NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 264. Ranking 2025 NFL Draft Cornerbacks (Summer Scouting)

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers continue their Summer Scouting Series and coverage of the 2025 NFL Draft by ranking the draft-eligible cornerbacks for the 2025 NFL Draft. The two bring you each of their top 10s (!!!) with strengths, weaknesses, player comps and projections

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 got 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're talking cornerbacks for the 2025 NFL Draft, and this is a fun class. We got so many names to get to. Connor and I are giving you our top tens. That's right, I said it, top tens for this class. There's so many different names to get to so many different ways to win at this position a lot of really great

conversations here including a player at the very top that is a top of the big board type of candidate going into the season i'm trevor sycamore with me as always is connor rogers let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers joining you for another edition of the Summer Scouting Series. Come towards the end, Connor. We only got a couple of positions left. We got an exciting one today to talk about. It is cornerbacks. And as you and I, you know, just went back and forth

before we hit record, we realized we watched a lot of different corners. Some people don't love when that happens, but you know, to be, to be honest, guys, it just means that you get to hear our thoughts on more corners. So that's what we're going to do today. We're going to give you each our top 10 because there's a lot of corners to get to. So, Connor, before we dive into that, how you doing, my friend? I'm great, dude. And I think it's a good thing for a group like this, right? This doesn't really work if it was quarterbacks.

This doesn't really work as much if it was the offensive tackles. But it feels like with corner corner which is always so deep in different ways and not necessarily deep in hey we got 12 guys that are going in the top 50 but more so deep in the fact that yes you're gonna have your blue chip but you're gonna have some guys that play the slot you're gonna have some guys that play only outside yes i was telling you and i'll get this right off the top somebody somebody like Sebastian Castro, who only plays the slot for Iowa and is kind of built like a safety and plays like a safety, I'm going to include him in my safety rankings out of the gate.

When I finish all my rankings for the season, not during summer, I do my top corners, my top slot corners, and my top safeties. But during this, I'm doing just corners, just safety. So some of the slot-only guys will be in safety rankings for me, but you got to some of them as corners as well, which I think is a really, really good perspective. So you're going to hear a lot of different names from both of us on this show today. And I think that shows the depth of the position and the variance of the usage of the position while it's called cornerback some of these guys Trevor are doing totally different things right I was just about to say that there's

so many ways to both win and lose from the cornerback position it's it's a weird position because it's kind of like baseball right you talk about a guy you know like if you if you uh succeed four times but you fail six out of ten what are are you? You're a Hall of Famer, right? When it comes to batting and being at the plate, that's kind of how it is with cornerback. Failure is just a part of the position. And a lot of times when you'll look at these other positions, like offensive line, for example, if you let a guy beat you for a sack, sometimes you can be playing 50, 60 snaps a game. And if it happens twice, people go, wow, you had a bad game for corner.

It's like that happens all the time. And you just have to be more comfortable with it they say the short-term memory like a corner that's something that you need and we're going to get to explaining what goes into that for a lot of of these different guys because there's just like i said so many ways to not only win but also lose at the position what matters more to you the higher ceiling the more aggressiveness the higher floor we'll get into that with a lot of these guys here. So before we got into it, want to let everybody know that PFF is running a sale for fantasy football season. If you have a fantasy football league out there and you want to win it, get a PFF subscription. PFF 25 or NFLSE25 as a promo code if you want to help out this podcast.

Get you to 25% off a PFF subscription. You can get all the premium stats, all fancy tools the unlocked mock draft simulator obviously you guys are draft fans because you're listening to the show you get all that stuff at a 25 discount if you use the promo code nflse25 connor let's get into it my friend we got let's go 10 through 6 we'll rapid fire although this is probably not going to be as rapid fire because you got a lot of guys who aren't similar on the list but i'm curious to hear you got 10 through 6 so 10 for me was kobe bryant from kansas yeah nine for me was tommy hill from nebraska eight for me was travis hunter the two-way player from colorado so i had a much higher at wide receiver than corner oh i thought that would draw some kind of reaction whoa seven dorian strong from

virginia tech okay one of two very good virginia tech corners um six for me make sure i have this right six for me is denzel burke from ohio state a guy that a lot of people thought he was going to declare last year so i feel like i've watched a lot of Denzel Burke. He ended up going back to school. I think he, he would have been a day to pick if he was in last year's draft. So he's in good standing right now. Denzel Burke,

but yeah, Kobe Bryant, Tommy Hill, Travis Hunter, Dorian strong, Denzel Burke round out my 10 to six. All right. We,

we have to start with Travis Hunter. We're going to give the people what they want here. Less than five minutes into the podcast. You've got at eight I'll just be honest I have him at three okay well I've got him surprised I've got him cb3 in this class I like him better as a corner really so funny that we see him differently here there's a lot of agreeing on this podcast and you know some people are like ah you guys agree too much but here on the great Travis Hunter debate which ones you playing in the NFL we are on opposite sides it seems to start this preseason so all right talk to me a little bit about Travis Hunter I'd love to hear what

you thought of of his tape while he was at corner he has played more snaps at corner in his collegiate career um I'm not saying that that's 100% where he's going to be at the NFL level he's just got more experience doing it. You still think a wide receiver could be the higher ceiling for him, but what'd you think of him at corner? How'd he get to CBA for you? I think to be fair to Travis Hunter, there's a lot of caveats with him having him at eight.

I didn't grade him on a curve at all. If I did, the things that would have been factoring into the curve would have been that he's out there all the time because he plays offense and defense. I think it hurts him at corner. I do. I think number two is that he's a really young player that with his athleticism, he has a lot of room to get better. He can be a really, really good corner. If he improves on some of the things i'll read off in the weaknesses number three is that deon treats him like he's deon when you watch him play like this kid is playing press with no help all the time right and i think it's it it put some bad tape out there for him so yeah he's he's got he's got, he's got like his, his overall coverage grades are like eighties across the board. And then when you get in a single coverage grade,

it's like 58.6 or something. And you go, how is that the case? And then that's really good context by you saying he is truly on an Island with like no help. And this is the first year that I use the single coverage filter for summer scouting corners every time. Cause I think it really does tell you a lot about a guy.

And if a guy's grading out as a 90, but you realize so much of it is him sitting in zone and, you know, feasting on some bad throws, right? It, you just learn more about a guy. And I,

I thought, so here's the really good stuff with Hunter and why he could be a great corner prospect if he wants to be one day. I still think the ceiling is, I still think that now is better at wide receiver. And I think the ceiling is the same as wide receiver. So he's a twitchy athlete. He's got quick feet to react to things in front of him. Like that really helps him when you're springy in the lower half. It helps the reaction skills when you're to things in front of him. Like that really helps him when you're springy in the lower half.

It helps the reaction skills when you're playing things in front of you. He has a ton of experience in press. Like I said, he's been already thrown into the gauntlet where he knows what it's like to have to play on an island. And that's a crazy hard thing to do and rare thing to do in college. Yep. He's got legit ball skills with that wide receiver ability. Crazy man.

Three picks in 2023 and he didn't play a full season at corner. Yeah. So that that's really good ball production. The reason I have an eight and this is where the now comes into play of ranking these guys. He just too easily allows receivers to get over the top of him. It's all the time. Yeah. And I know he can run like I know if Travis Hunter goes to the combine, he's not running a four, six. So there's,

he's covering off of athleticism rather than instincts and route anticipation. For sure. And when you are just being an athlete out there, no matter how fast you are, sometimes guys are going to run by you because you're not anticipating what they're going to do. He, you watch the Stanford game, Stanford game, right?

They relentlessly went after him. I've never seen anything like it for a top player in my life. I think he was targeted 13 times in the game. And he made some plays. That look like the I.M. Maynard game, baby. It was the I.M. Maynard game. Hell yeah. I'll tell you what I didn't like, Trevor. It was the I-Mainer game. Hell yeah. I'll tell you what I didn't like, Trevor.

