NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 21. Cornerback Position Rankings for the 2022 NFL Draft

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers give you their Top 5 cornerbacks for the 2022 NFL Draft. The two talk styles of each corner in their rankings, what their ceiling is, with systems and roles they see them playing. Plus shoutout some guys who just missed the list, and potential late round gems.

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all gotten back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better with NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. You get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great.

I got it this year. It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode we are breaking down the cornerback class for the 2022 NFL draft we will give you our top fives going from five giving you excitement making you wait a little bit till we

get to our top corner in this class we'll talk about the cornerback group overall give you some names that just missed the list as well as some late round gems that might be able to really help out your team it's great looking at this right after the combine because we get the athletic test the measurements everything really well to be rock solid on what we think our cornerback group is going to be going into the 2022 NFL draft. I am Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is my co-host, Connor Rogers. Let's get after it. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I am Trevor Sikaba. With me is Connor Rogers here on a Thursday edition of the podcast.

And long-time listeners of the pod, by long time, I mean this podcast started like a month and a half ago. But long-time listeners of the pod know what that means. It is a rankings episode day. We've done edge rusher. We've done running back. We've done interior defensive tackle we've done wide receiver and now it's time to get to the cornerback position one of the deepest positions in this draft class connor and i are going to be going down giving you our top fives for this cornerback position post combine so we got a little bit of extra uh help with us there

but also some guys that just missed our top five how deep we think this class is and then some late round gems that we might see from this position as well. Connor, I'm excited, man. This is one of the deepest positions in this draft class. I'm excited to talk about it. Yeah, it's a good one. You got a lot of, you know, a shakeup of rankings from everyone, I think. I think this is one of the better shows for guys that just missed, you know,

we do the guys that just missed the top 50, but also guys that just missed our top five. We got some sleepers in here. I think this is a really fun athletic group where you can get starters. Maybe, you know, like there's like 10 players that could be starters in here, which is pretty rare. So, yeah, really excited for that, man. And it's a double hat day, too. It is a double hat day. The first time that has happened

on the pod so while we're doing our usual thursday shenanigans it is a double hat day to shake things up but i have a pressing issue that we need to uh address at the top of the show that this you're gonna love this trevor so the other day i might have even been the mock draft show it might have been the tuesday show for stock up stock. I just randomly called our listeners the Stockies. I realized I had never pulled the room. It just came out very natural. And I don't know if it's because I used to call the stick to football listeners the Stickies. I'm sure a lot of it is the fact that we are called the NFL Stock Exchange, which I harshly

found out that there are many listeners of the show that have come together and given themselves a name that they want to be called. And it is not the Stockies. found out that there are many listeners of the show that have come together and given themselves a a name that they want to be called and it is not the stockies it is and i quote this is not my idea i quote the sex addicts is what they want to be called as in the it's an abbreviation stock exchange addicts but they want to be called. And they were like, I was like, is this what you want to be called? And they were like, yes, this is the name we've come up with. I don't know if I will address them as that on this show for, I don't know, appropriate

reasons or whatever it is. But the Stock Exchange, Stock S Exchange EX exchange ex addicts what do you think of that i don't know you know i would say i didn't tell trevor about this by the way until just now this is not i did not know that this was coming look if if if the diehards want to call themselves that that's fantastic um i don't know if – well, I would say – We can't make shirts. We can't make merch. The merchandise might need some work there.

So we might actually need to come up with a more merchandise-friendly name. And then, like, you diehards can call yourselves this all you want. We absolutely love you for it. I was going to say, I don't know if we could, I don't know if we could call them that on the show, but then again, shoot, what manscape is having us read for these ads. I mean, like, you know, it's, I don't know what, I don't know where the line is. I thought I knew where the line was when we started this podcast.

I guess I don't, but that's awesome. I love, I truly love. It makes me so happy that people have already listened to this podcast enough to kind of give themselves a little nickname for, uh, the, uh, the, the diehard listeners of the podcast. So, Hey, you know what, everybody out there who wants to roll with the sex addicts, uh, I guess you can, you can call yourselves that and, uh, and we'll have a good laugh about it when we get to do a lot of meetups in person and so that'll be fun i i do wonder if we pull the listeners overall and wonder like hey what do you guys want to be called like obviously some people already have established their name but like yeah as a grant you call them the stockies which is hilarious because i know you called the

stick to football fans the stickies and i know that everybody kind of loved that so if you guys out there have a suggestion for what the faithful listeners of nfl stock exchange should be called us as a family let us know and uh maybe we'll start referencing you guys uh on the show as connor said it's a double hat day i don't know if that's going to be good or bad it's never happened before on this show a show it means we're grinding like trevor and i are actually getting out of bed early and watching a lot of film before each show to to make sure we're buttoned up for the end for the the tougher part the sleepers and everything this is very true on the same appearance mold i was told that on monday's show uh the mock draft show no no was

this tuesday show it had to have been tuesday show tuesday show somebody said that i looked like late stage career eminemem with my beard and the hat. Like, I don't know. They just said that I looked like late-stage career Eminem, and then somebody else in the YouTube comments said that I had beautiful eyes. So, to you. Yeah, you've gotten a good balance. The check is in the mail.

The check is in the mail to that person. So, thank you. I appreciate it. When you can fit dude, low-key, and beautiful eyes in one comment, that is, like like really wildly impressive. All right. Well, we're going to, we're not just going to talk about the color and aesthetic of my eyes.

We're going to talk about our scouting eyes between the two of us here. See what we did there. See the transition. So they pay me the big bucks. Beautiful folks. Before we get to our cornerback rankings though, got to make sure I remind everybody, but that now is the best time to sign up for a PFF subscription,

whether it's an edge elite, a college, whatever subscription you're trying to go for that you want to get the best at a pff.com. You can do it right now for 25% off a yearly subscription. If you use the promo code NFL S E, whatever you're calling yourself as a lifelong listener of the podcast, it is your right to claim 25% off a PFF premium subscription. You get the article content, you get the draft guide,

you get the famous football guide, you get all the in-season betting tools as well. So check it out. If you don't have a subscription, go use that promo code NFLSC to get 25% off. Connor, I will defer to you for number five to kick us off here. Who is your number five cornerback in this 2022 class? You and I are going to have very different rankings,

which is fun today, but I think five is the only time we're going to align. So I'll kick things off here, and it's going to be Kyler Gordon, who undoubtedly had a disappointing showing at the combine, but that doesn't mean you just tank the guy. I think, I think I guess I'll start with the bad before I get to the good is that he came in under six foot which is just

shocking to me I did not think that while watching him on film I thought he was somebody that played bigger than that which is a good sign dude he was like the exact same size as Trent McDuffie like and it doesn't look that way at all they were were both 5'11", 194 and 193. Like they were the same exact size. It was so funny. It's insane. So he runs the 4'5", too, which is fine. Like you're not like off the 4'5", too.

