Top 10 cornerbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft

Just missed the cut:

#2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Aaron Robinson (UCF)

5’ 11” ½, 190 pounds; RS SR

Slightly outside the top-500 overall recruits, Robinson wanted to join Alabama’s rich history of defensive backs, but barely saw the field outside of special steams and decided to transfer to another one of the best programs in terms of record, even though it wasn’t in such a highly regarded conference.

Unfortunately, he basically lost two more years, due to NCAA transfer rules and then suffering a scary injury on the opening kickoff the following season. However, in 21 games with UCF over these last two years, Robinson recorded 90 tackles, 5.5 of them for loss, an interception and 15 passes knocked down, earning second-team All-ACC notice in both of them.

After transferring over from Alabama, the Golden Knights had to figure where best to play this talented player, before ultimately putting him in the slot, where his quicks and toughness were a big plus.

Robinson was asked to play a lot of pure man-coverage and he can really mirror receivers off the line, where he showcases good patience and rapid footwork, not biting on little jabs from the opponent usually. He plays very physical coverage, where he stays attached to his receiver throughout plays.

At the same time, he has the fluid hips to turn and run, but also the quick twitch and upper body strength to deny easy access on in-breaking routes. There are so many snaps on tape, where receivers have good position with aggressive inside releases on crossing routes, but he somehow gets back into the picture as the ball arrives there,

On others, his reactionary agility just jumps off the screen, having hips turned all the way committed to the inside, but somehow finding a way to stay close as the receiver pivots back towards the sideline. And while Robinson primarily lined up in the slot for the Golden Knights, they subbed off a corner and moved to the outside when the opposing offense was in anything but 11 personnel.

Robinson has that short-area burst, to contest a bunch of passes and he does a great job of high-pointing the ball. While he only has one career pick, he forced quite a few more incompletions by disrupting receivers as they reached their hands out in front. On 800 coverage snaps over these last two years, he has allowed 58 of 103 targets to be completed for just over 600 yards and six touchdowns compared to three picks.

Aaron Robinson shoves receivers out of the way to get to the ball-carrier and he doesn’t mind throwing his body around, as offensive linemen get out there in the screen games and he needs to shoot a crease, in order to get to the ball-carrier. So he definitely shows the willingness to get involved against the run, and as a tackler, he is pretty aggressive with exploding into ball-carrier, but missed only one of 42 attempts. And he was blitzed off the slot from an inside shade quite a bit, where his pursuit speed can really shine.

Nevertheless, his passer rating when targeted went from 63.8 to just over 100 last season. Robinson only has a 30-inch wingspan and barely played over 100 career snaps out wide. He tends to be very quick with bailing deep in cover-three, to where he could be targeted a lot with hitches and other quick routes. Robinson can get pretty grabby overall, especially when he’s in a trail position.

That is a common occurrence when his man throttles down for comeback routes. He’s way too slow recognizing pick-plays and gets himself out of position because of it. And when he’s coming from the outside as a tackler, he needs to do a better job of aiming at the near-hip and not allow ball-carrier to bubble out wide

Robinson showcases such light feet and great recovery skills. He doesn’t have great length or experience on the outside, but has the ability to become a top-tier slot corner and I think in the right scheme, he can play outside. There are some things he needs to iron out, to not draw as many flags for his aggressive style of coverage and needs to show a little better awareness for what is going on around him, but I think his athletic profile is very intriguing to NFL scouts.

# 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Tre Brown (Oklahoma)

5’ 10”, 190 pounds; SR

Back in 2017, Brown was a top-200 overall recruit. He did see action in all 14 games as a true freshman, but then entered the starting lineup in year two, breaking up 12 passes and recorded six tackles for loss, to go with being second-team All-Big-12 as a return specialist.

He broke up another double-digit passes in 2019 and intercepted his first pass, before adding three more picks and leading his team once again with six PBUs, for which he earned second-team all-conference notice on defense.

This guy routinely caught my eye watching Oklahoma tape for the 2020 draft, with the plays he made breaking on the ball and covering some of those big wideouts. I only started liking him more, when I watched what kind of technician and competitor he is.

For a smaller corner, Brown is really physical with from press alignment, not letting receivers get into their stem clean and making them work to gain any separation – often times not getting into a trail position until the two are about ten yards down the field. He can also play soft press and be patient with reading the hips of the receiver against stutter releases, before flipping his lower body and getting into the receiver’s hip pocket on slants or taking off along the sideline.

He has that suddenness to not allow receivers to get that separation off the line and even when a receivers gains a step or two on him on deeper breaks, he shows excellent catch-up speed to get back into position and make a play on the ball. And Brown routinely challenges big-bodied wideouts, who should be able to outbox him.

At the end of last year’s blowout win over rivals Oklahoma State, Brown was matched up with one-on-one with the Cowboys’ 6’7” tight-end Jelani Woods and defended a couple of jump balls to him really well. While the Sooners left Brown one-on-one against X receivers a lot as their boundary corner, they did run plenty of zone coverage as well.

