NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - Cornerback Rankings for 2025 NFL Draft

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

0:00 - Intro 15:45 - Quincy Riley, Louisville 22:20 - Dorian Strong, Virginia Tech 28:30 - Zy Alexander, LSU 32:00 - Nohl Williams, Cal 35:30 - Jacob Parrish, Kansas State 39:35 - Maxwell Hairston, Kentucky 46:00 - Shavon Revel, East Carolina 54:50 - Darien Porter, Iowa State 1:02:45 - Benjamin Morrison, Notre Dame 1:09:00 - Trey Amos, Ole Miss 1:15:30 - Azareye’h Thomas, Florida State 1:23:20 - Jahdae Barron, Texas 1:31:40 - Will Johnson, Michigan 1:38:40 - Travis Hunter, Colorado

Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. Trevor Sikkim, Connor Rogers here with you. Another position ranking episode here on the channel. Today we're talking cornerbacks. Specifically, outside cornerbacks from me. Connor's going to throw a little bit more in there. Might have some slot guys. But, you know, in continuing the conversation that we've had in previous episodes,

I'm trying to contextualize my rankings a little bit more. We're trying to sort of do that a little bit more here on this channel. So to be fair to you guys, and to be frank, I only had enough time this week to watch 16 outside corners. So I ranked those guys there. Connor said it has mostly outside corners, maybe a couple of slot surprises in there that we'll talk about here on the show, but ultimately we are going to give you our top 12s of the cornerbacks

that we have watched. Connor, we were going back and forth a little bit earlier this week. It is a lengthy process to watch cornerbacks because there's no like cutting corners like sometimes when you're watching you know edge rushers maybe running backs wide receivers you can watch some of their key plays some of the best and worst highlights and low lights for them and you can kind of get a good idea of who they are as a prospect uh for corners you just you have to watch every single snap and you sent me a picture earlier today

getting an oil change somewhere grinding the tape not even letting auto troubles get in the way of making sure that you hit your threshold so the people appreciate it buddy man it's it is a grind corner week it's really the equivalent it's the defensive version of offensive line where you're gonna watch a lot of plays that mean absolutely nothing honestly like you just gotta now we are lucky we've said this before like using ultimate there's certain things you can you can filter down to if you want to see them but you're right like when you're just starting out watching a corner nuts and bolts let's watch a game i like to really pick games specific like especially for this group where i could see matchups or how they put because it's what the nfl is going to be like right there's no hiding from

it um yeah this is definitely i watched 13 for perspective i like i've probably seen 15 or 16 corners in this class, but one of them that I watch to me is more of a safety. We'll get to that show when we get to that show. A couple of guys actually that I'd seen a lot of two went back to school. We had even a couple of guys from summer scouting that were key players in summer scouting for this group go back to school as well so and like you said we'll probably try to do another show on this where we break break our final rankings down to nickels outside corners defensive backs as a whole you can get really really in the weeds of the roles they're going to play and it's just so important when explaining that in scouting yeah i'm focusing on outside corners and i have two separate a lot of mine are yeah i figured what that would be the, and that's often the case.

I do have mine split up into man coverage outside corners and zone coverage outside corners, and there's a little bit of overlap when it comes to the position. Like a lot of corners kind of have to be able to play both, but there are some specializations with some of these guys. So I do have separate rankings

within the full ranking that I have for outside corners that we'll use just to uh to make it easier to follow along so you guys know but that's what I'll be doing throughout the podcast nickel defender I know that there's a handful of corners that I didn't get to who I know are probably just slot guys at the NFL level I think we'll probably have some safeties that we watch that we'll probably think are like slot defenders, nickel defenders as well. So that might be another like bonus ranking episode that we might get to at some point, maybe after we do safeties, because we've got a good feel on this class overall. But we're going to do our top 12s today. Who's the one guy who you did do a full scouting report on that you didn't get to in the top 12 I feel like we might as well just shout him out I'll shout out the three or the four that I had

that aren't in my top 12 who's the one that you had that didn't make your top 12 Denzel Burke which is he was 13 was he close to that for you he's 15 so out of the 16 that I watched he was 15 for me I'm gonna be honest this is tough to say I wouldn't be surprised when I get to 20 or 25 corners by the week of the draft if Burke is not holding down the 13th spot like this was not not the year I had hoped for from him especially when you watch specifically him in man coverage and him in one-on-one situations and um you know I'll keep it brief with him because I want to get into the top 12 but we he was ranked for me over summer i think he was you know seventh or sixth somewhere around there um we had a lot of breakout players obviously this year he was someone that it felt like he

had a pretty good bounce back year in 2023 and then he opted to go back to school which i thought he would have been a day two ish kind of pick if he declared. And I was like, yeah, go back to school. Maybe you can get yourself into round one or the top 40, top 50. And he just didn't have that kind of year, especially on a team that's filled with incredible draft prospects across the board. It's not that Burke's not a draftable player. That's not fair at all. I just thought Trevor, my big takeaway from his film this year was

he didn't look confident in man coverage. He was, he was struggling to mirror. He was kind of guessing when to break on routes a lot. And it just, for as great as a team, they were, you know, in some of the bigger matchups,

I saw some struggles from Burke who's, who's not the naturally the biggest toolsiest corner. And that's the, and that's the thing is that I see him similarly. He's, he came in at 15 for me. I think he's a pretty natural, smooth mover. Four years of starting experience.

He's been starting since he was a true freshman at Ohio State. So you like that about him. He was good for a freshman. I just didn't see a difference-making NFL trade. You talk about him not having as much confidence in man coverage. I think that that's because he knows that if he does not anticipate correctly the movement of the wide receivers especially when it comes to vertical routes that are up the sideline he just doesn't really have that twitchiness or explosiveness to him he's not the longest corner out there so I think he's fine I just didn't see a difference

making trait from him whether it was ball skills whether it was explosiveness whether it was his physicality or something like that so um I felt like he's somebody who's probably a rotational defensive back maybe a spot starter for you but ultimately probably somebody who's just a lower end of the depth chart player the four other guys that i watched so burke was 15 for me i had quincy riley at 16 uh i had tommy hill at 14 who you have talked about we watched him over summer uh you were a little bit higher than i was on him during the summer but it's a tough year for him like he he had a foot injury that was really significant yeah it was uh i think it was plantar fasciitis so it was it was something where every step you take if you have

that injury like that's pain that you're dealing with. And I honestly wonder if he was still dealing with it when he was at the Senior Bowl because there were a couple of reps. The one that was sort of made famous on social media, Jaden Higgins just absolutely blowing by him, making Jaden Higgins look like he was Randy Moss out there. And you go, damn, okay, that was a really tough rep from him. There are other reps from Tommy Hill that I go dude you're you are more athletic than that he's got a track background to him Matt Rule who hasn't always told the truth when it comes to

boasting up some of his players uh he he praises athleticism though he said he's one of the most athletic guys on the team and so I just i wonder if the dude was still playing hurt and i wonder if he's a safety you and i talked about that before the show you said you feel like he might be a safety yeah so he's another guy i watch and didn't count in my 13 corners uh because i'm gonna i'm gonna evaluate him as a safety right now after the combine i'm gonna talk to some people and kind of see where teams are having them i I wouldn't be shocked if teams are like, no, we think he's going to play corner. I love his ability at safety. I think he's big.

I think he's strong. When you brought up the Matt Rule thing, I actually think Hill is explosive enough. I don't think he's fast. You can be explosive in the short area, but not necessarily have long speed. So I think that, you know, that's an issue. He's got some ball skills. he loves to come downhill and tackle so i i looked at a guy that i thought could transition to be a safe safety but i i won't have him on today's rankings um because of that and he's a big dude 67th percentile in height 97th in weight would you say i think he's 200

let me see what the senior bowl is yeah right. Yeah, right? He's 210. Yeah. So that's 97th percentile for a corner. So if you wanted to move him to safety, I mean, the weight profile is there. He's got big hands. He's got long arms, 33 and 5 eighth inch arms. That's 95th percentile for the position. So you kind of say to yourself, like, yeah, if you can play corner, you're a pretty rare build for a cornerback. I just don't know if he can play corner, you're a pretty rare build for a cornerback. I just don't know if he can play corner.

So I had him just outside of the rankings there. And then the last guy right before my top 12, O'Donnell Fortune, the cornerback from South Carolina, who I think is a really nice cover three type of an off-coverage corner. He's got some good length to him, got some good fluidity. Skinny build. Sometimes I trust how sticky, I doubt how sticky he can be in coverage. corner he's got some good length to him got some good fluidity um skinny build uh sometimes i i trust how sticky air i i doubt how sticky he could be in coverage but um him being at 13 honestly like i i still like him as a player so that sort of goes to after doing this exercise even just

looking at 16 outside corners this is a pretty solid group i thought so too i was like oh did we kind of just overlook this group because it doesn't have all the flash throughout this cornerback group is deeper than i thought it was going to be and look did you watch either of the kansas guys uh i have seen kobe okay but i didn't rank him today i still need to finish the evi i know he was at shrine he was pretty loud at shrine it was awesome at shrine yeah and i i just wanted to say as the show begins i didn't get to watch kobe or mellow dodson before we recorded i haven't seen dodson i just ran out of time doing it so i know you guys are going to yell at me because kobe's going to be an absolute fan favorite because of how he played when he was at the shrine bowl and how he's just got absolute Kobe Bryant,

full pun and name intended, Mamba mentality every time that he walks onto the field. I mean, he is such a fun football player, but I just didn't quite have time to get to his final. So what? Didn't he weigh 170? He's about 70. Yeah, he's about 70. The mean, the average weight for corner is 193.

Just for context. He is first percentile in weight. Yes. So, yeah. Like, if you like him a lot, which is fine. I'm not saying you do. I'm saying population. Like, that's an outlier bet.

Which is fine. But just no, like, massive outlier bet. And you know what's also funny? So, he's got long arms. He's actually got above 50th percentile arm length. Just hates food. Couldn't be me, brother. Couldn't be me. Man.

It does show discipline, which is a plus. Come on over to my house, brother. We'll get you up to 185, 190 in no time. But, you know, with Kobe, he's somebody who, this is another recent example. He's got long arms, Kansas lists him at six foot one. So you could tell yourself like, oh, all right. Yeah. He's lean, but he's got length to him too.

Brother. He's, he's five 10. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's going up at'10 at the shrine bowl yeah 6'1 my ass yeah it's tough that's a big difference like and you know it is funny that we still are doing this because these guys are going to go to the combine and measure i just

now he has the again like he has the length like the length is there. It's like 66th percentile arm length, so he still has the length. It's just funny to me. He's listed 6'20". He shows up 5'10". Yeah. Yeah. That's a Tinder profile. I was just going to say, and is that a dating profile?

Yeah. I guess I can't say. Is Tinder a thing anymore? I don't even know. I've been out of the game too long. Dude, come on. Me and you are so past our... I'm sure our audience has plenty of thoughts on the dating app game.

