The Dallas Cowboys defense was one of the better units throughout the season, but it wasn’t without its flaws. An area where they struggled was in creating turnovers and at times against the run. As good as they were in 2018, they have positions where they can use upgrades; defensive tackle and safety. Xavier Woods showed a lot of promise in his second season with the Dallas Cowboys and should continue to be a prominent player moving forward, but Jeff Heath’s full-time role may have run its course. Today we’re going to look at Darnell Savage Jr, safety from Maryland.

Per College Football Reference, Darnell Savage Jr. stands at 5-11 and weighs in right at 200 pounds. In his last three years at Maryland he played in 35 games. He averaged 56.67 tackles, 2.67 interceptions (3.5 per season over his last two seasons and four in his senior season), and three tackles for loss over his final three seasons. He had eight pass deflections as a junior and two more as a senior.

Savage could be a player that’s in play for the Dallas Cowboys at number 58 of the second round.

I watched the Texas and Temple Games from 2018.

Darnell Savage Jr. Film Notes

• Maryland lined him up in two-deep cover two looks a lot and dropped him into different coverages. From his two-deep alignment, he would move into cover-3, cover-4, and man coverages.
• Temple or Texas looked to avoid him as part of their game plans. The one time the either Texas or Temple through his way, he came down from his 2-deep look into man coverage and jumped a five yard out route and intercepted the pass, taking it to the end zone for a touchdown.
• He’s excellent in diagnosing bubbles screens and swing passes. On several occasions he met the ball carrier five yards behind the line of scrimmage and dropped him for a loss.
• Savage wraps up in the open field against. Once he diagnoses the play, he gets moving toward the ball in a flash.
• Willing to take on bigger blockers and receivers with the ball in their hands. Stymied the 6-4 225 pound Lil’ Jordan Humphrey from Texas on a bubble screen after Humphrey had broken one tackle. Savage wrapped him up and brought him to the ground.
• Temple attempted to run a reverse after the hand off and Savage came all the way from across the field to meet the runner for a six yard loss.
• Plays with excellent speed and aggressiveness when he sees the play. Sometimes Savage gets caught watching the action on his side of the field and doesn’t recognize what is happening in the middle or opposite side of the field.
• Several times on the read-option, it appeared that he didn’t recognize that the QB had given the ball away. It could be that he was schemed to take the quarterback, but one time the runner went against the grain to Savage’s side of the field and he was unable to get to him before he scored a short touchdown.
• Maryland had Savage cover tight ends and wide receivers and again, Temple and Texas didn’t throw his way much at all.
• Again, in a two-deep safety look came up from 10 yards deep to make a play on a toss to the running back and tackled him for a four yard loss. It’s dangerous to run things to the perimeter with this guy. If he gets to the line of scrimmage unblocked, he’s bringing you down.
• When blocked on runs to the perimeter, he does a good job of stringing the play to the outside. Savage works his blocker and doesn’t give up on the play. He fights to get unblocked in order to make a play.
• When a team runs play action or hands the ball off out of shotgun or pistol formations, Savage is slower to react and diagnose the play. He’ll need to get quicker in processing what’s happening there at the next level.
• One of the more impressive plays I saw him make was on a trick play. Temple attempted to run a wide receiver pass to the outside. Everyone bought the wide receiver reverse and even Savage did too, but was able to use his quickness and speed to make up five yards of separation that the Temple receiver had on him to be in good coverage. The Temple receiver wasn’t able to come down with the catch and Savage’s coverage affected that.

Summary

Darnell Savage Jr. doesn’t have a ton of height, but he’s an explosive player who can play down in the box and in two deep looks for the Cowboys. He’s a guy that would pair well with Xavier Woods as you could use those two interchangeably depending on the matchup you face week-to-week. He’s an aggressive player who uses his speed to get into the play and cause disruption. Savage could be around for the Dallas Cowboys at 58 and if they don’t sign one of the big name free agent safeties, should be the selection. If he isn’t a day one starter, he’d be starting by the end of the season.