in a draft with very few truly elite prospects and no top QB prospects, he’s a steal if he falls past 7 or so, unless his medicals are worse than we know.
You say that like Devin Bush worked out. He didn’t.
I think the implication is more that it shows teams value middle linebackers within the top ten
He is slow
He is a safety
He is a ND player, so that means he is vastly overrated.
Slow doesn’t work in the NFL
Safety is a low value position
NB has yet to produce a decent defender in the last two years.
Vastly overrated.
– Joe Montana
-Tim Brown
-Jerome Bettis
-Bryant Young
-Zack Martin
-Quenton Nelson
-Harrison Smith
Well, they have now
Have they?
Philly szn
Please let him drop to 15,and please Howie take him if he does.
Sounds like one last bang from Colbert if Hamilton really falls he won’t have to move up 11 spots like he did for Polamalu
I would do backflips if he fell to the Eagles at 15!
Not sure why some of these players even do the combine or Pro Days. Every year it slides someone down. Forget about the last 3 years and all the film. Your pro day was off. Ridiculous
Might be a good thing for Hamilton. Getting picked by a bad team high seems worse than being picked by a better team later.
There is no such thing as falling in the draft.
Obviously your not a senior citizen. A cane comes in handy on those windy days but falling in the bathtub is actually a greater concern.
Yep. When a player “falls in the draft” that means he somehow failed, not the people pulling random guesses out of their…
Larimy Tunsil says Hi.
WAS needs help on the back end of that defense and I doubt he’d get by MIN at 12. They didn’t replace Xavier Woods (unless Patrick Peterson converts to safety) and there’s another ND alum back there who he could learn the pro game from.
I think with his speed he just converts to LB where he’d be a very good player. Maybe he slups a bit but this guy can still play
That 40 time is what is killing him. Both the combine and his pro day was pretty bad. The thing is he plays faster on the field. I still think whoever gets him is going to get a top notch player and I doubt the Jets let him get past 10 even with taking Sauce at 4. This draft is going to be all over the place. You can mock a draft 20 ways right now.
I think people take these reports way too seriously. Forever and a day, teams have thrown out lies to the media about a player in hopes he’s able to drop to them or enhance their position otherwise. Its classic use of media for misdirection. The media always runs with this stuff.
He’s slow and he’s a Safety. The NFL doesn’t do that combo. No matter how much Mock draft sites blow him up to fans, he’s not going in the top 10. Never was.
He’s slow? Watch his 2 Ints he had vs FSU last Fall. He covered the whole field (sideline to sideline) on both.
You are clueless.
How many Super Bowl teams have elite safeties? I ask not knowing the answer.
Starting in 2000, you had Ed Reed, John Lynch, Rodney Harrison, Troy Polamalu winning a lot of Super Bowls.
Did the Colts, Giants, Saints, etc. have good safeties? Great ones? Mediocre? I don’t remember.
If they did have great ones, it seems that safety is a less important position on a mediocre team, but if you want to take the next step to legit contender, safety might be the difference maker.
Bob Sanders was the best defensive player on the Colts championship team (other than maybe Freeney) and Darren Sharper was the clear leader of the Saints defense (Harper was good too, their other safety). Don’t offhand remember any Safeties for the Giants, they were mostly built around their insane defensive line play. Just anecdotally going through your examples here, it seems your hypothesis is largely correct.
Bob Sanders was a mean little man, you are right. And Sharper was as good a player as he is bad a person.
Seems like it might be a good theory, yes.
Its that time of year where the mud slings from unnamed sources and the media runs with it in an effort for to move players up and down the board.
Please don’t let Hamilton end up in a terrible organization like the NYJ.