Cornerbacks, Part Two: The 2014 NFL Draft Class Examined

There wasn’t any movement among the top-5 corners since my post-Combine shakeup, but numbers five through ten are fairly different. No new names, just a different order. Since these guys are deeper down the list I hadn’t watched as much highlight footage and whatever game tape I could find of them (which was a very, very small amount by the way) but as I’ve done more homework I’m getting stronger opinions about these guys.

from h-o-dread-mfw.blogspot.com

6. Jaylen Watkins, Florida (5’11”, 194 lbs.)

I’m starting to develop a big draft crush on this kid. I might even move him above Roby and Fuller when it’s all said and done. He’s largely flown under the radar because he wasn’t even one of the starting cornerbacks on his own team (Marcus Roberson and Loucheiz Purifoy owned those honors), but from everything I’ve read and seen and heard this is the Florida cornerback to target in the draft.

He is the brother of Sammy Watkins—the soon to be top-5 pick Sammy Watkins—and he actually didn’t play a whole lot of cornerback in his final collegiate season. With Roberson and Purifoy on the outside, Watkins made the transition to safety, moving down to nickelback in three receiver sets. That move is actually one of the reasons I’m high on this kid, because it shows three things: he’s selfless and humble, he’s versatile, and he’s a good enough tackler to man the safety position on the early downs.

While he isn’t a clock-cleaner as a downhill hitter, Watkins hits with speed and violence and his highlight reel is filled with as many great tackles as it is pass-breakups and interceptions.

He’s starting to gain steam heading into the draft, especially after outperforming his higher rated teammates at both the Combine and Florida’s pro-day. Reports prior to those two events mainly questioned his athletic ability and top-end speed, while praising his hip fluidity (maybe the most important ability to have when it comes to coverage). With a 4.41 at the Combine Watkins actually was among the top cornerbacks in the entire class, and while it doesn’t completely put to rest conc

erns about his “long speed” I think it’s safe to say that his athletic ability is probably up to the standards it takes to compete in the NFL.

As mentioned above, he has very fluid hips, is a willing and able tackler, and looks to have the necessary lower body explosion for the position. He generally does a good job of finding the ball in the air, and he is very aggressive in competing for contested catches. He also put up 22 reps at the Combine (whereas Purifoy and Roberson put up 6 and 8 respectively) so his dedication in the weight room is evident.

That last sentence is obviously a plus overall, but it is disconcerting that despite his strength (which is very good for the position) he is still so thin-framed. It’s not that big of a deal, but having a thicker build generally helps to protect against injury. Watkins’ arms are also fairly short for a corner, especially of his height, so his length is not great. He may have difficulty covering taller receivers or competing for jump balls. And while I just defended his athleticism, I only meant to do so to prove that I don’t view it as a fault. He definitely does not display enough athleticism on the field to get the benefit of being called a “great athlete” the way Gilbert or Verrett or Roby might.

Still, I have high hopes and high expectations for Watkins, who I think is a dark horse candidate to crack the first round, and who I have a solid second round grade on. He may not have the capability to be a shutdown or No. 1 corner at the next level, but I think he will make an early and lasting impact on whatever team drafts him. He certainly is capable of being a very solid starting cornerback and an above-average nickelback, which would make him very valuable indeed. While it wouldn’t end up being a huge shock to me if he was picked at the end of Round 1, Watkins is likely a Day 2 pick.

from bleacherreport.com

7. Pierre Desir, Lindenwood (6’1”, 198 lbs.)

I’ve been beating on the table for Desir for a while. I’m a big, big fan. He’s only 7^th for two reasons: he went to a small school so the level of competition he played was weak, and I don’t think he has the ability to play the slot.

He has the ideal height, weight and body type for a cornerback. He ran a 4.59 at the Combine which isn’t great, but it’s not bad either, and I don’t think it’s indicative of his playing speed. On tape it seems as if Desir has great long speed (if he were a receiver he’d be called a “long strider”) so he should have no problem defending the deep pass. He also has 33” inch arms, which is tremendous for a corner, so his length will only add to his ability to defend against passes over the top.

He has absolutely phenomenal ball skills. He had 25 interceptions in his collegiate career, a whopping 9 of which came in 2012. Those totals would be smaller if he were playing against better competition, but the fact that he attacks the ball in the air with tenacity and displays soft hands to catch the football can’t be discounted just because he had future car salesman throwing passes in his direction.