But I think the problem is that, you know, I've heard a lot about Kyler Gordon that he was going to run around a 4'4". And that, you know, and he's going to do everything at his pro day. And you could see he only ran the 40. I've said on the spot before, I heard that he really was not feeling well and he gutted out the 40 gutted out like I read like once again, he was not feeling well. So he didn't do everything. And I think his pro day will be a way for him to show I am a really good athlete because on tape, he's a really, really good athlete, Trevor. I think he's somebody that coming from that system, he has experience. You know, Trent McDuffie talked a lot about this at the podium,

where they use their eyes so much because they're asked to play a lot of zone, where they're so used to watching the quarterback and using their feet and reacting to throws. And I think you see a lot of that with Kyler Gordon. I like his turn-and-run deep speed, recovery speed, which is so big for a young corner when they're figuring it out. The reality of this league is you are going to get beat. But do you possess the raw traits to recover when you do get beat? And I think Kyler Gordon on film showed that he can do that.

So he is not on the tier of the upper hand guys in this class. But I think he is a early second round player that you can draft and start right away. Because of the playing experience, what he's shown on film. I think he can handle both man and zone, which is quietly a very important thing in this draft class. And I like him a lot and think he does need a little bit more time. I think it's not all there. I think the instincts are slowly coming along.

But he is a really good athlete that the right coach will develop as a long-term starter. Yeah, I was really surprised that he showed up at 5'11". It's 5'11 1⁄2 and 194 pounds. You mentioned he wasn't really feeling well going into combine, so you don't want to totally hold his athletic test against him because anybody who's ever played sports and you know that they weren't feeling their best, it definitely affects you, man. It definitely does.

And so I think that that probably went into it a little bit. You know, that to say, though, I didn't watch him and Trent McDuffie and think that these guys are blazers. Like, I didn't think either of these guys were going to threaten 4-3, right? I thought that probably high 4-4s was correct for both of them. So, you know, if you pick a different day, maybe if Gordon gets a little bit better of a start, he's probably hitting that. He's probably hitting exactly that. So I think they're both high 4-4 kind of guys.

I know McDuffie, who we'll talk about in a little bit here he ran a 4-4-4 so that's the same kind of neighborhood uh he was just on the higher end of that spectrum I like Gordon he's got an aggressive style man and something that I absolutely love about Washington Husky defenders is they teach you if you ain't tackling you will not play not play play that's just what Jimmy Lake was teaching over at Washington. He's a D.B. coach for a long time in the NFL. And he basically – Washington has sent a lot of really great defensive backs to the NFL, right? Buda Baker, Taylor Rapp, Byron Murphy.

Who's the one of the Patriots that I'm forgetting? Miles Bryant, right? Like so many really great defensive backs that have gone from the Washington program and fit in the NFL in some way or another. Some are a little bit more impactful than others, but they are NFL football players. That's what these two dudes are. That's what I think the Kyler Gordon is. He's been able to come in and play really well. I know he had the wide receiver background when he was in high school. He was an all-purpose player. And, you know, when it comes to the 40-yard dash,

that's not the be-all end-all for speed, right? Because you're getting into a little bit of a track stance early on. Some dudes aren't comfortable getting down in that track stance. So I think that, of course, the speed that you see on the field with the helmet and the pads on means a lot more. He's really short area explosive. And I think that that's what stands out to me the most about him is he's pretty twitched up as a defensive back. He knows how to stop and start he could change direction really well the long speed i did have a little bit of questions for it on tape but he seems to again this kind of seems to be a washington football program thing for their defensive backs he's very subtle and savvy in how he uses his physicality to bump guys

stay even with guys stay in their hip pocket if you will and so all of that I think really rounds him out as a really good cornerback prospect and and you're right I think he's got a lot of versatility to him he can play both zone and man I have him as a starting CB2 kind of a role that's what I think that he can be in the NFL so that's where I've got him yeah I like that I think that it helps him that he's shown he can do both. I think he has the physical makeup to do both. And he once again, if you are looking if you have a number one corner, but you've been dealing with a carousel across from that number one corner, Kyler Gordon is the type of player in the top 50 that can give you some stability there. You know, I think that's that is something that is because it's not he's not scheme dependent. So any team that has that kind of problem can take him in the top 50.

And I do think the ball skills, when he sees a lot of targets in the NFL, because when you're a rookie, that's how it goes. I think the ball skills are real. Yeah, he can make some serious plays as well. All right, that's Kyler Gordon, somebody that we have all eyes on for his pro day because I do think when he does everything, he'll remind everyone the kind of athlete he is. My would kind of my number my number five as well as your number five if that wasn't okay i know you said that at the top but just wanted to remind people

both those are both of our cb5s right now so who is your cb4 because we different kairi illam man from your from your school over here i man i let me have a little transparency here. I came out of summer with, you know, the thought that Kyrie Elam's corner film was up there with anyone in this class. And I know Stingley's 19 was insane, but I'm talking about as the whole sample size, when you look at Stingley 2020 and Kyrie Elam 2020, and then obviously Sauce, who was really good as well. Kyrie Elam, I thought his film was up there with anyone. I thought this year at times he didn't look like the same dude. I don't know. Once again, if it has to do with the program, I don't know. There's always this question with

guys being locked in when teams start losing games. I think there was times where it's not even like he got lazy. It's just like, man, I saw you a lot more locked in and fundamentally sound on 2020 than you've consistently been in 2021. But the raw physical talent because of his size, a great 40, I think he had a sub 4'4", 40, which is kind of shocking to me. I thought he would be right around a 4'5".

So that's a really nice number for Kyrie. He is a true press man corner. I would not sit him off and ask him to play zone and read the quarterback and constantly use his feet like that. I would ask him to get right up on a receiver and use his arms, use his physicality to disrupt their route and stay in their hip pocket and run with them. And someone like that as a rookie, like you're not going to put him on an island. But once again, it goes to the fact that if he has some safety help over the top he can really beat up receivers underneath and i think there is you know a really valuable uh that's a valuable trait now the problem is with

him underneath i don't think he's the best tackler right now which is kind of odd for a couple of reasons one his size and two the fact that you look at his bloodline, right? The bloodline between Abram Elam is his dad. His uncle is Matt Elam. Like those dudes, from what I remember, like were pretty hardcore tacklers. They were safeties. They were safeties. Safeties tackle. So I think it's kind of funny to me that that was one thing I wrote down.

