In a relatively deep safety class, there will undoubtedly be some legitimate prospects who slip through the cracks because of the lack of that “wow” factor. One of those safety prospects is William & Mary’s DeAndre Houston-Carson, who has proven that he could be a highly productive role player at the next level with his competitive toughness, physicality, ball skills, and ability in man coverage.

FS DeAndre Houston-Carson

College: William & Mary
Year: Senior
Birth Year: N/A
Height: 6-1
Weight: 201
Arm Length: 30 1/8
Hand Size: 9 1/8

Combine Results

40 Time: 4.54
Bench: 13 reps
Vertical: 32.5 inches
Broad: 115 inches
3-Cone: 7.15
Short Shuttle: 4.28
60-yard Shuttle: 11.89

Analysis

As a former cornerback in his own right, DeAndre Houston-Carson looks really comfortable and fluid in off man coverage on tape. This isn’t the best clip to show him playing with his back to the ball and adjusting to the football, but he projects as a safety at the next level and this is what is needed of him here in man coverage with this kind of closing speed to stop the ball carrier to a screeching halt.

Houston-Carson was a feared ball-hawk throughout his career at William & Mary for the Tribe with ten interceptions, but three years of that production came from the cornerback position. While he does have cornerback-like cover skills in man coverage, he is arguably at his best when he is asked to play in the centerfielder role and read the quarterback. Here we see Houston-Carson recognize the go route across the middle of the field and undercuts it for the interception, taking it back to the house by simply out-running the opposition with his long speed. This kind of recognition and playmaking ability will surely get him some fans in NFL war rooms, especially with his size and history as a cornerback.

I love what Houston-Carson brings to the table with his aggressiveness when coming downhill in run support, but he will get ahead of himself on occasion and overrun the play. Here is an example where he hesitated a bit after he took his angle a bit too inside, and as a result, was in extremely poor position to make an open field tackle on the Richmond ball carrier. Again, I love that Houston-Carson is a blood-curdling hitter when coming downhill, but there are a lot of these plays where he either second-guesses his read and stops his feet, which leads to the ball carrier running right past him, or he overruns the play by getting a bit overzealous in his path to the football. In addition, his open-field tackling at this stage of his development is more about the highlight-reel hit than breaking down to bring down the ball carrier with a strong wrap up. Once he sees the play develop in front of him, he is like a shot out of a cannon, but his aiming point is not always on target, and that results in a lot more missed tackles than what is desired out of a safety prospect.

When Houston-Carson is playing the single-high role as a safety, he seems much more comfortable than when he is lined up in Cover 2, like on this play. He looks a bit lost here, and his read/reaction timing was really sluggish, which led to an easy touchdown for the opposition. I will give him slack for his lack of time at the safety position considering he spent most of his career at cornerback, but he must be able to learn the “in and outs” of these different types of coverages as well as taking better, more precise angles to the football at the next level to see early playing time. `

After watching his tape, I felt that I had a good understanding of his long speed to keep up with receivers in the vertical game, but I also understood that he was not a quick-twitch kind of athlete, and that showed at the NFL Combine in February. His lack of explosion that was displayed in Indianapolis was not as evident on tape partly because of the level of competition he played at, but for a small-school player to put up these kind of numbers, it isn’t going to make people in that war room scream and holler for him when on the clock early in the draft.

Overall, Houston-Carson is a converted cornerback who will project as a free safety at the next level with some impressive ball skills and man coverage ability, but he may not be completely ready to receive early playing time in the back end partly due to his late transition to the position. He will need to time to learn the different nuances of the safety position to become more comfortable in all different types of coverages, especially Cover 2, but also as an open-field tackler in run support with his poor pursuit angles and over-aggressiveness. I think he will be utilized as a core special teamer early on as he did block nine punts for his career at William & Mary, but for him to achieve his potential as a safety, he is going to need a patient coaching staff to work with him, which shouldn’t be too much of an issue on Houston-Carson’s end with his tenacious effort and work ethic. A move back to cornerback shouldn’t be ruled out of consideration either.

Grade: 4th Round