Scouting The Draft: Amari Spievey, Iowa, CB

First off, apologies for taking so long to get this one up, it has been quite a busy week and just not really had the chance to sit down and fully concentrate on watching Spievey. I also had to watch the clips a few times, one because he was rarely thrown at, so had to really check the other clips out closely, and two because I wanted to really look at his run defence. I said a few days ago that from what I remembered about Spievey, he had to improve getting off blocks and making the tackle in the run game. A few people seemed to disagree with that, so I wanted to take a closer look, what I found will be in the segments later.

First of all Spievey is coming out following his Junior Season, like Donovan Warren, I think returning for his Senior season probably would of made him into a sure first rounder. He said that he had enjoyed his time, but the move to the NFL was the right one for him, that remains to be seen, he is likely looking at a low 2nd round, possibly mid-low 3rd round selection. However when reading about him, the term 'shutdown' just kept coming up, whether in conversations with draft 'experts' any online publication...it just kept appearing.

Spievey was actually named academically ineligible after redshirting his freshman year, which led to a year at Iowa central community college, an experience which he said 'humbled' him.

Thompson: What is it you want NFL teams to know about you as a person when you talk to them at the Combine?

Spievey: I'm a good kid. I've never been in trouble, I don't smoke or drink. I'm a hard worker, I'm very competitive, and I plan on making any team that picks me better and help them win some games.

Career Stats

2006- RS Freshman

2007- Played for Iowa Central Community College, 7 Interceptions.

2008- 13 GP, 68 TKL's, 6 PBU, 4 INT, 1 FF

2009- 13 GP, 56 TKL's. 8 PBU, 2 INT

Career Awards & Achievements

2007- Junior College All American

2008- 2nd Team All Big 10 Coaches Selection

2009- 1st Team all Big 10 Coaches Selection

What does Spievey Do well?

He is an excellent open field tackler, very committed to the run game, active hands. Can play in either zone or man, more accustomed to playing off his man than pressing. Has good speed, wasn't tested much down field, but showed his speed as a gunner on the special teams. Hips are pretty smooth and reads the game quite well. Has good height and length, can make plays on the ball. Good pursuit even if the ball is not on his side of the field. He doesn't allow too many yards after the catch. Can be attributed to playing off his man and being a good tackler. Shows nice speed out of the backpedal. Physical player who can put a player on his back and make him think twice about running into his coverage again. Seems to be more committed now than in years past, and takes good angles to the ball.

What will Spievey need to improve on?

I thought this before watching, and it was pretty much proved right. He is committed to the run game, and when he gets to it he puts the hit on, but when receivers get physical he does have a problem getting off the block and back involved with the play. We seem to like playing press coverage, he was really rarely asked to do this at Iowa, so not known how good he will be getting his hands on his man. Recovery speed once beat may be an issue, can be duked a little easier than you would like.

Final Word

When your a 2nd-3rd round prospect you are going to have areas that you need to really work on and Spievey has those, but he is a pretty intriguing guy. His active hands made teams avoid throwing in his direction last year, and any time a CB is being avoided like that, you know he has some skills. Will be interesting to see his 40 time at the combine. This is a very deep CB class, and Spievey could turn into an excellent corner, not sure if he fits our system with his lack of experience pressing but he is a big guy, very long, very tough, who likes to hit and his coverage skills are very decent, he comes across as a Rex Ryan type guy to me. It's worth a look, he wouldn't be in my top three corners who we could realistically get, but if we decide to go with another position at 29, wouldn't hate taking Spievey in the 2nd round.

Video Highlights

Unfortunately the only video that could show #19 has disabled it's embedded feature, so go here

My top 5 order of preference (In no particular order)

Jerry Hughes

Devin McCourty

Perrish Cox

Jared Odrick

Brandon Graham

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