I was like, man, he could be a better tackler for his size. And once again, it could be coach, you know, just the lack was like man he could be a better tackler for his size and once again it could be coach you know just the lack of coaching it could be fundamentals but with Kier Elam the fact that his calling card is being a press man sticky cover corner that's more valuable than anything else and that would that's what made him number four for me so Patriots corner let me just say that he is like a New England corner to a tee so I have Kier Elam in my just missed out uh kind of thing and I wondered if I should say this for the end of the podcast but that's good timing more people listen to the beginning than the end so I'll just we can kind of get into the conversation about it now I also really like Kier Elam's tape I think that you know something that I wrote down in my blurb and my notes about him is like if you

want a guy who kind of like has all the tools, he really does. He's a player that you bet on. He's a guy that plays the style of coverage that gives you the highest ceiling in the NFL, right? Being able to be fearless in man coverage. He's got the length. I think he's got the speed. And, you know, I went back even this morning, right, right, as we were going to kind of go get into this podcast and i looked at that 40 time from kairi because i think he ran he ran like in a in an unofficial i think it was something around like

a 444 something around the four fours and i was like damn that's a really good time for kairi because i was with you anything sub four five was going to be nice and i think he ran like a four four four or something like that and i was like damn that's a really nice time and then the official comes out and it's a four three nine and i'm like whoa okay what that's that's a little crazy from what i saw but i went back and i was watching some of this tape earlier this morning and that long speed shows up it really does now 9", I mean, that's pretty damn fast, but- I didn't see that. Right. And I think I have a reason why you didn't see exactly that. Because with him being a taller corner, his legs are long. He's a little high-waisted, if you will. When that's the case, physically, just because you have a taller a taller longer body it is more rare that

you can flip your hips as fast as you would say show proven athleticism in a straight line and that's something that i really picked up on when i've been able to watch kairi elam really recently is the hips naturally because he is a bigger longer corner just do not flip as fast as they would for some of these smaller guys when his hips flip and when he gets square and when he puts his foot in the ground and he starts accelerating you see the speed the long speed shows up but naturally i think he has physical limitations in just being big it's almost like it's kind of it's clearly a big positive i think he's a little tight trevor is what i saw he's just he's not as fluid and flexible as some other i'll say rare bigger corners a guy that i'm about to get to as my number four guy

and that's a little bit why that's that's a little bit of the reason along with kind of he's over grabby a little bit right now and i actually think that that goes along with him being a little bit of the reason, along with kind of he's over-grabby a little bit right now, and I actually think that that goes along with him being a little bit inflexible with his hips. He's kind of being grabby so he can stop and start and hang on to wide receivers as they are changing direction. All of that kind of goes into I like his ability a lot. I think he's a great athlete in a straight line. I think he's got a great mentality to him.

He played Jameson Williams really well when they played against Alabama earlier this season. He loves being on an island. He's a confident dude. He gives you that profile. But I think there's always going to be that part of his physical limitation. And in order to get over that, you have to be an excellent anticipator. You have to really get into film work. You have to really get a lot of reps under your your belt and you have to be able to break on the ball even before other corners would and i think that that's possible for kairi lem i just think because that physical limit limitation in his game liability in his game if you will that's why i'm a little bit lower on him than some other people so that's why no i think it's it's a great point i think he's gonna have to go somewhere that he is a very scheme i just did the opposite with Kyler Gordon it's interesting go from five

to four and call the fourth player very scheme specific but he is you were just if you ask him to sit off and especially come up and tackle or read things it's not there yet and he is tight he sure the 40 is great and when you are pressing and running vertically, you're carrying with receivers, you need that. That's great. I'm not taking that away from him. But when he has to move laterally, that's where there's going to be some limitations.

And that's where you're looking at. He will not be a starter on everyone's board. There will be a very specific, obviously there's specific things with him that make him better for certain teams. But he's such a fascinating prospect because I think he came into the year with a lot of noise.

And I actually think he's going into the NFL without any noise. And that might be the best for him developing as a long-term starter that you kind of forget he's out there sometimes. Yeah, I think at the college level, when he's carrying guys in a vertical plane he does a really good job shutting them down and that's something that we really

highlight because you go okay you're playing man coverage it's a guy who's trying to complete a big pass on you up the sideline and kairi limb is hip to hip with him and he's playing really well and i think you see that speed there but in the nfl you get a lot of guys who are artists at the line of scrimmage when it comes to their release and getting you going across your face and like making you completely commit one way and then flip your hips the other and you know you got you look at guys like Devante Adams Cooper Cup Keenan Allen right like these are some of the guys who are the best in the business at it but these are the guys they're going to be going up against at the next level when you're picking a player like Kyrie Elam to play as a CB1 type and so I just feel as though being a little bit sluggish to flip the hips is something that that might be an issue for him and something that he's just got to be aware of and

make sure that he's just the best anticipator that he can so I like a lot of the the rest of the stuff that he brings to the table but that was my big I think drawback for him not being in my top five my number four guy clemson cornerback andrew booth six feet tall 195 pounds 31 and a half inch arm length this guy to me brings it all to the table speed mentality size aggressiveness instincts ball skills andrew booth you can you can you can turn on almost any game of his and you will see all of those things from him from a potential profile i think this guy has an insanely high ceiling and i think he does it really really well now there are areas of his game that just need to be cleaned up like sometimes i think he's a little too erratic like sometimes i think that he for he he gets he gets a little head of his feet sometimes uh and sometimes

like his you could almost tell like his upper body or his mind is is moving a little bit before his feet do i think a lot of his issues right now whether it's losing his balance which i kind of saw him like lose his balance changing direction a lot more than i thought he would where i was going to start right and um and also sometimes just getting beat in coverage when i go you're more athletic than that you've got this guy you've got this guy you can handle this dude i think it comes from the footwork slow feet don't eat right that's the that is a player motto that i have heard time and time again it's got to be from the ground up. That's how everything works. And everything starts with your footwork.

You've got to be light on your feet. I don't think Andrew Booth is consistently light on his feet enough because you see him do it plenty of times. It's not like he doesn't do it. There are times where quarterback will snap the ball and you could just see he's chopping his feet. And when he is, he's at his best. And few wide receivers beat him over the last two years, years honestly because he is that good and he is that talented but then there are other times where a wide receiver you know he might be having his eyes

in the backfield and his brain might uh might just forget to chop the feet a little bit and you could almost see it in his head you go oh shoot yeah i gotta be i gotta i gotta i gotta move my feet a little bit here to make sure that I'm ready to change direction. And so if you clean up that footwork, man, I think the sky is the limit for this dude. I think he has CB1 potential in the NFL. His ball skills are elite. Like I said, he's got that size.

