2026 Offensive Line Prospects

 

Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami

Mauigoa’s game is built around power. As a run blocker he has the ability to blast people backwards off the ball, either driving them into the second level or collapsing the entire half of the line to open a massive hole behind him. He’s an old fashioned right tackle, the sort of player you tilt your entire running game to power behind on a regular basis. He has enough athleticism to pull off a handful of reach blocks, though can sometimes struggle to move his feet around to truly seal a defender off from a play if forced to work too far laterally. He’s better at the point of attack than on the backside, but he’s good enough at both to be a consistent plus in the running game.

The story is similar in pass protection. He isn’t the quickest or twitchiest athlete, but his technique is clean and his strength allows him to get away with things other tackles can’t. He’s a very patient player, mostly just sitting back and waiting for a pass rusher to come to him. This means that he never gets out of balance, and is always in position to react to whatever move is thrown at him. He can sometimes be a bit slow to react to inside moves, but even when a defender is able to get an edge on him he has the upper body strength to keep them from powering through, able to stick out a single arm to stop them in their tracks before they can reach the quarterback.

There are things to clean up in pass protection. Mauigoa’s patience can occasionally stray into passivity, as he’ll hold his arms back and let pass rushers attack into his chest. Most of the time his 329 frame has no problem absorbing the contact, but against good pass rushers he can sometimes lose leverage and be knocked back. He has a strong punch when he deploys it but doesn’t use it often enough. It’s a delicate line between too passive and too aggressive, and most of the time Mauigoa pulls it off, but in the NFL I think he would benefit from leaning more towards the aggression side.

I don’t necessarily see a top tier NFL tackle in Mauigoa, but I see a solid player who can be counted on for years at the position, with enough surety that I’d be willing to take him in the top ten. I would be mildly intrigued if a team wanted to move him to guard, where I think he does have the potential to be one of the best in the league, but I think he’s got enough athleticism that he’ll stick on the outside long term.

 

Monroe Freeling, OT, Georgia

Freeling is the high-risk, high-reward player in this year’s offensive line class. As a physical prospect he is spectacular, standing 6-7 and weighing 315 pounds with nearly 35 inch arms. He tested above the 90^th percentile in both the forty yard dash and the vertical leap, and that athleticism shows up on the field. He makes impressive reach blocks in the running game, and he shows incredible quickness in pass protection, able to recover from basically any situation to find his way back into the path of the pass rusher.

The issue with Freeling is that he needs too lean on this recovery ability a bit too often. His technique is very raw, and too often he will be caught leaning too far forward, missing with his punch and having to flail around to try to keep up with a pass rusher. Most of the time his raw athleticism is enough to keep the defender from pressuring the quarterback, but the margins are always thinner in the NFL, and I think he’ll struggle early on.

Freeling only started for a single year in college, and he showed improvement over the course of that season, so taking him is a gamble on that improvement continuing. Because if it does, he has the potential to be one of the best in the league. He’s strong enough to get movement in the running game, and when he does land his punch it’s enough to knock even strong pass rushers backwards. There’s more of his athleticism to harness as well, if he can get better about keeping his feet moving to sustain a block through the course of the play. There’s enough risk of failure here that I’d be reluctant to spend a top ten pick on him, but enough upside that I would be willing to take the gamble over some of the safer players on the list below.

 

Spencer Fano, OT/OG, Utah

There are two Utah tackles likely to go in the first round this year, and I see the two of them as having very similar value, despite being very different players. Fano is the technician of the two, a fairly polished player who is somewhat limited by his physical tools. In his case, the issue is mostly length. He’s 6-5 and 311 pounds, which is good enough for a tackle but still a little less than ideal. The bigger issue is his arm length. At only 32 inches they are below the typical threshold for a tackle, a problem that seems to pop up with at least one lineman each year.

And it is a problem for Fano. He struggles to win when he tries to use his arms, not getting much disruption with his punch on defenders and too often taking contact into his chest. He doesn’t get driven backwards into the quarterback, but he can be knocked off balance to set up the next move. He struggles some to close down the edge against speed rushes, and he isn’t great at sustaining blocks, at times letting defenders slide outside the frame of his body and having no option but to grab hold and hang on for dear life.

This is unfortunate, because all the other parts of Fano’s game are awesome. He tested as a top tier athlete, and while I think that slightly overstates his performance on the field, he is still capable of movement that very few linemen are. He dances with ease to mirror pass rushers across from him, and he can pull off aggressive reach blocks to open things up in the running game. He’s also able to drive defenders off the ball, opening massive holes as a point of attack blocker. At times Utah would even flip the sides of their two lineman so they could run directly behind Fano, not caring that they were telling the defense exactly where the ball was going because they could count on him to win on pure physical force.

Everything I described about Fano makes it seem like he’d make an awesome guard, and I think that is probably where he will play most of his career in the NFL. But his quickness is enough that I would be tempted to give him a chance at tackle, in the event he is one of the rare athletes who is good enough to overcome his shortcomings. With practice I think he can develop enough technique to be at least average with his arms, which combined with his quickness could make him an above average starting tackle. Either way, as a project tackle or a high-upside guard, I see his value as comfortably in the middle of the first round.

 

Caleb Lomu, OT, Utah

Lomu is another tackle who looks great on paper but is still figuring some stuff out on the field. He doesn’t quite have the length of Freeling, but he has what he needs to succeed at tackle in the NFL, to go along with elite level athletic testing. On the field I think his athleticism falls more into the camp of “very good” rather than elite, which is enough to knock him a rung below Freeling, even if he’s closer to being a finished product.

Lomu generally plays with good technique and balance. He can be a little passive on his drops at times and not give himself the space needed to adjust to the pass rush, but this is easily corrected with coaching. When he does take the proper angles, he has the physicality to stop rushers dead in their tracks and the lateral agility to keep in front of all but the quickest rushers. At times he can play a little high, which leads to some ugly losses when defenders attack into his chest, but most of the time he is able to anchor and absorb contact before it can become a problem.

The biggest flaw I see with Lomu is that he seems just a little stiff as an athlete. He can cover a lot of ground moving laterally, but he struggles at times to swing his hips around to seal a defender off from a play. This can cause issues in the running game, where defenders are able to slide off his contact to either make a tackle or draw a holding penalty. This is a flaw that can be mostly smoothed over, and Lomu has enough upside to make him worth a pick in the middle of the first round. I think ultimately he’ll settle in as a middle-tier starter, a valuable player if not an exciting one.