I didn't give a shit about the plays he gave up. I didn't care that they went after him and tried to expose him. I thought the body language in the second half was terrible. Terrible. It drove me nuts. I'm like, he kept looking at the sidelines. He kept looking at the ref, and I'm just like, man, you are way too good of a player to be doing this and everybody has a bad day i didn't drop him to eight because of this game

or the body language or anything like that but i just looked at it and said like these are things that matter in big games for a corner and uh i don't think he's a reliable tackler tackler against bigger wide receivers he falls off of big wide receivers all the time. And he's still 21 years old. He's 180 pounds. He's gassed, probably. I think my big take on Travis Hunter is that it's amazing what he's doing. But it's doing Travis Hunter the NFL prospect a disservice. And all of these things I'm saying, like the body language, the fatigue,

I don't want it to come off of me insulting him personally. I think there's a lot of reasons for that, but I'm watching the tape and this is what the tape told me. Hey, I, I think that we see him decently similarly. We just see him sort of on, on two different sides of the coin because I'm doing a little bit more projecting and you're sort of looking at him like hey this is who he is right now and I think that's totally fair as an evaluation because I do see some of the limitations with him right you can see that even though he's got incredible conditioning there are certainly times in the second half of games where he looks tired I mean he's playing both sides of the ball so like that you have to factor in a little bit which I tried to um you look at that lack of anticipation well it's

because he's not fully devoting all of his time to being the best corner that he possibly can be you know he's also trying to make sure that he can be a great wide receiver as well and right now I think wide receiver is the position that he's played less so he's probably focusing a little bit more of his time on it to be better in that area because his team's got to score a lot of points obviously so I think that goes into it the single coverage grade is of course the one that bothers me with him because right now you mentioned he plays island coverage a ton and because he doesn't have that anticipation because he's gassed from playing wide receiver because he kind of like lacks the fundamentals of like the footwork and when to get his hands on guys and everything.

It's just it leaves him in trail technique a lot, which I think forces a lot of open targets in our system. It will be registered as an open target, even though he's able to kind of catch up to these guys and disrupt the catch point a little bit. That, I think, goes into the grade, and I think that's all fair criticism. The reason why I have him at CB3 is because the ability for Travis Hunter, and it's funny that he plays the Dion role sometimes where he's in press man island coverage, because I actually think he's best in zone. If you leave him in off zone, the way that he watches quarterbacks and the timing that he has to put just enough space

between him and the wide receiver to make a quarterback think, oh, I got his ass. And Travis Hunter goes, no, you absolutely do not. And he will either break on the ball immediately, get his hand in there for a forced incompletion or some crazy interceptions. Like we saw the TCU games, a great example. Um, I can't remember if it was that Stanford game or not. Was it the Stanford game where he had a rep, he was in off coverage in the end zone. And there was a route that was like an out route to the near pylon. And that I think technically should have been like Travis's zone. And he took one step in that direction and the quarterback was like oh okay I got him now I'm gonna throw to the guy that's in the middle of

the end zone and Travis Hunter immediately went back to it though and had like a great pass breakup that could have potentially been an interception that's the stuff nobody's doing right that's the stuff like the off coverage instincts you paired with the ball skills that you mentioned are just so rare. I mean, the playmaker mentality that this guy has, you talk about things you can't teach like speed, fluidity, all this kind of stuff. The mentality that this guy has to be a playmaker as a cornerback is just something that does not come around very often. And so when I look at a lot of the inconsistencies that I think you're right for pointing out,

I am willing to say, okay, you're not playing wide receiver at the NFL level. You are devoting yourself fully to corner. I would love for him to be primarily now, obviously you can play press man coverage, but like, Hey,

run a lot of cover three stuff, run a lot of quarter stuff, get off the line of scrimmage, be staring at the quarterback, and let's make magic happen. Let's make magic happen. That is something that I project him having a high-impact role when it comes to the NFL level. Because I do think that people look at Travis Hunter and they say, oh, Deion, longer corner, He's going to play press, but I think the better role for him is actually as an off-coverage zone defender because of what he can do with his anticipation in that area.

So that's how I see Travis Hunter. I am choosing to see him through rose-colored glasses of not having to play 1,200 goddamn snaps in a single season. And I think he'll get a little bit better with the anticipation there. So we had to have the travis hunter conversation no it's a great way to lead off the show and for those that

missed that i had him as wide receiver four in that rankings so i had him wide receiver five behind uh io manor egg buka mcmillan and and bur burden yeah so um anyone else there that kind of caught your eye that you know uh who is who is 10 and 9 for you 10 was kobe bryant 9 was tommy hill okay i watched a little bit of kobe bryant he was he's 13 for me of the 16 guys that i watched so real quick thoughts on kobe bryant the cornerback from kansas i'm gonna make sure that we're better with that so yeah i mean he's a feast or famine player yes here's what's interesting i have him a six feet tall but 168 pounds yes so why he's got a little emmanuel forbes going right now that is the early player comp because it can't be anybody else so i mean listen this dude he grabbed four picks in 2023

the forced fumble against BYU. If you haven't watched his play, you guys could watch it after or even now if you want to just keep the show playing. He comes down on an outside run, plasters the ball carrier, picks up the own fumble that he caused, and brings it back for a touchdown. It's one of the sickest plays of college football last year. It really is. But, man, he's a gambling man.

He's a riverboat gambler he just feast or famine style of play and here's the thing that ate me up trevor is like you watch the games against ucf in texas what did both those teams have last year pro wide receivers and i thought those were his worst games he just he got beat he got beat by baker he got beat by whittington he got beat and i think that he gets bounced around a little bit because of that weight throughout routes. So Kobe Bryant, fun player, incredible college player in terms of the way he can change a game. Yep. But he needs to gain about 10 pounds and become a little bit more.

Yeah, I was being kind of kind. He he needs to just become a little bit more consistent rather than the gambler and and yeah 10 10 was maybe even a little kind from me yeah like if i factored in like you watch some slot guys and i didn't watch if i was throwing some of those guys like yeah sebastian kasher if he was in these rankings like kobe bryant's not in the top 10 right right which he is for me so i guess that makes sense some added info on uh kobe bryant whose name is spelled C-O-B-E-E, by the way, and then Bryant is spelled the way that you think it is. I found this on Kansas' website.

Quote, my biggest role model is Kobe Bryant, of course. He's not referring himself to the third person. He's talking about the actual NBA legend, Kobe Bryant. My parents named me after him because they knew that I was going to have a big dog mentality. Then he goes on to say it gets better. My favorite player growing up was Randy Moss and I model my game after Deion Sanders. So within the span of three, four sentences, we have a Kobe Bryant reference, a Randy Moss reference, and a Deion Sanders reference.

Folks, it does not get any higher of expectations than that. And that's exactly how he plays football. Like, there's no, he's a shooter, okay? This guy is a shooter. And you have to respect it. You have to put respect on his name. You know what else? I found this when looking up some high school profile stuff for him so he also played on the basketball team

he was named the 2018 all conference all defensive team in basketball i almost made his player comp patrick beverly i i i was so close to doing it his personality is probably not that different and it feels like it is just the most in your face talking shit lock you down sometimes kind of again feast or famine type of a defender um yeah you mentioned a lot of things that he does well i mean he's just a he is he's a riverboat gambler the last sentence that i have for his little scouting summary for the preseason his bottom line is his build will not be for everybody but his play style is really fun to watch and obviously i think there's going to be some uh some coaches that are like yeah man just give me this dude anyways i did not watch um tommy hill tommy hill

yeah let's get let's get a couple of thoughts on tommy hill who you had at number nine i'm really excited about tommy hill nebraska corner he's the nebraska corner he's played both wide receiver and corner in college. He's returned kicks. He's a former top 200 recruit in his recruiting class. He started out at Arizona state. He's really found his footing at Nebraska last year, four picks,

nine passes broken up. He he's really well built, like a really well built human. He is over six feet tall and 204 pounds oh i like it he's built like a safety like it but he uh he was in feldman's freaks article he's expected to run a sub 4 4 40 and apparently has posted a 40 plus inch vertical i think 42 inches yeah he's a freak this guy freak show 42 he he that wide receiver background like travis hunter shows up with the ball skills like he makes plays that change the game he does i think what in

coverage when he gets beat he gets caught in between when wide receivers are in their release of being like do i play physical or do i play off and then they already get the release and he starts to throw the hands and it's too late so that's a little technical hiccup that I think if he starts to master that, and to be fair to Tommy Hill, Tommy Hill has played wide receiver and special teams a lot. And now he's just settling into being a full-time corner. And I think it looks pretty damn good in 2023. So I think he'll, the way he's built, the way his mental makeup is with the ball skills. If he cleans up some, some of those technique things I brought up, Tommy Hill might be a second round pick. Okay. I think he's that talented. I really, really do.

