Mays could be answer to Eagles' safety woes

MOBILE, Ala. - Taylor Mays likes Brian Dawkins.

But whenever the Southern Cal safety is asked to compare himself with an NFL player, he always chooses one that is no longer playing.

Yes, he sees similarities between himself and the legendary Ronnie Lott, also a product of the Trojans. But the safety that he feels he most emulates is Sean Taylor.

Taylor, of course, should still be delivering bone-crushing hits. Just over two years ago his life was cut tragically short when he was shot and killed by intruders inside his Miami-area home.

"I've looked up to him ever since he played [college football] at Miami," Mays said earlier this week at the Senior Bowl. "He's a big safety who could run and hit. I'd like to be compared to him one day."

Eagles fans would take another Dawkins, or at least anyone better than what the team replaced the longtime fan favorite with last season. Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott tried three different solutions – Quintin Demps, Sean Jones and rookie Macho Harris – and each one didn't work. He sometimes tried a combination of two, and that didn't work either.

The lack of continuity at free safety affected strong safety Quintin Mikell, the secondary and ultimately the entire defense by the time the season came to its bitter end in Dallas. McDermott, after the first-round playoff exit, vowed to fix the problem at free safety. The answer could come from the draft.

This year's class of safeties is considered a strong one. Tennessee junior Eric Berry leads the group, but is expected to be gone early in the first round. Mays is next, although he could go fairly early, as well, at least well before the Eagles select at No. 24. The Eagles, though, could trade up. They do have an expendable quarterback or two, after all.

If Mays is unattainable, there are other options down the board. The Senior Bowl had some interesting prospects. Maryland's Terrell Skinner is raw, having moved from wide receiver just two years ago, but he has good size and is considered a closer. Nate Allen of South Florida is versatile. And then there's Florida State's Myron Rolle, who delayed going to the NFL for a year so he could accept a Rhodes scholarship.

Still, if the Eagles want a rookie to step in and start at safety they may need to expend an early pick. And even though the Eagles tried the rookie-thrown-into-fire thing last season with Harris, Mays is a bona fide safety, and a rare one at that.

"Taylor Mays is a real specimen," said Howie Roseman, Eagles vice president of player personnel. "You don't see many safeties that big. He looks like a linebacker. You watch [defensive back] drills and he kind of looks out of place."

Mays measured at 6-foot-3, 231 pounds at the Senior Bowl weigh-in. Because of his size, some think he lacks the speed and mobility to play free safety. But that's not nearly the case, according to Mike Mayock, draft analyst for NFL Network.

"He's got some range," Mayock said. "He can play some free safety. He's going to run 4.4, 4.5. He's going to run fast. Is he a pure man safety? No. But he plays man well enough. It's going to be tough for him to get out of the top 15 just because of his height, weight and speed."

The Eagles safety positions are essentially interchangeable. But Mikell was much more effective in 2008 when he got to play closer to the line. Last season, the Eagles needed him more in center field to guard against a long pass. Mays said he could play either position.

"It depends on what the front seven are doing, but I could do both," he said.

Mays is the sort of hitter, though, that would give receivers second thoughts about going over the middle. In the 2009 Rose Bowl, he nearly decapitated Penn State's Jordan Norwood, who happens to play for the Eagles now. Mays surprised many when he returned for his senior season.

"People asked me about it all the time and I basically had the same answer: I came back to get better," he said. "And I don't regret it."

As far as he was concerned, playing in the NFL was a birthright. His father, Stafford, was a defensive lineman for the Cardinals and Vikings in the 1980s.

"I just grew up around it," Mays said. "My dad was very cutthroat about being successful. It was like I had to do it. I wanted to do it. I had to be successful and I adopted that attitude."

Mays said he hopes to not only follow in his father's footsteps, but in those who defined the safety position like Lott and Pittsburgh's Troy Pomalulu, another product of Southern Cal.

But Taylor, whose jersey and picture Mays hangs in his home and whose name he writes on his arm before every game, is his hero.

"I just want to do what he did that made him so successful," Mays said.