Running for Safety

There was one story Lloyd Carr could remember about my hometown, Erie, PA, one player in particular. Carr sat across from me, before the interview started, and told me about how he had gone to my high school, Cathedral Prep, just a week before signing day. He was after this prized recruit, he explained, and he had saved his contact time with this player until the last minute.

He was there to see Charles Rush — a 6-foot-3, 285 pound defensive end, who was getting looked at by Penn State, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and Pitt among others. My high school's football coach then, Mike Mischler, understood Carr's interest, but thought he should take a look at another player — the undersized running back and safety, Bob Sanders.

Carr didn't bite that day, but Kirk Ferentz eventually did. The future NFL Defensive Player of the Year showed his stuff at Iowa, and then in Indianapolis. Before his recent string of injuries, Sanders made his name as a fearless tackler and a guy who simply made plays, despite standing at just 5-foot-8. He played with heart.

Does Jamarca Sanford have that same kind of heart?

To be a human bowling ball? To be a tackling machine that opponents fear?

Those superlatives certainly don't describe Madieu Williams, who was replaced due to injury near the end of the season.

At 5-foot-10, 200 pounds, Sanford could offer something the Vikings are missing in the secondary — toughness. But in today's NFL, it's tough to be a one-trick pony.

Safeties have to hit and cover wide receivers. We have two games of evidence to see what Sanford can do as a starter, but we need more — two games isn't enough to evaluate a sixth-round pick.

Doesn't his future seem bright as an enforcer, though?

There have been a handful of those moments where he'll stick the ball-carrier and stop him in his tracks.

All he has to do is follow the Bob Sanders blueprint. Hit hard and disrupt receivers — the interceptions will come. If you have a nose for the ball, and it seems Sanford does, he can be a playmaker.

Just ask the Bears' Chris Harris. He's one of the hardest hitters in the NFL but he also picked off five passes last season.

Minnesota's future safety-tandem could've been the duo that started the Vikings' week 16 surprise win over Mike Vick and the Eagles — Hussain Abdullah and Sanford.

Certainly, Antoine Winfield's pressure had something to do with Vick's poor game — he finished with his lowest quarterback rating of the season against Minnesota.

Sanford sacked Vick once and Abdullah was able to pick off a pass.

If Sanford is a question mark oozing with potential, then what is Abdullah? What do the Vikings have in him?

Abdullah finished the season with seven passes defended and three interceptions. He also was fourth on the team with 75 tackles. But what can you take away from a defensive back's statistics?

Teams generally avoid the best cornerbacks and safeties in the League, so stats like tackles and passes defended are usually taken with a grain of salt. That's not to take anything away from Abdullah or what he did in the 15 games he started.

He picked off Jay Cutler twice in Chicago: first on a pass that was tipped and Abdullah found himself at the right place at the right time then when Cutler threw back across his body and Abdullah read the quarterback's eyes and stayed at home to catch the ball in the endzone.

Against the Eagles, Mike Vick threw the ball behind DeSean Jackson badly — and he probably would've scored a touchdown matched up one-on-one with Abdullah had Vick not made the mistake. The safety held up, tracked the ball and hauled in the bomb.

The ball skills are there. And he was beat on his fair share of blown coverages. It wasn't enough to chase him out of town though. With another year under his belt, under Leslie Frazier's tutelage, Abdullah could be the ball-hawking ying to Sanford's physical yang.

Minnesota doesn't necessarily have to draft a safety high in the draft. If by some miracle Patrick Peterson drops to No. 12, the Vikings should sprint with the card to the podium.

But Sanford deserves a chance to prove he can be Abdullah's wing-man next season. Tyrell Johnson may be in the mix too and Williams is getting paid a lot of money. He started the first 13 games of the season, but wasn't overly impressive. Instead of being the great-cover man the Vikings thought they signed, he's seemed timid and a step slow in coverage. Who knows, maybe Madieu will figure it out. The starting spot shouldn't be his to lose.

Sanford certainly isn't timid.

Take a second to consider safety might not be as pressing of a need as we thought. The Vikings certainly don't know they have the answers at the position, but Sanford and Abdullah can't be ruled out at this point.

Imagine: Abdullah with the range. Sanford with the heart.