I'm he is going to be an all-star circuit guy. This would be like, I put my stamp on, this is the riser this year. He was next on my list and a guy that I was honestly bummed that I didn't get to. So now that you're talking them up, I obviously got to get to him before the season starts so I can get him in the, in the mock draft simulator for sure. By the way,

you brought up Bruce Feldman's freak list. It came out this week. You guys should go get a subscription to the athletic and read it because Bruce Feldman does an incredible job. And we referenced this piece a lot. It's one of our favorite pieces of football content that comes out every single year, but I had to just,

I had to say, you know, we're talking corners, but I had to bring this up. Feldman gave us what we needed. If you will go back to the call. If you go back to the interior offensive line episode, you will hear Connor and I plead to Bruce,

please get us some weightlifting numbers on Jaden Roberts, the offensive guard from Alabama, because every player that was asked who's the strongest player on the team at Alabama, they all said, oh, Jaden Roberts, Jaden Roberts, Jaden Roberts, Jaden Roberts. Seth McLaughlin, his center, basically said, I don't think there's ever been a weight put on the bar that he couldn't pick up. And we do indeed have some numbers, thanks to our friend Bruce Feldman.

Jaden Roberts came in at number four on the freaks list. 18% body fat and 272 pounds of lean muscle on his 322 pound frame. I don't know how they're calculating that, but sounds impressive when you say it out loud. Here's the numbers that we needed. He squats 825 pounds. What? What?

I believe it. 825? You got people on this list, high on this list, that are like, oh, he squats over 600 pounds. Oh, he squats 605. What an absolute freak. Jade Roberts is like, put 225 more on the bar. Insane.

Benched 525 pounds, power cleaned 405 this summer. And then there's a clip of him doing like a sled push at 16 years old with 1400 pounds on the sled truly some of those bonker numbers i've heard you when when i sent this to you yesterday freaking out about it you correctly pointed out that you know a lot of weightlifters they're like oh i'm in the thousand pound club you know squatting benching deadlifting you know combine that weight and it's over a thousand pounds i'm in a thousand pound club jayden roberts almost is a two thousand pound club that's what's insane which is the stupidest thing i've ever heard in my life that That's what's insane is that he is, if he actually worked towards it,

but he's also a little busy with school and football, he'd be in the 2,000-pound club. Nah, he doesn't need it. Crazy. Just take weightlifting classes. That's all he needs. The only other guy that I wanted to hit on in your 10 through 6 is Dorian Strong

from Virginia Tech, redshirt senior, who I think you had at seven. If I remember correctly. Yes, because I have him at six. So we see him pretty similarly there. Um, we talk about him and then I'll run through my 10 through six.

Cause, uh, there are a couple of guys not on your list that I wanted to get to, but Dorian strong, man, really interesting player. I mentioned Virginia tech redshirt senior. Um, I got his measurements at six feet tall, 182 pounds. So he's a little bit slender. dorian strong man really interesting player i mentioned virginia tech redshirt senior um

i got his measurements at six feet tall 182 pounds so he's a little bit slender just 11th percentile on his weight you know he played cornerback and wide receiver in high school he was a track runner did the 400 did the 200 so he's got that track background you love to see that fun fact about him his father did you did you see this? Did you look this up? Yeah. His father is a former IFBB pro bodybuilder and is now a pro bodybuilding coach. Yeah. He like runs his own business on it. Pretty sick. We need to get your son some steroids.

Well, what's funny is the top line for him in weaknesses is that he needs to put on more weight. That's what I'm saying. Yet his dad's a former IFBB pro. We know you've got the rice maker and the chicken baker right in the kitchen. We know it's there. It's all right there. Your dad's barely able to bend his arm enough like Ronnie Coleman just to try to get that dry ass chicken into his mouth. The meal prep.

We know you've got it in the kitchen. It's time for pasta pasta breakfast for dorian strong something i frequent in quite often so i love the pasta breakfast yeah yeah but you you and your lovely wife make incredible pasta sauce so i mean that's a you know it's if it's 10 a.m on a saturday and friday was a sauce night i'm i mean i'm a bowl of rigatoni is absolutely i'm so my cereal that you have a night that you just like yeah it's sauce night usually during the season it's sundays because i come home from jets and i'm sure i'm gassed but

as soon as i walk in and if i i see a loaf of bread about to go in the oven and the sauce simmering it's like it's nothing brings you back to life easier than that maybe that's what travis hunter needs on the sideline to not get gassed something to think about just some sauce marinara is keeping travis hunter on the field for 98 of the snaps so dorian strong you know what's crazy about him connor they don't throw him the ball did you literally literally never probably the most frustrating watch i had he had over 700 total snaps that he played this past year now in coverage it was like i don't know like 350 or something he played in coverage they targeted him 35 total times never he gave up nine receptions

now it's not like he was like champ bailey locking him no that's the funny thing just don't throw the ball he was fine like he's a good player right but if you like if you were basing on advanced metrics for him you would literally think he's 2009 revis right exactly yes yes you're like wait a second if you just look at the catches aloud you're like yeah this guy's an absolute first ballot hall of famer and they just have i mean they now i i don't want to totally take it away from him he deserves some credit he plays well in off zone coverage they play a lot of off zone coverage in virginia tech scheme so you're pretty far off the ball but he does a really nice job of being able to jump routes and get the comebacks and you know he he could disrupt the catch point while being you know five

to six yards off the line of scrimmage at the snap and so when quarterbacks kind of look his way they go eh yeah this guy's open but dorian's kind of looking he's close enough and so he warrants a lot of no throws and i'll take that it's certainly a win for how well he's able to space himself in coverage but still they just they did not cover or they did not throw to this guy he was i got a working test it yeah go ahead do you think it's because he wears number 44 which is traditionally you would think a safety or outside linebacker wearing it the quarterback goes oh the safety linebacker is helping over on that side and never throws never throws that way they don't realize it's just a corner so they think there's some sort of soft zone underneath,

like somebody's playing underneath and I just can't see him. Cause I see 44 back there. It's something to think about. Yeah, it is something to think about. What an odd number at corner. You know what though? It makes it so easy to find him,

which I forgot Trevor, the battle. Let me just say this. I forget who I was watching, but I was watching a game and it was, I think it was at old dominion and sorry, old domin dominion if you're catching a stray that you don't deserve i think it was you though damn so like when you're watching corners on coach's tape it could be a bit of like you know ants in a magnifying glass at times sometimes yeah so i was then watching

the end zone angle because it was i think on a pass breakup or a close play and it's a vertical throw down the sideline and the camera pans over and all of a sudden the person just dropped the camera like the whole thing fell off of the like just like like tilted all the way down and then they popped it back up and the play was over the play was over and i was just like yep this is what it's like watching corners it takes four times as long as any other summer scouting venture it does yeah it takes a while so uh anyways yeah i i see him as sort of like a right now it's it's it's tough to totally judge obviously i project him in a in a heavy zone scheme does a lot of cover three a lot lot of quarters. He's playing off coverage. He likes to keep his eyes on the quarterback.

His eye discipline's amazing, though. No, it's really good. He plays the position in a very smart way. The first line that I have is a savvy cover three corner. And I think that's because of, like you said, how well he's able to look at where the ball is, look at what the quarterback is looking at as well, being able to mirror and match that pretty well.

Even though he's not hip for hip with the wide receiver, he does a good job being able to warn a lot of no throws. Tackling, not exactly his strong suit because of the low weight percentile. Tougher for him to get off blocks. I definitely noticed that. When he did get locked up with receivers and run defense, it was tough for him to get off blocks. So strength is something that he's got to improve upon.

But the rest of his game is pretty solid. He's just not tested a lot. Yep. I'm with you on that one. He's a really rock-solid player. Yeah. Not a lot of action comes his way. He's very competitive.

