Donte Whitner, the former strong safety of the Buffalo Bills has reached an agreement with the Cincinnati Bengals this afternoon. While Whitner wasn’t really expected to return to the Bills after a tumultuous offseason of arguing with fans via Twitter, and happily stating that he was a free agent. Whitner was a vocal leader on the defensive side of the ball and always played hard, but was vastly overrated. Drafted with the eighth overall selection in the 2006 NFL Draft out of Ohio State, he never lived up to his hype or potential.
A solid tackler, Whitner racked up over 100 tackles twice in his career, but was often beat by tight ends and struggled to contain opposing wideouts. He never showed the ability to be a game changing safety, recording just five interceptions in his five seasons as a pro, and forced just three fumbles in his career.
With Whitner finally out of the picture, the competition for the starting strong safety role is between veteran George Wilson and rookie Da’Norris Searcy, a fourth round draft pick out of North Carolina.
Wilson is the player representative of the Bills, and is much more of a playmaker than Whitner. Last season, the 30-year old recorded 35 tackles and picked off two passes in limited playing time, while recording 103 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, and four interceptions in 2009.
There’s no question that Wilson can play the position, and may even be a better fit for the Bills’ system than Whitner was. Searcy, on the other hand, is a stocky 5’10” 223 pounder who can flat out level the toughest of receivers. He is instinctive, has great ball skills and vision, and is usually in on every play. Despite being suspended for three games last season at North Carolina, he still led the Tarheels in interceptions with four, and in pass breakups with nine.
Unlike Whitner, Searcy holds his own with tight ends, but he can tend to be a bit over aggressive and try to do too much. Personally, I believe Wilson will earn the starting role to begin the season, but wouldn’t be surprised to see Searcy get some significant playing time by midseason.
UPDATE: You know, Donte Whinter can never leave it off easy, can he? Anyways, I don’t have the energy to decipher what happened between he and Coach Sal. All I know is this, I use to think as long as a player told WNY that he loved the region or fans, he can do no wrong in the eyes of the public. Obviously, Donte ends that trend. -Joe Pinzone-
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