 

Olaivavega Ioane, OG, Penn State

If you’re looking for a guard I think I’d prefer a couple of the names higher on the list converting from tackle, but I wouldn’t blame you if you’d want the safer option of someone who has spent years playing the position. And Ioane is about as safe as they come. He isn’t extraordinary at anything, but he’s very good at pretty much everything. He gets some movement off the line of scrimmage but doesn’t blow anyone backwards. He can keep up with most pass rushers on the interior but can occasionally lose to quickness. He’s a well-rounded, plug and play NFL starter who will be among the better guards in the league for a long time, if not ever the best.

If there’s one part of Ioane’s game that really shines it’s his ability to move in space. He is a fantastic puller, able to get to the hole with ease and then turn up to make plays on anyone in the hole. He has very fluid hips that allow him to flip around and seal defenders away from the play on a consistent basis. This helps cover for what is probably the biggest weakness of his game, which is a struggle to sustain blocks. When a defender is able to keep him square Ioane has trouble stopping them from sliding to the side as the play develops. He needs to use his body to cut them off from the play, and fortunately he has the footspeed to make this happen most of the time.

Ioane has some things to clean up as all young players do—he plays high at times and can get knocked backwards by initial contact in pass protection, which will be harder to recover from in the NFL—but he’s closer to ready than almost anyone else on this list. He’s worth a selection in the top twenty, and for the right team could probably justify jumping a couple of the players I have above him.

 

Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama

Proctor is the behemoth of this year’s offensive line class. He is 6-6 and 352 pounds, and he carries that size well on the field. He is a good athlete who is able to make plays in space, and it is basically impossible to move him backwards. Every pass rusher that tries to attack his chest is simply swallowed by his bulk, never getting more than a couple inches of backwards movement before grinding to a halt.

When discussing a couple players above I mentioned issues sustaining blocks once they get their hands on a defender. That isn’t an issue for Proctor. When he gets his hands on an opponent in either the run or the passing game, the play is basically over. His upper body is incredibly strong, and he is able to grip a defender and hold him inside his frame, in complete control as he moves his feet to seal him away from the ball.

The issue comes in everything before he gets his hands on the defender. Proctor is a good athlete in a linear way, able to cover ground well whether it’s hitting his drops in pass protection or coming around as a puller or heading to the second level. But he struggles to change direction once his initial move has been made, and quicker defenders are frequently able to dance past him. Better technique might clean some of this up, but I think it’s mostly a physical shortcoming that will stick with him in the NFL.

A move to guard might help, but I would also like to see more from him in the running game. He never gets as much displacement as I’d expect from someone with his size and strength. I think his height works against him a bit, as he can play high and have issues getting beneath a defender enough to shove him backwards. He’s still good enough as a run blocker for that to be a plus of his game, but he isn’t the sort of weapon you’d expect just looking at him on paper.

Proctor’s physical tools give him a lot of advantages, but they also hold him back in ways as well. I think this will be the case at whatever position he plays, keeping him from ever being more than a pretty good player. This makes him better suited as a pick near the end of the first round after the players with higher upside are off the board.

 

Blake Miller, OT, Clemson

Miller is another player with all the physical tools you could want from a tackle. He has the height and weight and long arms, and he tested as a phenomenal athlete. That athleticism shows up on the field where he is a fluid mover who covers ground with ease. He has excellent recovery ability and is typically able to find a way to make a block work even if he’s beaten on initial contact.

The problem with Miller is that he relies far too much on this recovery ability, because he is beaten on initial contact too often. Above I discussed some linemen who struggled with power and others who struggle with quickness. Miller struggles with both. He plays with wide hands that leave his chest open to getting bowled over by power rushes. He also will get caught leaning too far forward, leaving him stumbling against air when a quicker defender is able to step to the side to get around him.

Miller’s technique is a mess, and I don’t think he can play in the NFL until he has a significant amount of development and also likely some work in the weight room. There are enough good plays on his tape to make me think he can develop down the road, and his athletic potential gives him good upside if he puts things together. But that’s a gamble that will only pay off two or three years down the road, and even with his gifts he’s not the sort of player I’d want to take until day two.

2026 Defensive Front Prospects

 

This is the longest of my draft previews, because this is the deepest and most interesting group of players in the draft. I had to lump together a lot of different positions into this analysis because quite a few players on this list seem to straddle traditional position designations. There is a lot of potential here, but also a lot of risk. Which is what makes the draft so much fun.

 

David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech

Bailey is going to put the quarterback on the ground. He led college football with 14.5 sacks a year ago, and he is going to be among the top sack-producers in the NFL. He is an explosive athlete with a wide assortment of moves, the sort of player who can beat an opposing tackle in three different ways on back-to-back-to-back plays. He can fire off the ball and come screaming around the corner. He has a lethal spin move that basically can’t be stopped by a single blocker. And he is utterly relentless, never getting stuck on blocks and always working to find his way into the pocket to bring the quarterback down.

Bailey is an elite pass rusher and well worth a top five pick, and there are only a couple things that hold him back from joining the elite tier of edge defenders I’ve scouted (Myles Garrett, Chase Young, the Bosas). He’s a bit on the small side at only 6-3 and 251 pounds, not enough to prevent him from being one of the best in the league, but enough to keep him from being utterly unstoppable. He can occasionally get good push going through a blocker’s chest, but he is more adept at going around contact than through it. He plays with good technique and leverage as a run defender, and I think he's better than he gets credit for, but the stronger linemen in the NFL might be able to push him around a little.

I do think there is room to grow in Bailey’s game, and he is more than just the safest edge prospect in the class. He does some nice subtle work with his hands, but there’s more technique he can develop to keep blockers from cutting off his path. It’s very difficult for anyone to lay a hand on him, but when they do he can get widened off his path. I think he has the frame to add more muscle, which should help him cut the corner sharper when he does explode past a tackle’s initial set. As he is now, Bailey looks like a reliable double-digit sack producer, with the potential to grow to someone consistently competing for the league lead.

 

Rueben Bain, EDGE, Miami

I have to start by talking about the arms. One of the most-discussed topics of the draft season is the length of Bain’s arms, and with good reason. Measuring less than 31 inches at the Combine, his arms aren’t just shorter than average. They are historically short, the sort of thing that we almost never see from an NFL edge rusher, much less one in the conversation to be a first round pick.