He's got the mentality. He's a willing tackler, although I think it's a little undisciplined at times. But all of the issues that I see with Andrew Booth can be cleaned up. And if you clean him up, that's a first-round cornerback to me. So I got him at number four. No, I like it. And this is a good transition because my number four is Kyrie Elam. He was your just-missed guy.

Your number four was Andrew Booth. He was my just-missed guy. Look at that. Look at that. Our evaluations are ironically the same on Elam and the same on Booth. It's just where you stack them. I saw with Booth, since I had him just missed, I'll start with what concerns me. Is that balance?

As soon as you said that, I was like, that's where I'm going to start. Two, I think he does take a lot of bait because he is so, like you said, twitchy and energetic that he wants to make a break. He wants to make the play all the time. And you have to wonder at the next level when guys are so precise, will that cost him early? Will quarterbacks bait him? Will wide receivers bait him? Will he jump underneath and give up a lot over the top? But those are things that are going to be a problem with a lot of young corners. So the fact that the ceiling of Andrew Booth is he's got the size. He's a really, really good athlete. He is someone really, really good athlete.

He is someone that, and I believe he did not work out, right, Char? It looks like he had nothing posted. He hurt his quad, I think, right before the combine, like week of the combine. He's like, yeah, I can't do anything this week because he hurt his quad. So hopefully we get some numbers of pro day. I hope so, too, because he's a really good athlete on film. He's got light feet. He's for that size. I think he moves both well vertically and side to side. Like there's no lateral limitations there like we had with Elam. I think Booth is fine in that way. I think he can get physical at the line of scrimmage. I think he can sit off. I think he can really do anything. I think he just needs to be careful by not biting in on stems too quickly at times is basically what it is he patience my number one thing when andrew booth is just which is crazy

it's like to teach it like you have to teach a young corner like that almost because he's too he has too much raw talent it's like just be a little patient and the funny thing is with booth he is not a bad tackler he is just an over urgent tackler at times he wants to hit you hard like yes he wants to be a safety running the alley and it's like no you're a corner be responsible so right wherever he goes and he's gonna go in at least the second round they're like this is the type of player that the NFL just loves you bet on yeah um I kind of like Kyler Gordon I who was number five for me, obviously Booth the sixth. I see a long-term scheme versatile starter. And you're just, there's going to be, I think,

some big plays early that he's going to give up. And I think that's okay. I think you live with that. So I do like Booth. I'm glad he's your number four. It just kind of shows, in my opinion, the depth of this corner class because in any other world, not having Andrew Booth in your top five corners feels like an absolute crime. Right, right. All right, who we got in top three? Let's start with the top three.

Who's yours? Number three, this might shock some people. It's Derek Stingley. Wow. Yeah, it's Derek Stingley. He's number three. And, you know, I will say he didn't come in as this bona fide number one for me over the summer. Like I said, I thought Elam was there.

I thought Sauce was hanging around there. I was later on McDuffie than I wish I was, and we're going to get to him in a little bit. But Stingley has all—I'll just go—let's just go right to the notes. He has all the talent in the world. Let's make no mistake about Derek Stingley and not say I'm overthinking the player. This one has as much to do with availability and focus, I think, than you'll see in a long time. So the first line of the notes, long, physical, and fluid.

Majority of snaps were at outside corner. Freshman year was tremendous. Ball skills on full display. Has a violent jam that he should use more relies on his recovery speed a little bit too much because let's be real when you're Derek Stingley you're probably a true 4-3 athlete and I'm not talking 4-3 something I'm talking 4-3 flat you know you can get away with that in college so with Stingley right now, the list rank has me terrified. The fact that there was a drop-off every year from 2019 has me scared.

And he's still my number three corner. It goes to show you how physically talented he is and how good 2019 was. The ball skills are unbelievable. I mean, the fact that this guy can take away the football in the air, he can see things, he can disrupt you at the line of scrimmage, he can run with you over the middle of the field, he can carry with you deep. He wants to play man corner.

That's what he wants to do. And I think at times when they wanted to get away from that a little bit, I don't know if he even listened. I think he wants to be a true... And there is so much value to that in the NFL being a shutdown man corner, somebody that probably honestly wants to be a Revis where he's going to say, let me trail, you know, JC Horn did this in college. Here's the most recent example. JC Horn trailed with number ones. I want to travel. I want to be isolated. I don't want a shell. You

know, I don't want a two shell over my head. I don't need that guy over me. I can run deep. I could do it all. But Trevor, he has to play. And I did not get caught into this trap last year with Caleb Farley, who was probably the most talented corner in last year's class, but was not my number one or number two corner. Availability is just too vital in the draft. And the more and more years I do this this the more I stop praying for it to get better at the NFL level because nine times out of ten it doesn't and it sucks this is the not fun part of this business right this is the uh not I've been doing this too long because I haven't even been doing this 10 years but it's the fact that I I've been burned so many times by hoping a guy gets back to the form he had years ago at a league that's more fast

it's faster physical violent taxing longer more games longer season more from coaches uh there's just so much there and i hope he turns into the stefan gilmore everyone wants him to be and i don't think there's a reason he can't besides the fact that he's just been really banged up and and he is the ultimate wild card I think of this entire draft well I'm gonna get to Derek Singley later in my rankings but I do I mean like I don't totally disagree with your points but we can go a little bit back and forth uh in a little bit my number three guy Washington cornerback Trent McDuffie I have in my notes in the first line in my notes is it's so easy to like this player it really is you turn on his tape and he just does everything so well i

have a um i have a column in my sheet when i'm going over these guys and it has like an intangibles column like is there something about his game that isn't necessarily measurable, whether it's a size or athletic ability or production that I just really want to highlight. And I don't have something in there for every player. Like it takes something pretty special for me to fill something out in that category. Like it takes really unique size or really unique strength speed or just like, like I said, like something that cannot be measured in that way.

For Trent McDuffie, it's football IQ. And I wrote this down immediately. I was like two and a half games into this guy. And I was like, I'm writing this in the intangible category. He's absolutely earned it. Now, Trent McDuffie showed up at the combine, 5'11", 193 pounds, which isn't bad. I mean, like that size for a corner is fine, even like outside corners.

That's decent size. The arm length, 29 and and three fourths that's a bit of an issue because there are not many good starting caliber cornerbacks especially outside cornerbacks that have sub 30 arm length and so mcduffie shown in with coming in with sub 30 inch arms is unfortunately something that we saw a lot of on tape because when McDuffie would be near wide receivers and I noticed this a couple of times let's say he was playing in the slot or even I guess he could be playing outside he knows how to anticipate he can click and close he knows when to put the foot in the ground and sometimes he is going towards where the ball is going before the ball is even out of the quarterback's hands.

