Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -1/11- Dissecting The 2017 Cornerback Class With Jonah Tuls (@JonahTulsNFL)

Episode Date: January 11, 2017

Jonah Tuls stops in to give us an in-depth look at the 2017 #cornerback class. Jonah gives Matt his top five overall, and which the #Colts could target in the first few rounds. Also, who provides the best respective skill sets, and who is being overlooked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No, I'm not for sale. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley, and thank you for joining me here on a Wednesday, January 11th. And today I got in Jonah Toles, who's been doing some work for Draft Breakdown on cornerbacks. Jonah, how you doing, man? Doing great, dude.

Glad to have you on the show tonight. Real excited to hear kind of some guys that you've got in store for us. We're going to go through a lot of cornerbacks with Jonah and try to see what he's seeing and try to figure out who may be a target for the Colts in those early to mid-round range and kind of see what we can expect. Hopefully we're going to get somebody in the building that can be a solid press man presence and help out opposite Vontae Davis or be maybe that nickel guy. We just don't know yet.

But we know that we need another corner. Guys are getting injured too often, and guys are getting old, as it always seems with the Colts' defense. So first off, I wanted to ask you, Jonah, who are, you know, A.J. Boye, Stephon Gilmore, there's a few free agent corners out there. First of all, let me ask you, who would be your free agent corner of choice if you were to grab one right now? Price may be an issue here, but let's say a high to modest price range. Who would be your

best pick? If you could go pull one right now, who would it be? Well, like you said, if you're willing to spend, I'd go for A.J. Boye of the Texans. I mean, he had a phenomenal year. He has great ball skills, sticky man cover guy, can play zone, can play off man. He's my guy of choice right now. But if, let's say you want a little more of a bargain, I think you're for Morris Claiborne, you know, you know, I, I cover the Dallas Cowboys too. And you know, his career has been injury plagued, but when he's on the field, he plays like a top 10 corner in the league. And I think you can, yeah, I think you can get them on a one-year deal and you can get a lot of production out of them. He definitely had a good year this year. And that was one of the things when I was looking at him that I was kind of like,

man, he might be one of those guys too. And then, like you said, he has been injured. I don't think he's had more than – is it just one full season? I don't think it's that. I don't think he's played a full season his entire career. No. Okay, maybe not. I couldn't remember if he had or not. He has not played a full season where he's not been on the injury report.

Man, he is so good though when he's good. And Boye is obviously one of the local favorites. I mean, people want him. A focus favorite, too. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Gilmore seems to be – tell me something. When I was looking at him, I was a little surprised that I saw Stefan Gilmore as –

his market value is in the $12 million range. Why is that? I guess it's just because you know the salary cap is going up i think people are going to spend more on corners because the value of a good good cornerback is starting to go a little higher now because the today's nfl is shifting but i don't think he's in the best corner on his team i think ron darby's a better corner than he is right now especially the more valued corner but the problem with stefan gilmore is that and he gives up a ton of separation when he's playing off man coverage and i think he could

play press man but right now his play is dropping off a bit and i think there's a corner like him in this class that we'll talk about later who is uh who'd be uh kind of a bargain in free agency, aside from like a Morris Claiborne, somebody who isn't going to be top dollar but could reasonably give the Colts a solid presence on the secondary? Well, honestly, I haven't really studied much of the free agent quarterback class yet. I'll go more in detail on that whenever the playoffs are done. But what I do know is that Morris Claiborne is going to be the bargain player of the draft. He's going to be the person to

watch in free agency. When he's played for the Dallas Cowboys this year, his ball skills are top-notch. He can play his back to the ball. The problem with him is that he can't play much in his own scheme because his key and diagnose skills are not that good as other top cornerbacks in the league right now but if you

play him with his back to ball tell him go run receiver turn turn your head turn your shoulder locate the ball go get it he's one of the best in the league at that and if he gets to stay healthy i'm telling you he still has probable potential still a young guy the sixth overall pick back in the 2012 draft i'm telling you he still has a lot of talent. If you can get him on a one-two-year deal, that's going to be one of the biggest bargains of all three agencies this year. Yeah, that would definitely be worth it. We definitely need a corner with ball skills. We've got some guys that can cover, and we don't have anybody that can pick the ball off, it seems, other than on a tip pass. All right, so let's get into this 2017 draft classic corner. Um, I don't expect the Colts to go cornerback in the first round. Uh, I wouldn't, it wouldn't surprise me. I guess it

would surprise me if they did, but, uh, I would say that it's possible if let's just say, uh, for argument's sake that the Colts decide at, well, it'll be a coin flip between their 14th and 15th pick with the, with the Vikings, I believe. So who would be somebody in that range that if they were to go corner in the first round, who would they go after? Well, speaking of the Colts, they like to play their corners press man on the outside, right? So I think you would look at Quincy Wilson from Florida. He's my top corner on the board. I think with his length and with his ability to stick with the receiver, with his back to the ball, locate it.