Yeah. What apps are we using now? What apps are we using now, I'm sure our audience has plenty of thoughts on the dating app game. Yeah. Yeah. What apps are we using now? What apps are we using now, people? Comment below. Actually, don't. Our fiances might hate that we actually asked that to even pull the group. All right.

Let's just do the first two. Let's do 12 and 11 because I'm OCD and then we can do, you know, the increments of five. No, that's a good, I'm the same way. It would really bother me if we did like 12 to nine yeah let's do 12 through 7 and i'm in here screaming internally are you a guy that has to have the tv volume on an even number yes me too drives me insane okay here's the thing though it's an even number or 21 15 oh i'm okay with 15 and 15 15 i could also see like doing 15 but honestly like normally it's even numbers or 21 i don't know why 21 is one of my favorite numbers so everybody has that number that they're like their brain is comfortable with yeah i'm an even

number on the on the tv volume or in the car. It drives me completely insane. I'm trying to think what else. I have some really weird... I feel like a lot of people are like this. But when you're OCD, it's, yeah. I guess it's, now that I'm thinking of it, it's even numbers basically until 20.

And then I go increments of five if I can. Then I go 25 i'm the same way 30 or 35 i'm the same way i don't leave the volume on like 24 or like 20 if you've ever left the volume on 37 you are like you you don't think about anything in life seek help i'm envious of you that you just walk through and don't second guess anything completely insane those people need to be studied yeah they do if you've ever left the tv on 37 on 43 on 40 i shoot i'll even say 46 i'll call it an even number here you're sick you're sick yeah you need you need to talk to somebody. And comment below because we'd love to hear from you and start a war

on where you leave the dial. Some people are odd-numbered people, too. That's fine, though, as long as you have a process and you stick to it. But don't be on here like, oh, the TV volume today is 11, but yesterday it was 4.

That's just... We can't have that in a household. It's complete anarchy, and if it continues to spread, society will cease to exist as we know it. Okay, so 12 and 11, who do you got here? So you already brought this player up. 12 for me was Quincy Riley. God, I want to like him, dude. So he is very polarizing because the 2023 film is nothing like the 2024 film.

He had an ankle injury this year and he just wasn't as good. He wasn't. And I thought, especially in man coverage in 2023, he was near phenomenal. I mean, phenomenal lockdown didn't really allow much of anything. So I kind of met and landed in the middle because he's another guy he's got track background really good speed yeah but he's not physically imposing no you know he's under six feet tall he's 190 pounds so i kind of landed in the middle where i'm like man that 2023 season was really good i think he's a 24 year old

or he'll be yeah i think he'll be 24 during training camp whatever he's i landed right in the middle he's a six-year dude yeah yeah because he played three years right at middle tennessee am i thinking yeah make sure the background right tennessee and he didn't start until the third year he had five interceptions then he transferred up to louisville played all three years at louisville uh three interceptions two interceptions two interceptions over the last three years so he always found the ball but yeah the ankle injury this year he just wasn't the same guy as 2023 but he's somebody to me that like he's a I'm curious I think he has the athleticism to play the slot but even though he's been largely an outside corner um And he's got good speed. I believe in the player that I saw in 2023

to maybe be like a third corner on a team. So I liked him, but it definitely takes some seasoning. Where like if you just turn on this year, you're like, ah, you know, and not the biggest guy. But yeah, I thought the whole package put together solid. And then 11 for me was somebody we talked a lot about over the summer. The one Virginia Tech corner that did declare Dorian strong. Yeah, so I'll get to Dorian in a second.

You know, Riley is interesting because he's a twitched up dude. You know, he's there's there's actually not a ton of corners in this class that i would say like have twitch that have these twitched up movements and riley is absolutely one of them now he comes in a smaller package he's just over 5 foot 10 192 pounds so he's 29th percentile in height 47th percentile in weight and then when you get to the arm length about 50th percentile hand size smaller hands fifth percentile there but he's got the ball skills in brawl production so that's not that big of a deal you mentioned the track background yeah it's extensive so he's from Columbia South Carolina and in South Carolina uh he won the 4a 100 meter and 200 meter dashes and was an all-state player he was also the South Carolina

track player of the year as a senior in 2019 so this dude knows how to move and connor that's what's so frustrating to me is that i know he's got the movement background last year was better than this year there's no doubt about it but like it didn't translate to stickiness yeah certainly this year it didn't like it just even in man coverage it just didn't translate to that stickiness in coverage he wasn't able to stick with guys the out muscled huh he gets out muscled a lot like off the line so getting to your point about him being a slot i think he moves great for a slot player because having that twitched up muscle to be able to defend against any sort of two-way go, left or right, whatever it is, that's what you want from the slot. Without a doubt. But the problem is, he can't defend the run.

No. He's too small. No, you're right. He doesn't have the strength. And I remember talking about, this was Brett Coleman a while ago, and we were talking about slot defenders. I think it was maybe me, you, EJ, and Brett, we were all talking about this at one point. Shout out to Bootleg Football Channel, by the way,

if you guys don't follow those guys. We have a crossover group DM. We do, yes. That's pretty good. And I think I set that up because I was like, hey, do you guys want to come on the channel and do a mock draft? And they're like, yeah, sure. And now we just talk about prospects all the time.

So I think we were talking about Cooper Dijon specifically. And it was this thought process of you don't mind Cooper Dijon as a slot player. Because when you are in the slot, not only do you have to cover left and right two ways, you are closer to the ball. You are closer to where the ball. You have to cover left and right two ways. You are closer to the ball. Right. You are closer to where the ball, you have to fit the run. You are closer to where the run fit is.

And I don't think Quincy can fit the run. There are a couple of reps. God bless him. I'm not trying to go after him. I'm really not. Where he will give it his all as a tackle and he will get obliterated by the ball. It's not, it's not a big guy.

And, and that worries me because that, that makes me go, okay, well now you have to be just an outside corner type of a player. And I want him to be a man coverage type of corner, but he lacks those instincts to be sticky. I don't want him as his own coverage corner because there were way too many

times that wide receivers were able to attack his blind spots or beat out his leverage, whether it was inside or out or whatever it was. And I go, okay, you don't have the feel that you need to when you're in off coverage. So I think he is just a smaller press man coverage type of a corner, but he's got to get stronger and he just, he's got to stick in the hip pocket of receivers better than he does right now. So he's a player that I really wanted to like like but i just had too many things that gave me the but but but but with quincy riley i'm totally with you i mean i think his spring weight was also in the 180s so he's just

he's a smaller player that you love the athlete and going back to it like everything you're saying i agree with the athletically you think the transition to the slot makes sense. But just for context for everyone, this is somebody that played almost 2,500 snaps at outside corner. He played 127 in the slot. Like he's been an outside corner for six years primarily. So that is still a transition for him as well. Even if athletically

you think he could do it the run game adjustment is massive as you highlighted so i like them for what he is um you know hopefully a depth corner that you can develop and get a little bit of play strength you know a higher caliber than what it is now but i ended up having him at at a 12 out of the 13 corners I had really watched and ranked okay so we talked about him uh you got Dorian Strong at 11 correct you said yes I have Dorian Strong at 10 so we're basically right there in the same category but even with him being CB10 as an outside corner I still gave him a third round great like I I still think that Dorian Strong can play I think there is

potential for him to be a CB2 at the NFL level or if not a really good CB3 that you feel good about if one of your corners ends up going down he is somebody who he was just over six feet tall when he showed up at the at the senior bowl he is light as well man he is skinny 70 179 pounds that's just seventh percentile i thought his arms would be a little bit longer but they're not they're just 31 and an eighth that's 38th percentile i think when you watch him you think the arms are going to be a little bit longer but he also has a track background 100 meter dash to 400 meter dash also played wide receiver in high school. A fun fact, his father, Donovan, a retired IFBB bodybuilder,

now a pro bodybuilding coach. So, uh, Dorian, why are you 180 pounds? Talk about when you really don't want to listen to your parents. Calories in calories out. It's a simple formula.

Talking about an IFBB pro. Like we're not talking about somebody that just lifts weights for fun crazy so um he's been a starter for a long time at virginia tech really since he was a a true freshman but uh what'd you think about dorian strong i had him at number 10 you had him at 11 what'd you think yeah you like the height a lot of experience outside i thought he has good recovery speed. Like when somebody, yeah, that's what really stood out to me is when he does get beat, he has the makeup speed to play, you know, to get back to the hip pocket.

Love his competitive nature, disciplined eyes, very aware. You know, we talked about this over summer. 2023 just didn't really see a lot of action. Teams didn't go after him. I mean, he was targeted 33 times. He he allowed nine catches so I think even the 2023 we use another guy was better than this year I don't think the difference was on the caliber of Quincy Riley's where it's like one year he looked like a top 75 pick and the next year it's it was not a great year um I think

Dorian was completely fine this year I thought he had a chance i think i had written this down too i want to save my summer rankings yeah over summer i had him seventh so i mean he had a really big 2023 season a lot of experience playing press looks good doing it in single coverage he's just he's he's got speed like you said the arms aren't long but i think he understands technique and timing it's a lot of that is just all the play experience he mentioned he's been starting since 2021 i know he missed about half the season in 2022 due to injury but like he's played a lot of football um he's just he's more of a slender guy and i brought up that recovery speed you love that it stands out but there are a lot of instances where you see it

and it's like oh like he got beat initially and some of that can be the play strength right that can yeah that can be and i don't think he's somebody personally that is ever gonna be 195 pounds if i can like he's he's just realistically a slender kind of guy but yeah strong I agree with you the ceiling for him like if he was your number two corner starting on the outside by year three of his NFL career I wouldn't be shocked at all because he's put out that kind of tape at the college level for multiple seasons now yeah I think that we could get to that point this is a player that I did like a lot I think there's some strength concerns just from his more slender build that uh you know I think that he can I think he's got I agree with you I think he's got the technique to play press man coverage

I like him more when he is in that off coverage cover three type of deployment his eyes he's really smart man yeah he's used that experience very well. And that recovery speed also turns into speed to trigger downhill. His foot quickness was some of my favorite of any of the guys that I watched. And so really to me, if you are a primarily zone heavy coverage team, like this is absolutely a guy who could become a CB2 for you. He's got good ball production. He's got seven interceptions throughout his career. He's got a forced production. He's got seven interceptions throughout his career. He's got a forced incompletion percentage above 13% in all five years that he has played college ball. And it was above 20% in 2022 and 2023. He's a good football player, man. I just think that he's got some strength limitations that make you hesitate about putting him in press man coverage

too often. And even though I think that he's got good recovery speed and good foot quickness, the total like, okay, this wide receiver's running a nine route. If he can get off the line of scrimmage pretty quickly, there's a little bit of just top speed concern. Again, when you put him in those man coverage situations, but not nearly, you don't see that really at all when you give him that cover three freedom

to be able to keep his eyes on the quarterback and the ball and sort of play the wide receiver with more of a spacing and technique type of approach. So this is somebody who I was not sure how I was going to feel about Dorian Strong. There's not a lot of love for him, I feel like, out there. I wondered if I would just be much lower on him. But this is a dude who could legitimately play at the NFL level. It's he plays a pretty boring brand of cornerback.