I like his awareness. I like his recovery speed. I think he has the build if he puts on a little bit more weight where he's going to be an NFL outside corner. So we saw him exactly the same. Okay, so my 10 through 6. I got Maxwell Hairston at 10 from Kentucky. That's a guy I didn't get to watch. Quincy Riley from Louisville at number 9.

Dorian Strong, I mentioned I have at number eight. I said six, I think. He's six for wide corners, but including slot corners, he's actually number eight. Jade Baron from Texas, who is sort of like a safety nickel corner hybrid type of a player. I saved him for the next show. Although there's talk about Baron playing more like wide corner this year.

Interesting. Yeah, which i think will could potentially mitigate a lot of the weaknesses that i have okay it would be good for him anyways i have him at seven and then i have sebastian castro from iowa you mentioned he is their nickel back but he's sort of this like pseudo safety big hitter type of nickel back i have him at number six because i think he's a slot corner at the nfl level so well i want to hear about the kentucky player because he he's one of the true corners that I didn't get to watch.

So Maxwell Harrison, a redshirt junior from Kentucky listed at six foot one, 185 pounds. He's going to be somewhere between like 180, 185 pounds. He is again, another guy who has just got a longer slender build, which it felt like was a theme throughout this cornerback class. So there's, there are a lot of things that I liked about him. His, the way that I view him is sort of similar to Kobe Bryant. Like it's,

it is a ride. It's an up and down, but I actually think that Hairston has both a higher floor and a higher ceiling than Bryant is. That's why I have him higher in the ranking. So, um, play both defensive back and wide receiver when he was in high school, um, played high school football in Michigan, won a state championship, which I

always just like to note, obviously football is a team game, but Hey, if you want to stay championship in high school, I like to know that you're coming from a winning program. You know what it's like to win a championship. Also ran track and played basketball there. He redshirted his first year at Kentucky played sort of sparingly in 2022. He played in all the games. So he was just a rotational guy last year. He all 13 games for him uh the nickname is mad max and uh also noted that he was on choir in high school and his hidden talent is that he can sing interesting i might have to ask him about that at the combine just for everybody out there you know let's see what you got maxwell if he ends up going to uh actually it doesn't even matter if he goes to the team that's on hard knocks normally like the rookies do that like

talent thing where they got to stand up in front of the team and like do something like tell a joke or do magic or sing or something well if he's out here maybe he's got some pipes we'll be able to see it you know so just want to just wanted to shout that out so despite him being of slender build he's actually a really nice wrap up tackler. He takes a lot of pride in run defense. He is not like an imposing run defender, but he understands, Hey, I've got to funnel guys back in. I'm the last line of defense between the ball carrier and the sideline. A lot of times let's get some help and make sure that if he's going to cut on me, he's going to cut back inside and I'm going to have help there. So I think that I've recognized

that from him. And normally you don't get a lot of run defenders that are about 180, 185 pounds. And like I said, when he, when he faces ball carriers, he gets the arms around him. He's not ankle tackling. Like he's, he's, he's tackling these dudes. And I love that. I love that physicality in his game. He gets a little bit too physical when it comes to, you know, matching routes because something else else I think he struggles with is he lacks that true anticipation. There are too many times where he looks out of control. Like he'll be in, like he'll be an off cover three and he'll be shuffling down the sideline.

And the wide receiver will like hit a comeback, like towards the sideline. And instead of putting his foot in the ground, like if that's happening behind him, like if it's true, like a blind spot sort of thing, instead of like putting his foot in the ground and being able to just like sort of just like immediately go towards that wide receiver he'll like speed turn you know what i'm saying like

turn around and by that time there's just too much space in between him and the corner and it goes okay i understand the speed turn technique that you're kind of going for but you're leaving a little too much space i think that's what goes into him being a little bit out of control. He's, like I said, he's grabby when the routes are breaking. It's because he's not anticipating as well as he needs to, but I think he's got pretty good ball skills. I'll mention that the high interceptions last year were more opportunistic, but there are other times where I see him really get his arms up there and play the ball pretty well, which means I think that he's still got pretty good ball skills, even if the interceptions themselves were a bit opportunistic last year. And I think that he's got adequate size and speed. So I think that he is somebody who,

with a little bit more anticipation and discipline, could actually be a potential starting outside corner in the NFL. He reminds me body type wise of Cam Smith from South Carolina. Now Cam played more man coverage, like press man coverage than Harrison does. But I think Harrison can play that role. He just plays a lot more zone in Kentucky system. So that's how I saw Maxwell Harrison. He's somebody that I instantly put on my list.

And then another guy that I did have on my list, but I didn't get to watch enough of. I only got into the background was Quincy Riley, who I believe was nine for you out of Louisville. Yeah. So Quincy Riley, a sixth year senior. He played at Middle Tennessee State for three seasons before he transferred over to Louisville. Started for 13 games last season. I think he was a start of the year before as well he's got a pretty extensive track background actually uh he's from columbia south carolina so surprised

that south carolina didn't didn't uh didn't get him especially while he was in the transfer portal but um in track in high school he won the south carolina 4a 100 meter dash with a 10-4, pretty damn fast, and the 200-meter as well. He was even named the States for a track and field player of the year as a senior in 2019. So he's got good movement skills to him. 5'10.5", 187 pounds, so decent build. It's not like he's overly lanky or slender. I think he's a little bit lower in the weight profile

and the height profile, but he is built well. Versatile enough to play left and right side of the line of scrimmage. Definitely noticed that from him right off the bat. He's pretty comfortable in both man and zone. I think he's confident and impressed as well. Athleticism. You don't see like a freak track athlete when you watch him play, but I think it's certainly adequate for the position. The issues with him. I think that he lacks that true stickiness in coverage like he just when he especially when he's trying to match guys when he's in off coverage or even when it's when it's man coverage staying in the hip of receivers he just he's not anticipating as well as he needs to or there might be just a little bit of stiffness with how he is changing direction

linearly i think he's pretty explosive but there might be a little bit of stiffness with how he is changing direction linearly. I think he's pretty explosive, but there might be a little bit of stiffness there, um, in the hips or in a little bit slower footwork where the change in direction just isn't quite, uh, as good as it needs to be to really stay in the hip pocket of these guys, not a fundamentally sound tackler, just not a guy who's going to have high run defense scores for you. Although he does seem to give some effort flashes every now and then, but I was also struggled. And the reason why I got him a little bit lower i think a lot of people like him is i was actually kind of surprised at how easy receivers were able to get vertical on him with his track better run yeah and and i it's almost like man i i think that you should be able

to open it up a little bit more especially with with, you know, 10, 400 meter dash speed. That's pretty damn fast. There were just too many times where guys were getting vertical and be able to create some space. And he didn't have that recovery speed to make up for it as easily as I thought that he would. So all around a pretty solid player, but sixth year guy, which I think is going to go into it.

And, um, after starting for 13 games last year, if the NFL thought highly of him, I feel like he would have left last year. So I think the NFL just might be a little bit lower on him. I wonder if it's because, uh, he just doesn't have that true stickiness right now on his tape. So then,

uh, eight for you was Dorian strong, right? The guy that we saw very, very closely. Yep. Okay. And then get into some of the these slot guys

so right right so i i've got two of these slot guys here um it's a little bit different of a conversation right judy baron juday baron um from texas redshirt senior he has been their sort of like star position yeah for the last three years which is aligned as like an apex defender in between the outside corner and the line of scrimmage. The reason why you kind of give it that flexibility is because sometimes he feels like a box safety kind of coming down. Other times he could play at the linebacker level if they if the offense gives some pre-snap motion and they're shifting things for if they're shifting the strong side of the line scrimmage from one side to the other baron can shift inside he could play with the linebackers in the box and so he is truly this this star apex type of defender for them 511 195 so he's got good good size for being a being a slot corner type played

wide receiver defensive back and punt returner in high school in Austin Texas also ran track he is a big time track guy as well 102 meter 200 meter dashes a sprinter this is his quote from I think Sarkeesian's I believe Sarkeesian said this I do not think this guy gets nearly enough credit for the player that he is on our team he's extremely impactful he's got one of the highest football IQs on the team. It always feels like he's at the right spot at the right time. And we ask a lot of him. The PFF grades are lower for him. The coverage grade is like 68.6.