And I will freeze frame things to make sure that I see that so I can check it off because I think that that's important when you're looking at recognition for guys. He does that quite a bit, but there are still a couple of times where depending on how far he is away from the wide receiver at the time, he will get in there and he will dive and he will swipe his hand and he cannot get there. That's when arm length matters,

folks that matters when you were attacking catch radiuses, when the ball was coming in on 50, 50 chances or just contested catches. And it also matters for press coverage. You're going to go up against a lot. Like Connor said with Derek Singley, bigger, faster, better wide receivers at the NFL level. And no disrespect to the Pac-12,

but jumping from facing Pac-12 wide receivers to NFL wide receivers, that's a different beast. And if you saw any sort of hesitation or worries in coverage for McDuffie, which I saw a little bit of, that only gets magnified more in the NFL. Now, he handles things so well, and he is such a clean prospect outside of what his limitations would be. The four, four, four speed was fantastic.

I think that he can keep up with guys well, because again, he's subtle and he's savvy with his physicality. When guys are trying to get vertical on him, he notices things very well. He's a fantastic off coverage corner. I think that that might be where he's at his best i think that he really brings the total package to the cornerback position outside of the length limitations and the reason why i have him as number three and a guy who has more physical tools in your booth at number four and this is actually a really close debate for me i almost had in your booth at number four is simply because trent mcduffie gets it and i have more faith that this dude will be an nfl player than almost shoot anybody in this class it's so easy to see that i have is my comparison you and i have talked about this before i think when we've done mock drafts my comp for him is somebody who's like

a ronde barber kind of a player and i I love that. I hate making Hall of Fame comparisons because it seems like an impossible bar for these guys to live up to. But less of the, I'm not saying he's for sure going to have a Hall of Fame career. What I'm saying is stylistically, right? When Rondé Barber was with the Buccaneers, he played both inside and out. Shoot, another cornerback for the Buccaneers that I know who does that is Sean Murphy Bunting. Sean Murphy Bunting, when the Bucs are in base,

he will play as the outside corner opposite Carlton Davis. When they are in nickel, Sean Murphy Bunting often moves to the nickel spot. And then Jamel Dean plays on the outside. That's the kind of role I could see McDuffie playing as a CB2 on the outside in base. And then when they go nickel he can play nickel or he can play uh yeah slide defender against some really really great slot receivers now it kind of depends

what the matchup is going to be right i have that in my notes as well you know if you've got a if like julio jones is playing in the slot you probably don't yeah i don't know you probably don't want trey mcduffy going up against julio jones like mike evans right like the bucks will play mike evans in the slot all the time. And so like if he's in the slot, you probably don't want five foot 11, short arm Trent McDuffie going up against Mike Evans. But he is super versatile.

And I think that we use that word a little too much. I'm certainly guilty of it all the time because when a guy can play, or at least has the ability to play, both man and zone coverage, we'll like call him versatile and everything like that. But maybe it's more of they can play both, but they're we'll like call him versatile and everything like that but maybe it's more of they can play both but they're not a master of both i really believe that trent

mcduffie can play both nickel and outside corner i just don't think he's going to be a cb1 you don't want him going up against wide receiver ones consistently week in and week out i i i don't see the kind of the same kind of player that like a Trey White is you know and some people have compared Trent McDuffie to like what Trey White Trey Davias White is with Buffalo I don't see that same caliber outside corner but I do think that he's a damn good football player man I love everything you said there and it's such an easy transition because he's my number two corner ahead of Derek Stingley and this. And this was not an easy choice. I've gone back and forth with these two for two months now.

And really struggled. And they're going to be so close on the big board, I think. But, man, I think he's the smartest player in the draft, Trevor. I really do. And, you know, listen, I haven't known Trent McDuffie like that. But I know people at Washington that have been around him um that have nothing but incredible things to say they said that when things started to go south there he was the guy that kept everything together they were that was the unit that never never

stopped going 110 percent I thought at the podium the most engaging player uh breeds football loves football gets it with people he's got incredible people skills but as a football player the film is phenomenal he he takes so much pride in tackling like he he was saying how he was asking the staff to let him play a little more safety so he can come down the alley and smash people right and you watch him play on film and he has a safety mindset. He's, you know what he is to me? He's if Antoine Winfield was a corner prospect. I was just thinking that. That's exactly, and I,

I fought this good fight. Listening to you say, listening to you to describe him, I was like, damn, that sounds kind of like Antoine Winfield Jr. I died on the hill that year that I think I had him as the best safety. And I was like, he should be a first-round pick.

He should be a first-round pick. And then I thought all that. And then we got to talk to him, you know, for Bleacher Report. And I was like, I love this dude. And I felt the same way when I left the Combine, when I left Trent McDuffie's podium. I was like, everything is there besides that number on the sheet that says sub 30 inch arms and I agree he's an outlier like there are not a lot of guys in the league that have had success at that arm length but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and live with that and accept

that he's going to be a damn good player I like that you said he he takes so much pride in in playing zone and that is so rare most guys are just like I want to be you know one-on-one I want to play man I want to shut I want to erase dudes and he talked so in depth about playing zone at Washington and you know he can play man I just think he's the type of player that makes your defense so much better and he makes you so much better on the field so much better at practice so much better in the locker room so much better away from the facility that I am betting on McDuffie's insanely high floor over Derek Stingley's ceiling. And I might look like a freaking idiot by doing that, but that's how I'm rolling with it. I love this player.

I think that he's not going to go as early as we once expected after those measurements i think there was times where he looked like a top 12 pick i think he's going to be more middle to back end around one but you just you just know exactly what you're getting i've seen some gyro alexander comps which is you know that's a big time compliment but in terms of instincts he might have some of the best instincts and overall mentality in this entire class. And it's, it's damn impressive. I don't think betting on Trent McDuffie is going to make you look like an idiot or a fool or whatever word you used in any way, shape, or form, no matter who is good from this cornerback class.

I'm, I'm with you. I'm, I'm heavily betting on Trent McDuffie. Absolutely. Being one of them, wherever he shapes up, man, like whether he ends up being the best cornerback in this class when it's all said and done, or whether he ends up being the fifth best, his floor is still going to be just as high. His ability is still going to be there. He is a rock solid prospect. And I really do think that, you know, middle of the first round and first, end of the first round, that's perfect for a man yes he gets to go to a contender like he gets to go to somebody who he can play with right away and

a good defense and if you throw mcduffie into that he's not going to be overwhelmed man no this guy loves film he's been doing it for forever i remember sitting down and asking with him i was like when did it all start to click for you and he said when when my friend i think he said his high school coach was like you are good but what will keep you from being great is if you don't dedicate yourself to the film room, he's like, just start doing it a little bit. I know you'll love it. And he absolutely did. He fell in love with watching film, watching players.