I mean, there was a play against Kentucky where he just had a one-handed interception plan on his back to the ball that was just brilliant. Textbook coverage. Textbook man coverage. And I think Quincy Wilson would fit in well opposite of Vontae Davis. And another guy I like in that range is Marshall Lattimore. Marshall Lattimore is a very very physical dude and he's a redshirt sophomore with some medical history of his hamstrings which

could be a little bit of an issue going forward his hamstrings are recurring injury you know questionable in the injury report you know did not practice limited practice but marshall latimore if he plays he has as much potential as any quarterback in this draft class because he has great athletic ability i think he's going to blow it up at the combine his off man ability is great he has great feet good stop start quickness and he's good with his back to the ball he's even really good in zone as well as he played a lot of press bail and played a lot of that kind of you play a lot of different schemes ohio state i think he's going to be very well all around corner the problem with him is durability and he panics a little bit the line of scrimmage whenever he gets beat off his initial release

he can grab a little bit but i think that can be taught out of him because he has good recovery quickness and good feet to where if he does get beat he can still get back on the hip pocket and you know what that's something and the colts are known for their for their press man as well uh not always good press man but they are known for that scheme um but something that they've really lacked uh last year with uh greg Toler and this year with Robinson has been a quality off-man corner. And it just seems like they're just not able to, despite the extra cushion on the outside, it just seems like they're not able to maintain their coverage on them. And when you brought that up just now, that was something that I definitely hope that they're looking at because it seems opposite Vontae.

They do go a lot off man, at least maybe to six, seven-yard cushion at some point. So that's something that they definitely need as well. And they could, I mean, like I said, they've got a couple other corners on the roster, so it's not like they're going to need a ton, but they do need some really young, really solid talent out of this. Now I expect them to probably go in the second or third round for this. This is, I've been told, not through knowledge of myself, obviously, but I've been told that this is a pretty deep corner class. Would you qualify it as that? Absolutely. You know, it may not be as top heavy as I thought it was with William Jackson,

Vernon Hargraves, but I think it's a much deeper class than it was last year. Right now on my board, I've got five guys in the second round, five guys in the third round. So I really like the depth of this class, and if the Colts want to wait for a cornerback, I have no problem with it because there is plenty of depth that fits their scheme in the press man or off man on the outside. They give you a couple of good nickel corners, kind of like Corn Elder or Jordan Lewis in those mid-rounds as well.

So they have some guys that would go in that second and third round that could legit start if the Colts needed them to. Absolutely. Guys like Gary Onconley from Ohio State. He may not want to play in the run game at all, but this guy can cover. This guy has good off-man cover, but he can play press. I'm telling you, this guy can cover.

He's one of the best feet in the draft, good off-man ability, and can really play zone. I like Gary Oncomly a lot, even though he does not want any part of the run game. He needs to improve his play strength a ton, but he has plenty of potential. Another guy I like in terms of an off-man scheme is Tredavious White. I think Tredavious White has great feet. The problem with him is that he does everything great up until the catch point. When he has to turn his head and look for the ball, it's not pretty. He loses separation, loses his man, I'm telling you.

He needs to work on that a ton, and I think he's going to take some time. And for a guy that's a senior, I don't know if a team's going to be willing to take that in the second round. But if you're looking at him in the third, fourth round, I think you've got to pull out a trigger. Trey Davis has a ton of talent, but he needs to be better at the catch point. He lacks ball skills. He is sticky.

He can mirror receivers as good as any corner in the nation. But when he has to turn his head and look for the ball, he can't do it. Simple as that. That's crazy. And if you think about it – He's the opposite of Desmond King. That's what he is. I don't know how many people out there have legitimately never played football.