And I think that's the best kind. I agree. It's he's gotten really no love and we liked him over the summer. And then nobody talked about him this year. And nobody's really talking about him now. And it's because he's boring. But that's like you said, Trevor, that's fine, especially in a zone scheme. Like, I don't really need you to be dripping with traits and ball skills all the time

if you're fast enough and a reliable cover player with your eye discipline and awareness and instincts. And that's what he has. Did you watch? So I guess I'll say my 12 and 11. Do not go one further. Just 12 to 11. I swear I'll walk off the set. Because we we did dorian strong and he's a 10 oh the week's ruined it's off the rails i'm turning the

volume of this podcast at 33 uh so i have zy alexander from lsu at number 12 would you have him no i didn't get to watch him in this cycle. Okay, all right. I am a fan. Well, I'll break him down in a second. And then I got Noel Williams from Cal at 11. I've seen a little bit of him. I didn't finish. But when you have that kind of ball production in a season, like I had to kind of dive in and see what kind of player you are.

Yeah, he's strong as hell too. I'll get to him in a second. Since you didn't watch those two guys, I'll be decently quick with sort of my synopsis here. Zy Alexander is a player who I didn't really know a lot about when I was coming into the season I had seen his name on on LSU's depth chart but really did not know a ton about him um the more that I looked into him he was a player who we talked up talked about as a stock up type I was just gonna say he was on a stock up

show I remember right we shouted him out I can't remember which category I had him in but I might have even had him in the category of like hey this guy could be a potential top 50 pick when it's all said and done because the way he plays corner is is very easy to watch now he was at the shrine bowl measuring his six foot one 79th percentile he's got 31 and a third third and three eighths in his arms it's 48th percentile pretty big hands above nine inch hands nine and a fourth inch hands the 60th percentile for the position and 192 pounds that's 47th percentile so he checks a lot of the boxes there he's a red shirt senior coming from lsu he's got a very interesting background to him zero star player in his recruiting class in 2022 played quarterback wide receiver and safety when he was in high

school he was an all-around athlete from Laurelville, Louisiana. He also played baseball where he was the leadoff hitter and outfielder for a state title team as a sophomore. So he was a true all-around athlete. The problem is that he broke his collarbone his senior year of high school and Southeastern Louisiana was the only school to stick with him and give him a scholarship offer to play football so he went to SEL played six games started four as a true freshman in 2020 for that adjusted COVID-19 season and then he was an FCS All-American the next year he was an all-conference player for two straight years for him transfers over to LSU he starts eight games at LSU in 2023 then tears his ACL that 2023 season.

So he was able to work back to form, start again this past season. And I think there's a lot of things that he brings to the table that you like. I watched him and I initially thought, man, this is a guy who's a press man corner because he's very comfortable. He's very confident when he's asked to play press man coverage. The issue is, is that amongst a lot of the things he does well very high ball production good interceptions good forcing completion percentage throughout his career he is kind of limited athletically the feet are a little bit slow the top speed is sort of an issue for you so

I like him better when you can play him in those off coverage assignments it allows him to use his savviness a little bit more use that bump and run coverage sort of technique to him where he's waiting for the receivers to get into their route a little bit before really getting up into their hip pockets and sticking with them so the overall athleticism and top speed is is an issue for me I think the footwork can be even cleaned up a little bit more despite that being a little bit slower but he's got so much experience 14 career interceptions um loves hand fight. He's just one of those guys that's never really panicking in any situation, which I always gravitate towards. He anticipates movements really well. Just a smart, smart cornerback that I've got a little bit of worry with how fast he is. And so I'm excited to see him at the combine. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised because if I

do, there's so much that this guy brings to the table. And then Noel Williams, just to keep it rolling and I can continue with his. Press man coverage type of a corner in my opinion because at 6'1", 195 pounds, I mean he is built like that and his strength is his biggest calling card. His negatives are sort of the same thing as Zy Alexander's. I don't think he's the fastest dude in the world, despite having a little bit of a track background to him. If he's in those press man coverage alignments and those wide receivers get off the line of scrimmage clean,

or if he missed times or misplaces his punches, he just doesn't anticipate it super well, and they get even with him, they're normally taken off. And Noel has a tough time recovering and really getting up to speed with those receivers. he just doesn't anticipate it super well and they get even with him, they're normally taken off. And Noel has a tough time recovering and really getting up to speed with those receivers. And it only gets more difficult at the NFL level. But he has been a consistent starter for five straight seasons.

It was first at UNLV for three years and then it was at Cal. But the thing that I love about him, dude wants to be physical. The dude's got really high run defense grades great tackler he'll be physical with you from the moment the ball is snapped the first punt he is always looking to dictate contact so if you are a physical press man coverage type of a team you might worry a little bit about the athleticism but you are going to love how this dude plays at the line of scrimmage and throughout the route just being a bully out there. So there's a lot that he brings to the table in terms of strength

for a position that does not always have a lot of players who boast that about them. So very comfortable through contact, very comfortable in those press man single coverage situations. So that's why I like Noel Williams here. Somebody I'm looking forward to watching for sure, where you're talking about speed with those guys. That's why I like Noel Williams here. Somebody I'm looking forward to watching for sure. You're talking about speed with those guys. We are absolutely insane for doing this show the week before the combine. It's true.

It's true. That's bad on us. That's bad on us. And hopefully we're not off on a lot of these guys' athleticism. That is part of the job. But man, can you filter a lot with combine testing for corner like specifically edge pass rusher corner and there's different drills for each that matter the most we've gone through them a lot on this show but yeah right you you gotta be like it's really simple but you

gotta be able to run to play corner at the nfl level and there's just not a lot of exceptions man when you look at the the guys that that are not typically fast it's just no matter how good they were in college it's really really vital all right should i get to 10 through 6 10 through 6 yeah let's do it all right uh number 10 for me is maxwell hairston from kentucky okay who i know i feel like people really like him and you know this just kind of shows the depth of the corner class number nine and we've we've hinted at this a lot is Benjamin Morrison from Notre Dame okay that one is going to be massive medically for him with the season ending

hip injury uh number eight for me is Darian Porter from Iowa State. We're going to have a pretty long convo about him. He might be like the mystery of this draft, if I'm being honest with you. He really might be. And then number seven, Trey Amos from Ole Miss. Another guy that has played a lot of college football, has had a pretty good start to his process as well. So he was seven.

Number six for me, I think is my favorite player in this entire group, and it's very Jamari Caldwell-ish, where it doesn't mean I think he's the best. I just love watching him. Can I guess? Yeah. Is it Azaria? No, I have him higher.

Oh, okay. I think Azaria is phenomenal. Okay, okay. All right, who is it azaria no i have him higher oh okay all right i think azaria is phenomenal okay okay all right who is it six for me is jacob parish from kansas state oh dude i like jacob parish so i don't have him in this show because i think he's a slot but this was the one guy okay when you said you were doing outside corners that i was like maybe one other but this was the one guy where i was like ah trevor's not gonna have him today and I agree with you he's small I think he's five nine he's small yeah but man you want to talk about I'll start with him and then you could read your 10 to 6 and we'll get back to them because you're not gonna have him in your 10 to 6 right right like he is a gnat

in every single way I think he's the stickiest player in this entire group. It's just that when you're that size, there are going to be limitations, of course. Can he tackle? I think good enough, yes. Okay, okay, all right. Yes, I mean, I'll tell you right now, in this class, there are a lot of bad tacklers at corner.

Yeah. Like guys that I don't know if they can, it's, you know, especially in this group I just read, I saw tackling problems with both Hairston and Morrison consistently. Yeah. And they're guys that, you know, could be top 60 picks when it's all said and done. Yeah.

But honestly, even Amos and Porter have their own problems. It's the whole group. Yeah. So Parrish, considering he's about 5. Now, he's pretty dense, though. He's 5'9", but he looks like he's a hair under 200. A rocked up. I think he's like a real 195.

Yeah, he has good pound-for pound for pound strength but this is 2023 grabbed four interceptions uh this year he only grabbed one but he is quick agile when he opens up his hips to run down the field like there's no delay there's no transition it's all natural and the acceleration as soon as he opens up his hips or flips his hips is it's phenomenal he's so sticking in coverage he finds the football in both man and zone and you know what he's

while he's played a lot of outside corner because when you're the you know typically the one of the best players like hey you're going to be outside a lot he has played 150 snaps in the slot over the last two seasons so you get to watch him in the slot enough to know, well, I think he's going to be an awesome slot corner. I just like my synopsis for him is he's a short, feisty cover corner

that should make a successful full-time transition to playing the slot at the NFL level. I love the player. I think he's really, really good. I love the athleticism, highly competitive. 21 years old on draft night. So many of these corners are 24, 23. He's a young player. 21 on draft night.

And just, you need somebody to match up with, you know, the Ladd-McConkeys of the world. These really quick twitch kind of guys that run crossers over the middle of the field or try to beat you with a slant or try to get you with a slot fade. Parrish was the guy for me that really stood out in in that way I was pleasantly surprised with the tape dude he I mean he's fun from what I've watched he's fun I know Dane loves him too I know he's one of Dane's guys as well so it makes sense that you were able to get eyes on him and you really loved him but uh he's somebody that I'm sure i already have on the list of guys that i'm watching for the nickel defender um portion of the draft guide so i will get to him i will get to him very soon because i've only heard good things even from

what i've watched i really liked all right so 10 for me before i'll just go 10 to 6 and then we could have some conversations 10 historians strong we already talked about it we already went over him nine i have max have Maxwell Harrison as well. So we're right along the same lines of Maxwell Harrison. I think we can have the conversation about him first. I've got Savon Ravel at number eight. I have Benjamin Morrison at seven. And then I have Azaria Thomas at number six.

Okay. So let's talk about Harrison first. Harrison is somebody who i am seeing a lot of people love you brought up dane a second ago like i think dane has maxwell harrison in his top 50 at least 75 but at least top 60 whatever i think he's been consistently pretty high on him and i he's pretty high on dj is i don't remember dj also has him in his top 50 so right these guys like maxwell harrison a lot the nfl probably likes him too right that's yeah that's that's very true not saying they go by the nfl rankings but that you know what i mean it's there's

some alignment typically no they're very plugged they're very plugged in dudes right sense right uh if the if everybody that they talked to in the nfl was like yo this guy can't't play. Not that, again, not that they're not doing their own evaluation, but it would kind of go into like, all right, maybe I'm a little too high on this player. Yeah, it happens. I think he's good. I'm not at the point where I think everybody else is at with him. No.

I just wasn't super blown away when i watched him i get like it feels weird like starting it off like that i think he's an nfl corner but he reminds me like my comp that i had for him is cam smiths from south carolina and like cam still went in the second round you know like the miami dolphin still drafted him in the second round but um a little bit background for him three-star cornerback um west bloomfield michigan played defensive back played wide receiver won state championship in 2020 also ran track also played basketball so he's got that diverse background to him nickname is mad max which you absolutely love to see also learned that he was on the high school choir when he was in high school so a little bit of a hidden talent there you know

when we get to the hard knocks episode and the rookie's got to sing you know maxwell harrison might have some pipes you know he might be uh it might might be somebody who uh puts on a show there um 52nd percentile in height just over 5 foot 11 180 pounds that's just eighth percentile that's just kind of like what we have listed there for him. I think he's a pretty decent wrap-up tackler for his size. Although I think that there are some strength concerns that comes with it. Yeah. I think he's a consistent pre- and post-snap communicator.