How much does arm length matter? Well, it definitely matters some. Edge rushers use their arms for all sorts of things. They’re used to create a buffer between themselves and a blocker. They’re used to establish leverage when going for a bull rush. And they’re used to make tackles, as the best linemen are able to close off gaps on either side simply by sticking out their arms and grabbing a ball carrier as they try to escape past.

All of these are issues that show up on Bain’s tape. He can get incredible drive into a blocker’s chest when he goes for a bull rush, but he can also be stopped dead in his tracks when the opposing lineman sticks out his hands to cushion the blow. He holds his ground extremely well in the running game, but he can struggle to separate from blocks to bring a ball carrier down. When a lineman gets his hands on Bain, there isn’t much he can do.

The arm length is an issue. And the tape is good enough that I am mostly willing to look past it. Bain was the best player in college football at any position last year, the sort of destructive force that regularly took over games and gave nightmares to quarterbacks, linemen, and coaches.

He makes up for his shortcomings with an assortment of traits that I would best describe as eccentric. He has a broad frame and a powerful build, but he is also lightning quick laterally and his incredible bend around the corner. His hand technique can best be described as brute force, an aggressive and violent array of swipes that make up for their lack of diversity with simple overwhelming power. If you can get your hands on Bain, you can block him, but most of the time anyone who tries finds their own arms swatted away as Bain races past into the backfield.

It’s hard to know how to value a player like this. It’s possible that his game is varied enough to make his physical shortcomings mostly irrelevant, in which case he has the upside to be one of the best in the league. It’s also possible that more gifted and more skilled linemen in the NFL will know how to counter his attacks, leaving him consistently frustrated. I would put better odds on the former than the latter, and in the end I think he’ll settle in as a player who dominates most of the time, who will then disappear two or three games a year when facing an elite blocker who knows how to take advantage of his flaws. All in all, still a player I’d happily spend a top ten pick on, and could maybe even justify taking him in the top five.

 

Caleb Banks, DT, Florida

Banks is another tricky evaluation, for different reasons. As a physical specimen he is overwhelming, 6-6 and 327 pounds with 35 inch arms. He ran a 5.04 forty and had a 32 inch vertical leap and a 114 inch broad jump, all numbers that would have been impressive even if he was 20 pounds lighter. He is a rare caliber of athlete, the sort who even if his tape was terrible you’d still be tempted to take a chance on in the hope he could put things together.

And the thing is, his tape is pretty good, if a little incomplete. He is an explosive and violent player, who alternatives shooting through a gap into the backfield with tossing aside blockers as if they aren’t 300 pound men. He is quicker than anyone his size has any right to be, and he has a variety of hand moves to give himself an edge. He utilizes these tools more as a run defender than a pass rusher, but he shows enough flashes getting after the quarterback that I think he can grow into something there, even if it’s still a work in progress.

The one bizarre hole in his game is a complete inability to tackle. Two or three times a game he will explode into the backfield and have a clean shot at bringing a running back down for a big loss, and most of these end with him stumbling past with his arms empty. I think in some ways his height can work against him, as he struggles to bend and change directions. (It’s also sometimes an issue when he tries to hold up against a double team, where he can play too high and get moved back a little.) The tackling issues obviously aren’t great, but they bother me less from a lineman than they did when breaking down a safety with similar issues last week. Even when Banks misses a tackle, there are typically plenty of other people around to make up for it, and his disruption in the backfield is usually enough to ruin a play even if he doesn’t bring the ball carrier down.

The other thing we have to discuss with Banks is health. He played only three games his final season in college because of a foot injury, a problem he reaggravated working out at the Combine. For someone this big repeated foot issues are a major red flag, the sort of thing that can sink a career before it begins. Once again, I can’t really weigh in on a player’s health or how it impacts his future. Without the injury problems, I would absolutely spend a top ten pick on Banks. But I also understand why many people have him falling out of the first round.

 

Arvell Reese, LB/EDGE, Ohio State

In a year of difficult evaluations, Reese might be the most difficult. He is a freakish athlete, with incredible speed and impressive length. Get him in open space and he is an absolute terror, able to chase down any ball carrier and almost never missing a tackle. As an athlete the potential is through the roof. The question with him is what position he plays, and how that impacts his value.

The most valuable thing that Reese does is put the quarterback on the ground. He is a bit small for a traditional edge rusher, but his athletic tools are enough to make up for any lack of size, with the explosiveness to tear into the backfield and the quickness to dance around blockers. A lot of people see him in the model of players like Micah Parsons and Abdul Carter, who made similar transitions from linebacker to pass rusher and are now among the most dangerous players in the league. (Yes, Carter is dangerous, don’t let some bad sack luck as a rookie fool you.)

Reese has the tools to be an elite pass rusher, and he shows enough moments of harnessing them on tape to make me think there’s something there. But he is still extremely inexperienced at the position, and when you watch the tape in totality it can be a little underwhelming. He doesn’t really do anything with his hands, and he doesn’t come with any consistent pass rush plan.

As an edge rusher Reese is mostly still a project with extremely high upside. At linebacker the path is much clearer, if potentially lower in value. He is simply an awesome player as an off-ball linebacker, with great instincts that combine with incredible closing speed and violence to make it almost impossible to run with him in the box. He scrapes with ease through traffic, he has the speed to chase down plays to either sideline, and the power to explode into blockers and send much larger men flailing backwards to plug up any hole.

The question becomes how valuable a player like this can be, and whether it is worth spending a top ten selection on one. Because there are absolutely linebackers in the NFL worth that can have this value, but only because of what they bring to the table in pass coverage. Reese is still figuring things out in this part of his game. He has the athleticism to be an elite cover linebacker, and he has a handful of plays each game where he shuts down a receiver trying to run past him in the middle of the field. But there are also plays where he just kind of drifts aimlessly in coverage, the sort of lapses that NFL quarterbacks will feast on.

So what do you do with Reese? Do you try to transition him to edge in the hope he can live up to his highest possible outcome? Do you stick him at linebacker and let him develop his instincts in coverage? Or do you try to work some middle ground, bouncing him between the two positions as he did at Ohio State and risking that he never becomes truly elite at either? I honestly don’t know, and for that reason I’d be reluctant to take him until we got out of the top ten.

 

Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State

The two Ohio State linebackers are fascinating side-by-side comparisons. They’re basically the same size, they ran the exact same 40 time, and they were used fairly interchangeably in Ohio State’s defense. Everything I said about Reese as a run defender can basically be copied and pasted for Styles. He reads plays well, he covers ground in a hurry, and he fills holes with violence. In this part of the game, he’s everything you want from a linebacker.