At the Senior Bowl he played very well. He’s inconsistent in his technique, which is 100% expected of any small school prospect, but he held his own against “superior” competition and even came away with an interception during the game itself (off a stupid trick play, but hey, they all count the same).

Due to his lack of development at a position that requires sound fundamentals and technique it would be hard to take Desir any earlier than the second round. However, with proper coaching he projects as a No. 1 cornerback at the next level. With his size and speed he can make a big impact on special teams right away.

I should circle back to the point I made in the initial paragraph about my disbelief in his ability to play nickelback. Desir shows pretty fluid hips for a corner of his size, and I haven’t seen any inability to flip his hips and run with deeper routes, or problems in his backpedal, but he (unlike Justin Gilbert, for example) doesn’t display the necessary lateral agility and short area explosion to be able to cover quicker slot receivers. With three-receiver sets becoming so prevalent in the NFL, and the ability to cover the slot at such a premium, I do give higher grades to those players that project well at that position. Desir doesn’t in my opinion, but he does project well to a traditional corner role. Very well.

Desir, like Watkins, may make a late push up the boards and flirt with Round 1, but he’ll likely be a Day 2 pick, coming off the board somewhere between 40-100.

from miamiherald.com

8. Marcus Roberson, Florida (6’0”, 191)

Roberson will probably flirt with the first round, and will likely be drafted before the previous two guys come off the board. He has good size and length for the position and he’s a fairly good athlete. He’s actually fairly comparable to Kyle Fuller as a prospect, in that both are lean corners that could stand to add a little extra bulk at the next level, but whereas Fuller has passed all the physical tests during draft season, Roberson has not.

For a guy that is supposed to be adding weight to his frame to compete at the next level, 8 reps on the bench press is pretty shameful. It just doesn’t look good. Not only does it bring into question his ability to handle press-man schemes and compete against physical receivers, it also (and more importantly) brings into question his dedication to his craft. The fact that he followed up that low total on the bench with a so-so 40 time of 4.61 didn’t help his cause.

I’m not too concerned about his 40-time, because like Desir, Roberson is a lengthy corner and he shows fairly good long speed on tape. And the reason Roberson isn’t suffering quite as badly as his fellow under-achieving teammate, Purifoy, is because he has fairly good tape. Roberson is typically in good coverage, and plays with sound technique. He also has good instincts in coverage and rarely looks lost or out of place, though there are a few “low-lights” of him being too aggressive on double-moves and giving up big plays, but that can be fixed with coaching and better discipline.

Like Desir though I don’t know that Roberson has the necessary lateral agility it takes to play the slot. I also don’t know if he’s physical enough to handle slot duties either. He’s just an OK tackler. Being limited to the outside hurts his stock slightly in my estimation, especially because he’s not yet ideally suited for all techniques necessary to be great on the outside.

He’d probably be best utilized in a scheme that plays a lot of off-man technique. He has the skills to be good in zone, and he has the length to be good in press-man, but he’s going to need to get stronger to handle bigger receivers in press, so he might struggle in that area early on in his career.

Roberson is going to come off the board in the first two rounds. Corners with his length and hip fluidity are hard to find, and he held his own against SEC competition so there won’t be any concerns about his development or level of competition. If he wants to become a top corner though he’s going to need to dedicate himself to the weight room and embrace the physical aspect of the game. I’d like to see him come up stronger in run support, as he sometimes it looks like he’s waiting for other guys around him to make the tackle.

from boltbeat.com

9. Keith McGill, Utah (6’3”, 211 lbs.)

If you can’t tell yet, I’m not 100% enamored with the whole “tall corner” phenomenon quite yet. I very often peruse the forums of 49er fan websites, as well as the comment sections of NFL and ESPN and it pains me how simple some fans think football is. Size in a cornerback is certainly a commodity, and a rare one, but it’s honestly not really at the top of the list when it comes to making a good evaluation of their pro potential.

When Keith McGill ran a 4.51 at the Combine at 6’3” and 211 lbs. I think every uninformed fan of every single team in the NFL added him to the second or third round of their mock drafts. Because he’s the next Richard Sherman right? No. And people forget Sherman was a 5^th round pick. There were flaws with him as a prospect, so much so that not even the genius John Schneider chanced an early draft pick on him. Sherman, for as much as I’d like to discredit him, maximized his talents through hard work (and/or PEDs) and competes with tremendous, tremendous intensity. He’s not great because of his size, but that certainly helps I guess.