But when you – and it is – I think I played corner in high school. Wasn't very good because I'm 6'2 and white. Hey, I'm 6'2 and white as well. I played corner. Yeah, because 6'2, white corners. Yeah, they put me at safety because my recovery skills weren't so great. so we're i mean these guys when you get your head turned and you are running sideways almost it is easy to get disoriented but that's what makes these uh nfl caliber guys so special are those guys that can turn their head know exactly where they're at on the field

and and make a play on the ball and uh at get the ball down and hopefully get both hands on it and intercept the ball. But that's something that is an innate ability as far as I can see. There's just very – I mean, you can teach people how to turn themselves to get a better angle on the ball, but you can't always tell somebody how to reorientate themselves once they're turned around. That's something they've got to figure out on their own. Something that I think maybe a lot of people may not understand or know, they hear it a lot. I know they hear it a lot. And I know that a lot of people, certain things, certain conversations that you want to get into, but you don't want to feel like you're unknowledgeable. But it happens to everybody. So I'm not trying to point anybody

out. But I'm saying there are specifics with when people talk about corners, like a zone corner, or a better press man corner, kind of go through a little bit of those descriptions, just so people are a little more familiar with not only what we're talking about here right but it'll help them and you know i mean twitter's fantastic for this because you see a lot of uh scheme stuff on twitter and people kind of may just flip past it so with a press man corner look let's look at a guy like a i'm just gonna put a guy like deandre hall from last year i mean but i'm not saying i'm not i wasn't a big fan of his actual cover ability but let's look at the actual physical skills that he had. The size he had, he was, what, 6'3", 6'4", and his length,

he was one of the longest corners last year, I think. That's what NFL teams are looking for in a press corner. They look for length, look for size, look for play strength. That's all DeAndre Hall had. And a guy who plays back to the ball and turn his shoulder, look for the ball, like I said, it's that innate ability. They need to have those two traits and they need to be able to tackle. You don't necessarily need a

fast guy to play press man coverage, but it will work out a lot if you can because their length can mitigate their lack of speed. That's why DeAndre Hall was considered one of the pro-articulate press man corners. That's why he was drafted for the Bears. Then when you look at an off-man corner, this is where you want a guy with good feet, a guy who can change direction,

a guy who can get stop-start quickness. Again, if he needs a turn and run, he needs to be able to look for the ball and locate the ball and catch the ball at the high point. And like I said, Tredavis White needs some work in that, but he has great feet. And as long as you have great feet and you have good stop-start quickness, good change of direction, and I'm telling you, you can play off-man coverage. But you need to be able to read the receiver, and you need to be able to locate the ball over your shoulder.

That's what off-man is. That's what you need to do in off-man. Good feet, good ball skills, good transitional skills. Now, for a guy in zone, you don't necessarily need a fast guy. You just need a smart guy. And to me, I thought T's Tabor was one of the great zone corners I saw on tape. He loses cover two responsibilities sometimes, but I'm telling you, this guy can read a quarterback like a book.

If you put him on a screen play, you put him out a little seven route, this guy knows where to get to his own. This guy can read quarterbacksbacks and that's the big thing mental processing keen diagnosed that's what you need his own corner you don't necessarily need the fastest guy and that's why you see guys like josh norman who didn't run a fast 40 label as a cover two corner until he was put on the redskins because he was not a fast guy and but he makes up with good keen diagnosed skills and good mental processing skills i'm telling you, cover two corners, they might not be able to play fast, but they need to play smart, and that's what you need in a zone corner.

In cover three, whether it's the Seahawks or they play cover three press, like Richard Sherman, again, you don't need a really fast guy, but you need a strong guy with good play strength and good technique. In zone, if you're not going to be able to play fast, you need to be able to play with your head and you need to be able to play with your play strength. If you don't have that, you can't play quarterback in the NFL. To me,

you need to be able to play all three. Press man, off man, and zone. That to me is what you need as a quarterback in today's NFL. In the NFL, you're going to play all different kinds of schemes. You straight play cover three press with a virtual Sherman. That's why they have their own kind of guys.

Right. Because even those guys, even the Colts, I mean, other teams that run those press man schemes. You're going to play all different kinds of schemes. Right. You're going to play zone in that sometimes. It may be not your primary scheme or what you're running more consistently, but you're going to run it sooner or later.

