4.6 is not slow for a safety btw. It is probably average range for them. These guys aren't corners.
Now the safeties who go early can put up corner numbers in their workouts. But they are not corners for a reason. And many of them bust. It's not like athleticism, after all, is better than good instincts. A safety who can read the formation and is in the right spot most snaps will outplay a more athletic safety who doesn't have good instincts. This is because the two tenths of a second difference in speed in the 40 are easily beaten by a one or two second advantage in reaction speed.
All that aside I am not high on Kinchens. Still waiting to see with him. He improved as the year went on, however it feels like the Rams are better at finding box safeties than they are the ones who can drop and anticipate in the pass game. Many of the box types can be pretty good in man coverage, provided they're not matching up with a top draw. But the separator with them is the decision making when they're deep or over the top and must be decisive in space.
Curl is better near the LOS. So is Kinchens. McCullough showed some instincts but it was usually near the LOS. Lake is a big strong type too, built for the box. So I'd love to see Kinchens develop and am pulling for him but I see no reason to crown the kid yet. Let him earn it.
