You’re right, he projected as a CB and I think they intended to use him as one but tried him out when Doss went out in preseason. They let Giordano have a shot at it, but Bethea showed he was much better. I think he could, especially now being in the system for a bit, definitely switch to DB. In fact, if Marlin isn’t ready to go, I expect it.

As for converting Bullitt or Bethea, I’d rather convert Bethea to be the CB. He’s actually one of the few DBs I’d trust in man coverage on the team. Besides, Bullit would be taking over the FS role and be playing the coverage spot if we drafted a bigger SS (If you want to call him a WILL that’s cool) to play in the box with Bob. Or you know, we could rotate them with Bullitt on the bigger physical receivers and Bethea on the faster ones. I just like Bullitt staying as a safety. I guess my point is, is that it doesn’t matter who we use as long as Bob does his thing. I think both of them could do well but would give a slight edge to Bethea due to experience and speed. Not to mention if there’s an injury to Bob he could rotate back into the FS position and we could put Bullitt in the box. If only Giordano showed improvement on anything but special teams. He’d be perfect as a single deep safety with his speed.

I think the events that unfolded by the end of the season make it an option. Jackson’s knee, Bullitt emerging as a legitimate starter, Bethea being in man to man coverage more often than people realize and the fact that I think he might be one of, if not the best coverage back we have, and I don’t think I’m alone in thinking I’d rather resign Bethea than Jackson once we reach that crossroad. Straight up I WANT Bullitt on the field as a starter, not a backup. So who would you remove from the secondary to make room for him? At this point, Marlin may not even be ready for the start of the season. So the question is, would you bench Bethea in favor of Jennings? I just looked at that question and smacked myself for typing it. CB # 1 Hayden, CB #2 Bethea, FS Bullit, SS Sanders is alot more assuring to look at than CB #1 Hayden, CB # 2 Jennings (or ACL recovering Jackson), FS Bethea, SS Sanders.

And that’s assuming the CBA gets finished. Marlin could probably be had for a relatively low price. I don’t think many people will pursue a 5th year player who right now has 3 total interceptions for his career and an ACL injury very aggressively. And I don’t see Irsay and Polian allowing Bethea to get away knowing Bob’s injury history. I love Bob and think he’s one of the best safeties in the entire league when healthy. He’s arguably my favorite Colt (aside from Manning). But I’m going to be perfectly honest and straight up tell you that Bethea has definitely been the best safety on our team for the past 3 seasons.

Consider this, look at the numbers for their careers for a second;

Bob – 45 games played 3.5 sacks, 5 interceptions, 4 fumbles recovered, 15 passes defended, 217 tackles, 72 assists
Bethea – 43 games played 0 sacks, 7 interceptions, 1 fumble recovered, 17 passes defended, 187 tackles, 69 assists

Pretty close huh? What’s the difference? Those numbers include 5 seasons for Bob and 3 for Bethea. That’s huge. Bob’s numbers in 3 seasons playing with Bethea are;

25 games played, 3.5 sacks (he got them all in 2007), 4 interceptions, 1 fumble recovered, 10 passes defended, 116 tackles, 47 assists

I’m not even sure if Bob and Bethea were both in their final years that Polian would immediately keep Bob and let Bethea walk. Like I said, Bob’s one of my favorite Colts, I love the guy. And if I thought about it for a long time, I’ll be honest with you, I might decide to keep Bethea over him. Potential and what he’s done and what I think he can do when he’s healthy is amazing. But tell me your reaction when they said Bob was out this year and every week they kept saying “Maybe this week, maybe not.” or “He’ll play.” and didn’t. Tell me your reaction when we found out that Bob had his knee operated on and is probably going to start on the PUP list this season. Why was there one fanpost with like 5 comments about it? If you’re like me, you shrugged and said “Figures.” That’s NOT good. Why are we all so stoked about Bullitt? Because we know that he has a good chance of starting more than half the games even if he remains a backup.

With that said, if they’re all healthy, I’d want all three of them on the field at the same time. And the only way that’s going to happen is if put both Bullitt and Bob in the box. We could use Bethea just like we did this year as the single deep safety, but the thing is, I don’t trust Bob to stay healthy if he remains the blitzing safety. I’d rather him attacking the line than Bullit because Bob’s a phenom at it. But at this point, Bob HAS to take less of a punishment and I don’t think Bullit will offer the same threat attacking the line as Bob does. So that’s why I say I’d like to use Bullitt as the single deep safety, Bob in the box but not attacking as much, Bethea as a CB, and drafting another BIG safety to take over some of the responsibilities Bob has. Because Bob’s not only a run stopper, he’s fantastic in coverage. I’d almost go as far as to say I’d rather have Bob as the single deep safety and Bullitt and a drafted safety in the box. He’s that much of a force and adds so much energy that just being on the field improves our defense.

All drafting a CB is going to do is force us to bench one of our safeties or wait for an injury to play one of them. Unless we’re playing a nickel. And I’d rather not bench better players because they’re labeled as a certain position when I think they can easily and immediately upgrade our team at another position that I feel they could convert to without being an impediment.

I’ve seen Bethea play man to man on more than one occasion and he impressed me. I’ve also seen Jennings play man to man and vomited in my mouth.