And I just was trying to get people a little more knowledgeable on that because like I said, that's something you hear people talk about a lot and you know, they may not understand the differences between them. So hopefully Jonah taught you guys a little bit there. Jonah, give me your, just one more thing on, on the corners deal. And to to me everyone looks at the 40 and says oh can he run the problem with the problem with that notion is i think quickness is more is is more crucial to a quarterback success and speed is because you can have you can run a four or three but if you can't transition through receiver and now the breaks you're not gonna be a good corner you're

gonna give a ton of separation i'm telling you the guys like stefan gilmore's those kind of guys they're gonna get 12 million dollars and he's gonna be asked to be a shutdown corner he's not gonna be able to do it because he's not a good transitional player i think he can run he can run the corners on nine he can run receivers on a nine route but when you ask him to you know transition change direction i'm not sure he's as good as a guy like aj boye and that's why i give aj boye the money like i said earlier i think he's as good as a guy like A.J. Boye. And that's why I give A.J. Boye the money, like I said earlier. I think he's a top-value corner for the agency this year. But that's why guys like Desmond King, Desmond King can't run. Desmond King can't change direction all that well, but he can really attack the ball.

And that's why he needs to be good safety. And he's the opposite of Tredavis White, who can mirror, who can shadow, and who can run, but he can't catch the ball, and he can't locate the ball at the high point. Very interesting. I'm glad you pointed that out, and he can't locate the ball at the high point. Very interesting. I'm glad you pointed that out, too, because that means a lot at the next level, and that's a huge transition from college game to the NFL game. Absolutely.

Give me, let's see, top three or top four guys overall. We'll go top five. Give me your top five corners on your board. Okay, so my number one guy, as I said earlier, is Quincy Wilson. I think he has it all in terms of the press man corner. A lot of taller corners, you know, 6'1", 6'2". His transitions aren't going to be as smooth as a guy like Jordan Lewis, who's 5'9".

But I think he can play off-man. He's proven to play zone and play it really well in terms of cover two at Florida. But his true value to me is the press man at florida but his true values me as a press man corner he's as suffocating as any press man corner in the nation there's great ball skills it's as i said the one-handed interest against kentucky shows that all right there he knows i'll play this back to ball a surprising change of direction for a big man as i said earlier and my number two guy is marshall latimore and to me this guy's most talented corner in the draft

because he's like he could play press, off, end zone effectively. To me, the only question I have with him is that his technique is just a little raw in terms of the last crunch. He can get a little panicky with his hands, a little anxious. Also, his durability. If he can

stay durable and stay healthy, I think he's going to have a long career in the NFL. Tease Tabor is my number three guy. And I have questions about him playing man because I don't think he's like I said, for you to be a press man corner, you need to have the length to mitigate your lack of speed. I'm not saying Tease Tabor can't run.

I think he's just quicker than fast. But he has great balls because I think if you put him in a cover two scheme, boy oh boy, Tease Tabor can light up the quarterback for interception. I think he has the potential to lead the league in interceptions one day, but there's a boom-bust factor with him because, you know, he can have a pick six one play and then get beat for a nine route

because he jumped. He's still at nine route. He's going to curl. He's going to jump the curl, and they're going to beat him on a pump and go. Is that a little bit of a Janoris Jenkins? Yes, and he's a lot like Vernon Hargraves from last year, where Vernon Hargraves would bite on the double moves a little bit. But I don't think he's going to play in the nickel like Hargraves is

for Tampa Bay right now. But I think he's going to be able to play on the outside. But I'd be very wary of him in off man because he tries to read the quarterback instead of the man, and that's what you're supposed to do in man coverage. You're supposed to have your eyes locked on the receiver and always read his movement and react. When he does with the quarterback, he has his eyes locked on the quarterback too much he wants to make the big play he's anxious to make the big play and that can get him beat sometimes

against Tennessee he got beat for bad on nine up or touchdown but yeah so I like Tease Tabor I think he has a lot of potential to be you know a ball hawking corner but I'd be careful with him I wouldn't take him as high as some people are saying like in top 15. I'd gamble on him being the late first or the second, but he definitely has talent. My fourth guy, I think this guy can probably rise into that first round tier is Cordrea Tinkersley, the pro

football focus favorite. He's another press man corner, a lot like Quincy Wilson. I think the problem with him is that he gets too aggressive. There's a point in time to where his technique is out of control. I think with press man corners at a cause level, you see a lot of this. You see a lot of players out of control with their hands and their hips.