Something that I love from the cornerback position. I think he understands run-fit duties. I think that he's got pretty good first step quickness and acceleration but i think that the build is light i think he can get pretty grabby when he gets in trouble i don't think he has the best long speed for the position and so i think that his play style and sort of like who he is as a corner maybe mentality wise you would want him as like this press man corner i have him listed as his own corner actually i was gonna say yeah zone for me all the way because i got

strength concerns with him and i got some long speed concerns if guys are able to get even with him right so i don't think he's gonna play a lot of man um the high interception total for him throughout his college career not that he doesn't have some good plays on the ball. A lot of those were opportunistic. A lot of those were overthrows and terrible throws that he was just sort of there for. So you got to be a little bit contextual with a lot of the interceptions that he has there. I just think he was more limited than I thought he was going to be and I think that he is a nice potential CB2 if not nice CB3 for you as a zone heavy scheme but he's not really somebody that I want to play a lot in press man coverage situations because I think he lacks a little bit of strength

and overall top speed so that was that was my thoughts on Hairston yeah it's it's i don't have pushback i thought you would like him more than me and it just sounds like you don't um no i i'll give you the synopsis because i think you broke down the details and they're pretty similar although i will add i'm glad you brought up the note about interceptions i was like oh sick two pick sixes against uh two pick sixes in 2023. And then you watch the Vanderbilt game in 2023 and you're like, oh. Wait, wait, wait. One of them's good, isn't it? One of them was cool. One of them was cool.

One of them he cuts off a curl. He made a great read and undercut it. The other one is hilarious. But I mean, hey, I agree that he has ball skills. It's not just the interceptions. It's the passes broken up. He's got ball skills. But's not just the interceptions. It's the passes broken up. He's got ball skills. But my synopsis with him was,

Harrison is a slender, playmaking outside corner that thrives in zone coverage. He'll get outmuscled by ball carriers and needs to ramp up the physicality to NFL standards in coverage. But his ball hawking skills can flip the field at any moment. I saw some bigger wide receivers climb the ladder on him when he was in single coverage.

He doesn't play the slot. He only has 10 slot snaps over the last two years. And I don't really think that'd be a great spot for him anyway. Like outside zone corner was what I looked at that can find the football. I think he reads movements really well. And he has a good idea when the quarterback wants to load up and throw, and he can kind of close on that. But I'm with you. He's really slender and i don't think he's an elite athlete and that's a scary scary combo to be a cornerback in the nfl unless teams hide you a little bit and that

means you're a depth corner so i i was just lower on him uh you know i really i i ended up once again i ended up having him as cornerback 10. And kind of after talking through that, it's like, man, do I like Dorian Strong better than him? Why? Weird, weird way for me. They're close. They're really close. And it's, I'll be leaning on the,

I'll be leaning on the combine a lot, honestly, weights and testing. Yep. 100%. I think those dudes are, were neck and neck to, to just to be transparent with everybody. They were, there was only a half a point difference between Dorian Strong and Maxwell Harrison. So I almost had him right there.

But, man, I do. It seems like we're really going after Harrison here. I love his feistiness. I love his competitiveness. And I think that's probably a big reason why people are willing to bet on him and for him to still be a good pro, even with some limitations there.

But I agree with you. You look at single look at single coverage, single coverage assignments over the last two years for Maxwell Harrison, just a 52.4 coverage grade. It's just not really his bread and butter. You want him to be an off zone type of a corner where he can keep the eyes on the quarterback and ball hunt a little bit there. So that's how I see him at number nine um who do i have after that oh i have uh i have ravel i have savon ravel at eight where do you have him i had him a little higher i had ravel at six okay so you had him at six uh i had him at six now you know obviously we're waiting on medicals with him i'll wait i thought you said you had jacob parish at six i had parish at seven did i say it wrong oh no i can't count i've reveled five okay yeah it's like i was like i'm about to show you're right you're right

you're right i had parish at six i've reveled five i was about to break out my dog, Marvel, and be like, Watson! And he just looks over at me, and we're about to get to the bottom of this. Okay, so you have Revell at five. I have him at eight. You know, I think that this is cornerback from ECU,

coming off of an ACL tear, very physically gifted player. Oh, my goodness. We don't have the official measurements for him yet because he didn't measure in at the Shrine Bowl, correct? He was at Shrine? Well, he had accepted an invite to Shrine, but he didn't participate.

No, he didn't participate in anything. I think he just did interviews, but I don't think he measured in. But ECU's got him listed at six foot three 185 pounds i believe both of those numbers sometimes again like you know like shout out kansas like yeah they're not kansas jay hawk in us right now with the uh with the height so i think that he's legit 6'3 185 i think so too so he played so background for him three-star cornerback played both corner and wide receiver in high school he had some from the story that i read he had some academic issues that held him from being a legit recruit so this guy had a lot of times when you see prospects who have academic issues they're like a zero- star recruit like if if these programs and these recruiting outlets know that you have academic

issues they're not really going to give you these high star ratings because you're probably not going to qualify for a scholarship so they're not going to put you in high they still made this due to three star prospect even with those academic issues which held him from getting to the college that he wanted right at a school he had to go to the juco level lewisburg college he played there for two seasons technically only one because one of them was canceled due to the covet 19 pandemic transfers over to ecu played nine games the first season there started 12 games of 2023 was a standout stud because of his elite athleticism and then this year after two and a half games uh he tore his acl which sucks obviously um yep there are reported like sub 4 4 40 yard dash 11 foot broad jump from this past summer before he got hurt just a total freak show athlete extremely explosive top speed is

going to be in the top percentile for the position even for a position that flies he has beyond that though sometimes you get these corners and we'll talk about one in a little bit sometimes you get these corners that are just like athletic crazy explosive great top speed great quickness but they're skinny right that's why they can fly they don't have a lot of strength savon revel has got strength man he is like the total package type of an athlete where he could defend the run for you he will bowl you at the line of scrimmage out of press coverage his his recovery speed is so good that it's hilarious sometimes it looks like a cartoon because there are times the issue with him and the reason why i'm a little bit lower on him despite singing and praises his praise as an alien athlete is because he does lack a lot of that technique. There's not much. He lacks a lot of nuance for the position

and that's why the Tyreek Woolen comp fits for me because Woolen has had one year with the Seattle Seahawks where he has been elite. it all came together for him he was anticipating things very well he's playing very confidently but the rest of his time when he's been in Seattle it's very hot and cold because he just doesn't have that nuance to him so with Ravel there are plays where the ball will be snapped the wide receiver like he will go to punch sometimes even like with the wrong hand and the wide receiver will knock it away very quickly will stack him and will get beyond will start running up the sideline and revels like oh no so he turns around and immediately throws on this rare level of jets to where he catches up with the wide receiver again like a cartoon like faster than he thinks

that he's supposed to so he'll like outrun like he outruns the wide receiver and then he has to like slow down a couple of steps like oh wait no no this is too easy for me i gotta back it down a little bit and then stay even with you as you're running the nine route so um his tape is a lot of hilarious stuff but extremely gifted player i think he's got good ball skills as well he showcased that this past year there's everything that you would want in this player i'm just a little bit worried about how raw he is from a technical standpoint so that's why i have him at number where did i have him uh What was he, eight for me? Eight, yes.

I have him in my mind. Even with the torn ACL in September and that he's a little bit of an older prospect and that his technique has a long ways to go, I think so highly of his physical gifts and demeanor on the field that I have him at five. And honestly, I didn't want to have him at five. I really wanted to have him at four. It's just that I'm, you know,

you're always waiting a little bit on medical. The vibes I got, maybe not comp, but the vibes I got was Antonio Cromartie. It's just, there's not a lot of humans. Ironically, I had to look back at this. Cromartie also tore his ACL the year of his draft year. I didn't remember that. I mean, it was back in 2006.

So I was like, that's really weird. But there's just not a lot of humans that are almost six foot three that are this big, explosive, fast, have ball skills, and are tough as hell in every aspect of the game. Right, like are just strong in coverage against the run. You're right.

One of the interceptions this year, he recovered and the ball basically hits him in the chest. Like he didn't even realize it at first because he got the positioning, like incredible makeup positioning. He's still learning routes, route concepts, spacing. Like you said, punch timing. Like, all of these things.

And I really thought if he was healthy this year and got to develop, I thought he was going to be a top 15 pick. That's how highly I thought of his physical ability. And the ACL hurt him. But, man, this dude like there's just not a lot of guys that can do this and you take the gamble because if you hit on them then you have one of a handful of humans that can play man coverage against anyone in the NFL anyone DK Metcalf like all these physical freaks you You can't send, unless it's Darrell Revis, the greatest cover man of all time.

You can't send a sub six foot guy out of the Buccaneer. Great. You can't send a sub six foot corner out there. And Revis ran a four three. So that helps. And he was strong. But like, this is it. This is your shot at that.

Right. So there's risk with Revell. I this is it. This is your shot at that, right? So there's risk with Revelle. I totally get it. But man, there's also greatness if it works out. And like you said, Trevor, the film is just out of this world when there are things like there are corner film could be boring. Like Dorian Strong we brought up. This is not boring because there are really low moments. And then there are high moments that no one else can do those things no yeah so yeah you get your you get your popcorn out when you're watching this dude yeah i uh i regret to inform us that

after doing the whole segment here on um on uh on this dude we are pronouncing his name slightly incorrectly because i just listened to a voice clip while you were talking there. From he himself. Okay, good. Savone. Savone. Savone Revell. We're forgetting the E. We weren't saying like Chavon, which is how it looks like it's spelled at least.

Savone Revell. Savone. I'm going to update the sheet right now. Revell. Yes, I have pronunciations in my sheets as well. So, okay, I have him at... Look, I absolutely hear what you're saying, and there's a player who I'll name in a second,

who's actually... Should we just have the Darian Porter conversation now? I think it's probably correct. Yeah, it's time to have the Darian Porter conversation. Because where did you have Darian Porter? Do you have him at eight? I just just read him i had porter at eight so and man i feel like i'm sitting at the roulette table why what do you mean because he i mean let's get into it why why is this guy that has blazing speed is massive Can make plays on the ball.

Blocked. Used to play wide receiver. Blocked four punts and a field goal. Why is this guy. Barely finally a starter. His sixth year of college. What's going on? I need to get Matt Campbell on the phone.

