Why Undrafted?: Quenton Meeks, CB, Stanford
By Charlie Campbell, @draftcampbell
Four years ago, we started a series of articles on why certain prospects went undrafted. In that series, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out why their organizations passed on drafting a given player, and/or, what were the reasons for other teams to pass on that prospect. We got a lot of positive reader feedback about the series, so we decided to expand in the genre to investigate why some prospects slid in the draft. Three years ago, we started the Why the Slide? series, and this year it is back. Feel free to email me requests for Why the Slide? and Why Undrafted? at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.
At the start of the college football season, there was some hype about the cornerback tandem that Stanford fielded to go along with safety Justin Reid. The starting corners of Alijah Holder and Quenton Meeks were considered a nice duo with NFL skill sets. Holder dealt with injuries in 2017, while Meeks recorded 65 tackles with eight passes broken up and two interceptions in 2017. I had Meeks rated as a likely late-round pick, and others had Meeks (6-1, 195) going in the mid-rounds. Thus, it was surprising to some when Meeks went undrafted.
Sources from teams said there were a few reasons why Meeks went undrafted. One team source said the tape was bad, and they had Meeks as a late-rounder because they didn’t like what they saw from his final collegiate season. Another top evaluator said Meeks was graded as a free agent because they felt he was tight hipped and a tweener who couldn’t play corner and would have to learn to play safety at the NFL level. Hence, those reasons combined to push Meeks into the undrafted ranks.
After going undrafted, Meeks signed with Jacksonville Jaguars. That was a decent team to sign with because the Jaguars need some depth players to emerge. Their starting secondary is set, and rookie Ronnie Harrison looks like the future starter at strong safety, but they need to find other backup safeties and cornerbacks. Meeks could compete for a roster spot at corner or safety, but safety is probably his best hope given his athletic skill set. Most importantly, Meeks will have to star on special teams to make a final 53-man roster. Perhaps the most likely path to a pro career is earning a spot on the practice squad while transitioning to safety.
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