2021 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Caleb Farley

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Caleb Farley, 6-2/207 Cornerback Virginia Tech

Caleb Farley Scouting Report
By Charlie Campbell

Strengths:

Excellent skill set with size and speed

Good height

Fast

Can carry vertical routes downfield

Very good straight-line speed

Closing burst

Drives hard routes

Recoverability

Can run the route and prevent separation

Agility; has some athletic twitch

Good ball skills

Adept at picking passes off or slapping them away

Size to match up against big receivers

Projects well as a press-man corner

Can play off-man corner

Can play zone

Physical defender

Good at jamming receivers and rerouting them

Flashes tackling

Willing to help in run defense

Lots of athletic upside

Weaknesses:

Bad season of tape in 2018

One-year wonder

Sat out 2020 season, losing year of reps and development

Better athlete than player

Needs development

Technique could stand to improve

Can be late getting his head around to track the ball

Durability concerns

Already had one torn ACL

Had a serious back injury in 2019

Back surgery in 2021

Summary: Farley had a very unique college career after being a star recruit coming out of high school. He started out playing some wide receiver and missed the 2017 season with a torn ACL. Farley then had a rough 2018 season in coverage in which he recorded 36 tackles, two interceptions and seven passes broken up. In 2019, Farley was excellent, recording 12 passes broken up, four interceptions and 20 tackles. He then decided prior to the start of fall training camp to sit out the 2020 season.

There is no doubt that Farley has an excellent skill set with very good height, length and speed. He has closing speed that gives him recoverability to eat up ground and delete separation. With his speed, Farley is able to run with receivers downfield and keep them from getting open in the deep part of the field. He has the agility and enough twitch to run routes and prevent separation. Farley showed vastly improved route recognition in 2019 and did a nice job of not biting on double moves.



Along with being big and fast, Farley has some ball skills and is a threat to snatch passes for turnovers. He uses his length to make it difficult to get passes by him and has a nice ability to slap passes away when he can’t catch the ball. With his size and physicality, Farley shows a nice ability to jam wideouts and knock them off their routes. Farley could fit in any scheme in NFL because as he is capable of playing off-man, press-man and zone coverages.

There are some things that Farley could stand to improve. He can be late getting his head turned around to track the ball in flight at times. Farley is a physical defender who flashes tackling and hitting ability, but he could stand to refine his tackling fundamentals for the NFL, as he does miss some tackles on occasion.

Farley enters the NFL with serious medical concerns, so some teams could flunk him medically. Those issues were given fresh evidence when he underwent back surgery in the spring of 2021 and was unable to work out at the Virginia Tech pro day. Team sources say Farley has the best physical skill set of the cornerback prospects, but questions about durability could cause him to slide deep into the first round. With the medical issue uncertainty, there is a wide range of where he could come off the board, as Farley could go high in the first round and even slip to the second round.



Player Comparison: Jimmy Smith. Farley reminds me of Jimmy Smith with his size, speed, and coverage ability. Smith (6-2, 210) has had an excellent NFL career and utilized his great skill set to be a versatile corner. Farley is almost identical in size, and like Smith, Farley should be a first-round pick. Smith went in the first round, but he would have been a high first-round pick if it weren’t character concerns coming out of Colorado. If Farley slides, it will be because of medical concerns.

2021 NFL Draft Player Previews - Choose Player 2021 NFL Draft Player Previews - Home Paulson Adebo, CB, Stanford Tutu Atwell, WR, Louisville Jhamon Ausbon, WR, Texas A&M Aaron Banks, G, Notre Dame Christian Barmore, DT, Alabama Carlos Basham, DE, Wake Forest Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota Nick Bolton, LB, Missouri Baron Browning, LB, Ohio State Dyami Brown, WR, North Carolina Spencer Brown, OT, Northern Iowa Tyson Campbell, CB, Georgia Jackson Carman, OT, Clemson Ja'Marr Chase, WR, LSU Andre Cisco, S, Syracuse Zaven Collins, LB, Tulsa Sam Cosmi, OT, Texas Jabril Cox, LB, LSU Christian Darrisaw, OT, Virginia Tech Jamin Davis, LB, Kentucky Wyatt Davis, G, Ohio State Landon Dickerson, C, Alabama Liam Eichenberg, OT, Notre Dame D'Wayne Eskridge, WR, Western Michigan Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson Caleb Farley, CB, Virginia Tech Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State Paris Ford, S, Pittsburgh Pat Freiermuth, TE, Penn State Kenny Gainwell, RB, Memphis Richie Grant, S, Central Florida Najee Harris, RB, Alabama Kylin Hill, RB, Mississippi State Trey Hill, C, Georgia Jevon Holland, S, Oregon Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina James Hudson, OT, Cincinnati Talanoa Hufanga, S, USC Creed Humphrey, C, Oklahoma Teven Jenkins, OT, Oklahoma State Mac Jones, QB, Alabama Patrick Jones, DE, Pittsburgh Brevin Jordan, TE, Miami Kelvin Joseph, CB, Kentucky Trey Lance, QB, North Dakota State Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson Alex Leatherwood, OT, Alabama Walker Little, OT, Stanford Hunter Long, TE, Boston College Terrace Marshall Jr., WR, LSU Jalen Mayfield, OT, Michigan Tre' McKitty, TE, Georgia Davis Mills, QB, Stanford Trevon Moehrig, S, TCU Elijah Molden, CB, Washington Kellen Mond, QB, Texas A&M Dan Moore Jr., OT, Texas A&M Elijah Moore, WR, Ole Miss Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue Dylan Moses, LB, Alabama Israel Mukuamu, CB, South Carolina Jamie Newman, QB, Wake Forest Greg Newsome, CB, Northwestern Daviyon Nixon, DT, Iowa Dayo Odeyingbo, DE, Vanderbilt Osa Odighizuwa, DT, UCLA Azeez Ojulari, LB, Georgia Levi Onwuzurike, DT, Washington Joseph Ossai, LB, Texas Jayson Oweh, DE, Penn State Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah, LB, Notre Dame Micah Parsons, LB, Penn State Kwity Paye, DE, Michigan Ronnie Perkins, OLB, Oklahoma Jaelan Phillips, DE, Miami Kyle Pitts, TE, Florida Dillon Radunz, OT, North Dakota Aaron Robinson, CB, Central Florida Quincy Roche, OLB, Miami Larry Rountree, RB, Missouri Gregory Rousseau, DE, Miami Asante Samuel Jr., CB, Florida State Trey Sermon, RB, Ohio State Penei Sewell, OT, Oregon Tyler Shelvin, DT, LSU Rashawn Slater, C, Northwestern DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama D'Ante Smith, OT, East Carolina Trey Smith, G, Tennessee Marquez Stevenson, WR, Houston Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, Oklahoma Eric Stokes, CB, Georgia Chazz Surratt, LB, North Carolina Sage Surratt, WR, Wake Forest Patrick Surtain, CB, Alabama Tamorrion Terry, WR, Florida State Kadarius Toney, WR, Florida Kyle Trask, QB, Florida Joe Tryon, DE, Washington Jay Tufele, DT, USC Payton Turner, DE, Houston T.J. Vasher, WR, Texas Tech Alijah Vera-Tucker, OT, USC Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State Rashad Weaver, DE, Pittsburgh Javonte Williams, RB, North Carolina Rodarius Williams, CB, Oklahoma State Marvin Wilson, DT, Florida State Zach Wilson, QB, BYU

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