Big name: D.J. Swearinger, age 27

The 2013 second-round pick of the Houston Texans has always flashed talent and played with passion, but hasn’t always been fundamentally sound, leading to him getting burned and missing tackles. He has also had some controversial hits that have injured opposing players. The Texans cut him after just two seasons. He had a brief spell with the Buccaneers before he was cut again. He landed with the Cardinals in December 2015 and has been there since. In 2016, Swearinger became the starting free safety after injuries in the Cardinals secondary, and his strong performances kept him in the job for the rest of the season.

Here, the Atlanta Falcons look to hit wide receiver Julio Jones on a dig route over the middle. Swearinger lines up 12 yards off the line of scrimmage as the single deep safety.

Jones is initially walled off by a linebacker underneath, but that linebacker spots another receiver breaking inside underneath and peels off Jones to cover him. With Jones being passed off, Swearinger has to quickly take on the responsibility of covering one of the best wide receivers in the league.

As Jones makes his cut inside, Swearinger begins to drive down on the route. As he does that, Swearinger gets his eyes on the quarterback to help him locate the ball.

Swearinger jumps the route but drops the ball. It was a fantastic read by Swearinger, who did everything right except secure the interception.

It was an aggressive play that not a lot of free safeties would even try. Many would have lined up deeper off the line of scrimmage than Swearinger and would have been content with just making the tackle to prevent the touchdown, but Swearinger is an aggressive safety who will take risks in order to try and make the big play. That aggression is on display on nearly every play.

This time, Swearinger fakes a two-deep safety look, but works down into the hook-curl zone of a cover-three defense.

As Swearinger works down into his zone, he spots quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick beginning to scramble towards the opposite side of the field. Knowing Fitzpatrick is unlikely to try and throw back against his body, Swearinger vacates his zone and charges towards the line of scrimmage.

As he scrambles, Fitzpatrick spots a receiver crossing the middle of the field underneath. Swearinger also spots the same receiver and adjusts his target.

Swearinger broke quickly on the throw, making up a lot of ground in a short space of time. He arrived just after the ball did, landing a huge hit that forced the receiver to drop the pass.

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Swearinger’s aggressive style of play can generate flashy plays and big hits like these, but can also lead to him being out of position at times. He had far greater control with the Cardinals than he did with the Texans or Buccaneers, but the question is whether he can perform consistently going forward or be the player who was cut twice. Standing out in a Cardinals secondary filled with talent is impressive, but it also leads to questions about whether he replicate that level of performance without the same level of talent around him. He’ll be a high-risk, high-reward type of player for whichever team signs him.

Good value: Duron Harmon, age 26

Harmon is almost a prototypical New England Patriots player. The 2013 third-round pick has developed well during his time in the league in a clearly-defined role that Bill Belichick and the Patriots have given him. While not technically a starter, Harmon has played plenty of snaps as the Patriots’ third safety in nickel and dime sub-packages. Harmon spent most of those snaps as the deep safety, allowing Patrick Chung to play in the box at strong safety and freeing up Devin McCourty to play a specialized assignment, often bracketing the opposition’s best receiver in double coverage or locking down a tight end.

Harmon won’t make as many flashy plays as someone like Swearinger, but in typical Patriot fashion, he’ll do his job reliably. When looking for traits in a free safety, having a guy who can be relied on do his job as the single high safety is a huge positive. He is rarely beaten and has good range to help him cover more of the field.

On this play, the Steelers look to hit speedster Sammie Coates down the sideline on a go route. Harmon lines up on the far hash, 20 yards off the line of scrimmage.

As Harmon rotates towards the middle of the field, he keeps his eyes in the backfield on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, looking for a hint of where the ball is going.

As soon as the quarterback looks to the right of the field and begins his throwing motion, Harmon opens his hips and begins to work to the sideline.

Harmon does a great job making up ground, showing off his range. He tracks the ball well in the air and undercuts Coates as the ball arrives. Coates does just enough to disrupt Harmon and stop him from completing the interception, but Harmon did prevent a touchdown, which is the free safety’s primary job.

While Harmon spent most of his time as the single deep safety, he also took snaps as part of two-deep safety coverages, particularly in the red zone.

Here, the Cincinnati Bengals look to hit wide receiver A.J. Green on a post route from the slot. Harmon lines up about 15 yards off the ball over the top of Green’s side of the field.

Harmon plays with good discipline, getting his eyes on his target and reading Green’s route, instead of being caught out of position while looking in the backfield.

Once Green makes his break inside, then Harmon breaks down on the route, getting his eyes on the quarterback to locate the ball.

Harmon can’t quite get in front of Green to intercept or break up the pass, but he does make a strong form tackle instantly, preventing any chance of Green scoring a touchdown.

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Harmon is a fundamentally sound player, as is expected of Patriots players. He wouldn’t be a flashy addition to Washington’s secondary, but he could prove to be a more consistent and reliable player than Washington has seen at safety in years. Given that the Patriots’ defensive system makes the most of every player, there are questions to be answered over just how well Harmon would perform outside of New England. But he shows positive traits that should lead to him being at least a solid role player wherever he lands.

Under the radar: Darius Butler, age 30

The Patriots drafted Butler in the second round in 2009, but he’s been with the Indianapolis Colts since 2012. He entered the league as a cornerback and has played there up until this season. Indianapolis suffered multiple injuries in the secondary, which forced Butler to shift from corner to free safety. Butler had been struggling somewhat at corner, but looked a natural at free safety.

On this play, the Steelers look to attack the Colts vertically. Butler is the single deep safety.

Off the snap, Roethlisberger looks to his right. That look is designed to manipulate Butler and clear space for Antonio Brown on the back side of the play. Butler reads Roethlisberger and opens his hips to the sideline as he begins to work outside.

Roethlisberger then quickly works back to his left, locating Brown, who is about to run past his defender. Butler has to quickly adjust, flipping his hips back inside to stay on top of Brown’s route.

Butler does a terrific job making up ground to stay on top of Brown. He even locates the ball and beats Brown to the catch point. Brown is forced to play defender, trying to knock the ball loose to break up an interception. Brown is successful in preventing the interception, but Butler ultimately wins the play by keeping points off the board.

Range over a long distance is impressive, but Butler also has good short-area quickness, heightened by his instincts.

Here, the Colts play cover-one robber against the Packers. As the robber, Butler’s job is to disguise a two-deep safety look before the snap, but rotate down into the middle of the field post-snap.

Butler takes a few steps down into his robber position, all while reading Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers looks for his slot receiver on a post route.

Butler reads Rodgers the whole way, waiting for him to begin his throwing motion before breaking on the throw.

Butler then makes up the ground quickly to undercut the route, diving to pull in an incredible interception in front of the receiver.

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It’s unclear if Butler would be willing to make the permanent switch to free safety, but if he is, he could be an option for Washington. Washington has tried to convert a number of corners to free safety recently, with DeAngelo Hall, Will Blackmon and Deshazor Everett all making the switch this past season. Their inability to find a reliable starter could lead to a reluctance to go down the same route again with Butler, but the upside would be adding an experienced veteran at a spot where they seem to favor experience over youth. Hall, Blackmon, Donte Whitner Sr. and Dashon Goldson have all been given playing time at safety in Washington over the past two seasons. At 30, Butler would be the youngest of them all, and he has shown he still has plenty of gas left in the tank.

Mark Bullock is The Insider’s Outsider, sharing his Redskins impressions without the benefit of access to the team. For more, click here.