There has been a lot of buzz on the hard-hitting Senior Safety from Baylor for his hard-hitting demeanor. I wanted to dig deeper and see what Ahmad Dixon had besides the ability to knock out Jace Amaro or get ejected from the TCU game for targeting. Here are the positives and negatives of Dixon’s game.
Nov 16, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders tight end Jace Amaro (22) catches a pass in the second quarter while hit by Baylor Bears safety Ahmad Dixon (6) at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY SportsPositives
- Ideal safety size
- Plays downhill
- Hard-hitter
- Always around the football
Negatives
- Poor in coverage
- Not a very consistent tackler
- Stiff out of breaks
- Poor ball skills
In watching the tape on Dixon I was overall disappointed. I consistently saw him miss tackles, take poor angles, and get beat in coverage. He has issues tackling because he is a drag-down tackler who lunges to tackle and his feet leave the ground consistently. This is why he often crushes someone because he lunges and hits them square, but for the most part this is a flaw in his technique that causes him to miss more than he makes.
Dixon was also targeted by opposing teams whenever he was in coverage. He struggled covering the intermediate out routes by slot WR’s and TE’s. Again, he has a technique flaws here. When dropping in coverage he gets too wide of a base when he tries to change direction and often will get beat on the route because it causes him to be much slower out of his breaks.
I put a negative on ball skills but it may be better to address it as awareness. When the ball is in the air he reminds me a lot of our current Cowboys. He just does not find the ball well. Dixon often looks lost or will miss easy picks because he can’t find the ball.
Overall I do not think Dixon should be on the Cowboys‘ radar. To me he is a poor man’s Barry Church, which as Dallas fans know, we are not even sure we want Church starting for us next year. Dallas should be looking for a safety who can cover and consistently tackle.
Dixon, in my eyes, is a 4th round prospect who can be picked up in hopes of a project. His issues are all because of technique; with some solid teaching he could eventually develop into a productive starter in the league.