And just say. What's going on? I just want to talk to him. I just want to talk to him. I need to know. I need to get Matt Campbell on the phone and just say, what's going on? I just want to talk to him. I just want to talk to him. I need to know. I need to know. And it's not like they don't like him. He was their fourth team captain

for I think half the games this year. I was going to say, the thing about Porter is it like he gives a shit at all times. Yes, he played his ass off on special teams before he ever got on the field to play defense so there's a little bit of a reason why so okay we might be getting ahead of ourselves here so it's funny because i have revel at eight you have him at five i have darian porter at five you have revel at eight so or you have so we are literally just flipping the players that we are gambling on who are sort of, I mean, brother, Darian Porter is an alien.

I mean, the plays that this dude has are unbelievable. Go turn on, I ask anybody, go turn on the Iowa game. There is a play that he makes in the third quarter where Iowa has the ball, I think, right around their own 20-yard line. And they give it to Caleb Johnson, their star running back, who, by the way, not slow. He gets to the outside on the left side of the line of scrimmage. Darian Porter is playing left cornerback,

so he is on the opposite side of the field. He engages with one of the wide receivers or tight ends, and as Caleb Johnson, on the other side of the field, finds the running lane and starts to streak up the sideline, Darian Porter gets off the block, flips his hips, and turns it on so fast that not only does he catch Caleb Johnson with like 20 to 25 yards to spare, he cuts him off. He doesn't just like, oh, let me shoestring tackle him.

I'm going to barely get him. He cuts Caleb Johnson off. string tackle him i'm gonna barely get him he cuts caleb johnson off it's i mean yeah this i mean you want to talk about a guy who is about to just blow up the combine in a week darian porter is one of those players so a little bit of a background to him now that we sort of set up that he is sort of at a similar level of uh savone Revel when it comes to that explosiveness. You said it like sarcastically. Like you put air quotes around his name. Yeah, Savone Revel.

If that is your real name. Nice try, Savone. Not fooling me. Savone with an S-H to start the name. Oh, that's the good stuff. Oh, man. At least you agree. You really did say those quotes.

No, you're totally right. If that is your real name incredible okay so darian porter so uh one iowa state listed him at six foot four he's not six foot four he's not even six foot three so a little bit of a kansas jayhawk there but he is but he is over six foot two he's six foot two three and three eighth. Because he was at the Senior Bowl, so he got these official measurements. That's still 98th percentile for height for the position. He also has 94th percentile arm length. And when it comes to size, he's got a slender build to him, but that's just because he's so tall.

He's still 197 pounds, which is 69th percentile, nice for the position. And his background background you mentioned the fact that you know he he why has he been at Iowa State as long as he has why is it taking him this long to break out this dude was a track star when he was in uh when he was uh in in high school at Iowa he was the class 4a state champion in the 400 meter in both 2017 and 2019. He was the runner-up, so he almost three-peated in 2018. His time of a 4.699 in 2019 broke the class A state record and was the first sub 4.7 400 meter in Iowa prep history. He also won the state title in the 800-meter sprint

and the 200-meter sprint. Young man can scoot, as Benjamin Solak would say, friend of the show. So he played wide receiver in high school. So for the first three seasons that he was at Iowa State, he played wide receiver. He was listed as a wide receiver. He mainly just played special teams, He was listed as a wide receiver. He mainly just played special teams,

but he was basically a wide receiver. It wasn't until 2022 they flip him over to cornerback. He still mainly just plays special teams for the next two years after that. He was basically a special teams dude for five straight seasons. And then his sixth year, they go, eh, hey, your last year of eligibility,

why don't you go out there and show us what you got? And he was fantastic. 88.8 coverage grade in the as an outside corner 85.2 coverage grade when it comes to single coverage situations 24.04 completion percentage which is a small sample size but 99th percentile dude was insane I mean the the movement skills that he has the ability to play press man coverage he lacks a little bit of strength to him there's no doubt about it and and and like revel he the technique and the nuance isn't there because he just doesn't have a lot of starting experience but with both of these players it just god don't make many like him there's not many even

comparisons that we really have for players like that i did tyreek woolen for revel the one that i have for darian porter it it has to be zion mccollum from the tampa bay buccaneers yeah because because mccollum's the same thing mccollum was just over six foot two just under 200 pounds at 199 pounds had a 433 40 yard dash 95th percentile a 40 yard vertical jump 95th percentile, a 40-yard vertical jump, 88th percentile, a 132-inch broad jump, insane, 93rd percentile, but then even beyond that, a 98th percentile three-cone and a 93 percentile agility. So not only is this guy track fast, he also had incredible agility and change of direction. That's also Darian Porter. So for the exact same reasons that you mentioned with Revel I'm taking a chance on this dude man right now yeah Revel is stronger than Porter is but I think

that you could certainly make it work with a player like this and he can get stronger when he gets to the NFL level especially the fact that he's only played corner as a starter for one season. It's all about the gambles you take. And like, these are the, these two are just dripping with traits. Yeah. I mean, they're dripping with traits where coaches are just going to love them.

And you know, now Porter will be 24 on draft day. Rebel be 23. Like they've, they've been around college football for a bit. But man, you look at the context of both of them i think it really gives you hope that they could be really really good with some development did you have benjamin morrison at seven where'd you have him seven

eight yeah i had him um at nine oh okay so you had him a little bit lower all right talk to me about morrison i got him at seven so what do you think about him? All right, so Morrison obviously gets shut down this year with the hip injury after a couple games. You know, 6'1", 86 is what he's listed at. He's another guy, a little lighter. Now, that was season-ending hip surgery, which is pretty important for a corner. We've discussed on summer scouting but

i know everybody here necessarily wasn't here for that uh all his siblings are were college athletes like two sisters in gymnastics one sister plays volleyball his brother played football at arizona and san diego state his dad played safety in the nfl for four years like this is just a very very athletic family yep i mean morrison was kind of an instant star almost at this program i mean nine interceptions from 2022 to 2023 he got there played and played well he's played a little bit of the slot but he obviously plays outside corner i like his ability to open up his hips and run. And I think vertically, he really understands the timing of vertical routes. Like he understands when he has to open up his...

Yeah, he just, he knows, he reads eyes and hands and tracking. He really knows how to find the football on vertical routes. I thought the stop and start looked good. I think he wants to play really physical against routes and catch point situations. Like in man coverage, he wants to disrupt your route. He wants to play through your hands.

He's phenomenal at playing through the hands. That's his number one quality to me, is that when the ball is in the air, he is going to play, oh, he's going to chop down or under, but he wants to get through the hands and make sure you do not have an easy time catching the ball he's looked really good in single coverage in 2023 i know it was an 86.3 coverage grade in single coverage um 108 snaps impressed that year you do have to do a lot of the evaluating off of 2023 because he just didn't have much of a season this year as a whole

but i didn't think he was overly fluid and agile i thought he has good vertical speed i didn't see a top shelf fluid agile like let me anticipate the underneath routes when he does he's physical as hell he's just got to be there i think the balance when he when he tries to jam and the receiver knows he's gonna jam and they fight through it his balance wasn't very good and that might just be from being a lighter guy he's light yeah he's light and he he'll stumble or fall or just that transition starts to get messed up when he tackles in the run game run runners fall forward against him almost every time. Every time. There's not knockback tackling. It's I'm going to fall forward for a yard, two yards, three yards.

I like him a lot as a cover guy. Like, I don't think the agility was bad. I just thought it would be really good with how much he could open up and run down the field. I thought he was better at doing that than covering underneath. But he's so physical to find the football. So I like him in coverage, but there are some instances where I don't think he's good against ball carriers.

And the bigger thing for me is just the hip because he's athletic enough that that's a big part of his game in coverage to be sticky. And if you have hip surgery and you're not the same guy anymore, that's going to hurt you a lot in this process. So Morrison was somebody that I loved over summer and he lost this season. And it's a it's not an injury that I go out like he'll be back and ready to roll. It's an injury where I'm like, what do teams think with him? Right. Right. Right. So I think that we will get more of a consensus when we get to the combine.

And I think a lot of that news comes out. I have been told positive news on him that you're like, yeah, he had, he had the hip injury, but it should be something that like he's okay. He's okay. Moving forward that it's not going to be something that, you know, was debilitating long-term or anything like that. So I did hear good news on the hip front from him. I thought, I actually think he's pretty fluid as a player, anything like that so i i did hear good news on the hip front from him um i thought i actually

think he's pretty fluid as a player but i i i will agree with you he's not as stop and start sticky as i thought he would be i think he's pretty fluid like going from a shuffle technique to like flipping the hips and running up the field i think he could do that pretty well but i i didn't think that he was super sticky i think he's got long arms though i think he could do that pretty well but I I didn't think that he was super sticky I think he's got long arms though I think he approaches the position very very well Notre Dame talks about like just how mature of a kid I mean Sam Hartman had the quote where he was like dude Benjamin Morris said I mean like he prepares like a pro he's just such a mature kid and Sam Hartman was there last year that we're talking about a true sophomore then at that point that was garnering

that sort of praise about his maturation and just how he approaches everything. And I think that it seems to be rave reviews with him of who he is as a person and a player and how he's going to be really able to whatever offense or whatever defense he kind of gets plopped into, be able to mold himself to whatever they need him to be i like him the most as a man coverage corner but i do get worried about the strength profile of things because the willingness to be physical the willingness to get his hands up willingness to play run defense that's all there no but there is some lack of strength there is some you know bullying that can happen with him against those bigger wide receivers so you get a little bit worried in that regard i that's why i i'm lower on him than what i used to be even independent of the hip injury because i more so think this is a player who could be a starter for

you in a heavy man coverage system but not really one who you would want to say this is our cb1 every week no matter what. It's probably somebody that you're hoping that you have a little bit more of a traits-y, stronger corner that you can play against wide receiver ones. And if he could be your cornerback too, I think you're going to have a really good duo at the NFL level. I agree. Yeah, I saw the same exact way.

Who was the other guy that you had? Oh, Trey Amos. Yeah,y amos tram yeah you had amos at six correct i believe so i had amos at seven parish was six oh yeah parish was six i have amos at four so okay you talk to me about trey amos, sort of what you think of him, or do you want me to do it because I'm higher on him? Yeah, you're higher on him. I'll take, you'll take him, and I'll take Zariah Thomas.

Yes, all right, that's good. We can go back to back right there. That sounds good to me. I'm going to be honest with you, man. Somebody's going to have to tell me what Trey Amos doesn't do well. I think he's awesome. I don't think he's like an elite athlete, but 68th percentile in height,

61st percentile weight, 49th percentile in hand size, 70th percentile in length when it comes to his arm length. So he's checking all the boxes that you would want from an outside corner in that regard. Played cornerback and quarterback, by the way, So he's checking all the boxes that you would want from an outside corner in that regard. Played cornerback and quarterback, by the way, in high school. Also played basketball.