Where Styles really differentiates himself from Reese is in coverage. He’s a former safety who has all the instincts and recognition of that position, which he utilizes to shut down receivers in both man and zone coverage. He is flexible enough to adjust his zone drops as the routes develop in front of him, and he does a great job reading the quarterback’s eyes to anticipate a throw. If he can carry over these skills from college to the NFL, he has the potential to develop into one of the rare linebackers that can completely reshape how an offense is forced to attack simply by shutting down the middle part of the field.

I’m pretty sure that these skills will translate, and Styles is one of the rare linebackers I can talk myself into spending a top ten selection on. But linebacker coverage responsibilities are one of the things that have the biggest gap between college and pro, and I’ve been burned enough by incredible athletes who never figured it out that I’m still a little skittish. Styles and Reese could be listed in any order here, and ultimately it just comes down to what you want. If you’re looking to gamble on someone with pass rushing upside, grab Reese. If you want a pure linebacker, take Styles.

 

Keldric Faulk, DT/EDGE, Auburn

Most people seem to be treating Faulk as an edge, but I don’t think that makes sense. He just doesn’t have the explosiveness or the bend to win as a pass rusher coming around the edge. NFL tackles will be able to attack him without fear of him racing past them, and protection schemes will be comfortable leaving him on an island, allowing them to send extra blockers to shore up other spots on the line. He's still extremely young, and the physical tools are there, but it would take a massive leap for him to become even average here.

The lack of pass rush juice is unfortunate, because Faulk is a genuinely incredible run defender. He has good size at 6-6 and 276 pounds, to go along with 34 inch arms that he uses to their full potential. He plays with excellent leverage, establishing control into a blocker’s chest to keep from ever being moved backwards. He then has enough technique with his hands to shed the block at will, allowing him to range to either side to close off two gaps at once.

His skill as a run defender is enough to get him onto the field, but you need to pose at least some pass rushing threat to be more than an average edge defender, and I think Faulk has a better chance of developing this if he switches position. He bounced around on Auburn’s front, and while he wasn’t a consistent threat as an interior rusher, he at least showed signs to make me think he has potential to grow in that area. He’s incredibly quick in tight spaces, and the same length and hand usage that make him so lethal as a run defender occasionally let him tear nearly untouched into the backfield and land right in the quarterback’s lap.

I think the best path forward would be for Faulk to add another 10 to 20 pounds and focus most of his time playing on the interior. The best fit would be as an end in a 3-4 scheme, with a nose tackle to one side to swallow up double teams and a more explosive edge on the other to draw attention in pass protection. In the right situation, he has the tools to develop into a superstar, with the fallback of being a rotation piece on first and second down to choke off a running game. But there’s enough uncertainty about the position change, as well as the lack of scheme versatility, that I still wouldn’t take the chance until later in the first round.

 

Cashius Howell, EDGE, Texas A&M

Remember all the time I spent talking about how short Bain’s arms are? Well Howell’s are somehow even shorter. That’s where the similarities between their games end, though. Where Bain has adapted to his lack of length by developing powerful swats to keep himself clean, Howell has built a game based around speed and elusiveness. If a lineman gets his hands on him, there really isn’t much he can do. So he does everything in his power to keep away from those hands.

Howell’s first step is explosive, and from there he can attack an opposing tackle from either direction in space. He can come screaming around the edge, bending to get beneath the blocker’s punch and cutting a sharp corner in towards the quarterback. He has remarkable flexibility, which allows him to attack while being turned sideways to minimize the amount of area a blocker can strike. He can also attack the inside, either sharply cutting back across the tackle’s face or spinning to get a clean lane towards the quarterback. He has incredible closing speed once he has an avenue, which makes him absolutely lethal on stunts, looping back inside and arriving in the quarterback’s lap before he even knows what’s happening.

Howell used these tools to wreak havoc on the weakest competition he faced, but he struggled some against tackles of the caliber he’s going to face in the NFL. His pass rushing technique still isn’t super advanced, and to succeed long term he’s probably going to have to do at least something with his hands. He shows signs of being able to use his shorter frame to get good leverage and turn that into a bull rush, but he will need to add play strength without sacrificing his explosiveness or flexibility.

Howell is a solid enough player against the run, able to hold his ground as a point of attack defender and keep blockers from widening him too much on the edge. He isn’t really able to separate from blocks at that point, meaning he needs a teammate to come and clean up the mess, but he at least won’t be a liability getting blown off the ball. The other thing that adds value is that he’s pretty good dropping into coverage, able to turn and run and make plays on the ball in the air. If you’re a team running the right scheme—a 3-4 defense that uses a lot of creative blitz packages—I think his versatility and potential for growth is worth a gamble at the end of the first round.

 

Kayden McDonald, DT, Ohio State

If you want someone who is just going to eat up space in the middle of your defensive line, McDonald is your guy. At 326 pounds he just absorbs blockers, basically impossible for a single offensive lineman to move off his spot. He typically plays with excellent leverage getting into a blocker’s chest and taking control with his hands, but even when he doesn’t he has the pure mass to sink his hips and hold his ground. Occasionally double teams can move him back a little bit, but he’s typically able to anchor and hold his ground from there, while the linebackers behind him take advantage of the space to scrape and make the play.

McDonald is great at absorbing blockers, but what really makes him special is his ability to make a play on the ball when it comes near him. He regularly tosses aside blockers, and from there he has the flexibility to keep his balance and twist to bring down a running back. He has the ability to completely destroy running plays on his own, and opposing offenses often don’t even bother trying to run into the middle gaps.

The question with a player like McDonald is how much he brings in pass rush, and how much you value a player that doesn’t offer much in that part of the game. He can occasionally compress the pocket with bull rushes, though he doesn’t have many plays where he simply overpowers someone and throws him back into the quarterback’s lap. I think he shows potential to develop more skill as a pass rusher if he can harness his ability to shed blockers in the same way he does in the running game, but it’s very much still a work in progress. And I don’t think he has the quickness to ever be anything more than a pure power rusher, which limits him as well. He’s still a very useful player, but more of a situational one. I wouldn’t be averse to grabbing him at the tail end of the first round, but I’d feel better about it in the second.

 

Akheem Mesidor, EDGE, Miami

Mesidor is another edge rusher who isn’t great at rushing from the edge. He has a bit more burst and bend than Faulk, but he is still comfortably below what I would hope for from a potential first round pick. Like Faulk he has the quickness to win on interior rushes, but unlike Faulk he doesn’t have the size to make me think he can play there on a regular basis.

