Carolina Panthers: Five draft targets in the CFP National Championship
By Luke Tucker
Grant Delpit, S – LSU
Aside from the do-it-all Simmons, LSU’s Grant Delpit is the best safety in the country, and will be a sure-fire first-round pick in April. Delpit is the second-rated safety behind only Simmons, and won the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the nation’s top defensive back. He’s among the top overall prospects in this spring’s draft, and is yet another NFL-caliber safety from the self-proclaimed DBU.
After suffering through an ankle injury through the middle portion of the 2019 campaign, Delpit’s stats from this season won’t necessarily reflect just how good he is. As a sophomore last year, though, he was among the top safeties in terms of tackles, picked off five passes, had five sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss, and forced a fumble. Delpit is a complete safety, and could be a huge help to a Panthers secondary that hasn’t decided if it will bring Tre Boston back in 2020, and suffered through Eric Reid’s miserable season. Boston was good this year, but will likely want a raise and a long-term deal moving forward, and Reid was graded the second-worst safety in 2019 according to Pro Football Focus.
Once again looking at thedraftnetwork.com’s scouting report, Delpit is an all-around NFL safety as mentioned earlier, and is good in any coverage type. He’s a good blitzer as evidenced by his 2018 sack total, and is a ball hawk when the ball is in the air. There are varying reports about his reliability as a tackler, although he is noted as a very good run defender. If Simmons is off the board at number seven and Delpit is available, Carolina would be extremely fortunate to have a talent of Delpit’s caliber.