He talked about Rondé Barber. He's talked about Charles Woodson. He's talked about Champ Bailey. He's talked about so many different cornerbacks that he loves to watch. And man, you could just tell, you could tell on the field how well this dude anticipates. I'll get to my number two corner in a second, but before we get to that, I've got to talk about our friends. Over at All22, they are unveiling the newest fantasy football game

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like it's fantasy football matchup, except you're scored not just off of stats, but off of performance, like how well these guys are playing. So it's a really cool idea. If you've ever dreamed of sitting in an NFL front office, or if you just enjoy the scouting process, you're going to want to check out all 22. Join the waitlist all-22.com with nothing more than your email.

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Garner dude. I knew a mod Garner was big. i didn't even think he was gonna be this big he shows up to the combine he's almost six three since now he's got a spider system since now he's got him listed six foot three and i'm like ain't no way man he's gonna be like six foot one six foot one and a half is probably what I would have guessed he comes in at. He is a fourth of an inch under six foot three. So like this dude is legit big for the cornerback position. He's got 33 and a half inch vines for arms. And he came out here and he ran a 4-4-7, man.

Unbelievable. You look at Sauce Garner's career when he was at Cincinnati. Didn't give up a single touchdown in man coverage. Not one. Over 1,000 coverage snaps under his belt for his college career, didn't give up a single touchdown. By the way, he was asked at his podium,

what's it going to be like, or how are you going to react when you give up your first touchdown in the NFL? He just smiled at the guy and said, I don't plan on giving one up, which I love, man. Of course he's going to give one up, but that's the best answer

that I could have heard from him. And he, I think, plays the position so well. He's one of those guys who, the intangibles. up man of course he's gonna give one up but that's the best answer that i could have heard from a man he i think plays the position so well he's one of those guys who the intangibles i wrote down size i understand that it's a tangible thing you can see how big he is but that to me and how he uses his leg is a massive plus in his scouting report he's got such a rare combination of both size and speed and he plays it very very well he has that cb1 mentality which i think is huge right you and i have talked about so much over this podcast and in these rankings about confidence for corners it is a to me non-negotiable mentality that you have to have a corner if you are

mentally soft in any way i don't want you playing corner for my team you're not playing defensive back for me you can't you're not going to get the best of your abilities i'm not going to get the best out of you when it comes to the team when it comes to the defensive back unit you've got to believe that you are the baddest mother effer on the field the second you touch the field that's what it takes to be a corner that's what sauce garner is i mean he had the i mean you saw the chain at the combine right he's got he's got a giant gold diamond chain that just says Sauce on it. I mean, that's phenomenal anyway. So I like the tape.

I really do. Now, there are a couple of drawbacks from him that hold him back from being my CB1, even with everything considering Derek Stingley is a little bit of a teaser to who I have at number one. I think the hand placement, the striking, the punch when it comes to his press coverage, because he's a man coverage press kind of a corner. It's a little inconsistent. He either whiffs a little bit on his target exactly where he wants his hand to go, or he doesn't put enough behind it and he will like get his hand on a guy, but it's not really rerouting them. It's not really affecting them as much as

it needs to it's kind of just like oh i'm getting my hand on you but it's almost like he's placing his hand he's not really punching he's not really doing what he needs to do there and i feel like i see that a little bit with certain wide receivers that he went up against and the only other thing for me is really just the anticipation like sometimes i think you'll get crossed up a little bit and you can see that recovery speed show up but much like andrew booth like i need you to anticipate a little bit more not be so reactionary be more anticipatory that those two things i think if you clean those two things up with sauce man he's got really nice footwork he's got light feet like i said he's got the length he's got the mentality he knows how to play that press coverage man coverage kind of a style those

are two things that i think if he can clean it up man we're talking about cb1 potential that is the role that i have written down for him in the seat in the sheet i think he's a mid first round kind of a grade and i think that uh yeah he's got cb1 potential in the nfl for sure i love him he's my top corner um i just man some corners you know a lot of corners not some most go to the matchup, man-to-man corners, go to the matchup, and they're counter punchers, right? They like to react to what the receiver does. They like to react to what the quarterback does. Sauce Gardner comes out and sets the tone of the fight. He's always throwing the first punch.

He's always saying, this is how it's going to be when you get into the ring with me and get ready for a damn long 12 rounds and there's just not a lot of dudes that can not only play with that mindset but actually live up to that kind of you know style because you're gonna get you're gonna get hit with the counter punches and sauce the way he throws his hands that size that speed that speed, that great run game tackler. I love his ability. He's a very willing tackler, for sure. He is such a willing tackler. He takes pride in tackling.

He's got ball skills. I think as much man as he played, I think he could be fine. I think so many teams, Trevor, are running, running obviously so many different coverage looks that it's going to be rare for you to be a guy and say I just play man or I just play zone and come into the league and expect that to carry over you're going to be asked to do a lot of different things you don't have to worry about that with sauce I think he's got just the right amount of confidence that it's not there's delusional cockiness sauce is the perfect amount of confidence that it's not there's delusional cockiness sauce is the perfect amount of confidence that he backs it all up i mean when you have that kind of nickname you know

you you hope you would right and he's a really humble dude i mean the first thing he said on the podium he was just you know giving thanks to his mom and talking about growing up in detroit and this is a dude that came into Cincinnati as a 160 pound recruit. And he's worked his way into being a top 10 pick of this draft. 6'3", 190. Some of the longest arms we've ever seen at the position. Insane that he runs the way he does. You turn on.

I mean, I'm going to be honest with people. When you watch Sauce Gardner in 2021. You know, you're going to have to pour a couple extra cups of coffee. Because quarterbacks aren't looking his way. I almost would recommend starting fully in on 2020 and then just try to find the games where he actually gets a look. Once you know what his technique is, once you know how he's erasing guys, there is just not opportunity for him in 2021,

not just because of his reputation, but the fact that there was no point in throwing to his side. And that's how his teammate Kobe Bryant probably got recognized, the fact that targets went his way instead. So I think Sauce has the ability to come in like JC Horn did before he got hurt and really shut guys down.

And to be a 22-year-old in the NFL at one of the hardest positions for a rookie to play and say that about a guy, he is right there on the Horn and Sertan level. And I thought those guys were pretty special in their own way. Sauce is right there. So he's a build-a-corner. Let's start with that. Every measurable he has with the speed is a build-a-corner.