Single coverage is in the high 50s. And the forced incompletions is low just from naturally playing in the slot. But I think he's better than his PFF grades indicate because, or he's more talented than his PFF grades indicate because PFF grades, you got to remember folks, it's sort of like how well you do your job. And the job of an apex defender slot corner is very, very difficult. It's just very, very difficult to do all of those things really well. So you're going to get dinged here and there. It's going to bring down your grade naturally, but I think he's got adequate

size and strength for the position to be a totally versatile defender really good power and strength to work through blocks to get tackles really good run defender good feel for spot zone coverage when he's dropping back um he doesn't have a lot of true experience in in like a back pedal so when he's asked to back pedal it looks a little bit awkward for him he's more of like a shuffler um he's more of somebody who's going to play inside, outside leverage on you. And he is going to like angle his body to play that leverage about as sharp as he possibly can, which kind of goes into the technique of how he's dropping in the zone.

Hips are a little bit slower to flip, which makes true slot defense more difficult for those shiftier wide receivers. And I would say the top speed for him is good, but sometimes the acceleration to zero to 30 if you will not quite the zero to 60 but the zero to 30 sometimes takes a little bit of time which again makes some of the shiftier slot players a little bit more difficult for him but it goes back to your point about him maybe moving to outside corner right and if because i i read

that he might be playing a little bit more wide corner this year, like true corner. It's kind of interesting when you listen to your scouting report of him that it could actually benefit him. If he gets more comfortable in those backpedals, then all of a sudden we're really rounding out how well he is able to cover from a press alignment. My early comp for him is Tykee Smith from Georgia last year just this sort of bigger oh yeah powerful slot defender who can match up against tight ends who will really come up and run defense um but might struggle with some of those more shiftier quicker wide receivers so that was judea barrett for me uh that's it's gonna be interesting because now i'm gonna watch him for safeties like i planned slot safeties and i wonder if i'm gonna be like damn i wish i evaluated him projected him as a corner that's what's funny with those guys and then castro i castro is the guy one of the guys i'm

most excited about to talk about during the safety show because i have seen him play and i think he's really good yeah i don't think he's best suited to be a corner like i think some of his best work can be this versatile big nickel plays in the box like what did you think when watching yeah i mean i have him as a slot corner because that's where he's played a lot for iowa there's a sixth year senior guy so he's got a lot of experience to him he's listed at 5 11 210 pounds so like that weight profile 210 is 96th percentile for a corner so you can absolutely say, this is more of just a shorter stockier, stronger safety prospect to, like you mentioned, big nickel, maybe his like position, if you will, is, is more of a safety.

I could totally see that. I was just kind of grading him with the slot defenders. Iowa calls it cash. Yeah, it's right. Every team, like not every team team but a lot of college football teams do this right like i'm i'm not a defensive coordinator but like it's cash jack what are you talking about star we're money coordinators right yeah of course like they they're there's so many different ways there's so many different names for that what would you call it if you say

you get to build your own defense and you're not changing anything of what this role does but you get to think of a cool name uh uh vermithor for sure there you go i like that yeah yeah yeah i just so one of the uh one of the one of the house of dragon dragon great that's a great move just any of the dragons names work balarian you know the the johnny black dread yeah yeah the. Yeah, the Viserys road. Yeah, Balerion. He's the Balerion of the defense. And you just yell Jakaris when you want him to blitz.

Doing a scouting report. I mean, like, yeah, he played the Vhagar position. Like, wow. It's sick, though. The Vhagar position is basically just Deion Walker. And like Kenneth Grant do, I might need to change. Kenneth Grant's comp,

the Vagar done. I need to make the same effort in the land. So, yeah, I mean, it's there, there is a lot to like about, um,

about Sebastian Castro who had really high grades last year. Right. I mean like his coverage grade, um, overall slot grade, 87.8, uh, Sebastian Castro who had really high grades last year right I mean like his coverage grade um overall slot grade 87.8 uh coverage grade versus a clean pocket 89.5 coverage grade on passes in which they're the the quarterback holds the ball for more than three seconds 90.9 so this guy's like covering you throughout the whole damn route he did not have a ton of interceptions and he somehow earned a wins above replacement average of five of 0.57 that's nuts that's almost double mason grams crazy 0.57 of a wins above replacement as a corner is not it's hard to impact the game that way and

it is because he is such a good run defender. Right. He is such a good run defender. An Iowa DB that plays the run? Yeah, man. I mean, he's got the strength to line up one-on-one against tight ends. Reliable and relentless run defender is how I wrote it here. He's got decently quick footwork and hips for change of direction and acceleration. The top speed is an issue. You know, he's not going to be able to really match

a lot of these guys getting vertical at the NFL level. That's why maybe him being more of a safety, I think, could be something that we could see more from him at the NFL level. Shorter arms do make it a little bit tougher for him to get off blocks, but he is a high IQ football player who is just very rarely out of position and somebody I think all 32 teams in the NFL would love. Now, how much he is valued from each team will differ, but somebody who has the IQ, the versatility and the quickness to be able to play a lot of different positions in the

defensive back room, my early conf forum, it's not perfect, but you remember Dwight Smith, he was on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2002 team and Smith was actually like a safety who played outside corner for them a little bit but then he played inside like nickel corner for them he was like that pseudo safety kind of a player he was like that third safety kind of a guy who could be a big nickel for them so that usage and size profile kind of similar to that of Dwight Smith but Dwight played more outside corner than uh than I think Sebastian Castro is going to so um just to I mean he's he's he's got a a great background of of him and his brother growing up you know playing ball

challenging each other um WWE style wrestling in the background or in the backyard with him and his older cousins. Like it's just, it's, it's a story that when you talk about what he loved getting into as a kid, you can understand why this dude is tough as nails, why he loves the physical parts of the game. And you just don't find that a lot with corners. So Sebastian Castro, somebody that I think a lot of teams are going to like. All right. So I want to jump into the big countdown five to one uh yes let's make sure we didn't miss anyone from no we covered everyone uh no yeah i think that we're i think that we're good there oh oh before we do that i gotta uh i gotta shout out our friends who are uh who are

sponsoring this podcast this episode sponsored by our friends over at better help with everything that you got going on in life easy to let your own self-care get put on the back burner but it absolutely should not. When you aren't yourself or feeling your best, it is hard to put your best foot forward in other areas. Therapy is a great way to take a little bit of time out for yourself to recharge and recalibrate. This is a personal endorsement. I've been doing personal therapy for over a year and a half and it's been awesome. It started out as something that I needed help sort of dealing with something serious. And, and, you know, it's kind of evolved to where I got a lot of help, you know, with the tools and just talking through all of that and to become at such a better place.

But even after I kind of worked through a lot of that, I didn't stop. I kept going. And now there are little things just week to week, month to month where I'm like, man, like things are kind of boiling up and I've just just I've been able to discover, you know, how I think about things and how I react to things so much better over the last year and a half by being able to talk to somebody about it. And it's helped me understand myself better. And that has allowed me to live a happier life, give more of myself to other people. And it's just it's been it's been awesome. I cannot recommend it enough. If you're thinking about starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online

designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire and get matched with a licensed therapist. You could also switch therapists at any time with no additional charge at BetterHelp. Just like leg day, never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash NFLSE to get 10% off on your first

month. That is BetterHelp. H-E-L-P dot com slash help visit betterhelp.com slash nflse to get 10 off on your first month that is better help help.com slash nflse go check them out all right yeah five to one let's get into it all right so number five for me was mansour delane the other virginia tech corner damn i didn't watch him he's in your top five i liked him better than strong. I did. I thought he was a little more athletic. It's on me. I think they're not. There's not a wild gap. He just he's he's athletic.