He's also a track guy. Sprinted 100 meter, 200 meter, long jump. He was the Louisiana class 2A state champion in the long jump. So he's got that explosiveness to him. Committed to Louisiana Lafayette at high school. Played there for three seasons before transferring over to Alabama Alabama unfortunately room was a little bit crowded last year with Kool-Aid McKinstry and Tariana Arnold emerging from that group and so didn't really he only started one game played in all 14 but he only started one game at Alabama transfers over to Ole Miss and he becomes that full-time starter so it is a little bit of a mystery to me

why he wasn't a full-time starter for longer at the college level but I love so much of what he brings to the game man I love the size I think he's a good athlete in all facets so I think that not just the long speed but I think he's also got fluid movements to flip his hips I think he can go downhill I think the the the foot quickness is adequate and pretty good for the NFL level again I'm not talking about an elite athlete here but think overall it's good like I'd I'd describe all of these movements for Amos as good and I like that very high forced incompletion rate 97th percentile forced incompletion rate over the last two seasons and he has had above a 20 percent forced incompletion rate over the last three seasons I think he's got really good

instincts to him I like him most as a outside man coverage type of a cornerback but I'll be honest with you I didn't mind the zone reps either I think he's pretty scheme versatile and again this goes to I I you're gonna kind of have to tell me not like you I'm not like calling you out I'm saying like anybody out there like somebody's got to tell me like why I shouldn't really love Trey Amos as just an overall like top 40 type of a player in this class. Likes to get his hands on receivers. He's comfortable being physical. He's got active hands at the catch point, the long arms.

I think he's got, I think he's pretty good against the run as well. He's not the strongest dude out there, but I think he's decent against the run and he's been a pretty solid wrap up tackler so maybe not a guy who wows you in certain categories I think the forcing completions and the ball skills should certainly wow you because he's great when the ball is arriving and that's really important but he does everything at such a pretty dang high level that it's hard for me to not see him as a CB2 in the NFL with the potential to be a CB1. I'm very curious to see how he tested the combine to see what his results are there.

Man, it's funny when you said there's all these things he's good at. I'm confused. My scouting report has a ton of lines for strengths, and I only wrote down two real weaknesses. To answer your question like what is he not good at i do have an answer to that i don't think he comes to balance as a tackler well that's the number one thing i saw it's not that he can't tackle it's that he doesn't come to balance to tackle so when he misses a tackle it's not that he had bad technique or form like

it's just his balance breaking down that doesn't set himself upright and he lunges or throws an arm out there because he's not set up right that's in the run game and after the catch that was the biggest weakness for me which is there's much worse things to be bad at as a corner i i the not the thing you said that stuck out to me that i i completely eye to eye with you i think he's confident in experience in any coverage. I didn't look at him as like, you got to play zone, you got to play man.

He's done it all. He's played over 2,400 coverage snaps at three programs now. So, and he's played at a pretty high level. I thought the interception against South Carolina where he broke off his assignment to make a play against another guy was, And he's played at a pretty high level. I thought the interception against South Carolina, where he broke off his assignment to make a play against another guy, the instincts on that play were A+. Just an A-plus interception.

Super battle-tested. I mean, he was targeted 62 times this year. And he allowed 32 catches. But you look at Ellis. Ellis, you targeted him nine times. Nine times. And, you know, he only allowed two catches for 29 yards on those nine targets. I think one other time he was beat where it should have been caught.

But overall, you're winning the batting average there. Right. I like the build. I thought he was quick against short routes. I thought he matched movements. I'm a huge fan, man. routes. I thought he matched movements. I'm with you all the way, Trevor. I'm a huge fan. He's the rich man's Dorian Strong, where he's a little boring,

but he's boring and he's just really good. He goes out there and does his job. The versatility of coverage is, I would feel very comfortable playing Trey Amos as a rookie. I think that's the highest compliment you can give a corner in a draft that's that's the best way i could sum it up i'm with you 100 man i really am his combine is going to be big for me and by big i mean if he tests better athletically than i think he's going to we're going to pump those numbers up i'm probably going to end up with him as like a top 30 player maybe even it's a top 25 player yeah he was only seven for me because i

don't think he's that fast but we'll see yeah yeah yeah yeah and that the two that's a big slice of the pie of course right and if he tests and he's he's a lot less athletic than i think then all of a sudden you have to go to like okay well there's the boring aspect of him well is he boring because he's not athletic enough to really make the plays on the ball that you would want to at the NFL level so conversation to be had here with Amos after the combine we will see but somebody who's film I really like Azaria Thomas is the next guy who I want to talk about here you have him a little bit higher than I do I've got him at six and I like this player I think this is a very fun player he's got very fun tape easy to love

and easy to see him making the transition to the NFL. But you have him a little bit higher. Where'd you have Azariah Thomas? I got him at six. Where'd you have him? And then talk to me. Three. Yeah, I had him at three.

Azariah Thomas. Wait a second. Wait a second. Do you have Travis Hunter in here? Mm-hmm. Am I missing someone? Wait, who do you have at four? here? Mm-hmm. Am I missing someone? Wait, who do you have it for? Have you said for yet?

No. It's I knew it. Okay, all right, okay, all right, okay, all right. Okay. You don't want to know. I don't want to know yet. Okay. People got to keep listening to the show, man.

Tell you the YouTube ad revenue. That's a good point. They got to stick with listening to the Zariah Thomas breakdown instead. Zariah Thomas, Florida State, this year one interception, broke up four passes, broke up 10 passes in 2023, forced the fumble. I love the build. The build is just how you want a corner to look.

Tall, long. I need to double check his Senior bowl measurements on the exact arm length he's he's six one and a half in height 68th percentile and he had 32 and a half inch arms 85th percentile this is what you want a corner dude's got long arms this is what you want your outside corners to look like and he's got huge hands you see this no 10 and an eighth inch hands which makes a large corner that's it that's 97th percentile which makes so much sense because when he punches you in press these dudes move like he's got but anyways go ahead go ahead 20 years old on draft night so he's like he's this big and strong and he's 20 on draft night where a lot of these other guys are three to four years older than him gonna be having a pink lemonade on draft

night to celebrate play good for him played over 300 played over 300 coverage snaps in man coverage the last two seasons over 300 and he looked really good looked comfortable his lack of fear to just blow up routes and press and you like he's got long arms and he's got long stride length so he's got the long arms to disrupt but he's also got stride length to run to make up some ground or take over some more ground that doesn't mean he's really fast, but his speed might look different than someone with shorter strides. Trust his legs. One of the most important things from a mental aspect for a corner,

do you trust your legs? Because that's going to trickle effect how you play every single down. If you don't trust your legs, you know, are your coaches not going to trust you as much in man coverage? Can you play single coverage? Can you go hit the ball? Are you scared of making a mistake? trust your legs you know are your coaches not going to trust you as much in man coverage can you play single coverage can you go hit the ball are you scared of making a mistake this guy maybe it's just too young to know it won't hurt him but he trusts his lower half to recover get him out of bad situations i love when the long arms chop over on slant routes when somebody tries to run a slant

on him his arms are so long and so physical that he just chops right over the top and blows it up i think the timing and placement of the jam is a work in progress he's a young corner there's times where it's like a jam was a little late or oh like he kind of went outside shoulder too much like he missed it didn't disrupt the way he could i know he could do it because there's a lot of good reps where he really throws the receiver off balance but it's still just the consistency I think down the field it's it's funny to me he does grab sometimes down the field for a guy that I think trusts his legs but it's just like it's a natural resort he doesn't grab over the top where it's dpi he kind of will just use his hands around

the weight i think he's almost setting up his hands to play the ball but he grabs the body or puts his arm around the body and you just got like the nfl it drives me insane i think it's one of the worst aspects in the nfl today they just don't let you do anything down the field anymore it's a different sport now where you're not necessarily interfering with the guy's route. And receivers play with, you know, would use their body and hands as well against corners. They just don't allow it in the NFL anymore. So you have to evaluate it like you have to evaluate by the rule book, even though I hate it. But my synopsis on him, long outside man cover corner that has stacked two really solid years of tape,

and he'll be just 20 years old on draft night. While Thomas hasn't had the takeaways you'd hope for, he disrupts routes and competes at the catch point consistently. Yeah, totally, totally does. 99th percentile forced incompletion player despite starting and playing a ton of games over the last couple of seasons. And so he's got a lot of reps a

lot of opportunity to give up those passes and not have those forced incompletions and yet he has been very productive at doing so single coverage grade 77.4 over the last two years so a little bit lower but i think that goes into some of my weaknesses that i have with him and that's that i even though he he trusts he trusts his feet and his legs, I would agree with sort of that assessment. I don't think he's got like rare speed, rare stop and start ability. I think right now I have him with a second round grade, but he is right there on the cusp of like having that late first, early second round grade for me.

I do think that he is a pretty good player. You know who he reminded me of? You remember Bryce Hall when he was at Virginia before he was coming out? Like, yes. And he went through all those injuries. Like, I know that Bryce also played a lot of cover threes. This is a little different. But I just, the length, the athlete they were, the big hand size, like the ball skills ability.

Like, he reminded me of a Bryce Hall in that way before he got injured. And he was one hell of a player at Virginia. And I think that Azaria Thomas is a pretty dang good player as well. So I gave him a second round grade, have him sixth on my outside cornerback rankings. Before we get to the big reveal of who you have at number four and not number three, question for everybody out there, what's your child's success look like for you?

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Okay, all right. Yeah, maybe. Mason Graham. So you got Mason Graham at outside corner number four. Man, is his jam good. Recovery speed, I don't know. Short arms, but man, he'll jolt you right back at the line of scrimmage. My corner four is Jaday Barron from Texas.

Okay. Okay. Who I'm assuming you didn't do for this show, or you did? Oh, he's in here. Oh, he's corner one, huh? Okay. All right, Jaday Barron. He's in here. he's in here he's in here you better believe it you better i bet he's number two for you you love him you've always loved him he's

give you your props you were you were on jade baron before it was cool to talk about jade baron i was why the hell did jade baron not declare last year before he even played outside corner. And then he happened to, and then he played outside corner this past year and it ended up being a great decision for him because he was probably a fringe first round, second round pick last year as like a slot defender slash safety. And now I genuinely think that Jaday Barron should be picked somewhere within the top 20. And honestly, if I'm being honest with you, like I'd pick Jaday Barron should be picked somewhere within the top 20.

And honestly, if I'm being honest with you, I'd pick Judd A. Barron in the top 12, top 10. I think he's that good. I think he's awesome. You want to talk about him or me? No, I think you should talk about him. Where do you have him? So he is corner two for me.

Okay, so I'll talk about Will Johnson. Okay, all right, so there we go. I'm assuming that you have Will at cb2 i have will it too i mean i could rip through them here i already talked about no we are well my rankings are out what did you that we know what no no okay so that's good point i didn't think about how your rankings were already they're all like that together anyone with literally a quarter of a brain can figure out my rankings now. Savant Ravel, he's number five. Jadae Barron's number four.

Azaria Thomas was three. Will Johnson, two. And, of course, Travis Hunter at one, who we'll share both our opinions on. But you talk about Barron. I'll talk about Will Johnson. And we'll talk about the top corner in the draft. Oh, man. I just love Jadae Barron.

