Safety position underrated?

[dalakhani]

The redskins have drafted Sean Taylor (RIP) with the fifth pick and Laron Landry with the sixth pick.

I listened to Parcells and Keyshawn Johnson one time on the radio and they were discussing the safety position. Parcells compared safety to fullback in the sense that both positions require high impact collisions at top speed often against bigger opponents. One interesting fact was that the average career of a safety is amongst the shortest of any position.

Most of the time, colleges can't afford to keep their best athletes playing safety so they keep them or convert them to other positions. Is it any wonder that the two best safeties, Reed and Polamalu, are products of two of the fastest teams in recent memory in the canes and the trojans?

Everything is cyclical in sports. I would imagine with the spread offenses becoming so common in college football, athletic safeties will grow in importance.