Whenever a receiver tries to make a quick release out of their break, he opens his hips too quickly. Or when a receiver gets his initial release, he tries to grab the jersey gain leverage instead of using his feet and i don't think for and for a receiver that's time to uh break your route off absolutely absolutely that's when you teach them and once you get their hips turned you gotta beat but see the cordrea tankersley i think he i think he has a good transitional quickness i think he's not like one of those press man corners who has stiff hips. I think he has fluid hips. I just think that he's just too aggressive, and in the run game, that can bite him too because although he's a willing tackler,

he goes for the highlight hits too much, and that's how he is in coverage too. An off-man coach like T.C. Tabor, he'll go for the big play. He'll bite in the double moves, and he'll get beat that way because I think he's guessing instead of reacting, and I think a team needs to coach that out of him. But he definitely has talent. He's going to be a 24-year-old rookie, but I think he has good pressman skills, and he's going to be one of the best pressman cover corners in his class,

and he should be a top 50 pick for sure. And my fifth guy is I have it tie between sydney jones and gary on conley right now and sydney jones and gary on connelly are kind of the same guy because they lack a lot of play strength and you know a big difference that people don't understand you know some people understand this but the difference between functional strength and play strength functional strength is what you do in the weight room you know how many reps you can get on the bench press wherever that is on there but the play strength is how you apply that to the football field and i don't see that with either of these guys right now and with sydney jones i think he lacks both functional

and play strength meaning that he needs to fill out his frame before he can be any threat on the outside but he has probably the best feet of anybody in this draft and as an off man corner his transitional quickness is top notch and he can change direction with any receiver out there to play off man zone you put him in that kind of situation he's going to succeed in the nfl if you put him in press coverage he's going to get bench pressed by you know bigger receivers like it's like if you watch the usc game which i encourage people to watch on sydney jones judo smith schuster bench press the heck out of him in press coverage. I mean,

it was, like, all he had to do, like, he didn't have to use his feet or anything, or he didn't have any head fakes. He said, you know, I'm just going to bull rush you, and just threw Sidney Jones, you know, five yards back. Okay, well, Sidney, and then Juju Smith-Schuster had to have himself a day against Sidney Jones, and that's what got me the red flags. You know, I was

high on Sidney Jones coming in because I thought, you know, if he could fill out his frame, man, this guy could be special because he could play press, he could play off, he could play zone. But I kind of overestimated the time of play strength and the time of function that it takes for him to fill out his frame. And to me, he needs to be able to do that. And the combine is going to be big for him because if he shows up at 175, 180, I'm not sure he can go in the first round. I'm not sure he can go in the top 50 if that happens.

But I think he has ability. Like I said earlier, I think he has the best feet in the draft. And he's a willing tackler, and he has good fundamentals in wrapping up an open field. Gary on comedy is interesting. I talked about him earlier as a guy who can cover an off, who can cover a zone. He's a very smart player.

Very, very – one of the most cerebral corners on his draft in terms of zone coverage. And I'm telling you that this guy can keep him diagnosed and off man coverage he has great feet he's not a guesser he's a reactor and this guy this guy is really good cerebrally and impressed man though this guy needs a lot of work he's not gonna be a i i can't play an impressed man at the next level until he gets stronger. I'm not saying functionally in the weight room. This guy needs to play stronger.

This guy seems almost timid to touch somebody in press man. Like, he doesn't use his hands. And, to me,

I think Gary Alcon, if you play him in off man, he's going to succeed. But, his play strength is a big red flag for me. Playing press man and also getting off blocks.

And, there are times where he's just getting clobbered. I think it was Mike Williams. Somebody just pan kicked him twice in a row. I was just like, oh my goodness. And so I just don't see him, the willingness in running like Sidney Jones. At least Sidney Jones, when I see him play, I think he wants to be in the run game.

He wants to force fumbles. He wants to wrap the open field. Gary O'Connor, I'm not saying he's not a fundamental open field tackler. When he gets the chance to, he'll wrap you up. But I just don't think he wants to do it. I don't think he has what he wants to in the run game. And that scares me a little bit with him because he's a smart player. And I think he's making business decisions sometimes.

And I think he can cover. He can definitely cover you can he has great ball skills too great cerebral player but does he want it in the run game I think that affects his play strength too and I think that that's going to bear a lot of questions I don't think he's a first round player some people think he's I know Matt Miller has him in the top 15 or so in the corners but I don't see it I I prefer Lattimore, the Ohio State corners. I think he's more talented. I think he has better feet.

But if you want a guy who can play zone, Garon Conley's your guy. And that's kind of the typical what you would see with an argument before trying to bring a guy into a situation like the Indianapolis Colts have where you would say, no, he's a zone. That's kind of the guy who doesn't quite meet the threshold of being able to pull both. Yeah.

