Was Eric Berry A Safe Pick?

When the Kansas City Chiefs selected S Eric Berry with the 5th pick overall in the 2010 NFL Draft, the response from Chiefs fans was overwhelmingly positive. Berry was predicted to be one of the best safety prospects to come out of college in a long time and most fans of the Chiefs were still having violent nightmares involving Mike Brown.

Still, I remember in the months leading up to the draft, there was much debate over whether Berry was the right pick for KC. The team was coming off a terrible 4-12 season and seemed to have giant holes at just about every position. The main point of debate wasn’t so much whether Berry would be good, most everyone seemed to agree he would be outstanding, but whether or not taking a safety with the 5th pick in the draft would present the most value for the Chiefs.

Most analysts thought the Chiefs would make a safe pick. The general consensus seemed to be that OT was the safest move that KC could make. Then a quote from Chiefs GM Scott Pioli was “mentioned” by his good friend, Atlanta Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff.  Dimitroff mentioned that he had a conversation with Pioli and that he told the Chiefs GM that Eric Berry was the pick KC should make. Dimitroff then said that Pioli said “you know how I feel about taking a safety that high.”

Apparently he felt pretty good about it.

Whether Pioli really said what Dimitroff said he did or whether Pioli asked Dimitroff to say that to perhaps discourage another team from trying to leapfrog the Chiefs int he draft to acquire Berry, we’ll probably never know. All we know is that Pioli thought Berry was the right pick.

There was an interesting article released on ESPN.com about which positions are the safest bets in the NFL Draft. They article mentions the Berry selection specifically.

So as this rainy Saturday (at least in NY) drags on, I thought I would as you all what you think. A year later, we know Berry was probably the right pick, but was he the safest? Check out the ESPN article and then let us know what position you think is the safest to draft. Will the Chiefs draft the safe pick in 2011 or will they select the right pick? And will they be the same thing?