On two-high shells, once the wideout breaks inside, Brown’s eyes immediately transition to any crossers coming his way or someone leaking out into the flats. And in his cover-three side bail, he keeps his eyes locked on the quarterback and reads the depth of his drop. In off-man as well as zone, I love the aggressive breaks and ability to play the ball in the air, and he is so slippery with the way he can work around receivers and get his hands on the ball (INT early vs. Texas).

Brown didn’t surrender 70+ yards in coverage in any game over the last two seasons. And he has allowed less than 50 percent of his way to be completed these last two years respectively, for 565 yards and four touchdowns, compared to four INTs (with a one-to-three ratio in 2020), including the game-sealing pick in the Big XII title game against Iowa State. Brown quickly transitions from bailing deep to coming downhill against the run and getting past receivers working up to him.

However, he has had 17 penalties called against him over these last two years. At his size, Brown will have his issues dictating routes at the next level and allowing separation with subtle push-offs at the top of the route, as well as facing guys who actually know understand how to shield the ball with their bodies.

Brown drifts around a little bit too much in zone coverage and tries to play in-between routes, which makes him vulnerable to drive throws at the sideline, where he can’t get back over in time. He gets himself out of position a lot, trailing receivers on crack-blocks, to where he takes himself out position as well and the ball-carrier can get out to the edge. And while many teams will look at him as a nickel due to his measurement, he has spent only 29 career snaps in the slot.

While I’m happy for the young man, I had hoped Brown could be one of my diamonds in the rough for this draft. However, with the most impressive Senior Bowl week of arguably any player, showing tight coverage, great closing part and competitiveness at the catch point, coming up with two picks during one-on-ones, where you rarely see any happen, he put himself on everybody’s radar.

Brown comes in with nearly 2000 career snaps in the pass-happy Big-12, he just ran a 4.4 flat at the OU pro day and probably secured a day-two selection.

# 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Keith Taylor (Washington)

6’ 2”, 190 pounds; SR

A former top-250 overall recruit, Keith Taylor only started two games through his first two years at Washington, before he became a full-time performer for the Huskies in 2019, when he broke up five passes and recorded a couple of tackles for loss.

He started the four games UW actually played last season, but only put up nine tackles and one pass defensed. Now he leaves college without any career interceptions, but his coverage skills and athletic skill-set has some scouts intrigued.

Nickelback Elijah Molden seems to be getting all the recognition among draft evaluators, but when I put on the 2019 Washington tape, I was highly impressed by what I saw from Taylor. He almost exclusively lines up at left outside corner and Washington played a ton of single-high coverages, with him in soft press man or cover-three bail.

He has pretty darn fluid hips for such a lanky guy, is patient off the line, while operating from a wide base, and easily turns with vertical routes, as he keeps eyes on the hips of his man, playing very sticky coverage throughout patterns. He has the speed to chase fast receivers across the field on deep ober routes in man-coverage, staying right in their hip-pocket out of an outside shade alignment.

At the Senior Bowl, Taylor measured in at 6’ 2” 3/8, and that height allows him to contest passes at the highest point. But you also see him wrap around guys on slant routes and force more incompletions than might show up on the stat sheet, or turn his head late when the ball is in the air on go balls.

Speaking about what he did down in Mobile, outside of Oklahoma’s Tre Brown, he was the top corner throughout three days of practice and had a great game as well. He routinely frustrated receivers with his length and ripped the ball out of their hands late. Over these last two years, Taylor gave up completions on 50 of 82 targets these last two years, for 644 yards and four TDs on 595 coverage snaps.

While the overall numbers don’t stand out too much, he has limited plays over the top throughout his career with the Huskies, and he can contest a lot of catches with those long arms. Taylor does not shy away from coming up and tackling receivers on crosser and stuff like that, And he is actively trying to set a hard edge on runs and screens to the edge, where he reduces the inside shoulder, to get underneath blockers and funnel the ball back inside.

At his height, Taylor certainly isn’t the most twitchy changer of directions. There is definitely some pause trying to get out of transitions and you see him get there late on a bunch of curl routes. When he is in deep-third responsibility, Taylor gives wideout free access on deeper in-breaking routes, to where that window towards the free safety in far too wide.

As a tackler, he leaves his feet way too much as a tackler and just dives at the legs of ball-carriers. And above all, he has just such limited ball-production during his time at Washington. On over 900 coverage snaps in his career, he has never made an interception and defended just ten passes overall. While he has those long arms, he lacks strength in the upper body and can’t get his hands on passes, trying to reach around receivers on routes back to the quarterback.

Taylor’s lack of plays on the ball could make him drop down the board a little, but the game tape and the Senior Bowl stuff are really good. I could see him being one of my favorite picks at the position, depending on how much scouts weigh his performance down in Mobile. He is another guy, who would fit extremely well in those single-high safety heavy defenses, where he can take away big plays on the perimeter, even though he may not be able to stick with the shiftier route-runners super well.

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The next names up on the draft prospects list:

Thomas Graham Jr. (Oregon), Rodarious Williams (Oklahoma State), Benjamin St-Juste (Minnesota), Kary Vincent Jr. (LSU), Ambry Thomas (Michigan), Trill Williams (Syracuse), Shaun Wade (Ohio State), Israel Mukuamu (South Carolina) & Marco Wilson (Florida)

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