See, that would be a problem in the Colts scheme, I think. Yeah. You never know. If you're playing the Colts, you have to be able to play some press man on the outside. Right. That's like a threshold you have to meet. Right.

Like I said, I think Sidney Jones can get there, but he needs to get stronger. I think the problem with him more is functional strength, and the problem with Gary O'Connor is more play strength. So I think Sidney Jones has the willingness to get off boxing. He has some physicality to him, but he's just not big enough. He can get pushed around in jump ball situations at the catch point, pushed around on press coverage because he's only 175 pounds.

Let me ask you this real quick. He needs to fill out this one. Let me ask you as far as the differences between functional and play strength. Yeah. Do you think – I mean, because – well, let me say, at the levels that I've played and probably you as well, you know there were some guys that were built like a pencil, but just seemed to have weird, crazy strength within the game. Do you think that the NFL, because guys are so big,

I mean, just so muscular and so athletic, that that's harder to come by functional strength than it is – or I guess I mean play strength is harder to come by without being functionally strong as well? Yeah. No, no. You have to be functionally strong before you can be good in the NFL. Right. In the NFL, you need to be functionally strong before you can have good play strength because like you said, if Sonny Jones does not improve his – if he doesn't fill his

frame where he can be at least 190. He's going to get pushed around by the Brandon Marshalls and the Alshon Jeffries in the league. That's the bottom line. And he can be as physical as he wants. He can be good hands. But there's a point in time where he's going to get bodied in the red zone, and he says, I have a chance.

In jump ball situations, he went 180 soaking wet compared to a 235-pound Alshon Jeffrey. You're going to get beat up by the jump ball situations, if you're at 180 soaking wet, compared to a 235-pound Alshon Jeffrey, you're going to get beat up. It's like in basketball. In basketball, you know where you're getting boxed out. If you have a 250-pound center against a 150-pound guard, who do you think is going to win that?

It's not necessarily that bad. That's not necessarily an exaggeration for Sidney Jones, but he does need to fill out his frame. And before he can be a valuable starter or a productive starter at that point in a press man scheme where he's going to be asked to play a lot, I think with his length. But his skill set is an off-man corner,

but I think he can be a lot more valuable, and especially his drafts can soar. If he could just fail, his frame proved at the combine or his pro day that he can weigh 190 or 200 without losing his step and his change of direction, that would go a long way for him. I think he can jump up my board a lot too, but weighing 170, 180, soaking wet is not going to get the job done for him. That's why guys like Kevin Peters from Oklahoma State, a guy who I liked last year,

who I thought could be a great nickel corner. But the problem with him was that he weighed 170, 175 at the combine. I'm like, there's no way. There's just no way this guy's going to be able to make it in the NFL, even as a special teamer, if he can't get up to 190, 195. There's just no way. Yeah, and that's kind of the threshold right now for corners. See, as much as there is a height, there is definitely a height threshold in the nfl 510 5 some most

teams some if not most teams have a threshold of 510 5 for the first round corner or any corner on the outside but um is there's also a weight threshold too because i can't you know necessarily draft a guy early if he weighs less than 180. Because like I said, Sidney Jones, those guys, they can get pushed around. I don't want to see Juju Smith-Schuster bench press him NFL version with Alshon Jeffery. That would just be ugly. So give me – now you kind of touched on it a little bit with some other guys with their rankings on some corners that they've got in the top 15 and whatnot. But give me a guy that you think might be a different one, obviously, than you've already spoken about.

But give me a guy that you think is getting a little bit overhyped right now that you think is far as not only where he should go, but because of the kind of player that he is just in general, he should probably be down the board just a little bit. Yeah, there are a couple of guys that come to mind. One guy is Adoree Jackson, and I know that he's still yet to declare, but there are people saying that he's a first-round corner. I'm like, listen, man, it's the same thing with Sidney Jones.

His play strength is just not there yet, and he's only like 5'11", 5'10", I think. So he doesn't have the length Sidney Jones. His play strength is just not there yet. He's only like 5'11", 5'10", I think. He doesn't have the length Sidney Jones has to at least mitigate to where he can at least get his hands on receivers with his length to at least mitigate some of his play strength. Good lord. Adoree Jackson does not have the length, does not have the play strength. I think he can be a serviceable

player on the outside, but he needs to fill his frame. He's a fast player. I honestly thought the idea of putting him on offense would be very intriguing as a guy who can get down the field, but I don't think he's a – I wouldn't take him before the third round as a cornerback. I can't do it. He has great ball skills, but this guy needs a lot of work at the cornerback position.

