You have gotta put Afalava at strong safety, too much of a risk to move him to free safety in an unknown position for him. Payne can handle the transition better considering he already has a year of NFL football under his belt. Plus I like what Ive seen from Afalava as far as filling up those gaps, hes really aggresive. And Payne did some nice things in coverage as well in some of the preseason games, like when he broke up that pass from Eli, nice closing speed.

And the main reason for all of this is because Manning is BEST suited for the nickel, it has less responsibility as far as playing time, which is key if he is going to be our return man. Plus he made some nice picks last year in the nickel, and we need all the help we can get covering these WRs.

(ENTER TANGENT) I love how everyone says Hester cant be on offense and be a return man and still be effective but yet no one has a problem with Manning playing most the snaps on Defense and being a return man, it just doesnt make sense. I think returning is all about confidence. And dont give me that well Hester said it wore him out, cause I dont buy it, if he would have housed one early last year, his confidence would have been soaring but he didnt and that led to Manning being put back there.
Thats why Im hoping that Denver preseason return has boosted his confidence and he can get back to being the most dangerous player in football. (TANGENT DONE)

 Kevin Payne has a tendency to over pursue and I’ve even noticed him hit his own teammates. I noticed in the last preseason game on that goal line stand after Urlacher made a nice stop with Briggs that Payne was way out of position causing the running back to walk in for the score.

I guess I’d still take Payne over Manning but they need to either sign a FA next season or draft a FS.

I’m looking forward to watching Al play. In the last few games he hasn’t stood out like in Buffalo but I can’t wait to see him lay some wood on Donald Driver.

I still think they should have brought back Mike Brown until he just falls apart.

On every big play against us, he seems to either be out of position or missing a tackle. I just do not like him and believe that he is the weakest link on our defense. Let’s start Manning (because he is fast and a decent tackler) and Afalava (simply because he isn’t Payne).

My gut says start Manning at FS, but no matter who we start, someone is going to try to exploit that as a weakness until someone proves they can make plays.

But if you broke it up into paragraphs it would make it a much better read:) I think im dyslexic, I get lost in long paragraphs, my eyes tend to wander. BEAR DOWN

Do you think Manning will return kicks this week, coming off his hamstring problems, I think it would be funny to see them spring Hester out there once just to screw with them, maybe do one of those fake reverse handoffs with Manning.

Who voted for Steltz and Bullocks?!?!

afalava is a great hitter but we were very good against the run last year anyway what we need is speed at one of the safety spots to help our pass corners and to be honest all 3 of em will probably be on the field together quite a bit this year anyway…besides itz all about how the d line plays the better they do the better our whole secondary looks

and that should strike fear into WR, especially come cold months at home

I think you have to go back to Manning at free safety. He’s one of our best athletes with the speed and range to play the deep position. Pass defense was the reason we missed the playoffs last year and lost several close games, including the last second debacle in Atlanta.

On the strong side – if Afalava isn’t ready to start over Payne this year, then he should definately be ready to take over next year. Having 2 quality strong safeties is a nice problem to have.

but I think we’re basically playing two Strong Safeties. I don’t know what Manning’s health looks like right now. If he’s healthy, I like him and and Payne as the set. One thing I don’t like about Manning, though is his tackling, and he seems to get caught with his eyes in the backfield…

One thing, I don’t think has been said is that in the Cover 2 we run there is a major hole along the seam behind urlacher. My fear is not so much the deep ball as it is the TE on blitzing packages or quick slants from the slot position. I feel like without the range of a true FS we allow the potential to get eaten up in the ways Jerry Rice killed the seam and slot for big plays.

If Manning didn’t go down with that hamstring in training camp, I would have like to see him back there with Payne and have Graham take over Nickelback. Payne is not that bad at FS through I do worry a bit about his range at FS. We should play Payne and Afalava the start of the season and just ease Manning into that FS role as the season goes on.