He was signed for a reason and was a starter going into last year…Jackson has been good but dont think hes set the world alight…i guess we will have to see.

Im so scared of Injuries…

"I still don’t feel like my normal self," Hutchins said. "I don’t have all my quickness, but that will come. I see progress. … The rest is going to come with time and a little more experience on the field."

"He’s still working his way back in slowly," defensive backs coach Alvin Reynolds said. "He’s playing at nickel back trying to develop the depth at that position. He’s a guy that adds some veteran presence to us and provides some leadership. We need a guy like Von Hutchins, especially with all our young guys."

I see him contributing to the secondary this year, but I wonder whether he’ll be 100 percent by the start of training camp. You have to like his versatility, and the flexibility it lends the coaches in setting the roster each week.

Von Hutchins will be the primary nickel back.
He should be 100% by the end of camp?
Plus, I see Houston and Jackson as the opening day starters on the corners.
Owens, Middleton and Grimes round out the 6 CB`s that make the final roster.
Those 3 should also see situational playing time.
That`s of course, barring any injuries or late roster moves.

I was making the assumption that, he should be 100% by the end of camp.
Of course, we don`t know at this point.
Owens might be rushed into the lineup (as nickle) if not?
That`s just my (semi educated) guess .

I can`t wait for camp to see how the all positional battles in the secondary unfold.
Grimes is said to have been real strong at OTA `s with Owens and Middelton showing lots of promise.
Owens is stated to have outstanding ‘’break speed.’’
He bites on some moves but fast enough to recover.
Middleton is also fast and very intelligent but he needs to learn the nuances of his position at this level.
All that`s fine and good for the future, except for Grimes.
He can play now.
Bottom line, we would like to have Hutch now for his experience and versatility.

Given the youth of our secondary, there’s plenty of depth there. I think, given his versatility, Von Hutchins will be used as a reliable veteran presence in the cornerback depth chart, as well as an “insurance policy” at free safety and cornerback in case of injury.

He’s obviously not the future for us a one of the two CB spots, and we’re going to be pretty set at safety with Coleman, Moore, and DeCoud (my personal favorite of the three), so he’s here to provide stability and experience.

Insurance Policy puts it best. After digging a bit for info, the only think I can say nice about Hutchins is that he has game experience at Free Safety, Nickle CB and Starting (outside) CB.

First, the good news. As far as “the Falcons didn’t sign Hutchins to sit on the bench”… that may not exactly be true. He signed a 4 year, $9 Million dollar contract last off-season. His Cap # last year was $1.55M. He is listed as a Safety on USA Today’s Salary Database (and in Football Outsiders numbers when he was with the Texans), but as a Cornerback on the team’s Official Roster. His Cap # last year (as a Conerback) was #67 in the league – 32 teams, 2 starting CB’s mean he would be considered one of the highest paid Nickle backs (or lowest paid Starter). His Cap # (as a Safety) was #37 (right behind Erik Coleman), so maybe that’s starter’s money. So if TD was thinking he would be a Nickle back and/or compete with Coleman for the Free Safety spot, that seems like a reasonable contract.

Now, the bad news (there’s a lot). He was a 6th Round draft choice, so he wasn’t very highly regarded from the start. He seems to be injury prone. I have to admit I’ve never watched him play (or at least, never noticed him), so I tried to get some info from Football Outsiders.

2004 (rookie year):

Injuries forced the Colts to use 4th Round rookie Jason David at starting CB opposite Nick Harper, with 6th Round rookie Von Hutchins in the Nickle. Pro Football Prospectus 2005 (Indianapolis)

This is the season before FO started doing their game charting, so there are no advanced stats, but the Colts were so impressed with the performance of David and Hutchins, do you know what they did? Drafted Cornerbacks in Round 1 AND Round 2 of the 2005 draft…

2005: Played in only 3 games. Spent the majority of the year on the Physically Unable to Perform List. Not enough play-time to show up in FO’s stats.

2006: Released by the Colts in September. Joined the Texans late in the year, and played in only 3 games. Again, no FO stats.

The Houston secondary is a festival of replacement-level talent with one bright exception, CB Dunta Robinson. As for the rest of these veterans, there’s no reason to waste a paragraph delineating shades of mediocrity. Pro Football Prospectus 2007 (Houston)

2007 (this is when it really gets bad): Played in 16 games, starting 15. Played some CB and some FS (he’s listed as FS in FO’s #‘s). Out of 83 Safeties that made enough plays to show up in Football Outsiders’ stats that year, he had:

Run Yards 9.5 (Rank #76) – Made his average tackle on run plays 9.5 yards downfield.
Run Stop 32% (Rank #63) – Tackled runners short of a successful play 32% of the time (FO’s Success – 40% yards needed on 1st down, 60% yards needed on 2nd down, 100% yards needed on 3rd & 4th down).
Success Rate 30% (Rank #82) – Stopped receivers short of a successful play 30% of the time while he was in coverage.
Average Pass Yards 9.8 (Rank #68) – Average Yards gained on plays he was in coverage.

And it wasn’t just that the Texans had a bad defense overall – the other Defensive Backs generally had average rankings (#30-#50). He was very bad in run support, and positively awful in coverage.

While I guess it is possible that the one year we have advanced stats available he just had a (very) bad year, the more likely conclusion is that he is not very good.