He's listed at five foot eleven very curious as to see what all of his official measurements are because this is somebody who used to play safety used to play in the slot now plays outside corner so you don't exactly get a great feel for how he is built but um we'll get we'll get an answer for that when he's at the combine he's a redshirt senior and so you know it's it's hard to say like man how you drafting a redshirt senior in the top 10 top 12 well obviously the journey that I sort of explained to you guys um gets you sort of to that point of why that's the case he was a four-star cornerback coming out of Austin Texas so he stayed home when he was coming into

the longhorns he played wide receiver and he played defense back he also played punt returner when he was in high school this is also a track. 100 meter and 200 meter dashes. Ran the 100 meter at a 10.95. So not like crazy alien blazing fast, but still sub 11. So that's pretty good. He's played 41 games over the course of his five years. And he's had 23 starts. This is somebody who,

I'll just let, so this is a quote from Steve Sarkeesian and this is last year. Okay. I do not think that this guy gets nearly enough credit for the player that he is for our team. He's extremely impactful. He's got one of the highest football IQs on our team. It always feels like he's at the right spot at the right time. And we ask a lot of them. And I think that last part, that last prepositional phrase, well,

I actually don't think that's a prepositional phrase the last part of that sentence um it means a lot because they do man this guy's plate was full he played free safety and strong safety then he played as their primary nickel defender their apex defender who they asked to play on the line of scrimmage in the slot and off coverage in the slot and then this year they said hey go play out wide and he honestly like his tape at out wide corner for this being the first year of him playing it was so damn good now he's not a press man type of a corner he's a zone coverage corner that you're gonna want either a quarters or a cover three heavy system where you can play off the line of scrimmage he can play in shuffle technique, and he can keep his eyes on the quarterback. But if he does that, the IQ that he has for the position is so high,

and the versatility that he has to be able to play any sort of spot at defensive back for you is so great. Love the eyes and anticipation no matter where he is lined up. Such a great feel for zone coverage. The technique and spacing is excellent. Being able to blur that line for the quarterback of saying like okay he's out of place and then for a split second you go damn or or or is he that fast is he gonna is he gonna close on that wide receiver is he gonna recover that well

he just blends that so you could tell that he puts quarterbacks in the walls of Jericho mentally when they are staring at his side of the field because of the way that he plays and his technique in off coverage, which I absolutely love. He's got the power and strength from his safety and slot background to work through blocks and make sound tackles at the line of scrimmage when he's closing downhill as well. Very experienced and comfortable playing from the linebacker level,

which you can sort of throw a curveball in there and have them outside one play and then kind of have them inside of the next. I think his hips are a little bit slower to flip. And I think there's a reason why he was playing safety and nickel corner before he played on the outside. So I think that there's some limitations there. He's a little uncomfortable when his back is to the ball, but that's to be expected with him being a one-year starter and a one-year player as an outside cornerback. I thought it got better as the year went on. He gets a little handsy in those double move situations because he doesn't anticipate as well that he could because of that lack of experience. And I think the top speed is good, but I don't think that it's elite. So that's

all of those reasons are why I think he is much more of a zone-heavy scheme cornerback than he is a man cornerback but if you play this guy in a zone heavy scheme i think he can be excellent for you i think that he could do so much for your defense he has such a high football iq and i think that he could be a cb1 at the next level that's my dude i love it i think the the things that he are he's so good at that not every corner is good at is what really makes him a top-tier football player, right? Like, he just sees things really well, the ability to make plays on ball carriers. My number one question, and I still have him at four,

which is really, really high, is I am a little lukewarm at best on him on an island in man coverage. Like if he's that kind of different, like, and that's, that's the most important thing to me at the position. But I also had Cooper Dujun as my number one corner in last year's draft because I thought he,

in his role was such a special difference maker that I didn't care. So there's no reason to think Baron can't be a guy that it's not that he can't play man coverage he's talking about can you be elite in man coverage there's like he could do so much for you on the back end I almost didn't even know how to evaluate him specifically and just was like well you just list all the things he could do because he could play the slot he showed this year it looked great playing outside corner when a lot of people were like is this gonna work over summer like is this and he looked really good and he could honestly play safety for you if you need him to play safety for you so you know he you know he reminds me of you know who my comp is for him stefan gilmore how stefan gilmore won

at that position just between the ears how smart his eyes yeah and instincts were phenomenal and the Patriots the Patriots put him in man coverage plenty as well but like I think you could put Barron in man coverage but a lot of I went back and because I thought to myself that he really reminded me of Stephon Gilmore and I went back and I watched a bunch of Stephon Gilmore stuff and a lot of his best plays came when he was allowed to be off the line of scrimmage and read quarterbacks and wide receivers. And I think that similarly, maybe it's a little bit more of like late stage of his career, Stephon Gilmore, but just how both of these guys have such a high football IQ to make an impact like that. That was somebody who,

he reminded me of the play of Stephon Gilmore. And honestly, his wins above replacement for this past year, nuts. 0.88, that's higher than Travis Hunter. Travis Hunter played both ways. It's crazy how big of an impact Judd A. Barron had as a one-year starter on the outside. And if that's the baseline that we got moving forward I think we got a damn good football player so talk to us about Will Johnson now all right so Will Johnson not the year he had hoped for I mean still a

player that I think is over six feet tall and 200 pounds so the size here is is what you want. Now, with Johnson, this season, when he was playing, he was hurt. And there was also times where he didn't get to play in big games, like the Ohio State game, which matters a lot. I'm going to pull up all his metrics here in just a second. But he has such good instincts and awareness at the position to really turn the game. And I mean, like really jump around,

grab the ball and go the other way where I'm talking, it's a, it's different level of tier. Now what he runs is going to matter a lot because there are questions like how fast is he? And he just needs to pass a threshold and be adequate. But you watch the USC game this year, and that's where it kind of all went downhill after that.

He clearly was hurt. He missed the Minnesota game after that. He played through some stuff in the next two games, and then he basically missed the rest of the season. He did miss the rest of the season. So this was almost a lost year for him, honestly, at times. And even when you watch the game against Fresno State to open up the year because a lot of people remember that game for the pick

six at the end of the game but he was beat a couple times in single coverage where didn't like he just didn't look as fast as you would hope he would be and he wasn't in position to make a play on the ball when everything is in front of Will Johnson it's 10 out of 10 level stuff how he runs will kind of answer the question of what is this gonna got what is this guy gonna look like in single man coverage at the next level because that's how you end up being you know he's projected to be a top 15 pick and that's really really important and honestly this year the very small sample size of it there was some tough moments specifically in that fresno game i thought overall in 2023 there weren't a lot of tough moments it was near dominant film he was one of the best players in the draft coming into the season but you just look at the actual traits that he has i think

he's explosive fluid movement the agility and the hips are just everything you'd want in a corner. Like his transitions and the way he could flip his hips and the way he can kind of get sideline to sideline with those underneath routes. Right, that's the thing. This isn't somebody that's 5'9", 190 doing it. This is somebody that has number one outside corner size. We talked about this.

You turn on that 2023 tape when he was healthy it was a 30.9 passer rating when quarterbacks targeted him like there was nothing there he gave you literally nothing i think the tackling after the catch is very very good and i think that's a huge problem with a lot of these guys he knows how to wrap up and the agility is so good and the balance is so good where he positions himself the right way to limit any kind of yards after the catch but the anticipation anticipation is what makes him a round one player uh and bruce feldman has said like he's run a six five seven three cone so if you need any more reason to believe the agility is elite the testing for it will be elite how the long speed is that's gonna kind of

be a big thing for how teams attack him down the field because I do think there might be some vulnerability there that separates from him from being a top 10 pick like a legit top 10 pick and he needs to be healthy. I just think he was really hurt this year and it didn't match up to the 2023 tape. That was always going to be hard to match, but there was a reason this guy was a five-star recruit out of Detroit,

Michigan. I mean, there is some phenomenal, phenomenal tape. This is a really, really good player that has all the traits that you want. We just need to see if the long speed is there, but the build and agility is as good as it gets. And I'm still a believer that he could be a big-time difference maker.

I love what you said about, you know, when he keeps things in front of him, he's just such an elite defender, and I agree. You know, I went into this exercise having him ranked or listed with the man coverage corners because I thought that that's what I was going to want him to be and the more I watched the more I was like he's his own corner like he is a cover three quarters type of a type of a cornerback where if you let him stay off the line of scrimmage a little bit and you let him trigger downhill, like this dude will, the pick sixes speak for themselves. The way that he could put his foot on the ground and anticipate and go after the ball

and turn it into a touchdown for the defense, like that's, again, that sort of speaks to itself of how good of a football player he is. I liked him more in zone cover situations than I did man cover situations. If he runs really well in Indianapolis which I know he's going to test great in the agility drills but if he could show you that he's got that explosiveness and a long speed to him then I think you really just start

to say hey we're I'm throwing out 2024 like I'm throwing it out because he didn't look like the same player you mentioned he's got the strength and he's got the body frame to be able to tackle the tackling was sloppy in 2024 he didn't hold up super well against single coverage situations in 2024 uh that speed kind of got exposed for him even at the beginning part of the season when he was out there and so it's like man was this just a were you just having a national championship hangover did you just say hey we want we want a natty last year and and we're gonna suck and i'm a top five pick just right i mean i think remember derrick stingley derrick stingley won a natty last year, and we're going to suck this year. And I'm a top five pick. Right. I mean, remember Derek Stingley?

Derek Stingley won a national championship as a true freshman starter at LSU. And the next two years, he was like, well, I can't go to the NFL until after my junior season. And so, I mean, his tape was kind of mediocre for— No, I don't want to say mediocre. That's insulting. But, like, it wasn't— It wasn't the same guy. It wasn't the same guy. It was not the same guy. And I think that that is realistic to believe that that is possible for players

because you look at Stingley now, and he's one of the best corners in the NFL. And we saw it as a true freshman at LSU, and then he kind of just felt like he didn't have his foot on the gas those last two years. So I wonder if with the injury and the national championship hangover, I wonder if that's it. If he tests well, I think that you just kind of got to go, hey, we're going to trust 2023. So I sort of changed my pro comp for him. I initially had Patrick Shurtan, the second, because they're built very similarly and they're both very, very talented players. But with me watching his full film and coming away with it and saying, I like you better in zone coverage situations, I mean, Patrick Tan's a press man corner.

Patrick Tan's been playing press man basically since middle school, right? When he was at Alabama, what he does with the Denver Broncos. And not that he can't play zone coverage, but he gives you much more confidence when you're playing press man. And so I feel as though Darius Slay is a better comp for Will Johnson now as these guys who a little bit more off coverage type of players, a little bit more zone coverage. Now, Darius Slay will a better comp for Will Johnson now as these guys who a little bit more off coverage type of players a little bit more zone coverage now Darius Slay will play man coverage against he has at different points in his career but he's more of a guy that I think wins with savviness and ball skills now and is a taller longer corner so I think that's a better comp for him with Will

Johnson but I do see him pretty similarly to the way that you do even though I have him ranked at three and and you got him ranked at two. Which brings us to our number one player, the only one that we have left on this list, both of our number one CBs in this class, and that's Travis Hunter from Colorado. Connor, I'm going to be honest with you. We went through wide receivers,

and I had a first-round grade on Travis Hunter as a wide receiver. And I went, oh no. Am I going to have to admit that Connor was right? Am I going to have to admit that Travis Hunter is actually a better wide receiver than he is a cornerback? And I actually think that he should play wide receiver after puffing out my chest saying all that stuff about corner? And then I watched him at corner.