The personality is a build-a-corner. And the tape over the stretch that he's been in college stingley's been in college mcduffie i think the gap from his tape over that multi-year stretch is gigantic compared to everyone else somebody asked me the other day they're like yeah you know like what if can sauce really go top five because why would you take him when there's so many other corners in this class and i'm like I get it because I've made this argument about Kyle Hamilton versus the other safeties. I've made this argument really for almost every position group.

This dude is different. This dude to me is different. He is on a totally different tier. If you want to go bargain shopping, I get it. You can get a starter in Elam, Gordon, Booth. But if you want luxury, the luxury brand, Sauce Gardner is the Mercedes of the corners. I just love this guy.

That's going to be on a quote graphic right there. That's going to be on a quote graphic. Him being the Mercedes of the cornerback class. My number one to finish things off here in the top five is LSU cornerback Derek Stingley. And, you know, I will admit when you talked about Derek Stingley at number three, one of the things that you said is you did not have Caleb Farley as your number one corner last year.

You didn't even have him as your number two. I did. Now I do. It sounds like I do my rankings a little bit different than you when it comes to injuries, because we've talked on this very podcast we talked on the mock draft monday episode when we had stingley dropping a little bit the liz frank foot injury is a big deal he i believe he suffered it in the summer he tried to not have surgery on

it he tried to play through it he played three games he did not play well and then he ended up getting surgery because obviously like he didn't want to not play well that's game tape that's most recent game tape and so he shut down the season he had his surgery he doesn't work out at the combine i think he said he had surgery in what was it late october or november or something like that and so we're four five-ish months removed from surgery and he's you know still not working out obviously didn't work out of the combine hoping to work out at pro day and that's a really big deal. A Liz Frank foot injury is massive for cornerbacks. And so if I had better or closer medical reports, I guess,

maybe in my final big board, if you will, if I was picking for a team, that would determine when I take the risk on it. Because I don't disagree with you at all whatsoever in the NFL the season is longer the dudes are bigger the hits are harder everything is worse you have to become more durable in the NFL that is what the pro league demands of you even though the practice schedules from like the players association have like laxed some of things a little bit it's a long season man it's a long season it's a lot of hits it's everything and so yeah normally guys who are hurt consistently in college don't get less hurt in the league it's

often like you said it only gets worse but all of that to say dude's unreal okay like for him to come in and start not just start but be the best corner in the country in that 2019 season as a true freshman he earned a starting spot on that lsu defense right like that is nuts this dude not only had that starting spot which was an accomplishment enough he played like the best corner in the country because there were so many other proven upperclassmen veteran stud players on that lsu defense and every team went let's go after the true freshman and derrick singly went bet and he ended up having one of the best cornerback years that we've ever seen from a true freshman he gets recognized as such and dude you know i was a little bit surprised i

thought he was a little bit bigger he came into the combine at six foot right six foot even 190 195 pounds uh had 30 and five eighth inch arms which like none of those numbers are bad i just thought that he was going to be a little bit bigger because as we said on monday in as cliche of a way as possible he plays bigger than that he is when it comes to the flexibility of sinking his hips and being able to get low and being able to backpedal while still being low having the light feet being patient with receivers before they flip their hips and really get to commit to guys him being able to flip his hips him being able to put his foot in the ground and change direction carry guys vertically get physical with them at the catch point be able to turn his head which is something that he does instinctually better than so many players that I have seen come before him.

The ability to turn his head at the exact time to know where the ball is coming. Now, OK, yeah, the technique of where to look for it and everything, it's never going to look perfect every time. But those instincts are there. The ball skills are there. The hand placement when fighting on press coverage, all of that, man. He brings truly the total package as a cornerback. I think that from what I've seen on tape, not just 2019, but I didn't even hate 2020, man. I know that 2020 was a down year because the defense as a whole was down

and LSU as a program was going through some weird stuff and all of that was going on around him. I watched a handful of 2020 games recently and I'm like, this dude's still a stud. He's still a stud. And then this past year, of course, he doesn't look good because he's obviously dealing with a foot injury. But if you give me a healthy Derek Stingley,

I think this is an all-pro corner. I really do. I gave him a top 10 grade on film, but I also obviously gave him a red flag medically because of the Liv's Frank injury. So he is number one in my book, but just like Caleb Farley was last year i gotta know this situation about his health a little bit more to really determine when i would pull the trigger on him but in terms of what i've seen on film i

think he's a top 10 player yeah i think that's it goes to show you how we see eye to eye on so many things and still end up with different results right in a sense which is cool which is really cool it really is really cool it shows you that you know that's why i always laughed at draft arguments or even comments that like call someone crazy for an opinion and it's it's like you can't do that in this industry because there's so many there's so much volatility there's so many different variables that can affect the outcome of what a player is whether it's where he lands whether it's how he holds up physically whether it is you know obviously character sometimes that you don't know anything about so it's that's the process and that's what

makes this so much fun man all right so uh that's the top five we'll recap the top five right here i had kyler gordon at number five the washington corner andrew booth the corner from clemson at number four trent mcduffie the corner from washington at number five, the Washington corner, Andrew Booth, the corner from Clemson at number four, Trent McDuffie, the corner from Washington at number three, Ahmad Garner, the corner from Cincinnati at number two, and then Derek Stingley, the corner from LSU at number one. Who'd you have? Yeah, five, Kyler Gordon, just like you. Number four for me was Kyler Elam.

Three was Derek Stingley, two, Trent McDuffie. Number one with a pretty big gap for me is Sauce Gardner and you and I went through our just missed I know you had Kyrie Elam as just missed that was my number four your number four was Andrew Booth that was my just missed as well I also wrote down Kobe Bryant was right on the outside looking in I really like his his you know potential to start at the next level seen a ton of him because he played across from Saw Saw at the Senior Bowl a really patient corner that I just love the one thing I'll say about Kobe Bryant is he's so good at reacting at the right time he never over reacts to routes he never over reacts to receivers he reacts when it's time to make a play so I think Kobe Bryant's going to be a really nice starter at the next level and

probably a back end or round two selection before we wrap this up. I think we got some sleepers. We just got some things to say, Trevor. And I actually really love your first one in here. So I want you to take the floor because a lot of people are probably wondering how we did not talk about this guy yet. Yeah. So, I mean, it's not as much of a sleeper, right?

