*Walt taking 2014 and 2018 |
Charlie Campbell, Senior Draft Analyst |
2019 Corners Project More Quantity Than Elite Talent
Updated June 28, 2018By Charlie Campbell. Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell.
In keeping with a series looking ahead to 2019, I caught up with scouts who have done advance work on the 2019 class. While the majority of NFL scouting departments are meeting in the month of April to finish their draft boards ahead of the impending NFL Draft, some team scouts are on the road traveling to college campuses to start work on the draft that is a year away. These scouts share their player ratings with scouting services like National and Blesto. Almost every team in the NFL is either a member in National or Blesto, with more teams a part of National. In May, the Blesto teams, including the Bills and Steelers, met in Florida to go over 2019 NFL Draft Prospects. In continuing the series, this week’s topic is the cornerback class.
Every year in the NFL Draft, there are some positions that take a hit from players going back to school. This past April could have had a strong defensive line class had three Clemson Tigers decided to enter the draft, and already the 2019 draft class has taken a hit by two cornerback prospects in Western Michigan’s Sam Beal and Virginia Tech’s Adonis Alexander entering the supplemental draft. In speaking to some advance scouts, they say the 2019 draft class has the potential for some good corners, but they also do not see a rare elite, “top of the draft” candidate entering the 2018 season.
- “There is a pack of guys with first-round size, speed and length. But none of them are in the Champ Bailey or Patrick Peterson caliber of player. They could be more like Morris Claiborne where he made a huge jump in his final college season. [Mark] Gilbert at Duke, [Jamel] Dean at Auburn, [Greedy] Williams at LSU, [Blace] Brown at Troy. Ken Webster (Ole Miss) could jump in there if he can stay healthy. Clemson’s best cornerback talent is [Trayvon] Mullen, [a] physical freak. If [Trevon] Diggs at Alabama can develop any consistency, he’a first-round talent. [Jamal] Peters at Mississippi State could a dominant press-man corner if he developed any consistency. This will really only be his second year at the position, so he could have an astronomical jump because the size, speed and length are rare. All of these guys have some talent, but it depends on who breaks through; some will rise and others won’t develop.”
Thus, it sounds like there will be a number of players who could rise up to give the 2019 class a number of candidates for first-round consideration, but teams should not expect to land a once-in-a-decade type cornerback like Patrick Peterson or Champ Bailey.