He's younger. He's tall, long, big strides to cover turf. I think he's really physical with wide receivers before the catch. He's not afraid to throw his body around as a tackler. I like the play style. I like the play style. I like the mental makeup. There's just the length and speed to thrive and press for him. That's, I think he could be a legitimate press corner. There's things he's got to work on as a young corner. He gets caught giving up a little too much cushion at time to wide receivers. He's a step

late reacting to in and out breaking intermediate routes. Just, you know, beef up that route anticipation. I brought up how to throw his body around as a tackler. He'll miss some from lunging. He's got to learn, you know, when to be aggressive and when to kind of play it safe. But Mansoor Delane at 6'1", 180 with his speed and his length. I think Virginia Tech could ask even more of him this year. I really, really do. This corner duo they have with him and Strong, they're going to give quarterbacks a lot of problems on the outside

when they're trying to throw the ball on the outside because these two have lockdown potential. I just thought Delane looked a little bit more of a spring year athlete with a little bit more size. So I really liked what I saw from him. Uh, Dave, Dave, so far, our head of communications at, uh, at PFF, he was telling me a couple of weeks ago, he's like, Hey, watch out for Virginia tech, sneaky team, sneaky, good players that not enough people are talking about. Dave was telling me. So yeah I got another corner that I got to watch. Five for me was Denzel Burke from Ohio State. Okay.

He was right. He was six for me. I think he was five, right? Yeah, yeah. He is five for me. So Denzel Burke, I think he's going to be around a lot of people's top fives. Somebody who we thought could have come out last year, but he opted to return to Ohio State's defense. Because he said that he wants to be a,

he said that he wants to be a top 10 pick a first round pick, and then obviously win a national championship as well. And they got a really good defense coming back. So he is a senior entering this year, six feet tall, 190 pounds. That's 61st percentile and 39th percentile there from him. Also played defense back and wide receiver in high school, as a lot of these guys did from Scottsdale,

Arizona started all 13 games, a true freshman in 2021 started 11 games in 2022 as a true sophomore but he was playing through injury yeah he didn't look right that year just did not you're right he just did not when we watched him for summer scouting last year I was like ah man like that there's got to be something else here because a lot of people were really talking up Denzel Burke and um the 2022 tape you could tell just wasn't his best stuff i thought he was better last year started 11 games the junior in 2023 so this dude's got 35 games as a starter already going into his senior season so very battle tested very experienced um i thought he had a much better year last year he could have absolutely come out uh in and declared for the 2024 NFL draft.

I think he, I mean, it would have been a day two pick in my opinion. I could almost guarantee that. He probably got day two feedback. Yeah, but he wants to be a, oh, let's be real. Day one, got him. Sawyer, Tui Maloau, they all got good feedback. Yeah. They just wanted to go back and win.

And you make enough money now that it's okay to do right exactly so the strength of denzel burke very natural smooth mover i thought yeah he's just bringing yeah i mean he's just the way that he moves he's very fluid i don't think he's like the greatest athlete out there he's he's not like you talk about him being springy i don't think he's super twitched up but he i think the click and close is where i see the springiness though like when there's something in front of him like he could he can click and close where it's like that's where he's got bounce so i have i have as a note for as a strength for him really good eyes and zone and i think that experience all goes into it right just that

ability to look very fast because you're so confident in being able to click and close when you're in off coverage and when you're in zone. Really good feel for spacing as well. I don't think he's as reliable as a tackler like with finishes, but he at least knows where he needs to position himself and run defense. Sort of like what I was saying with like Hairston, where it's like, okay, he knows that he's got to protect the sideline here. So he's going to put himself in between the sideline. He's probably not going to make the tackle, but at least his body's going to be there.

And the running back is probably going to be forced inside. He's got a pretty high forced incompletion rate, despite a lack of interceptions throughout his career. So you want to take that into account as well. 20.8 forced incompletion rate, which was 91st percentile for last year's tape. Sometimes, sometimes I think his feet can be like a tick slow when he's coming out of press. 14.8 forcing completion rate which was 91st percentile for last year's tape sometimes sometimes i think his feet can be like a tick slow when he's coming out of press um i don't know if that's because he wants to play in trail and like wants to i saw that too speed but it was almost a little bit perplexing i was like you're just very you're comfortable in trail which i think can be a positive but there were too many times when it led to open targets for me.

So I had to note it as a weakness that the feet were a little bit slow out of press coverage. I think he's a good all-around athlete. I don't think he's a rare all-around athlete. And then I mentioned the tackling there for him. Honestly, I think his shoe's just really solid. Like, I think Denzel Burke could potentially kick inside to be a nickel corner for you on some reps.

He could certainly play outside corner like he's been doing at Ohio State. That all-around versatility, felt like sean murphy bunting certainly with his similar size as well was kind of a decent comp for him i know some people might you know want to shoot higher on that but murphy bunting played outside and inside for the todd bulls defense and then he signed a pretty dang good contract with the tennessee titans say that's pretty fair yeah i mean like i i thought that and and murphy bunting was a second round pick as well so i that's kind of how i i view burke right now it's just a really solid versatile natural smooth mover corner he's not the the biggest guy burke and for like i have him 5 11 and an eighth 193 where so many of these guys are over six feet tall now. Oh,

I got him at six foot. You got him at five. Yeah. I don't think he's six feet tall, but, um, but he's a good player. He,

he, he does a lot of things the right way at the position. And I think the reaction skills help him make plays on the ball, help him stay on his targets. I don't, he doesn't allow targets over him over the top of him too much he understands that so yeah burke's burke's just rock solid in this class so he was five for you five for me with elaine he was burke was six for me four for me is a really interesting

guy he was on feldman's freaks list and that is savon, the corner from East Carolina. Yeah, the ECU guy. ECU guy. I didn't watch him. Originally from Lewisburg College. He's a redshirt senior. He is six foot two, 188 pounds. Ravel is big, explosive and fast and when everything becomes a vertical foot race he is plastered to wide

receivers hips constantly uh last year was his first year as a full-time starter at ecu he broke up six passes he grabbed a pick the compete level is through the roof with this guy it's i could see him i don't know if he's gonna go as high i think that'd be a little rich but i could see him being viewed the same way our guy from toledo rose up last year um that went to the eagles oh my god it's amazing how i like oh quinnian mitchell quinnian mitchell it's amazing how one draft class goes out the door in your brain because i have literally from summer scouting like 200 new names and he has not played a preseason game yet quinion mitchell dude i i probably shouldn't say this but um i was on uh rich eisen show the other day and uh yeah

big man himself yeah yeah no rich was on there yeah oh wow that's when you know i've only done it when the big man's on vacation wow okay we gotta get you we gotta get you a rich rep we gotta get you i'm a little nervous go ahead so um he was asking about a lot of stuff you know we were talking to iuk you know we were talking some like offensive rookie of the year guys and um when he was talking about like okay well who do you think you know it's like a sleeper to win offensive rookie of the year you know how do you think the quarterback's gonna do all that kind of stuff marvin harrison he was like yeah yeah big sleeper get ready for this one and

you've never heard of him before uh but he asked me he was like one of the last questions that he asked me he's like all right what about defensive rookie of the year and when he asked me in my mind i was like i couldn't name you one player mason graham and it took me it took me like 10 seconds to even remember like cuyam mitchell and terry and arnold and latu latu and like all this dude but like when he started asking me that question i was like for ten thousand dollars rich i couldn't name you one defensive player that was drafted last year dude but i obviously didn't say that but it was it was no it happened it happens it it happens and it's getting worse we we took summer scouting to a new level this year like we we used to do this

we used to do top fives every position yeah there, there was time. There was weeks I'd watch. I'd watch eight guys, right? It's like, man, it's summer. Like they're trying to like I'll watch eight guys and then write the top five this summer. We've done top eights, sometimes more. Yeah, we're consistently watching 13 to 20 guys at every position. Like, right. So top 10 today.