He's not really good. He allows a lot of separation for a guy who's 5'10", 5'11 eleven and if you're a guy who's five ten five eleven you need to have great feet great change of direction because i'm not like senquez golson jordan lewis feet you can't have you can't give up as much separation as rory jackson's getting and another guy that i think is getting a little overhyped is kevin king is the tall corn from Washington. He's about 6'3", 185, I think. But he's considered a press man corner next level. I think he has good play. I think he's stronger than Sidney Jones.

I think he has good length, and he uses his length well. Good back-to-the-ball corner. But, boy, oh, boy, this guy is going to be limited. He can't play off-man or he can't play zone. He's not good when he has to ask the key and diagnose and read the quarterback. He loses his zone responsibilities a lot. And when he plays off-man, his feet aren't really good.

As you can tell, a taller corner is going to have stiff hips. And it takes a long time for the stride to get going. And Kevin King, I think he's going to be a limited player. I think a team like the Seahawks could take a chance on the second round. I don't doubt that because he fits their scheme really well. But all 31 other teams, other than probably the Seahawks, a lot of these teams ask their corners to play different schemes, press, off-man, zone.

And I think Kevin King's strictly a press-man corner at this point. I'm not saying he can get there to zone coverage where he can pick on a smarter player with more NFL coaching coaching but his feet aren't there to where i can just say hey play off man like sydney jones can or like gary on conley can i i just i see people putting him i've seen that people as high as the first round i'm like listen man this guy's raw this guy he's a press man corner but he's a perfect press man corner either like there is one trade where he's supposed to be good at with his length he's not there yet but he can get there so i don't think i would take him in the first round i wouldn't take him in the top 50 but i would definitely spend a day to pick on him as a project because he has

high potential because there's not because of the 6'3 height and i think as a press man corner length is one of the top requirements for you to play that scheme. And Kevin King fits that mold, and I think he'd be a good press man corner in the NFL with coaching, but he's a very limited player at that, and that's why I can't take him as high as people are telling me where he should be ranked. Right, and I'll be honest with you. I don't want the Colts to take any projects. Right. with you. I don't want the Colts to take any projects. While he seems like a guy who could be a perfect project for the right coach, for Pagano's... The Colts need people now.

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And for a guy who's supposed to be a DB's coach, Pagano's DBs sure are struggling and have been for a while. You know what I mean? So I don't want, I don't want to watch him teach somebody. I want him to come in and, and be a guy that can contribute now with minimal coaching. Um, kind of tell us about a guy who may be, uh, under the radar quite a bit. Uh, that's not getting a lot of pub that probably should, uh, by your, by your thoughts. I'm going to tell you right now, I'm telling everybody right now listening that the sleeper of this class and probably my favorite cornerback to watch on tape is rasul douglas from west virginia this dude is this dude's barely almost six two weighs about 206 something like that and he's a senior from west virginia i'm telling you this guy can play off he can play press and he can play press, and he can play zone. When you're 6'2", 200 pounds, and you can play all three, that's impressive.

And a lot of teams are going to take a chance on someone who is versatile in all those schemes. And, you know, bigger guy, really good in press, man. Can jam receivers and line scorers. Patient player. You know, he can turn his back, run with the ball. A little stiff in the hips. Like I said, taller corners, you're going to find your guys who are not as transitionally smooth.

But when he plays off-man, he's a smart player. And to me, give me the smart player who knows what position they're in, knows when to get in position, where to get in position, and where to read the ball at the catch point. That's the guy I want. I want a guy who's a good tackler, a willing tackler. I want a guy who's a good tackler, a willing tackler. I want a guy who's a cerebral player. I want a guy who can turn around with his back to the ball and locate it.

Because if you can't do those three things, if you can't tackle, you can't read plays in zone, and you can't turn your back and run to the receiver and locate the ball over your shoulder, you can't play corner in the NFL. That's the bottom line. So why isn't he getting the pub that the rest of the guys are? I think a lot of it is centered on because he's a senior from West Virginia

and he's not as spectacular. He had eight interceptions this year. Let's not think that he had a McKenzie Alexander year where he had zero picks. This guy was one of the leaders in the nation's leaders in interceptions. He had eight picks. He has great ball skills. It's one of the big things the nation's leaders in interceptions.

