Player: DeMarcco Hellams

School: Alabama

Measurables:

• Height: 6’1”(NFL Combine)
• Weight: 203(NFL Combine)
• 40: 4.57(NFL Combine)
• 10 Yard Split: 1.57(NFL Combine)
• Bench: DNP
• Vertical Jump: 31”(NFL Combine)
• Broad Jump: 10’1”(NFL Combine)
• 3 Cone: DNP
• 20 Yard Shuttle: DNP
• Other Notes: Hellams did not have great numbers in the athletic testing. 

Graded Position Specific Traits:

• Tackling: 7.75/10
• Field Vision: 6.5/10
• Run Support: 7.75/10
• In-The-Box Zone Coverage: 6/10
• Range: 5.25/10
• Deep Zone Coverage: 4/10
• Man Coverage: 6.75/10

Prospect Grade: 44/70; 62.9%- Starter with potential to be an above average starter

Projected Draft Day: Round 3- Early Round 4

Player Comparison: Vonn Bell

Player Summary:

Hellams is a really versatile safety with great vision of the field and solid range to be able to make plays all over the field. Hellams is a super physical and explosive safety who likes to get downhill as often as he can. He can crash the box and pop a WR running a slant over the middle or come barreling down to meet a RB with a hard hit and secure tackle. He is also a good coverage safety. He’s got serviceable man and deep zone coverage, with an impressive ability to cover zones in the box.

The issues I’ve noticed with Hellams so far is that his pursuit angles can be questionable at times, and has a tendency to play pretty high. In coverage, when he is a deep safety in either Cover 1 or Cover 3, he has a tendency to sit and read before reacting. The minute he reads pass I would like to see him hit his back pedal in an effort to make sure he follows the number one rule of being a safety: “No one gets behind you”. As I stated earlier he has a great ability to read a play, and has the speed to close quickly with his downhill mentality. He needs to pedal and keep everything in front of him, to an extent, so that he can read the deep pass concepts as well as he reads short-mid concepts. Being able to man the deep zone alone could be the difference between Hellams being a pro bowl safety and an all pro safety.

Don’t sleep on Hellams! With another season to work on coverage, I’m hoping to see some improvement in his game that could jump him up our top prospect boards. Right now I see him as a pro bowl caliber safety, but I think his floor is probably an average starting safety and the ceiling is an all-pro. 

Update 1/15/23:

Not going to lie, I’m a bit disappointed by Hellams 2022 tape. I will say though I don’t entirely blame him for it. As I stated in my original summary of Hellams, he looks best when he’s getting downhill and playing in the box. Unfortunately for Hellams, Bama doesn’t really have a true free safety who can roam the backend and deep zones. Hellams being, in my opinion, their best safety has found himself in a position where he has to play that role more than Jordan Battle purely out of trust in Hellams. In a world where he is able to play more of a strong safety/box safety role I think his tape would look a lot better.

When I originally watched Hellams, I thought he flashed solid speed, but when I watched him this time around I didn’t see the same speed consistently. He’s definitely still got that speed because it was shown in flashes, so it makes me wonder if he was just playing slower due to a comfort or confidence issue.

Playing slower also caused me to lower his grade for range just a bit. He just wasn’t quite making plays this year that I felt like he would’ve made last year. His ability to read the field also just didn’t look as good to me, but again maybe it’s just not being comfortable or confident playing deep as much as he is. His deep zone coverage is pretty bad. Technique wise, in his footwork and his eyes, you can just see he’s not ready to play “free” as much as he has this year. 

I know I’ve ripped Hellams game apart, so let’s go over the positives I saw from his 2022 film. For starters, despite playing more of the free safety role this year, I’d argue that he’s just as good if not better in run support than he was last year. I think he’s taking better pursuit angles than he was last year, which is making him look like a better tackler as well. The reason his field vision grade is still above average is because of how well he reads the box, especially the run.

The other aspect of his game I was extremely surprised by was his man coverage. Watching his 2021 film, I thought that was an aspect he needed a lot of work in. I can tell that he put the work in. He looks comfortable. He looks confident. He looks pretty technically sound. His speed can get him in trouble, particularly against receivers, but I didn’t really see him get beat from a technical standpoint, he was where he needed to be. 

Overall, I have him graded out as a “starter with potential to be an above average starter” based on his 2022 tape. However, I still think he has pro bowl potential in him, especially if whatever team drafts him plays him in a strong safety role where he will play more confidently because he’s comfortable. With the right coaching, I think Hellams could become serviceable as a deep zone player. Hellams actually isn’t that bad in a cover 2 or 4 shell, but when you ask him to take the middle third in cover 1 or 3 it’s hard to watch. If someone can get him coached up, I still think he has a higher ceiling than his grade suggests.

UPDATE 3/11:

Coming off a lackluster combine performance and 2022 tape that didn’t quite look as good as 2021. Hellams draft projection has fallen from a Late Round 1- Mid Round 2 to Round 3- Early Round 4.