So it's amazing how all those names from last year just start to exit your brain yeah you quinnion mitchell he's a premier player anyway the guy from toledo our guy from toledo that went to the eagles i man it's scary it's scary so saban revel bring it all back somehow he he's got that vibe to him he really does where it's okay compete levels crazy and great size at the position great athlete at the position he gets his head around all the time and fights through the hands like i would love for him to have another big year at ecu and then go to the senior bowl and kind of put his stamp on things like our guy from Toledo did so now I mean here's the thing with Ravel he's still clearly learning how to anticipate routes break on quicker routes like it's he's athleeting out there it's a

little unorthodox at times there's not always a ton of technique but i mean i think as he keeps working on this craft when you have that size that explosiveness that speed that physicality that i want the ball mentality like it's it often works your way so i i for i'm betting on the guy but i i liked what i saw a lot i think you're gonna really like him when you watch him you know when you got two cards that you love you gotta you gotta you gotta see the next three in texas hold them you know what i'm saying you gotta play you gotta put the chips in you gotta bet on it at some point when you got the good cards when you got the good traits i mean you just you gotta bet on it you gotta you gotta let it ride you gotta see what happens i've changed a lot over the years where like if you're big explosive you love to compete and you're showing signs that you're going to figure out

the, not the mental side, but a little bit like the awareness side and the, I've been leaning on those guys more than I used to where it's not that I, like, if you're a small corner, I'm just out on you. It's just that I definitely knock off points more

than i used to because it's just the dude you got dk metcalf out there right right it's insane the nfl the rules are against you from the you need every physical advantage you you can get into in this game to play corner at a high level yep yep i agree those are the guys to bet on speaking of players to bet on physically i feel like this was an ideal transition i know where you're going i got takario davis from arizona number four he's three for me i figured that that would be the case um so we're gonna have the same top two that's fine it's a small forward playing cornerback dude six foot 395 pounds so 97th percentile in height 90 or 61st percentile in weight buddy we might have something here with tagario davis we might have found something again db and wide receiver in high school classic six four are they lying a little bit

i think he's six three yeah that's fine still massive but i mean if he's six four then obviously that that only makes this then he's brandon browner better dude yeah i mean elite size and length to match up against bigger press corners and the thing is adequate top speed despite like him because that's that's that's normally the give and take right you got a bigger corner they normally can't run it's tougher to flip the hips they're high-waisted it's tougher to get the feet around the feet can't move as quickly but he's got some pretty decent speed especially top speed right so when he's going in press coverage and these guys are trying to get over top of him he can match him pretty well speed for speed uh there's not a lot of panic which i love this i

love this part about his game not a lot of panic in pre-throw coverage, even when he is backpedaling again, you get guys who are high waisted, who are tall and you're asking them to sit and backpedal. Normally when you're a bigger guy, the weights just distributed in a weird way. So it's, you don't feel as balanced. You're not as comfortable guys who are often like shufflers, right? They're trying to, they're trying to shuffle back in cover three, not like backpedal or anything like that. And when it comes to being in press coverage, what they want to do is they don't want to just have a true backpedal the whole time.

They want to get hands on you and force you to go one way or the other so that they can then turn their hips and kind of run sideways and then get vertical and open it up and kind of match with you that way. But there's just not a lot of panic for a big man in his pre-throw coverage. He's lacking a bit in strength when it comes to that slender build, but he still likes to get up in receivers' faces. Forced incompletion percentage of 99th percentile, 27.8, extremely high there for him. Just rare movement skills, it feels like, for a guy who is 6'4", 6'3", whatever he is, 195 pounds. But it would be pay-per-view. I'd pay for this to see practice footage of him and Tetsuroa McMillan

just going one-on-one every single day in practice. Dude, insane. You want to talk about iron sharpens iron. Those dudes are absolutely making each other better every single day going up against each other in practice it's a heavyweight fight basically the only corner in america who could probably match up with tetrao mcmillan is wearing the same color jersey on the opposite side of him in practice explains a lot right and i think both of those guys are better for it so a lot of potential there for him

um i think that he certainly has the length and the comfortability to be able to play man coverage it's gonna that's where you're gonna love him people are gonna naturally bring up the tyreek woolen comp but he's he's a better corner than he's different he's just not an athlete out there like woolen was right woolen's a better athlete tecker. Tecaro Davis is – or Tecario Davis. Sorry, I'm mixing up Tetsuro and McMillan and Tecario Davis. Tecario Davis is – he's a better corner. Like, I look at him as, you know, when Akilah Witherspoon was playing his best.

Like, he's got the similar size and build of a bigger, longer corner like Akilah Witherserspoon but witherspoon didn't his highs were sort of sporadic throughout his nfl career and um i think davis's could could be even higher than that so yeah it's i'm with you all the way he's a way better corner prospect than woolen was i just he's he broke up 15 passes last year did Did you, the Oregon state game? Oh, I didn't watch that one. He dropped three picks and it, I mean, I'm not saying they're all layups.

Some of them were, but if he just starts grabbing those, cause he's in position, he's so big. Then he finishes the year with four picks and 15 PBUs. Like, so I watched that game and I'm like, I didn't look at it as a bad thing that he dropped

those picks i'm glad that he's in position to make the play because i think he's going to start grabbing those picks he's just so big ideal for if you want him to be a press corner positioning uh like you said trevor adequate mover for his size those big strides chew up so much turf against vertical routes this guy was this there was this was a clearly a miss in the recruiting trail yes guy like a big miss yes he had no business being a three star or whatever he was because he's he's got some special stuff to him so he was three for you travis hunter was three for me we had that combo yeah so one and two i guess they're going to be a little chalky i think they should be two for me was benjamin morris one was will johnson correct and i'll

say this davis was closer to two for me than i ever thought but davis is good man davis is really good davis travis hunter and benjamin morris and are. Like all three of those dudes are pretty close. They are with Morris. He's an interesting guy, right? Former four star at Notre Dame, six foot, 186 pounds.

He, his dad played safety in the NFL for four years. His dad, Daryl, all four of his siblings are, were college athletes, two sisters in gymnastics, one sister in volleyball, and his brother played football at Arizona and San Diego state outside cornerback with some experience playing the slot. He didn't play 72 snaps in the slot over the last two years. He knows how to open up his hips to run with guys

and as a sixth sense of when the ball is going to arrive. That really is a difference maker to me. He's extremely physical to disrupt routes, extremely physical at the catch point situations, on hands, on the ball, on the player. Once again, a guy that loves to fight through the hands when the ball arrives, and that's what that sixth sense pairs up with that ability to be physical

that you kind of take away plays. You take away the ability to go up and get the football or come back to the ball or fight for the football. He had an 86.3 coverage grade in single coverage last year. A hundred and twenty six total snaps in single coverage. Hundred eight were in press. I don't think he's the most fluid guy, which is the combo we're going to have at number one. That's what separates them. But once again, compete playing the ball awareness for the ball, physicality inside,

outside versatility can run vertically., this guy's got it. He's got the DNA of a first-round corner. I agree. I agree 100%, giving him an early preseason first-round grade because you mentioned he just brings so much to the table that you love. He's got the athletic family background. He's already got a lot of starts under his belt at Notre Dame, despite him just being a true junior.

You mentioned how well he's able to play in single coverage. It's a big deal. 25.5% forced incompletion percentage, which is 97th percentile. It goes to show you how sticky he can be in coverage and how well he can get those long arms really up and into these wide receivers at the catch point. The hands, I love how up and active they are in press. I mean, his hands aren't down.

I mean, his hands are up, and he is ready to hand fight with you. He's ready to have great timing. Very well coached, you mentioned. Very quick to transition when it comes to backpedaling, to shuffling, and then opening it up in full strides. I thought those transitions were really smooth from him. Good awareness already. Willing run defender, just a good football player who's a cornerback.

The weaknesses for him. Strength, somewhat of a concern getting off blocks because he does have a little bit more slender of a build at 190 pounds. His stop and start ability, I noted this, is good. I think that it is good, but it does leave a little bit of room for really precise route runners to create a little bit of separation on him. And that stickiness, I think, is what we'll get to with Will Johnson in a second. And then I think he can get a little bit grabby again,

going back to some stop and start deficiencies with him, some true change of direction, zero to 30 acceleration, if you will, when he knows that he can't really keep up that way, if he's going up against a quicker receiver, he can get a little bit grabby on these guys. So I think that that's something that you just you've got to watch for him it's sort of like the good with the bad but i like i like morrison a lot man i really did yeah it's just a ton to like there as a pro corner things

that translate the technique is in a place where it's you love what he brings to the table immediately he's a good enough athlete he's's just, I mean, the only thing stopping him from being number one is that an absolute freak is number one. I am very glad that you set it up like that. Holy shit, this guy's good. Will Johnson's bigger and more fluid. That's what's ridiculous.