Mesidor is solid against the run, though not the sort of dominant force that would be enough to get him on the field if he can’t generate pressure. He holds up well against double teams but can get widened some when trying to squeeze the corner from the edge. His hands are good but not great, and he gets caught on blocks a little more than I’d like. He’s a good athlete though, and he can make some plays chasing the ball down from behind.

Mesidor is one of the oldest players in the class at 25 years old, suggesting he probably has less room to grow. I think he’s at least an NFL rotation player, with the potential to grow into an average starter, but nothing more than that. On the whole he adds up as a prospect with a low ceiling and a reliable floor, the sort of player I likely wouldn’t take until the middle of day two.

 

Peter Woods, DT, Clemson

Woods is a bit of a tweener. Not big enough to be a space eating nose tackle, and not explosive enough to be a high-level disruptor. He has some good strength and technique with his hands, and he can make some nice plays holding his ground in the running game, but he doesn’t have the power to absorb double teams or the speed to penetrate deep into the backfield. He’s quick in tight spaces, but he doesn’t utilize that quickness to the extent he should be able to, leaving him as just kind of a bland and inoffensive presence in the middle of the defense. I think he’ll develop into a functional starter in the NFL, but he doesn’t have the sort of upside I’d want from a player before the latter half of the second round.

Woods’s tape is defined by its inconsistency. He can make some really nice plays scraping laterally to close down a rushing lane, but he will also sometimes let his feet stop and get sealed too easily away from a play. He can get good leverage and hold his ground against a downhill attack, but he can also get in trouble trying to dance sideways and run away to abandon his gap. He can make some nice plays to split double teams, but he can also be caught completely blindsided and knocked backwards off the line of scrimmage.

I can live with inconsistency in younger players, taking a chance that they can continue to develop and iron out their weak plays. The problem with Woods is that his best plays aren’t that impressive either. He doesn’t bring much to the table as a pass rusher, spending most of his time just trying to run around the blocker in front of him. This can be an effective tool, if its alternated with a power move to leave blockers uncertain how to approach each play. But Woods never shows any sign of being able to compress the pocket, so opposing linemen are comfortable sitting back on their heels and letting him dance in front of them posing no threat to the quarterback.

2026 Skill Position Prospects

 

KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M

It feels like every draft class has one first round receiver who is the “small but fast” guy. Most of the time I find myself a bit lower than consensus on this guy, which is why I'm a bit surprised to be higher on Concepcion than everyone else seems to be. He is my favorite receiver in the class, while most other people have him somewhere between number four and number six.

I do understand some of the concerns with Concepcion. Like all of these smaller guys he can struggle some with physical coverage. He needs to be more consistent about winning against press off the line, because if a defender gets hands on him the play is basically over. But he plays bigger than he is at the catch point, with the ability to go outside his frame to snag the ball and enough strength and coordination to win through contact. He had some issues with drops this year, but I’m pretty forgiving of that as an evaluator. It’s something that can be cleaned up with more experience, and he creates enough positive plays to make up for the negatives.

These flaws are probably enough to knock him outside of the top ten for me, but not much below that. He does too many things well for me to not believe he’ll become a very good receiver down the road. His speed is obviously the first weapon he has, the ability to separate over the top or on crossing routes that makes him almost impossible to match up with in man coverage. He’s inconsistent as a route runner, but his best plays show an ability to set up defenders and then explode into open space, and he does this frequently enough for me to believe he can become an elite route runner in time. He needs to get better at understanding when and where to attack zone coverages, but again that’s something that can be developed.

Concepcion needs some polish, and there is risk of failure here. But if he puts everything together he can be a top ten receiver in the league, and until then he’s the sort of player who will always have value in most offenses. He’s the best deep threat in the class, and also the best with the ball in his hands, with good instincts for attacking space and enough strength to avoid being brought down by arm tackles. Smart coaches will find ways to use him while he rounds out his game and grows into what he has the potential to be.

 

Makai Lemon, WR, USC

You can take most of what I said about Concepcion and apply it to Lemon as well. He’s another undersized receiver who plays bigger than he is but still mostly wins through speed and quickness, with the ability to accelerate out of the breaks in his routes and the creativity to create yardage once he has the ball in his hands. The differences between the two are small, and I wouldn’t quibble with teams that would prefer the slightly safer bet of Lemon, even if I think falls just short of the upside to be among the top tier of NFL receivers.

Lemon is a quick, explosive player, but I would categorize his explosiveness as “very good” compared to Concepcion’s “elite”. He accelerates well when he changes direction, but it occasionally takes him an extra step to get back to full speed. And he doesn’t have Concepcion's second gear to really separate over the top, which will require a bit more precision from his quarterback when attacking down the field. He plays the ball well in the air though, and he can create some catches on inaccurate balls that receivers with his stature occasionally struggle with.

Lemon is fairly polished as a player, and he should be able to contribute immediately in the NFL. He runs good routes, though could also be better at avoiding coverage that disrupts them down the field. He’s very smart at attacking zones and creative about improvising to create separation when a play breaks down. He’s a solid blocker too and might be most effective playing the majority of his time in the slot while he rounds out the other parts of his game to grow into a true number one option.

 

Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State

Tyson is the best route-runner in his class, and one of the best route-runners I can remember studying. He consistently creates separation simply with his technique. He is sharp off the line to beat press coverage, manipulating defenders with jab steps in order to open quick opportunities on slants and whip routes. On longer-developing plays he knows how to use false steps to take advantage of a cornerback’s leverage, and he explodes out of all of his cuts, with fluid hips that allow him to go from running full speed vertically to full speed laterally with as few steps as possible. He is lethal on deep outs and digs, the sort of receiver who is almost always open.

On my first couple watches of Tyson this ability to generate separation had me thinking of him as a potential top ten pick. But the more I watched him, the more I found myself disappointed by the lack of anything else in his game. He has good size at 6-2, but he doesn’t play particularly big, at times struggling to go outside his frame to make catches or win the ball through contact. He doesn’t have the speed to scare defenses over the top, and he doesn’t do a lot after the catch.

Tyson is a bit of a one-trick pony, but it’s a hell of a trick to have. There are plenty of very good receivers in the league who aren’t the most overwhelming physical specimens, and I think Tyson will ultimately settle in as a solid number one or very good number two receiver, who could be particularly dangerous if placed with a top-notch quarterback. He has some injury concerns that may knock him down further, but I’d be perfectly happy selecting him in the middle of the first round.

