Michael Huff is a funny guy. If you don't believe me, just check out his Twitter feed. (Yeah, he needs some work on the background.) Anyway, he mentioned in a reply to Tyvon Branch on Twitter that he should play cornerback after today's workouts. I don't know if he was joking, but that seemed apparent with the "hahaha" and "lmao" going around. It really had me going for a second and then the replies came in and it became apparent they were kidding, but I think Huff is confident he can make the transition if need be. Still, Huff possibly changing positions has come up around here before so why not discuss it again?
Drafted seventh overall in the 2006 NFL Draft as a safety out of the University of Texas, we all know Michael Huff hasn't lived up to expectations. Last season, though, was at least somewhat of a breakthrough for the former Longhorn. He definitely made improvements and was clearly the best player for his spot of all the players on the team. Huff played a little cornerback at Texas and some cornerback at Nimitz High School.
At cornerback right now, the Oakland Raiders have some competition opposite Nnamdi Asomugha. Fifth-round pick Walter McFadden, a rookie from Auburn, is expected to challenge veteran Chris Johnson for a starting job. After that, there appears to be some skepticism regarding Stanford Routt and then further down the chain in Joey Thomas and rookie Jeremy Ware. There's not a lot of depth at the cornerback spot, but there's even fewer depth at the safety spot. In the end, I guess it's much ado about nothing. It's July, though.
Tyvon Branch and Mike Mitchell are listed as strong safeties on the Oakland Raiders official roster page. Huff is listed as a free safety along with Hiram Eugene while Jerome Boyd and Stevie Brown are listed as general safeties. Looking at that, I think we actually really do need Huff at safety more so than at cornerback. He made strides last year and I'm very confident his best years are ahead of him. His skill set better suits him for the safety position in my opinion as well. His anticipation and instincts aren't that of a cornerback's. Plus, his run support makes him a better play at safety.
Note: dubzfan made a post of his own on this topic.