He's bigger, but he moves better. This is one of the easiest evals i've ever done absolutely he's just good did you watch him first yeah unfortunately me too i and i kind of knew it but i still did it yeah and i was like well it's probably all downhill from here now i will say that wasn't the case because the guys in the top five were very impressive. I agree. It's an unfair bar to set. Yeah.

I'll let you kick. I kicked off Morris. I'll let you kick off Will Johnson. Sure. So Will Johnson, true junior entering this year from University of Michigan. Six foot two, 202 pounds, 92nd percentile, 84th percentile. I mean, he's got all the size that you would want from the outside cornerback position. He played receiver.

He played return. He played kick returner. He played punt returner. He played defensive back in high school. He was a four-star recruit coming out of the state of Michigan. Had five starts to true freshman, 11 starts. Last season was a first-team All-American last year as well. His father, Dion, was a defensive back in Michigan and was part of three Big Ten championship winning teams from 1990 to 1994. So he's got that college football

bloodline to him. You know, it's funny. His PFF grades are not as good as it is for some of these other guys. And I think that's because of sometimes the assignments that he is going up against. But when it comes to the talent level of actually turning on the film and seeing what he is capable of, he's unbelievable. Actually, here, I'm just going to read my scouting summary for him. Johnson is one of the most pro-ready cornerbacks that you will ever find, especially as just a true junior. His measurables are a big plus for him at over 6 feet and over 200 pounds,

but he moves with the quickness, body control, balance, and footwork of a player much smaller, which is a very good thing. He is very sticky in both man and zone coverage with excellent understanding of leverage, technique, spacing, to force no throws and create forced incompletions. He isn't the fastest corner that you'll ever see, but he makes up for it with his excellent anticipation. His only real area of improvement are the timing of his punches and press reps

and some of his run defense reps. Even so, this is an easy first round corner with a CB1 NFL ceiling. The ability for Will Johnson to stay in the hip of wide receivers at all times, through any assignment, all shapes and sizes and speeds of any of these guys is unbelievable. The, the easiest comp for me is Patrick Sertan the second. He's going to get a lot of that.

Cause it's all right there. It's just, it's, it is all right there for you. Patrick Sertan. One of the easiest evals that I had as a scout, Will Johnson, one of the easiest evals I've had as a scout will johnson one of the easiest evals i've had as

a scout like it's just he is so damn good at what he does um it's it's it's gonna be him and mason graham at the very top of my big board to start the season yeah that it'll look similar for me i mean what blew my mind is why he's so physically gifted. You see Feldman's three cone for him? Yeah. Yes. Six, five, seven. And it makes sense with how sticky this dude is. He's long, fluid, explosive, great hips.

The hips help him mirror any route movements. But he's so smart. The route sense and anticipation to make plays on the ball is high caliber. And then you factor in that he doesn't really allow anything after the catch with his wrap-up tackling. Where are the... The one note I wrote is he's still a little inconsistent turning his head on deep throws.

Okay. Like, okay. He's a young player. Is he still 20? I think he's still 20. I'll have to look at it. Okay, so he turned 21 this spring okay uh but yeah another great corner out of detroit michigan like sauce gardner you met wow

yeah wow it's crazy it's great all detroit team i mean detroit is putting something together locking your ass up yeah you, you're right. Seriously. So, yeah, Will Johnson's pretty special. He'll be a top five player on my big board. Like Trevor said, maybe even higher, probably even higher. It's it's a good group, by the way. It's a good corner class. You got your elite at the top.

Then you got guys that are probably going in the first round or trickling after him. And then you got day two starters. So and that's not even like me factoring like I think Travis Hunter and Tommy Hill could make really big jumps this year at the position so yeah this this cornerback group I knew about Will Johnson I knew about Travis Hunter I like knew of Denzel Burke obviously but man there's a lot of really good players here. There's even some players that you have in your top five that I still need to watch that, uh, you know, I got 16 guys and I'm putting in a mock draft simulator. I probably want to get to at least 20 before the season starts to get those names in there, but it looks like a deep cornerback class this year. It feels like this cornerback class is going to be like the offensive tackle class

of last year where we might have, you know, four or five guys as first rounders. And then even still throughout that, like throughout the top 60 and top 75, we're going to be having players go off the board. Cause it just seems, it seems that deep.

Give the people a little recap. Give it, give me your top 10 again. I'll give them the top 10 and then we'll, we'll do the outro and get out of here. So 10 for me was Kobe Bryant from Kansas. Nine for me was Tommy Hill from Nebraska. Eight was Travis Hunter from Colorado.

Seven was Dorian Strong. One of two corners out of Virginia Tech on this list. Six was Denzel Burke out of Ohio State. Five was Mansoor Delane. The other corner out of Virginia Tech. Savon Revell Jr. out of East Carolina was number four. Takario Davis was number three, the gigantic corner out of Arizona. Benjamin Morris out of Notre Dame was number two. And number one, the blue chipper, Will Johnson out of Michigan.

So 10 for me was Maxwell Harrison from Kentucky, nine Quincy Riley from Louisville, eight Dorian Strong from Virginia Tech seven and six I had some slot corners slash safety guys Judea Barron from Texas at number seven Sebastian Castro from Iowa at number five Takario at number six Denzel Burke I had from Ohio State at number five Takario Davis from Arizona at number four Travis Hunter from Colorado at number three Benjamin Morrison from Notre Dame at number two. And then you mentioned Will Johnson from Michigan at number one. We would love to hear from you guys as well. A lot of corners out there, a lot of really talented players. I remember last year, as we started to

get into the college football season, I had a lot of you guys reaching out to me, just saying like, Hey, you got to watch this corner. You got to watch this corner. He's not getting a lot of notoriety, but he's playing really well. He's shutting people down. We would love for you guys to be some of our eyes and ears here on the NFL Stock Exchange Show when it comes to those cornerback prospects just because there's a lot of good ones out there. So let us know what you thought of our rankings, our takes here, and then give us some of your own thoughts as well, your own rankings.

We love when you guys fire those off in the comments. Best way to do that, of course, YouTube comment section, youtube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange. If you are audio only, shout out to you still at tampa bay trey at connor j rogers on x and instagram that's where you can get your thoughts off to us um we are taking a week off next week is my last week of pto that i have before the season begins before the great journey of not seeing my family until next May. Goodbye, family! Just pet your dog and be like, have fun.

We're taking a week off, but we will be back the following week. We'll do off-ball linebackers, and then we will do safeties, and then before the season begins, we'll give you a big board episode. We will give you a way-too-early mock draft headed into the season, so we're still going to get you guys all that,

but wanted to let you know, no episode next week. We will be back with you at the week after that. Connor, you got anything else? Man, we're close dude. Linebacker and safety left.

I know there's a lot of talent in both groups for the big board. We got to do the NFL SC consensus again, right? That was a fun exercise last year. Yes. Where we merged our personal boards into one board under the brand right there's a lot of fun really unique exercise and then then we're rocking and rolling like is you know what's weird though i was thinking about this

the other day i think about like a lot of work things when i'm driving in silence i was like like a real psychopath i was like you know what's kind of as much as we do more shows during the season. This is the hardest work we do until the season ends. Like January, it all starts again. But we've laid the foundation. Right now we do a lot of stock watch reacting to things. Yes. Watching 15 to 20 players a week.

Yeah. Is and we love it. And it's it's one of those things where you're rewarding yourself for later like me being having all these notes for our september through november show right to build off of makes the job so much easier but it's it's like a good feeling in a way that we're so we're so close it's an awesome feeling because i i feel the same way about it and you know over the last two years of the show, we've done like stock watch episodes of like, this guy's rising, this guy's fallen. But this year, I feel we will have a better ability to do that for you guys and truly give you guys like a stock watch feel. We'll have more names in the tank. You guys will have heard these players from

summer scouting. We'll have notes from summer scouting it'll allow us to truly say hey this guy's on the up or this guy's not playing as well as we wanted him to so i just think that the depth of summer scouting hopefully you guys have enjoyed it out there i think it's going to be it's going to make this fall content uh here on this show even better so i agree i agree it'd be great man all right everybody appreciate you guys for watching and listening i'm trevor sycamore that is connor rogers this has been the nfl, everybody. Appreciate you guys for watching and listening. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers. This has been the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. See you guys in a couple weeks. you