2021 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Kelvin Joseph

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Kelvin Joseph, 6-1/197 Cornerback Kentucky

Kelvin Joseph Scouting Report
By Charlie Campbell

Strengths:

Talented cover corner

Excellent skill set; fast, big, athletic

Short-area burst

Eats up ground in a blur

Strong and tough

Physical jam to reroute

Tough press-man corner

Twitchy athlete

Can play off-man coverage

Good run defender

Willing to hit and tackle

Good ball skills; plays the ball well

Nice hands

High points the ball well

Confident, cocky corner mentality

Lots of upside

Weaknesses:

One-year wonder

Undisciplined

Immature

Character concerns

Lacks eye discipline

Could lack the discipline for zone

Prone to penalties

Needs to improve route recognition

Summary: The Louisiana native Joseph started out his career at LSU, which is one of the programs that claims the title of “DB-U”. Joseph was a backup as a freshman in 2018 before landing a suspension for the Tigers’ bowl game. After that season, he transferred to Kentucky, where he was forced to sit out 2019. Joseph had a mixed 2020 season for the Wildcats while totaling 25 tackles, four interceptions and one pass broken up. He played well against Alabama and Tennessee, but turned in ugly performances against Ole Miss and Florida. In particular, Gators tight end Kyle Pitts used and abused Joseph. Joseph was benched at times by the Kentucky coaches, and after the Florida game in late November, Joseph decided to opt out the remainder of the season.

For the NFL, Joseph has an excellent skill set with size, speed, athleticism and strength. He is a tough press-man corner who possesses a strong jam at the line of scrimmage to reroute receivers and disrupt timing routes. Joseph uses the sideline well, and his size and physicality help him to outfight receivers for jump balls. With good hands and ability to track the ball, Joseph shows impressive ball skills and is a threat to create interceptions.



On top of Joseph being big and strong, he is fast with excellent speed for a big corner. Joseph closes fast and eats up ground in a blur. His quick-twitch athleticism gives him the ability to handle off-man coverage via his rapid reacting to run with receivers out of their breaks.

On the negative side, Joseph is raw and needs lots of development, which isn’t surprising considering he is a one-year wonder. He is undisciplined and will bite on fakes. Kyle Pitts’ route-running embarrassed Joseph and showed that he lacks eye discipline. Joseph could lack the discipline to play zone coverage, and he will need to be coached up on route recognition. Penalties and immaturity are a problem for Jospeh, but he does have that cocky, confident man-corner mentality.

As a worker and in terms of football character, Joseph needs to mature and become a professional. He could go as high as late in the first round in the 2021 NFL Draft, but he could also last until somewhere in Round 3.



Player Comparison: Bradley Roby. Coming out of Ohio State, Roby had a great skill set with size, speed and athleticism, but he lacked discipline and gave up some big plays. Roby was torched by Wisconsin’s Jared Abbrederis, similar to Joseph’s games against Florida and Ole Miss. After some growing pains, Roby became a competent NFL starter. Joseph could follow a similar path if immaturity doesn’t derail his potential for a pro career.

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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