I do like McGill more than Stanley Jean-Baptiste—the other DB with tremendous height in this class—and it is because I think he has much better movement skills, which is the primary skillset necessary for the position. Still, all 6’ 3” corners are pretty tight-hipped, especially in comparison to their smaller counterparts, so it’s not like McGill has elite—or even great—hip fluidity, lateral agility and change of direction skills. He’s adequate in all areas, and pretty darn good considering his size.

McGill is built for the outside and the outside only, which is perfectly fine. If he refines his technique and maximizes his potential he will be one hell of an outside cornerback. He has long arms to go along with his height and 4.5 speed, so he should have no trouble defending the deep ball or contesting in jump ball situations.

My biggest issue with McGill is his competitiveness. Every scouting report on the guy says he displays underwhelming physicality despite his size, and this is evident on tape. He’s like a 240 pound RB that wants to juke guys out instead of running them over. With his size you’d like to see him play aggressive: aggressively jam at the line, aggressively compete for contested catches and aggressively attack the line of scrimmage in run support. He rarely does any of these things. Maybe that can be taught—though competitiveness and instincts aren’t usually taught at the NFL level—or maybe he will develop that tenacity at the next level of his own accord, but until he does any comparisons to Richard Sherman or Brandon Browner or whoever else are so off base I can’t even begin to tell you because this evaluation will transform into a full-fledged rant.

He isn’t a great tackler from a form standpoint, and his ball-skills are average at best. His hands leave something to be desired to say the least. He’s a project at CB, but he has the size and speed to be one worth undertaking.

Basically, he needs to go to Seattle to become the cornerback everyone wants him to be. They will feed him amphetamines and steroids and he’ll be subjected to Pete Carroll’s gum-smacking rah-rah bullshit on a daily basis so his frustration and aggression will grow to the point it needs to be at to be an extremely successful outside cornerback.

McGill is a Day 2 pick. I doubt he’ll slip beyond the third round.

from footballsfuture.com

10. Phillip Gaines, Rice (6’0”, 193 lbs.)

Alright so this is probably high for Gaines. There are guys that are likely going to go ahead of him (Bashaud Breeland, E.J. Gaines, even Purifoy, etc.) and maybe rightfully so, but I have a gut feeling about this guy and I wanted to write a little something about him, so he snuck into my top-10.

He has prototypical size and length for the position, but he primarily played zone concepts in college, which is actually a big plus for a guy of his size and physical ability. His experience in zone should help his route recognition and should have helped him develop good eye discipline and ball skills. He also displays good quickness to explode to the ball, so his short area quickness seems to be a positive area.

He really caught my (and everyone else’s) attention with a 4.38 40-yard dash at the Combine—as well as two very impressive times in the 20 yard shuttle and 3-cone drill—to display pretty elite athleticism and agility. Guys his size that post those numbers are difficult to find.

Still, like many of the other corners before him, Gaines could stand to get stronger, especially because he doesn’t have that much experience in man coverage (or at least less than most corners entering the draft). Rice also doesn’t play the toughest schedule in college football, so his level of competition is lacking.

While he’s not the most aggressive or physical corner, Gaines shows adequate skills in run support, and in general seems to be willing to get his hands dirty. He plays with competitiveness and is excellent at competing for the ball. He has some of the best instincts to find the ball in the air and make pass breakups of any corner in this class, and that’s a large part of why I’ve moved him so high on my board.

He’s a little underdeveloped, physically and in his technique, but he has the athletic ability to be an impact cornerback at the next level, and displays enough of the necessary traits to make a good nickelback with the right coaching. He definitely is not a Week 1 starter, but a team that can stash him as a depth player and special teamer and coach him up might have themselves a steal in the mid-rounds.

Gaines might be drafted in the second round, but I think it’s probably a better projection to say he’ll come off the board somewhere in Rounds 3 and 4, with an outside chance he slips into the fifth.

There are other corners worth discussing, but as I’ve mentioned before I don’t get paid to do this stuff, and there are like 10 other position groups I’ve got to get to before the end of May, so that’s all I’ve got for y’all. Hope it was enlightening. Wide receivers are next.