But I like the way that you said it there. Just some things that we want to talk about. Some notes that I have here. Roger McCreary the cornerback from auburn i have him you know right around i think he's either cb7 cb8 in this class when we right now i think he's a nickel and i think that he's gonna have to be a nickel because you know if we thought trent mcduffie's arm length was small at 29 and three fourths mcduffie's got there sorry if we thought mcduffie's was small at 29 and three-fourths mccreary's is 28 and seven-eighths so he didn't even heard of the 29 inch uh arm length and so that's just it becomes super limiting when you're talking about playing in the nfl and

going up against uh certain receivers in man coverage i mean the arm length just becomes a really big issue especially when you start going up against wide receivers who are 6'3", 6'4", 6'5", that kind of length. You can't afford to have a corner as small as McCreary is out against one of those wide receivers. The rep's just not going to end well. But what McCreary does really well, as you would expect with a guy who's a little bit smaller and a little bit more compact, is he changes direction really well. He puts his foot in the ground he really is able to accelerate he has great short area explosiveness to me that bodes great for the nickel position and so i think there is a world that exists where kind of like mcduffie he's versatile enough to if you need him to kick him to outside on a handful of reps throughout

the game he obviously has the game tape and he's comfortable doing that but i think he's going to be most effective and have a lot of value for teams in the nickel. And when I say that, I don't mean it as this big negative. We are in a football world where you have to have three great corners. You have to have two good outside guys, and you have to have a good specialist player who is a nickel defender.

And I think that Roger McCreary can be that it will limit where he gets drafted. I don't think that he's going to be a first-round pick, but I still really like who he is as a corner, especially because this dude's only been playing the cornerback position for four years. When he got to Auburn as a true freshman, that was the first time he ever played corner.

He played basically every other position in high school. He played linebacker. He played wide receiver. He played running back. He played cornerback. He played wide receiver he played running back he played cornerback he played on special teams but he never played corner so when this is this is only the fourth year what we saw this past year uh at auburn's only the fourth year that he's ever played corner so i think that he's going to continue to get better that he's shown that he has natural athletic ability but i do think because of his his length limitations he's

probably going to find a home at nickel which is okay yeah I think that was perfectly said I think when you know it's fascinating to me with Roger McCreary there was a point of this season where I saw him being projected as like a mid first round player and now we've gone the full circle where it feels like he's right back into the middle of day two and the he's just a true number three to me somebody that because he played so much on the outside in college there's going to end like you said Trevor has not been playing this position that long and realistically with his measurements and style of play is going to fare better kicking inside long term where they looked at him at the senior bowl that way I think there is definitely a little bit of an adjustment there but I actually like his style

of play to play inside and you know he spoke to this at the podium he's like I know I have this he was actually really good about he's like I know I have short arms he's like but when you watch me again in the SEC against the best of the best like how many times did you say oh man I wish he had longer arms and I think that's something that i agree with when you watch him on film so he to me a number three corner uh from this draft i'm glad you got him in on the show i want to get to a sleeper here before we get out of here and i know you got one as well zion mccollum from sam houston state nice just it tore up the combine and it's a lot bigger than that he's been starting games since he was a freshman in 2017 i think he had 10 starts as a freshman that year but you look at his combine 62199 43340 30 39 and a half inch vertical 11 foot broad uh 6483 cone which is 98th percentile

i mean basically alien numbers for a corner here and i think he not even moved to safety at the next level there's a lot of he's going to think he even moved to safety at the next level. There's a lot of, he's going to be developing as a DB at the next level. He's going to come in and be like all the guys we talked about on today's show. But what I love when I look for developmental small school players is that are super athletes like this, but you know, you're going to have to be patient. They're going to come in on your roster and be your fifth or sixth corner, your fifth or sixth DB, something like that. He was a team captain that was a punk gunner.

And when you have that kind of athleticism and that kind of film and experience as a punk gunner with that kind of mental makeup and character, coaches love that you're coming in and contributing something to the 53-man roster while also developing for a bigger role on the long term. So Zion McCollum would be the guy on day three that I would take that dart and throw it on the bullseye and say, I love what you can do for the back end of our roster right now, and I love what you can be two to three years from now. So he's somebody that after that testing, matching up with that small school film, I'm

pretty excited about him. Another guy that I want to shout out, I've done it a couple of times before on this show but again joshua williams the corner from fayetteville state man he you know we talked about sauce garner being a super sized corner same thing with joshua williams six foot three 195 pounds 32 and seven eighths inch arm so we almost had that 33 inch arm length like sauce garner did he ran a 453 in the 40 yard dash he had a 36 inch vertical jump 124 inch broad which are really great speed and explosive numbers for a player that big you know when you look at a guy from fayetteville state and you project him to the nfl it's kind of like what you mentioned on yesterday's or on on tuesday's episode you've got to be dominant

you've got to be really good to come from a smaller school and make it to the nfl you've got to be dominant you've got to be really good to come from a smaller school and make it to the nfl you've got to show us that you can absolutely dominate that competition and i really do think that joshua williams did that he went to the senior bowl he really impressed me especially right out of the gate not backing down for a challenge getting right in everybody's faces i think that this guy has starter potential in the nfl i really do i think he's going to be a mid-round selection. Whether somebody falls in love with him enough for a round three pick, or maybe it's an early day three pick, whatever it is, I think he's got that starting corner, outside corner

projection to him. And so this is a dude that I would definitely bet on in the mid-rounds. Dude, I love it. I mean, the testing has been there. The senior bowl's been there. He's passed every test. When you look at these really small school guys and they go through the process of, okay, well, can you hang with the big dogs on the field at the All-Star Games? Can you hang with the big dogs on the track at the Combine?

Can you do all those things? And he just checks all those boxes as one of those, once again. He's fascinating to me, Trevor, because I just wonder if we're at the point where he doesn't make it off the, you know, to day three of the draft. Is there somebody at the end of round three that says, we know this is going to be a hot name in round four we'd rather just take him right now with all the trades that

go on on day three uh he's he's had just a hell of a rise this year Joshua Williams yep he's been awesome man he's been fantastic there we go that's a little bit of our thoughts at the top on this cornerback class like Connor said man man, it's a deep class. You can get corner at a variety of different rounds. Let us know if we didn't mention somebody that you guys really like. Tweet at us, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers. We'd love to hear some corners that you guys have really been watching that you like, that you maybe have some targets for your team's

first, second, third round, day three, whatever it is. We would love to hear from you. That's all from us this week. But Monday, give you guys a little bit of a teaser. I have a written mock draft coming out on pff.com, which thank God because I go on radio shows and people try to reference the last mock draft that I had, and it was like before the Senior Bowl. And so I'm like, okay, things are a little bit different now.

So now I get to update the mock draft I'm kicking Connor out and I'm taking control I'm just the one that's writing it but I'm sure we will be back on Monday mock draft themed episode Connor's gonna come to the table and absolutely rip me a new one on what picks make sense which ones don't make sense at all? Obviously, we're just going to have a lot of fun on a mock draft Monday. This is the NFL Stock Exchange. Thanks, guys, for listening. We'll see you next time.