 

Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years discussing how I value running backs in the draft, so I’ll try to be brief here. I think it would require an extraordinarily rare running back for me to justify taking one in the top ten. Not because it isn’t a valuable position, but because the value mostly comes when there is a strong supporting cast to put the back in position to succeed, and teams drafting in the top ten rarely have that infrastructure. Last year was about as close as I’ve come with Ashton Jeanty, and even then I ended up slotting him just outside the top ten.

Love isn’t on the same level as Jeanty, but he’s on the next tier down. He is just a very good, very well-rounded running back, with no real holes in his game and enough top-end speed to keep the defense sweating when he has the ball in his hands. He isn’t the same sort of bowling ball who never goes down that Jeanty was, but he’s strong enough to break occasional tackles, and almost always finds a way to fall forward for extra yards. He gets to top speed in a hurry and can outrace defenders to the edge, but he’s at his best working between the tackles where he can attack moving downhill. He’ll occasionally make a poor choice of hole or get caught trying to bounce outside on a play that isn’t there, but you can mostly count on him getting what’s available and a bit more on top of that.

If there’s one thing that might push Love into the top tier of running backs, it’s his skill as a receiver. He’s dangerous coming out of the backfield and versatile enough to split out wide and run occasional routes down the field. He has very good hands and can make difficult catches, and he transitions smoothly from receiver to runner to take advantage of his skills in open space. He doesn’t have a lot of experience in pass protection, and when he was asked to do it I would mostly describe him as “good enough”. He probably can’t be relied on too much right away in the NFL, but I think he can grow into it.

In total, the package of Love is someone absolutely worth a first round pick, but maybe not until the second half of the round. In the right situation he has the potential to grow into the best running back in the league, but he isn’t the sort of talent that can transcend his supporting cast.

 

Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State

The top three receivers are all bunched pretty tightly together, and I wouldn’t quibble too much with any order you want to put them in. There’s a bit of a gap down to the next tier, a group of receivers who are better value in the latter half of the first round than the first half. Tate is my favorite of this tier, but again that’s mostly a matter of stylistic preference. He is probably the safest receiver selection in this class, though he lacks the upside of the others above him, and will likely be better suited in the NFL sticking with his collegiate role as an overqualified second option.

As a physical specimen Tate is nothing special. He has decent height at 6-2 but is skinny and only weighs 192 pounds, which means that he plays high and can be pushed around some by press coverage. He has decent quickness but not the sort that can punish defenders by making them miss at the line and then sprinting past them into space. He doesn’t explode out of his breaks in the way the players above him do, and while he’s a very good deep ball receiver thanks to his understanding of coverage and ball skills, he only ran a 4.52 in the forty, demonstrating his lack of real game-changing speed over the top.

There isn’t anything extraordinary about Tate’s game, but there are a lot of pretty good things. His greatest tool is probably his body control, which enables him to extend outside his frame to catch inaccurate passes and to make difficult toe-tapping grabs along the sidelines. He isn’t super crisp as a route-runner, but he is very crafty, understanding how to set up leverage against man coverage and where to settle in against zone. He’s a plug-in starter from day one and will probably have the best rookie season of anyone in this class. In the long run though, I think he’ll struggle against the best cornerbacks he is going to face in the NFL, which is why he’ll be better suited in an offense that doesn’t rely on him winning on a consistent basis.

 

Denzel Boston, WR, Washington

Boston is the big-body ball-winner of this year’s receiver class. He is 6-4 and 212 pounds and takes full advantage of that size, consistently winning contested catches and jump balls. He isn’t the most explosive leaper, but he plays the ball extremely well in the air and times his jump precisely, attacking the ball at its highest point and snagging it with strong hands that defenders usually can’t do anything against.

The rest of Boston’s game is a bit more troubling. Like many in this class Boston didn’t bother running a forty, and he’s the one that I feel most frustrated by the lack of data, because on the field he seems to skirt the line between “fast enough” and “too slow to play”. He can work up good speed once he hits his stride, but he doesn’t have the same acceleration as the players ranked above him, and it can cause some struggles to create separation. He’s mostly a solid route-runner, though at times his larger frame can require an extra step to slow down, but even when he does create separation with one of his routes, he often doesn’t have the burst to stay separated long enough for the ball to arrive.

This is a common problem with larger receivers. Some of them are able to make it work, either through crafty route-running or by working with quarterbacks who know how to time the windows they create. And I think that Boston probably will be one of these guys, which is why I’d still be comfortable grabbing him near the end of the first round. Because if he can create enough separation to stay on the field on a play-by-play basis, his ability to win balls in the air will be a real weapon two or three times a game, either creating big plays down the field or finishing things off in the endzone.

 

Omar Cooper, WR, Indiana

Cooper is another receiver who is held back somewhat by his lack of size. He is usually quick enough off the ball to beat direct press coverage, but later in the route he can be easily disrupted by even a little bit of contact, slowing him down and stopping him from engineering any separation. He is good at going outside his frame to make difficult catches but can struggle some to win the ball through contact.

He is a similar player to Concepcion and Lemon, just minus a bit of explosiveness and polish as a route runner. His 4.42 time in the forty is good but not spectacular for someone of his size, the sort of speed that the defense will have to be aware of but won’t need to fundamentally shift anything to account for. As a route runner he shows flashes of fluid hips and explosive acceleration that could make him dangerous creating separation underneath. He just doesn’t do it consistently enough for me to consider this a strength of his game, rather than something he will have to continue working on to grow into an NFL starter.

Cooper is another one who I think will top out as a good secondary receiving option. He just doesn’t have the traits needed to excel at the position, or the polish to make me think he’ll take the massive leap necessary to becoming a receiver who can consistently win through technique and craftiness. But he does enough good things—making tough catches, winning in the red zone, creating with the ball in his hands—that I would still feel happy to grab him at the tail end of the first round.

 

Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon

There is no questioning that Sadiq is a rare athlete. At 6-3 and 241 pounds he ran a 4.39 forty and had a 43.5 inch vertical, speed and leaping ability that would be insane even if he was forty pounds lighter. He’s a bit on the small size for a tight end, but there are plenty of players with his size and only a hint of his athletic gifts who have made it work in the NFL. On paper, it’s hard not to love the potential Sadiq offers.