And guess what? I wasn't wrong. I gave him a first round him at corner and guess what I wasn't wrong I gave him a first round I gave him a first round grade at corner and uh the movement is back on baby so yeah look Hunter it's hard to find things that haven't already been said about the junior Heisman trophy winner who's been an absolute phenom the number one recruit in the 2022 recruiting class who has absolutely lived up to the billing in every way shape or form six foot one 100 185 pounds he's got the long arms to him at the cornerback position again this is somebody who with his build I was like oh he's gonna be a man coverage corner no he's his own coverage

corner if you let if you if you if you take him away from those situations where he can kind of get bullied a little bit at the line scrimmage not that he can't play cat man coverage he can but like he's a little bit more slender and bigger more powerful NFL wide receivers like DK Metcalf Nico Collins right like Mike Evans like these guys are going to be able to bully him a little bit off of the line of scrimmage but when you let Travis Hunter play off the line and watch the ball and the quarterback oh yeah this dude it's so hard to not get carried away with comps and just think that he's just going to be a multi all pro at the NFL level the ball skills are basically the best ball skills that you're ever going to see of a cornerback that you scout because of what he brings as a wide receiver the fluidity the length

i mean just the way that he reveals travis hunter i want to say this too travis hunter does not get enough credit for being as smart as he is yeah people think he is just like oh just this super gifted athlete plays both sides of the ball. This dude, and the reason why I have him number one overall in this class, you do as well as we went over the big board episode. He's one of the best football players, like processors. He's so instinctual. I think he's a 4.0 student, by the way. He is.

Yeah, like I think he legitimately has had a 4.0 GPA multiple semesters. He would not be able. Bruce Feldman said at least once. Yeah. He would not be able to play both sides of the ball the way that he does if he wasn't a very intelligent football player. And I think that that is just something that goes so underrated about the many things that we can marvel at about Travis Hunter. But, dude, the mold that he is. So I was on Rich Eisenisen show earlier today humble brag

uh and he asked me he was at and he was asking me about with the big dog himself with the big dog himself yes yes and he was asking me about cops and he was like who do you even comp travis hunter to and i saw jordan Reed, friend of the show, ESPN. I saw him say this early on in the process, and I love it, and I haven't gone away from it. So kudos to him. Champ Bailey. Champ Bailey played wide receiver and corner when he was at Georgia,

and he goes to the NFL, and he starts just at corner, and we saw what Champ Bailey could become. I genuinely think that's what travis hunter could become he's he is that gifted of a football player i love this dude i did not think that i was going to come away from this exercise with travis hunter cb1 and i am very confident in doing so it's just wild to think champ bailey ran in the four twos like like there's just nuts man just talk about unappreciated aliens um interesting decision to trade 25 year old champ belly but hey but dude it was for clint portis straight up which is nuts that was a wild trade man that's

an insane trade bro he was a 12 time pro bowler i was gonna say he was still pro bowler age 30 at age 34 he got he he must have got hurt that 2008 season right yeah yeah he missed time in the 2008 season so this is the only reason why he wasn't a 13 time consecutive pro bowler he basically had like an apartment that he owned just for the pro bowl for 13 years this guy was just like yeah time to vote for the pro bowl okay we'll start with champ bailey and now let's move on to the rest of the list let's make the rest of the roster no i'm i mean with travis it's just you know what's funny to me still is that he is still not even fully polished at the

position and he's this good like you watch i always like going through the coverage grading system and and look at some you know bad games and look at like the single coverage reps on those games and you watch him against byu at the end of the year, which is the bowl game. But there's still times where he's playing off the guy, and he goes to press him like seven yards down the field or maybe just grab. It's a bad rep. But he's going to work through those things with coaching because I thought over summer he was so raw at corner. You said it at the top.

I loved him at wide receiver. I was like, all the athleticism's there. i don't think he's one of the top corners in this draft class yet right this year he got so so much better and he's still not even where he's eventually going to be that's what's insane about travis hunter is like trajectory wise he still has things to clean up from a technique and timing standpoint, but he's so twitchy and gifted and long and fast. And like you said, Trevor, the awareness and instincts and smarts

that he's got legitimate upside. He's already a great prospect, but he has upside to be incredible. And that's so enticing to me. Like there's some really good prospects in this draft, great prospects in this draft that don't really have upside like that. Like Ashton Gentry.

Ashton Gentry has been an amazing player for two years and he will be the same player in the NFL. But Travis Hunter might not be the same player in the NFL. He might be better because there are still technique aspects of the game where he's just the best athlete out there covering guys and finding the football but he did take a big strides this year especially at outside corner i thought just his transitions looked better there's a comfort

level you said it like when he gets the privilege to play in zone it's like being at the playground for him but i still think he's got legitimate man coverage skills because of the kind of athlete he is with the size. And I think he'll get stronger. Yeah, I'm with you. I think he's the best player in the draft. And I think part of that is just how much he's developed at corner. You know, there's a little bit of a lack of weight concern that you have with him.

But to be honest with you, man, when I'm doing my film grading and sort of like categorical like grades that i have that you know spit out the numerical grade that turns into a round grade and all that stuff throughout the process i obviously have to ding him on a little bit of a lack of awareness some lack of technique like i have to do that if if travis hunter let's just say he was at colorado nothing against jackson. I mean, I guess you could say this about Jackson State as well. If he just played corner for three straight seasons, I genuinely think he'd be the highest prospect I've ever graded.

I think that highly of him and the potential that he has and how much he has improved at both spots while playing full-time at both spots. I really do think that he probably would have been the highest graded prospect that I've ever, that I've ever had. So do you think he's going to make a firm decision or you think this is just going to go all the way into training camp? Like,

is this a draft process thing where he's like, I'll show you, I could do both and be the number one pick. I don't. Is this just who he wants to be? So here, so here's the thing. I don't, I don't think he's going he wants to be so here so here's the thing i don't

i don't think he's gonna declare a position because why would you if there's no reason there's no reason if you if you go to every single team and you tell them i will start for you on both sides of the ball and i'll be an all i'll be a pro bowler on both sides of the ball every team in the nfl will go all right sick and at that point the titans go yeah we could probably take you number one so he probably take you to number one. So he wants to go to number one. There was somebody who, shout out to PFF Discord. If you guys aren't in the PFF Discord,

we're doing a lot of really fun draft stuff over there. Somebody asked me a question last night because we were doing a little Q&A. They were like, has anybody brought up the fact that Travis Hunter playing both sides of the ball could potentially be a multiplied negative because if he's a starter for you at wide receiver and he's a starter for you at corner and if he has a slender build and he gets hurt you just lost two starters on each side of the ball

I've never I had never thought of that before no it's an amazing point and I I just I'll be wouldn't make me team if a team does this. No, no, no. It wouldn't make, oh, wait, are you saying play them on both sides? Like full-time. Oh, okay. Like you're our number one receiver and you're our number one corner, and that's just the way it is. Yeah, I mean, I had not thought of.

I don't think it'll happen. I think he will want it to happen. I don't know if an NFL team, they'll rely on their sports science department to say like, hey, do you think this is possible or is this guy just gonna be burnt out every year and hurt? Yeah, they're gonna rely on John Brinkus to come in with sports science

and make the determination there. Shout out one of the most obscure sports shows that every single football fan who's around our age reads. Everyone knows it. You watch it when you're home from school over summers all the time or all that's just in general it really was john brinkus once he was cool you really yeah yeah what we did a little career he's probably we did we did like a collab with him for the draft show uh when i was

at tdn in 2021 hey it was cool it's cool what is he went to his house it was dope he's doing his own thing. He's got like, I think he's still got like Brinks TV. Like he's kind of still. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got his own production company. Yeah, shout out to John Brinkus. So there you go.

We would love to hear from you guys as well. Actually, should we recap it? We should recap it. Yes. Give me 12 to 1, Connor. Who's your 12 to 1? All right. The rankings for the corner show today.

Number 12, Quincy Riley, Louisville. Number 11, Dorian Strong, Virginia Tech. Number 10, Maxwell Harrison, Kentucky. Nine, Benjamin Morrison, Notre Dame. Number eight, Darian Porter, Iowa State. Number seven, Trey Amos, Ole Miss. Number six, Jacob Parrish, Kansas State. Number five, Savon, Revell. Yes. Savon. Savon, Revell. miss number six jacob parish kansas state number five suvone yes suvone suvone revel ecu number four

jade baron texas three azaria thomas florida state two will johnson michigan number one travis hunter colorado uh number 12 for me was i alexander from lsu 11 noel williams from cal 10 dorian strong from virginia tech 9 maxwell harrison from kentucky 8 was savone revel from ecu 7 benjamin morrison from notre dame 6 is r.a thomas from florida state 5 darian porter from iowa state 4 was trey amos from old miss 3 will johnson from michigan 2 jade baron from texas and number 1 travis hunter we would love to hear from you guys as well we would love to hear your takes on our takes or if you just got takes on the cornerback class in general this was just outside corners for me so i haven't quite gotten to the uh nickel defenders we'll have another episode or do

something on nickel defenders maybe when we get to just the overall big board and we're talking about where we have guys ranked i think that we could do that as well. If you have any questions on any of these other corners that we didn't get to today, shout them out. If you've got Kansas guys, if you're going to yell at us for not having Mel O'Donovan and Kobe Bryant in here, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a little scouting report. We always love that stuff.

Best way to do that, youtube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange. If you are audio only, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers on Instagram and twitter you can also follow the show at nflsc show on twitter on instagram on tiktok so you can follow the show and support the show we love you guys we'd appreciate that next time you hear from us we'll be in indy it'll be combine week brother that's right excited for it we're gonna be there a long time. It's going to be fun.

We are going to be. Yeah, yeah. Too long, some would say. Some would say you should never be there that long, but we're going to try. We're going to put our bodies to the test to see how long we can last at the Indianapolis combine here. We'll have a couple of episodes for you still in the combine. I don't know if there'll be like combine preview episodes or something. We'll kind of come up with whatever topic we feel like you guys want to hear the most.

But we will have a couple of episodes coming from Indianapolis. Then, Connor, anything else before we get out of here? Nope, that sums it up, man. Excited to get rolling back on the road. We're recording this on Thursday. I know it's not releasing until Friday, but USA, baby! Let's go. We're taking it tonight.

Boy, we're going to look real stupid if they don't. No, I got confidence. I got all the confidence in the world. It's not like Canada is the powerhouse. We're the powerhouse now. God, this is getting worse. I'm digging the hole. I'm digging the hole.

I'm digging the hole even worse. Thank you guys so much for watching. Listen to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. For Connor Rogers, I'm Trevor Sikama. We'll see you guys so much for watching. Listen to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast for Connor Rogers. I'm Trevor Sykema. We'll see you guys next time. Bye.