Top Five Corners In The NFL Draft.
NFL Draft
Top 5 Cornerbacks
I've Covered Quarterbacks And Receivers, And This Season, The Receiver Position Will Proliferate With Talent Never Before. Now I'll "Introduce" the Young Men Slated To Stop Offenses The Defensive Backs. The Defensive Back Market Feels UnStable in Today's NFL Even Under Valued. Some Of The Best teams have One, Two, Or Maybe A quarter of Cornerbacks To Anchor Their Defense, But They're Slowly Joining The Folds Of Theo Linebackers and Running Backs in Decline. Cornerbacks Still Get Paid Like L'jarius Snead, But Thanks To Inconsistent Quarterback Play, And The Drop-In Scoring Most Teams Can "Get Through" With Just Better Than Average Corner Play On The Outside If The Rest Of The Team Has A solid Foundation. The Passing Attack Boom Of The 2010s Forced The Secondary Market Into a Bullish Market, Which Became An Oversaturated Market with A Lot Of Veteran In Position Getting Cut, Remain Free Agents Until Post Draft, And Will Mostly Signed A Year Heavy Incentive Contract. Five Of The Top Ten Remaining Free Agents, According To NFL.com, Called The Defensive Backfield Their Home And Coverage The Trade, On Top Of Former Pro Bowlers And Top Paid Guys At The Position In Xavien Howard, JC Jackson, and Patrick Peterson. Corners Work Best In Collective—Like The Borg From Star Trek, And Even With Tether To An Oustanding Pass Rush, and Team Usually Choose Outstanding Pass Rushers Over Corners Because of The difference In "Bust" Rate On Each Position.
Last Season, Five Corners Heard Their Name Called in The First 32 Picks Of The Draft, And A Season Before, In 2022, Teams Selected Four Corners In The First Two In The Top Ten, So Teams Still Value The Position, Especially On Rookie Deals. Some of the best corners in the game are Daron Bland, Derek Stingley Jr., and Sauce Gardner. They entered the game recently, and all completed a great defensive unit. With Corners, Athletic Testing Also Seems To Matter A lot of Measurements Like Speed, Vertical, And Broad Jump Tend To Translate Well Compared To How Those Numbers Tend To Deceive Scouts When You Look At Receivers.
When We Speak Of Big Ten, Ohio State University, School That Produced The Most Corners In The Game, Comes To Mind, Ohio State And After The Buckeyes Michigan And Penn State. This season, however, the top cornerback comes from Iowa, the tight end school, and a defensive back named Cooper Dejean. Iowa's defense, which ranked in the top ten or at least earned national respect, gave CJ Stroud some trouble. The last time the Hawkeyes played Stroud was in October 2022. The 54-10 Score Belies The Bang-Bang Plays and the Near Interception But Excascerbates The Ineptitude Of Iowa's Offense And The Deft Of Ohio's defense On Top Of The Inevitability Of Ohio State's Offense With Stroud At The Helm. The Buckeyes Could Cut Through Any Defense, No Matter The Ranking.
From First Glance, The One Primary Aspect Of Cooper And Dejean Stand Out, His Frame Fits A Saquon Barkley TYype Player, A Stout Running Back In An Age When Corners Prioritize Speed And Like To "Pack light," Cooper Brings A Muscular, Edgier Frame. At 6'1, 203 Lbs—No Other Cornerbacks In The Top Five Pass 200 Lbs In Weight Class. Dejean, Like Most OTher Corners, is Not Afraid To Throw His Weight Into The Run Game And Close In On the Receiver, And The Run Fit Like An Added Safety. Dejean Comes Down In The Tackling Game Like A Bomb With speed and Pop In His Finish.
As A Tcakler, Dejean Has A very Gummy Like Hold On The Defenders; once On, it is nearly Impossible To Dislodge. He gets a jersey and travels along the Sidewalks. Cooper brings rare Ferocity To His Tackling From The Cornerback Position, And He's A Tone Setter. However, if you're not a football "Purist" who loves tackling and fundamentals, you need to know how this guy covers it. Internal Terms Of Coverage Dejuan Might Prove Perfect For Today's Coverage Units. He's Got Quick Feet. Maybe Not The Quickest In This Draft, But He Can Glide. Those Feet Grab The Attention Of Iowa. They Didn't Play Their Corners In Press That Much; Dejean Plays 25% Of All His Coverage Snaps Press Coverage, and His Preternatural Ability To The Quarterbacks and Players Move And jump lanes. Dejean Played 300 Snaps In Zone Last Season. His Instincts And His Quick Feet Make Dejean Complimentary For A Quarters Based Team Because Why He Can Bail Out and Drive Down On The Ball. Those Quick Feet Of Dejean Don't Always Translate In Coverage, And On Film, He Doesn't Have A Naturally Gifted Feel For Mirroring Receivers. He's described as A Super Freak Athlete Thanks To Some "Ridiculous" High School Basketball Mixtapes, But Cooper Didnt Test At The Combine Due To A Leg Injury. He Finished With 6 Forced Incompletions. If Any About Dejeans Game Make Me Want To Knock, He's Not A "Pure" Corner. For My Money, He's More Of An Inverted Linebacker Type, a Strong Safety, and Reminiscent Of TJ Ward. Iowa Simply Didn't Use Him As A Corner, And I'm Not Completely Comfortable Projecting Him Into That Position.
Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo
The Rights To The Top Corner Spot In 2024 Will Likely Remain Up In The Air Until Draft Day, But If Any One Corner Can Claim The Consensus Vote, Quinyon Mitchell Of Toledo Stands As That Guy. Small School Corners, Like Most Small School Players, Usually Create Some Level Of Tension In The Realm Of Draft Evaluations. An Alabama, Clemson, and Even An Iowa Corner Projects are better because their tape has credibility backed by the Power Five conference competition. More petite school guys need flawless or near-immaculate tape, flying athleticism, and production. Quinyon Mitchell checks some of those boxes. From The Tape The First Thing That Jumps Out About Mitchell, His Suddeness. Like an Aligator Stealthly Taking Down Prey Near The Nile, Mitchell Snaps Out Of His Breaks And Takes A Pass That Looks Like A Completion And Turned Those Passes Into Picks.
Mitchell Famously stole Four Completions In A Game And Finished With Two Pick Sixes To Go Along With Four Interceptions. He's A Ball Hawk By Definition Who Loves To Jump Routes Thanks To His Simpson-like precognition. Mitchell Registered A Solid 4.3 Forty, But He Generated "Good" (According To NFL.com Rates) Results On Other Testing Numbers, Like The Broad And Vertical. His Vertical Ranked In The 88th Percentile, and His Broad Jump, Height, Weight, and Wingspan Turned Out Below Average, Sinking Mitchell's Stock. Compared To A Small School Guy Like Tariq Woolen, Whose Testing And Measurement All Exceeded The 90th percentile except For Hand Size. A Small School Guy, In My Opinion, Should Enter The League Fully Equip. Devon Wotherspoon Had Average Measurements Coming Out Of Illinois And Struggled With Injuries But Generally Held Up Strong In Coverage In His Rookie Year 79.7 Pff Coverage. Another Challenge I Have With Mitchell is extended Coverage. With Mitchell Either Playing Subpar Competition, Reading Actions Of Less Sophisticated Offense, And At Times Just Out Athlete Some. MitchellForced Incompletions On 27.4% Of His Targets with an Average Depth Of Target Of 12.3, Which Isn't Crazy Far Down Those combined with The Fact That Teams in Toledo's Conference Avoided Passing In His Direction. Mitchell Played In A Zone Heavy Scheme; Many Evaluators Have Pointed To Mitchell's Traits For The High Projection The Corner Has butler If You're Traits Don't Get Tested Against Finer Competition, "Explosion" And "Snap Processing" Mean Nothing In The Long Because You're Not The First Traits Laden Player To Enter The League. You Don't Get To See Too Much Mirroring Of Receivers Because He Played a Lot of Zone And Lackluster Competition. After A "Soft" Overview, I'm Not Comfortable With Mitchell As The Top Corner In This Draft, Although I Understand Why Teams and Media Officials Would Love Him.
Some people, And a lot of men, Have Foot Fetishes Or a Podophilla, An Attraction, Or A Stimulating Response To Feet. An Area Of The Brain Called The somatosensory cortex Shares Room With Other Sensory Organs, Thus Resulting In Arousal. I Have A Foot/Feet Fetish. Feet Focus Usually Don't Attach To Women, And They Don't stimulate So Many Sensory Responses, But They arouse Excitement When They're Strapped With Cleats and Booted To A Corner. I remember studying Trent McDuffie two years ago, and his feet had Grace; his body moved seamlessly in conjunction with his feet, like in some combination Between Bruce Lee and Michael Jackson. Nate Wiggins Of Clemson Brings That McDuffie Image To Mind When I Watch His Feet, the 21-Year-Old Tiger's Product Takes Receivers Dancing. Wiggins Can Mirror Everything A Receiver Dictate; His Open Sinewy Frame Give Him The Length and Body Control To Break In On Any Pass. On Tape, Wiggins Performs Great Work Dropping His Hips, Sitting Patient, And Trusting His Speed To Chase Down Receivers. Wiggins Excels In One Coverage—Thanks To These Traits—He is Possible Premier Force In That Skillset In This Draft Thanks To His Height And Athleticism At 6'2 With 4.2 Speed. He's Matchup With Stiff Competition In The ACC, Only Surrendering One Touchdown, 18 Receptions, Generated a 44.4 Passer Rating and a 17.1% Incompletion Rate On 494 Defensive Snaps, Facing Talented Competition From Florida State, North Carolina, And South Carolina Majority In Man Coverage. Wiggins Weighted In 180 Lbs, And Some Critics Knock Him For His Tackling; I'm Not So Concerned About It Because Corners Have To Trade Off Speed For Weight, And You Have To Expect Wiggins To Invest In His Coverage Skills. I'm Comfortable Calling Nate Wiggins The Number One Cornerback In The 2024 NFL by My Estimation. He reminds me of a Ton of Former Clemson Tiger AJ Terrell, with a similar slight frame and elite feet.
