Top Safeties in NFL Draft: Grant Delpit

LSU’s Grant Delpit, one of the more divisive prospects in the draft, checks in at No. 3 in our ranking of the top safeties in the NFL Draft.

LSU’s Grant Delpit, one of the more divisive prospects in the draft, checks in at No. 3 in our ranking of the top safeties in the NFL Draft.

LSU safety Grant Delpit is a game-changing talent.

“I honestly think I’m the best safety in this draft without a doubt,” he said at the Scouting Combine. “The most versatile player. Put me anywhere in the secondary and I’m going to play it. Leader, I’m a natural leader on the field. Special teams — anything coach needs, I’m there. So, I definitely think I’m the right choice.”

There’s no disputing Delpit’s skill-set. At 6-foot-2 1/2 and 213 pounds, he has elite range, ball skills, intelligence and striking ability. The resume says as much. In 2018, he was a first-team All-American and won the Jack Tatum Award as the nation’s best safety. In 2019, he was a first-team All-American and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back.

The actual performance, however, is what safety-needy teams have been trying to figure out. In 2018, Delpit led the SEC with five interceptions and added 9.5 tackles for losses. In 2019, Delpit had two interceptions and 4.5 tackles for losses. About the only number that increased was missed tackles.

So, who is Delpit? Is he the 2018 menace or the 2019 tease?

“I think I’m a very versatile player,” he said. “I think that’s probably my biggest strength on the defensive side. I’ll play anywhere in the secondary. This year, I played more free safety because that’s what the team needed, so I played a lot of percent of my snaps in the middle of the field. We went 15-0, so I could never complain. But watch my sophomore tape, freshman tape, I played all over the box. So, I think I can do it all.”

Delpit lived in New Orleans until the family fled for Memphis and then Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He was 6 when the storm swamped the family home. The family didn’t live in a flood zone so didn’t have flood insurance. When the family returned home, there was no home.

“Katrina was very hard for our family,” he said. “I wish I could’ve stayed in New Orleans and came back and moved back, but it was just one night where we went to Memphis, Tenn., for the weekend because they just said it was going to be a storm and we would come right back. We moved to Houston with my aunt and we stayed there. We battled adversity. I’m glad I had a great support system. My family stayed together at that time and we worked through it.”

What we like

Delpit is right. He can do it all, which is why he spent about one-third of his snaps in the slot the past two seasons. When he’s on his game, there’s nothing he can’t do. He can make plays in coverage, he can cause havoc as a blitzer and he can attack the running game from center field. He was a key communicator on defense and a respected member of the team who was given the coveted No. 7 jersey.

What we don’t like

Delpit is an atrocious tackler by any standard, but especially so given his athleticism and size. After missing 13 tackles in 2017 and 13 more in 2018, he missed 16 tackles in 2019, according to Sports Info Solutions. Of our top 22 safeties, Delpit’s missed-tackle rate of 20 percent was tied for second-worst. “I get a lot of hate and slander from the media and the experts. I think that’s just going to make the glory so much better in the end. They say tackling is definitely the thing I have to improve on from last year. I got it fixed toward the end of the season. It’s all about the approach and not trying to do too much, just get them on the ground. It’s part of football and I know I can do it. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”