In the first Round the Ravens select Kyle Hamilton- Notre Dame

Kyle Hamilton is a physical specimen. He's 6'4 220 LBs and athletic enough to play safety in today's NFL. He is a player that you can build your defensive game plan around and he will be a special player in the league. He has certain attributes that will make a team take him early in the draft.

Player Comparisons

Kyle reminds you of Kam Chancellor and Steve Atwater for the physicality he brings to the game. Both Kam and Steve were 6'3. Kam was 225 pounds and Steve was 220 during their playing days so the argument that size will be an issue in mobility just doesn't cut it. He will be a great safety who will give you the physicality that was lacking this year from the secondary. Sean Taylor was a little smaller at 6 '2 230 but was one of the hardest hitting safeties of all time.

Skillset

He is a winner and comes from a winning program. Bringing in winners should be a priority.

He played in an advanced system at Notre Dame, especially in 2020 with Clark Lea. Similar concepts as the NFL. He won't have a problem adjusting.

Great size and mobility, he can cover and really moves well for his size

Excellent coverage skills-will be able to matchup against Tight Ends/Running backs in Man free coverage concepts

Great physicality- can be utilized as an extra run defender in the box and brought down in their cover 3 concepts

excellent blitzer- can be used in various pressure packages from the safety position

Best Position

I see Kyle playing free safety in the NFL. He doesn't have the twitchy, quick hips to play the Sam LB/Nickel position. Often times, that player is matched against a slot wr in coverage and responsible for that player in man to man. I don't want to see him in those matchups so I wouldn't play him there. He could be a great free safety since the NFL is more of a cover 3 match league than a quarters system which you will often see in college.

But, I think he has all the attributes to be an NFL Free Safety. NFL free safeties are often brought down into the box to play the run and in the Jets scheme it is no different. On early downs, the Jets will play different variations of cover 3 and his skillset will be valuable coming down on the LOS and playing the run. He also can cover.

How he fits in with the NFL

Run support

Man Coverage

He can cover tight ends and the Jets will play their safety on tight ends with their man free concepts. Often the free safety will be matched on a tight end in man concepts. Especially when it's twins to the field and flank to the boundary like shown below.

Cover skills

He is excellent in coverage. He can play seem curl flat technique in their zone coverage and at times be that deep 1/2 or 1/3 player in zone coverage. He also is smart and can be that middle of the field defender.

Use him as a blitzer

He is a great blitzer and you could package 4-5 blitzes for him a game. He displayed great ability to blitz and was a factor in that department.

Here's some film of his versatility:

Here are some examples of him in college :

Below is a little breakdown of him in coverage but the 5 clips I show, display his skillset. Below he is a cover 3 safety. He displays great eye discipline and makes a great play as a seem curl defender in cover 3.