Top 10 cornerbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft

#9 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Ifeatu Melifonwu (Syracuse)

6’ 2” ½, 210 pounds; RS JR

Ifeatu Melifonwu

This former three-star recruit and brother of former Raiders second-round pick Obi Melifonwu, Ifeatu redshirted his first years on campus and then was more of a backup the following season, before starting 19 of 23 games these last two years.

Over the course of his career with the Orange, Melifonwu picked off three passes, broke up another 19 and added five TFLs to his resume. He improved every single season and wrapped up his career with a third-team All-ACC selection.

First off, Ifeatu displays crazy athleticism, just like his older brother Obi. He shows physicality to not allow tight releases in press and has the long speed to run with receivers down the sideline, while using the outside arm to slow down the opponent.

Even though Melinfonwu is a long corner, he can stop and redirect his momentum pretty well, to counter curl routes and shuffle-release slants, plus he is smooth in rolling those hips against deep outs. He plays a lot of stack technique and forces receivers to go through him.

When he gets into a trail position, his long arms and athleticism allows him to stay in phase, keep his hands on the receiver and feel any breaks coming. And then he has the length to reach around receivers and knock the ball down, which he has some great reps against slant routes on.

Melifonwu shows no panic with the ball in the air and attacks it at its highest point. He had a beautiful break-up on an out-and-up versus Clemson’s Cornell Powell last season. And he made an incredible pick against Louisville a couple of weeks later, when he had to work over the top, as he followed a jet motion.

But he stayed back, as he realized the quarterback was going after his H-back on a wheel route and high-pointed it. On 842 career coverage snaps, Melifonwu has surrendered 69 completions on 128 targets for 973 yards and four touchdowns versus three picks

You don’t see anybody get behind Melifonwu in deep coverage and when receivers bend to the post, he stays right in position to trail down the field. When teams try to hit curl or quick-in routes against him in off-alignment, just like the receiver, he keeps working back to the ball.

He shows good awareness for when he becomes the hang-defender in cover-three and can peel off his area, to make plays on the ball. In the 2020 Liberty game, where Syracuse gave up 38 points, he wasn’t responsible for a single catch and never let any receiver get a step on him vertically.

Other than a couple of quick in-breaking routes when he was in cover-three, Melifonwu also didn’t allow North Carolina’s Dyami Brown to really get anything going being right in his hip pocket and showing little issues carrying him down the field. His competitiveness at the catch point really stood out in the Senior Bowl game on a few occasions.

Melifonwu crashes into blockers on screens and toss plays. He consistently stacks and sheds receivers trying to block him and delivers some big hits when the ball comes out quickly, while not letting receivers get outside of him usually and wrapping up effectively. He only missed five of 59 tackling attempts last season. And he doesn’t show any hesitation trying to run through backs when he’s sent as a blitzer.

However, he does allow receivers to get into his chest too easily in the run game and once he is blocked, he doesn’t get off it very well. Melifonwu still has plenty of room to grow in his press technique, when it comes to hand-technique and aggressiveness to be honest.

He only played 183 press snaps over past two years, even though he presents most intrigue as somebody who can disrupt receivers off the line. And he had his issues with that during Senior Bowl week, where he just kind of blindly stabbed at the chest of receivers and lost contact, as he was trying to incorporate more press. In deep zone coverage, he is way too conservative at times, even when receivers don’t push hard vertically.

I don’t think he can plant and drive well enough to succeed on defenses that ask him to play off for a large amount of snaps. And when he has his eyes on the receiver on go routes, he struggles a bit to turn his head around re-locate the ball.

Full transparency here – I was somebody, who had Obi Melinfonwu as a second-round prospect back in 2017. I got enamored with the athletic upside and I have heard that the work ethic wasn’t great with the older brother. However, Ifeatu is almost equally intriguing physically, has put out some really good tape and seems to love the game.

He would be a perfect fit for a Seattle-style cover-three press bail scheme. For more man-heavy schemes, he will have to work on his jam techniques and dictating route stems, but he has all the athletic tools to develop into that type of player.