Originally posted by misled
for Dawkins I would swap strength in instead of catching. Focus on the hardhitter tree and be used for blitz packages , jarring the ball loose, etc. I have more of a dude like this, although I wish I did a better job early on. His build is suspect because of my inability to understand proper building practices.
http://goallineblitz.com/game/player.pl?player_id=834464 (not saying this build is any good and such... but in replays you can see forced fumbles and pass deflections that are done with "tackles". or what appear to be...
for Reed focus on Bam's advice... while focusing on jumping and catching and the shutdown tree.Good suggestions..
The problem with what the OP is asking is he is bringing up an elite hitting safety and also an elite playmaking coverage safety. So basically what he wants is someone who can shut down a WR, and then turn around and hit a power back so hard that he fumbles.. Well what else is there?
The only real way to do that is to get to about level 40, having built strongly in both coverage and strength, and then go play in a suggested level league of around 30.. Where your 10 levels will keep up with the fast guys, and terrorize for the weak guys.. And while that might be fun, it's not healthy for your players XP, and no one is impressed with a guy that can beat on little guys. Usually the opposite, so get used to a void if you truly seek approval of your build.
That isn't to say you can't be good at both, though, which is probably what you're aiming for.. You'll just never be a scary shutdown guy that can also get a monster hit every play. I don't think we'll be seeing any safeties in level appropriate competitive leagues with 10 interceptions and 10 forced fumbles anytime soon. And if we did, it'd more than likely just be a good string of luck rather than the norm.
Generally speaking, you need about 60 strength and 60 tackle to force that many fumbles.. and to get the interceptions you're going to want another 320 sps put into speed, jumping, catching, vision, and agility.. and that doesn't even get into the SAs which are good for both. The numbers just won't add up until you're about level 50, and by then, sadly you'll enjoy maybe 2-3 good years before decline.
Guys like Ed Reed, they did it early on and for a long time.. Sadly in GLB, you don't realize most of your full potential until your career is about 70% over.