Kool-Aid Mckinstry, Alabama.
Whether We Talk About Travon Diggs Or Patrick Surtain Jr., Alabama And Nick Saban, Have A Storied History With These Ball Hawking High IQ Defensive Who Can Stay In Phase With Receivers, And Kool Aid Mckinstry Joins The List Of Alabama Corner. Off The Top Of The Tape, The Number One Trait From McKinstry that Stands Out is his Ability To Get His Hands On The Footballs. Like Galactus's Hunger For Planets, McKinstry Plays The Ball As Well As Any Cornerback In The Draft. Mckinstry does a great job controlling his opponents.
Or So Much Mirroring Them But Not Allowing Receivers to Act As They Would On Routes. Instead, McKinstry Jams Receivers Into The Sideline With A Strength And Uses His Quick Instincts and Play Recognition To Dislodge And Breakup Passes. According To PFF, McKinstry Force Incompletions Of 25% Of His Passes And Played In Press Coverage In 237 Snaps, And Thats is Where He Excelled. When Targeted, McKinstry Allowed A 73.1 Passer Rating But Only Faced 39 Targets Total And Allowed Just 205 Yards and One Touchdown. The Knicks On McKinstry Start Where He Excels; most NFL Teams Don't Play Press Coverage A lot. Around 66% Of NFL snaps Feature Some Form Of Zone Defense, With Press Coverage usually Reserved For 0 Blitz and short-yardage Situations. McKinstry excels in Those Situations, so He'll Have To Adapt To Off-coverage. Another Shift For McKinstry: He's A Good Athlete, Not Great. McKinstry Can Get Over Physical At Times In Long Coverage, And He'll Have To Learn To Release The Tug. He Didn't test At The Combine But Ran "Between" A 4.47 And 4.52–I Think He Plays Closer To 4.5 From Watching The Tape — Forty, 10'1 Broad Jump And A 34.5 Vertical Jump At His Pro Day, All Good Numbers That Fall In The Range Of Patrick Surtain And Trevon Diggs But Elite Numbers At The Position. Both Surtain And Diggs Have Had Their "Ups and Downs" Playing The Position. Another dispute Kool-Aid, Theo Competition He Faced Rarely Matched His Pedigree. Fans Think Of Alabama And the SEC As The Best In College Football, But the Competition Level Bops and Weaves From Week To Week, and By The End Of The Season, McKinstry May Have Played 3-4 top-level NFL Competition. McKinstry Surrendered Two Catches To Malik Nabers—Nabers Assaulted The Bama Secondary For 10 Catches, 171 Yards Back In November— And Struggled To Stay In Phase With Malik Nabers On Comeback Routes. McKinstry Produced A Decent enough Game Against Mississippi State But Struggled Against Auburn, Georgia And Michigan.
Khyree Jackson, Oregon. Traditionally, Most Boards Have Terrion Arnold Of Alabama, Some Combination Of McKinstry, Kamari Lassiter, Or TJ Tampa Of Iowa State Plugged In At the Fifth Spot. I Like Tampa A lot, As Well As Certain Traits From Arnold, And These Corners Will Shift The landscape of The Draft Alongside The Receiver Position. Receivers Hae made the most significant sticking point of conversation in this draft because of the increase in height and speed at the pass-catching position. Defenses Will Have To Evolve Alongside This Growth/Surplus at Pass Catcher With Larger, Lengthier Corners, and That's Why I Like Khyree Jackson. Incredibly Bendy, Excellent Tackler, Incredible Long Strider Who Can Shift Gears and Break In On Receivers And Stick in Long Coverage, Jackson Has The Skill Set For A Prototypical One On One Corner. Jackson transferred to Oregon from Alabama and Only played one season of High-level Play in the PAC-12. He Allowed A Passer Rating Of 41.6 On 320 Coverage Snaps On 19 Receptions Surrendered And A 23.7% Forced Incompletion Percentage. Jackson Will Play Strictly Outside, And He'll Have To Adjust To A Zone Centric Defensive Scheme Of The NFL.
Both Terrion Arnold Of Alabama And TJ Tampa Of Iowa State Look Like Solid Pro Caliber Corners. Tampa Brings Great Size And Scheme Versatility. Arnold's Foot Speed and An Ability and Exciting Athleticism To Stay Lock And Chain With Assignment Through And He's Experienced Playing Zone.
