The Ringer

There’s been plenty of hype around this year’s talented safety class, and after LSU’s Jamal Adams ran a reported 4.33 40 at his pro day last week, the buzz reached a whole new level. For a lot of scouts and analysts, Adams’s performance solidified him as a top-five pick. In many mock drafts, he’s joined there — and sometimes even overtaken — by Ohio State’s Malik Hooker. But while the two playmakers’ impressive production and elite measurables are matched by few players in this class, NFL teams almost never take safeties that high. It’s been seven years since we’ve seen a safety taken in the top five — 2010, when the Chiefs chose Eric Berry at the fifth spot — and Mark Barron is the only other safety to go in the top 10 this decade. Barron’s switched to linebacker with the Rams, which means that Berry joins Washington’s DeAngelo Hall, who converted to safety in 2015 after playing cornerback the first 11 years of his career, as the only top-10 picks playing safety in the entire league right now.