On tape it gets a little more complicated. He’s clearly a good athlete on the field, but he doesn’t look like the sort of world-wrecking force he tested as. More like a typical tight end, a little stiff and plodding who doesn’t do much to engineer separation on his routes. He is shifty enough to avoid being caught by press coverage, and he has a nifty sort of flexibility that lets him wiggle past defenders trying to disrupt his route and run down the seam. But on anything that asks him to change direction he struggles, and most of the time any decent defensive back is able to sit in his hip pocket and run with him.

Sadiq’s size and leaping abilities mean that he can go up and get inaccurate passes, though I didn’t see him have any opportunities to actually play through contact. He’s better off when the scheme can engineer space for him. His athletic gifts most clearly show themselves when he has the ball in his hands, as he is able to outrun pursuing linebackers and power through defensive backs. He can be a weapon for an offense, but the coaches will probably have to work to design opportunities for him.

He’s a similarly interesting case as a blocker. His lack of size can cause real problems when asked to block defensive linemen, most of whom have no trouble tossing him out of the way. He looked better playing out in space where he can make plays on linebackers and defensive backs, engaging with the proper leverage and swinging his hips around to seal a play off. Again, you probably have to specialize his role to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. But he is enough of a weapon in the running game to at least be able to get onto the field, and I would feel fine grabbing him in the second round in the hope that with experience his athletic gifts can grow to a more complete player.

2026 Defensive Back Prospects

Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State

Downs is the first prospect I’m breaking down this year, and he is also the easiest. He is, simply put, everything you could want from a safety, the sort of player who can fit into any scheme and do anything a defense could ask him to do. He has the range to play as a deep safety, the quickness to match up in man coverage in the slot, and the physicality to make plays in the box. He can cover, he can blitz, and he basically never misses a tackle. He’s a day one starter with the potential to be the best in the league at his position.

Downs isn’t the most explosive athlete, but he has plenty of speed when he needs it, and he combines this with rare fluidity. He is always under control and always in balance, able to react to what he sees in front of him at all times. And as good as he is as an athlete, what really sets him apart is his intelligence. He is always moving in the correct direction, typically a step or two ahead of anyone else, whether it’s anticipating a receiver’s break to jump a route or charging downhill to plug a gap in the running game. At times it seems like he knows what the offense is doing better than the offensive players themselves.

If there is a nit to pick with Downs, it’s his size. He measured at less than 6 feet tall and only 203 pounds, and this lack of size can sometimes cause issues on the field. He’s a sure tackler, but he always goes for the legs, meaning ball carriers can often fall forward for an extra yard or two. And while his intelligence means he can often react to the ball before a blocker can cut him off, when he does get caught in congestion he can get pushed around. It might make me a little reluctant to have him play in the box too often, but there are enough roles to fill on any defense that this doesn’t bother me too much.

The last thing to bring up about Downs is something I’ll be talking about a lot in this draft class, and that’s positional value. Typically safety isn’t considered that high-value a position. There are too many plays where the ball doesn’t come anywhere near a safety, and too many ways for an offense to play around them. With most safeties I would be reluctant to ever spend a top 10 pick on the position. But Downs isn’t most safeties. He’s a rare talent, and I might even be able to talk myself into selecting him in the top 5.

 

Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee

McCoy is a more complicated evaluation, though not because of anything he does on the field. His tape is comfortably the best of any cornerback in the class, and based on that alone I’d be willing to take him in the top 5. He is an elite coverage corner with special stop-start ability and explosive speed that allows him to take chances and then instantly erase almost any mistake he makes.

McCoy played primarily man coverage in college, typically on an island walked up in the receiver’s face with no help over the top. He has the strength to disrupt receivers with a jam and the quickness to turn and run with them if this isn’t enough. He uses the sideline to his advantage to eliminate throwing windows, and his ability to change direction on a dime makes him next to impossible to beat on comeback routes. He’s another player with extraordinary balance, and this allows him to keep up with just about anything a receiver throws at him. And when the ball does come his way, he has very good ball skills, able to go up to get an interception or play around a receiver to swat it away without getting a penalty.

There are things for him to clean up in his game. He can be a little too physical at times, which even if he doesn’t directly commit a penalty can make him vulnerable to some bad officiating luck. He doesn’t have a lot of experience in zone coverage, and at times it shows, as he can get caught on one receiver too long and let someone run into the space he’s supposed to be covering. And he needs to get better about recognizing when he can and cannot get away with gambling. In college he could erase his mistakes against all but a handful of receivers. But elite receivers were able to take advantage of him at times, and that level of competition will be more common in the NFL.

These are all things that are fairly common with young cornerbacks, and I expect he’ll clean them up with time and experience. And if he does so, he has the potential to be an All Pro. The issue that makes him a challenging evaluation is health. He tore his ACL last January and missed his entire final year in college. He skipped athletic testing at the Combine 13 months removed from an injury that normally takes 9 months, but then he ran a 4.38 forty at his Pro Day, which should put a lot of minds at ease. NFL teams have access to full medical testing of these players, and I’m just some dude in New Jersey sitting at a computer, so this is a place where I’m not really qualified to weigh in. But it’s a reason for concern, the only one I can find for an otherwise stellar prospect.

 

Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU

Delane is another cornerback with an elite combination of quickness and top-end speed that makes him a challenge to beat both over the top and underneath. He ran a 4.38 forty at his Pro Day, and that speed shows up on the field, as he regularly erases anyone who tries to run past him deep. He can be a little passive at times allowing space underneath, but when he tries to clamp down he has the ability to make hard breaks downhill without sacrificing the flexibility to flip his hips and open things up over the top.

Delane has experience in both man and zone coverage, and he’s capable in both, though he still has some occasional lapses in the latter to iron out. He’s less versatile when asked to play with physicality. He doesn’t get much disruption when he tries to jam opposing receivers, and he often settles for just grabbing hold. His issues with physicality occasionally show up at the catch point, where he has the balance and skill to make plays on the ball but can still sometimes be bullied away from the catch point.

I think Delane is a bit farther from a complete player than McCoy, but he has most of the tools needed to be a top-tier cornerback in the right scheme. He has all the speed and quickness in the world, and he just needs to get better at harnessing the latter and playing under control to keep sharp-breaking routes from opening separation. He’s good enough right now to be worthy of a selection in the top half of the first round, and he has enough upside that I’d be willing to gamble in the top 10. 

