Top 10 cornerbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft

#7 2021 NFL Prospect: Asante Samuel Jr. (Florida State)

5’10”, 185 pounds; JR

Asante Samuel Jr.

One of the top recruits in the country at the position and the son of former Patriots and Eagles Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel, Junior saw action in all 12 games his true freshman season and started three late.

In the last two years, he has started all 20 games he was available for (missed two), recording a combined four interceptions and 20 PBUs. For that, he was named third- and then first-team All-ACC respectively.

Samuel might lack some height and length – especially considering all the other guys in this top are pretty lanky – but he possesses excellent feel and anticipation for the position, while bringing some feistiness to the table. He is very clean in his technique, pinning receivers into the boundary, has good patience off the line and consistently lands those hands at the shoulder of his receivers on outside releases.

Asante Samuel has super light feet and an extremely fluid lower body, being able to turn either direction with no issues and he uses a lot of catch technique from soft press alignment. He presents the lightning-quick footwork to stay in a balanced position against more delayed releases and that natural ability to match route patterns, while having plenty of experience in man-coverage.

When playing off, he displays a smooth pedal and can go any direction out of it, without losing any time in his transitions almost. He can stop his momentum in a heartbeat and has such a wide range of motion, to swivel his hips around. You see him at times be a good five yards off against a speed out and be right on the receiver, as the ball arrives there.

Moreover, he displays great closing burst when receivers have a step on him on post routes for example. You saw him comfortable carry Louisville’s deadly deep threat Tutu Atwell vertically on multiple occasions in their meeting last season. And he had another excellent showing against North Carolina’s Dyami Brown.

The former Seminole moves so easily into a bail position and you rarely see anybody get over the top of him in deep-third responsibilities, while peaking at the receiver and being quick to react to any breaks underneath. That rapid change of direction also stands out when he has his butt to the sideline and gains ground vertically, but then comes back down against hitch or slant routes.

From that position, he can also flip around against wide releases, to get back into phase along the sideline or bend up to the post, as the receiver goes that way. And Samuel just has that natural feel for falling off to the slot, as that guy pushes vertically or breaks to the corner. He really excels at getting his eyes back on the quarterback once he sees his receiver turn for the ball and then displays great ball-skills when it gets there.

Moreover, even if he can’t quite get his hands on it, he consistently swipes through the mitts of receivers, and he has a much better success rate on goal-line fades than you’d expect for a guy two inches short of six feet. That 19.7% forced incompletion rate in 2019 was the worst in any season he had.

Last season, on 278 coverage snaps, he was targeted 32 times, allowing 19 of them to be completed for 179 yards and one touchdown, while picking off three passes himself. And while he may not able to stay and shed outside receivers, he has the quickness to get around blockers, as the ball-carriers approaches that way.

Yet, the lack of height and weight simply can’t be overlooked here. Samuel won’t be able to challenge physical NFL receivers off the line consistently with jams and he can be beat at the catch point, with arms of barely 30 inches long, as well as getting tossed around a bit by those guys.

When you look at the passer rating allowed last season, it was at an insanely low 10.1 on passes below ten and 38.4 on 20+ yard throws. However, In between that, opposing quarterback had an almost perfect rating, which goes in hand with what I just explained, as bigger bodies can push off on deep in-breaking routes and shield the ball with their frame.

Samuel is too conservative with coming upfield against screens and jet sweeps, as well as getting pushed backwards by X receivers routinely, while not actively looking to throw his body around in the run game in general.

In terms of a pure off-man and zone cover-corner, Samuel arguably is the top guy in this class. He is so light on his feet and fluid in his hips, plus he has excellent ball-skills to come up with big plays himself.

There are some size-related limitations and there will be moments he gets “big-bodied” at the next level, but he is very clean evaluation outside of that. I don’t look at him as a boundary man corner, like he played at Florida State, but more on the field side, where a defense may be in zone, while playing man on the single-receiver on the other end.