In Weak Safety Class, CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu Has Chance to Be Top FS Prospect

It's obvious that there's different market values for premier players at different positions at the NFL level. There's a reason why quarterbacks like Ryan Tannehill are rumored for extensions worth over $100 million, while a dominant defensive player like J.J. Watt can barely match the total. Some positions are just more valuable than others, and in a league that consistently increases passing influence on a year-to-year basis, that's where the cash is.

Because of that, some positions, like safety, have a market that on paper doesn't make sense, and some prospects, like Oregon's Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, are miscast on paper. Due to rule changes and better quarterback play, what teams look for in cornerbacks has changed. More and more, length and man skills have become the traits that elite prospects need to possess on the boundary. Building back-to-back Super Bowl-appearance teams, the Seahawks are a great example of this trend.

In 2013, Seattle matched up Richard Sherman—a 6'3", 195-pound former fifth-round pick—and Brandon Browner—a 6'4", 221-pound undrafted free agent, via the Canadian Football League—as their two outside cornerbacks. Browner was suspended for performance-enhancing drugs in December of that year, and Byron Maxwell, a 6'1", 207-pound former sixth-round pick, entered the lineup. With those lengthy players, the team—which was noted defensively as being led by its "Legion of Boom" secondary—went 13-3 in the regular season and clobbered a Peyton Manning-led Broncos team in the Super Bowl by a score of 43-8.

Sherman has since signed a $57.4 million contract with the Seahawks; Browner signed a $17 million deal with the New England Patriots; and Maxwell, with only the 2014 season under his belt as a full-time starter, just signed a $63 million offer with the Philadelphia Eagles, per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. NFL teams tell you how they value traits by their pocketbook, and across the board, franchises continue to consistently pay for long players at the cornerback position.

So, where do small cornerbacks fit in today's NFL? Unless you're playing a San Diego Chargers type of scheme, the answer is in the slot. Because the league is more wide-open in the passing game, teams are playing out of the shotgun and in 11 personnel with higher frequency than a decade ago, when the I formation, with two running backs and a tight end, was still a common sight.

This is where the "market" comes into play, not just for position, but body types. By and large, players in the secondary look like their counterparts on the offensive side of the ball: receiver. Now that the NFL is playing five defensive back looks, with an added slot corner, and three- to four-receiver sets, as opposed to two-receiver sets, it would make sense that the talent would be spread thinner.

According to Spotrac, there are nine receivers who are slated to average $10 million or more a year for the lifetime of their current contracts. At corner, there are six. This is a reflection of the market as a whole, and it's why its players, if they have the choice, typically stick to the offensive side of the ball.

It's also how transition athletes, like Sherman—who was a receiver at one point at Stanford—can blow up out of nowhere to be a defensive force. The athletes just simply are on the offensive side of the ball due to the economics forced on the game by changes the sport has faced over the past decade.

This isn't just an offensive and defensive concept, either. At safety—the other spot in the defensive backfield—there is just one player who is on a contract that will pay him on average $10 million or more: Earl Thomas, who signed for four years and $40 million on the dot last season and has made four straight All-Pro teams. He is one of only two defensive backs who have made three straight AP first-team All-Pro rosters, with the other being Sherman, his teammate who makes $4 million more than Thomas per year, good for a 40 percent jump over who seems to be the best player at the safety position hands down, based on accolades and contract value.

The safety position has changed. Previously, there was a free safety, who was a pass-oriented player, and a strong safety, who was allowed in the tackle box as a run-oriented player. That gives defenses a "one-high" look. With emphasis on defensive holding, pass interference and the middle of the field opening up for slot receivers who no longer have to worry about helmet-to-helmet hits every time they catch a ball between the hashes, this has virtually made that "one-high" look go the way of the dodo bird.

All of this coming together is what suppressed talent at the safety position. There are a finite amount of athletic specimens who can play in the NFL. One specific body type, all at once, was demanded to pump out starting-level players at slot receiver and slot cornerback, and switch over from one to two high safeties, with safeties being the least prioritized position, for whatever reason.

Even slot receivers, like Randall Cobb, can get paid like a safety. Cobb, who is ranked seventh in per-year dollars for receivers, per Spotrac, is making $10 million a year to play the slot, which previously was a role position, not a starter. Those are now making up-to-par cash with safeties, who have always been base players.

This is where the "this doesn't make sense on paper" part comes in, though. High-end receivers get paid more than high-end corners, and high-end slot receivers get paid up to par with high-end safeties, but there really isn't a market for high-end slot cornerbacks.

So when people watch a player like Ekpre-Olomu, who was a three-time All-Pac-12 cornerback, but stands at 5'9", and their first reaction is "high-end slot cornerback," their rationale doesn't really register in my mind. According to Pro Football Focus, only 23 cornerbacks played in the slot and recorded more than 75 percent of defensive snaps for their team. At safety, that number is 40.

There's a higher chance of a player making a snap-to-snap impact at safety than slot cornerback, as they see the field more. Assuming a player can play both positions at about the same level, it would make sense to lean toward safety, where there's thirst for the position across the league.

Now comes the next step of the equation. What traits does Ekpre-Olomu have that would lead a team to think he can transition to the deep backfield? The fact that he was a three-time all-conference player as short as he was on a relative scale would lead you to believe that he has something that made him different from everyone else.

He's got great instincts, playing off coverage as opposed to press for Oregon. While playing off may make him less valuable, it leans on instincts for a cornerback, forcing him to instantly break while he's reading the eyes of the quarterback. That's another difference. Off-coverage players, like safeties, read the eyes of the quarterback, while press players are reading their receivers. He's already one step there.

He also is a very fluid player who can cover plenty of grass. Against Michigan State, he flew to seal an interception against Connor Cook, who some might consider the top quarterback prospect in the 2016 NFL draft. That's one reason why a player like Thomas is great at the NFL level.

In the ground game, he's also a very willing tackler, getting his nose in the action often, despite his size. That's another trait that translates well as a back-end player. If you were looking at simply his ability on paper, he's a safety. But, he played cornerback in college, so people are quick to lump him in as a slot player instead of affording him the chance to compete as a full-time starter.

Some of that might also come down to injury, as he sustained an ACL tear during a postseason practice. He's now recovering with Cedric Ogbuehi, a tackle prospect from Texas A&M who also sustained a knee injury, according to a recent interview he had with Stack.com. He also believes, at least according to his interviews at the combine, that he'll be able to contribute early in 2015.

He's going to take time, maybe even having to redshirt his first season because of the transition and knee recovering, but there's not a player in this class that I can make a better case for down the road being an All-Pro free safety like Thomas. Ekpre-Olomu lacks the length to play boundary cornerback and was targeted often there against the likes of Arizona and Washington State, but he has every raw tool that you'd like to see of a middle-of-the-field player.

His background in reading a quarterback's eyes should also be a factor that eases the mind of those looking to draft him at safety. At the end of the day, we're only looking at him as a corner because the University of Oregon did. NFL teams are consistently jumping off bridges because they're mimicking each other. Ekpre-Olomu could keep a franchise's pair of shoes dry for a decade.