 

Dillon Thieneman, S, Oregon

Thieneman is explosive. It shows up on tape, where he covers ground in a hurry flying back and forth across the field. It shows up in testing, where he ran a 4.35 forty and had a 41 inch vertical leap, insane numbers for any player at any position but particularly for a safety. He is one of the best athletes in the class, and he is well-rounded enough as a player that I wouldn’t categorize him as a pure project.

Thieneman isn’t on Downs’s level mentally, but he’s pretty advanced for a college player. You can generally count on him making the right decision and being in the right position, especially when he has the chance to sit back and read the field from the back end of the defense. He’s at his best in a deep zone, where he can anticipate routes and use his speed to close off a massive chunk of the field. When matched up in man coverage his speed allows him to turn and run with receivers on vertical routes, but he struggles some with change of direction, so I would be reluctant to ask him to do too much covering players in the slot. He’s good at filling lanes downhill in the running game but can get a bit caught up in traffic if asked to scrape laterally through the box.

There is one major problem with Thieneman’s game, and it’s a big enough problem that I would be reluctant to take him until the tail end of the first round. Simply put, he’s a terrible tackler. And it isn’t just one thing that holds him back here. The lack of lateral quickness I mentioned above means he can be broken down in open space. His small stature means he can get blasted backwards on contact. And he consistently takes awful angles, letting ball carriers beat him to the edge and on at least one occasion I saw race past him for a touchdown.

There are some things Thieneman can do to get better here, and he showed enough progress between his last two years of college that I think there’s a chance he can figure it out, in which case his tools could make him one of the best safeties in the league if placed in the correct scheme. But if he can’t figure it out, he’s borderline unplayable. Safety is the number one position where you need to be able to count on someone making a tackle, a position where one tackle can be a difference between an eight yard gain and a seventy yard touchdown.

 

Colton Hood, CB, Tennessee

Hood is a very good athlete who knows how to make use of his 4.44 speed on the field. He can turn and run with any receiver, and he has no trouble sticking in man coverage on crossing routes across the field. He isn’t quite as fluid an athlete as the top cornerbacks in this class, and it can sometimes take him an extra step to change direction, but his closing speed is often enough to erase the small windows this opens up.

There are the makings of a very good cornerback here, but he has a lot to clean up on the next level. He played very little zone coverage at Tennessee and appeared lost when he was asked to do so, either late to rotate in coverage or often just drifting in the middle of two receivers covering neither of them. He has the physicality to be very good in press coverage, but he doesn’t utilize these skills in the right way. Sometimes he gets too physical and draws a penalty, others he doesn’t use his physicality at all and lets the receiver get down the field too freely.

Hood is a work in progress, and I think even if he develops he will ultimately top out as a pretty good, not great cornerback. He is an explosive athlete but has just average size and average quickness, and his technique is far enough from a finished product that I’d be reluctant to take a chance on his development until the end of the first round.

Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo

McNeil-Warren is more of the project of this safety class. He is a long, lanky athlete (he weighs about the same as Downs and Thieneman despite being 3 inches taller than them) who flies all over the field, arriving with violence and making splash plays at every level. He is a strong tackler who can stop ball carriers dead in their tracks or cut their legs out from under them, and his best plays are up there with the best plays of the two safeties I have ranked above him.

In the mental part of the game he’s a bit farther from being ready to be on an NFL field. He generally makes the right reads in coverage, but in the running game he too often winds up out of position. He has a tendency to bite hard on fakes, and at times this can pull him too far out of position to be able to make a play on where the ball actually goes.

McNeil-Warren is a good athlete, but not a great one. His 4.52 time in the forty is perfectly fine for a safety, and he plays faster than that on the field, but he definitely isn’t elite in that aspect like Thieneman. He struggles some in man coverage too, which limits him schematically. With time I think he will probably develop into an above average starter, and I might be willing to justify grabbing him at the end of the first round, but would be more comfortable waiting until the second.

 

Avieon Terrell, CB, Clemson

Terrell isn’t the most physically impressive cornerback you’ll see. He’s only 5-10 and 186 pounds, and he doesn’t explode on the field, but he makes up for it with impressive quickness and intelligence. He changes direction with ease, and he has a tendency to anticipate the route the opposing receiver is running, breaking before he does to beat him to the spot where the ball is supposed to be. At that point he can have some issues, often being boxed out or outmuscled by bigger and stronger receivers, but just as often the quarterback refuses to throw the ball to a receiver who appears blanketed.

Terrell’s strengths profile as someone who would be great as a slot cornerback, but I have some concerns there too. Playing in the slot places a heavier burden on a cornerback in run support, a part of the game where Terrell is very boom or bust. His effort is inconsistent—alternating aggressive attacks with plays where he looks almost afraid of contact—and his lack of play-strength is an issue here as well, as he can be bowled over by ball carriers as if he isn’t there. He makes up for this somewhat with a knack for being able to knock the ball free, forcing five fumbles in his last year in college. Though at times this seems to make him even worse as a tackler, as he’ll jump out of the path of a ball carrier to try to get a better angle to punch the ball free.

There is a way to make it work as a player with these limitations, and Terrell seems pretty far along towards figuring it out. Finding the right fit for him will be tricky, but once that happens I think he’ll settle in as a solid, if unspectacular starter for a while. I don’t think there’s a lot of downside here, but not a lot of upside either. He’s the sort of player I’d be happy to get in the second round, but a little disappointed if he was the best I could find with my first pick.

 

Brandon Cisse, CB, South Carolina

Cisse is the project of this year’s cornerback class. He has decent size to go along with tremendous explosiveness, a 41 inch vertical leap combined with a 4.40 forty that both show up on the field. He flies all over the place and makes some really good plays on the ball in the air, and at times shows flashes of physicality that could turn him into a lockdown cornerback someday.

Unfortunately, that day is a long way away. His technique in coverage is somewhat baffling, which I think is mostly due to some strange coaching, but also means he will need to make a major adjustment to play in the NFL. He tends to just sit back and watch as guys make breaks away from his leverage, then hoping he has the speed to erase the easy separation he’s given them. He rarely engages with physicality, and he often doesn’t even try to match or anticipate a receiver’s breaks.

If he can figure this out, the sky is the limit for him. But the infrequent occasions he tried this in college were enough to raise concerns. He seems somewhat linear as an athlete, struggling to change direction when he needs to. There were times where he made sharp breaks in a way suggested this might be an issue of technique more than physical tools. But at this point it’s mostly an unknown whether or not he can ever figure this out. And if he doesn’t, he’s the sort of player who could struggle to make it onto the field.