He had eight picks. He has great ball skills. That's one of the big things about Rasul Douglas. But I think the problem is they don't see a very fluid player. But I don't think he necessarily needs to be fluid. If he knows where to be in position and he knows how to get on the hip pocket more so than just using his feet, I think a lot of the off man is using your feet. That's one of the biggest requirements in that.

And he doesn't have the best footwork. I think he's going to get exposed to the combine for a little bit of stiff hips. You know Mike Mayock's doing all the combine stuff and say, oh, wow, that guy has stiff hips. He's probably going to say that about Russell Douglas. But this guy knows when he gets on the football field, he knows how to get on the hip pocket. He knows how to recover quickly.

He's a patient player. And this guy has a chance to move up my draft board significantly if he proves that the combine that he can run if he can run a sub four five forty that would do wonders for his draft stock because as a press man corner six two two hundred you're expected to run like a four five four six like ladarius gunter range but if this guy can run sub four five this guy could go top 50 where do you got him at right now i got him right now in the second, third-round range, and I think that's where he's going to go. If he has just an above-average combine where he does it, he has great tape,

and I think a team's going to take a chance second-round. Darryl Worley and James Bradbury can go in the third round. Absolutely, Russell Douglas can go in the second round. Interesting. I'm going to make sure that I get to watch that guy. Please watch him. I'm telling you, he is versatile. He can play press.

He can play off and play cover two, cover three. I'm telling you, Rasul Douglas is the guy to watch this draft class, and he has a chance to move on board significantly. I'm actually kind of excited. In fact, I'm going to be doing some tape tonight, so I may have to check him out for sure. Jonah, thank you for stopping by, man. This was fantastic.

A lot of information to digest right there, and I can't wait. The Colts desperately need a high-quality, high-talent guy that can do all of this, and it sounds like they at least have a possibility of finding them in this draft. And that's fantastic news. Whether they pull him in or not, that's another story. So we'll just hope that the Colts are smart enough to go after the right kind of guys. Jonah, tell everybody where they can find you and where they can find your work at.

Well, you can find me at JonahTolzNFL on Twitter. You can also find me on Facebook at JonahTolz. And I can't thank you enough for having me on the podcast man and you know i love scouting cornerbacks more than anything because that's the position i played in high school especially i went to the all-star game for new mexico and i just love playing the corner position i played receiver and played cornerback i love the intricacies of the position because i know it's one of the hardest positions to transfer from you know college to the NFL because the speed's different the size of them if we're talking about Sidney Jones who wants to introduce Miss Schuster to Alshon Jeffrey it's a big jump but I love scouting the corner position and it's one of my passions and like I said I swung for the fences on William

Jackson III we're still holding out on him I'm telling you if people come to me saying he's a bust I'm gonna lash out at them because I still have hope, if people come to me saying he's a bust, I'm going to lash out at them. Because I still have hope. I'm telling you, he tore his pec, but he didn't break his ankle. So he's good to go. I'm telling you. And like I said, I can't thank you enough for having me on the podcast. I love talking about the draft.

I love talking about football in general. So if you want to reach me at JohnTolsonNFL, you can talk to me about anything. Talk to me about sports. Talk to me about TV. Talk to me about Netflix shows. Dude, I'm telling you. Just talk to me talking about anything i'm willing to hear your feedback just hit me up on twitter facebook whatever man certainly one of the best in the business and definitely uh one of the best follows on twitter so make sure everybody that you're going out and checking him

out uh thank you jonah like i said fantastic stuff i really appreciate you coming on it was fantastic uh getting to pick your brain a little bit about these guys. Everybody make sure that you guys are subscribing to the podcast. The past few weeks, the listenership has jumped tremendously. It's been fantastic. Thank you guys for sharing the show, telling your friends and family, and telling whoever, telling Grandpa, hey, check it out. There's this Colts pod.

I appreciate it. You can check me out on Twitter at indanely underscore NFL or Locked on Colts and Locked on Colts on Facebook and Locked on Colts pod at gmail.com is the email. So hit me up if you guys have something to say, something you guys want to talk about or you want to hear me talk about. Anything is open game. So I appreciate you guys have something to say, something you guys want to talk about, or you want to hear me talk about. Anything is open game. So I appreciate you guys listening. Thank you very much, and we will talk to you tomorrow right here on Locked on Colts.

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