2019 NFL Scouting Combine: Cornerback Notes

It’s the final day of the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine. Cornerbacks and safeties will lead the charge today. It’s an exciting day because both positions are up for grabs. There isn’t one player or a group of players that have really solidified themselves prior to the combine. This post I’m going to be focusing on the cornerbacks but stay tuned for safeties to be posted later in the day.

The Cornerbacks couldn’t have been worse today. It was a bad day all around. Take a look who stood out for better or worse for the cornerbacks at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine!

This first clip I’m going to show summarizes how the corners were today. Just bad. Clicking heels, bad footwork, slow, not covering ground, etc. They virtually all had issues. Watch Jordan Miller just eat it. Probably the worst cornerback group performance I’ve ever seen.

The good news is we did have Deion Sanders breaking down the proper technique for us. He’s the best corner to ever do it and his analysis was spot on. Staying on your toes, bending at the knees, staying low, covering ground, Deion was on top of his shit and pointed to everything I look for and more. The most hilarious part was the three idiots in the booth (Charles Davis, Daniel Jeremiah, and Rich Eisen) just copied everything Deion said.

Top Tier Corners

Deandre Baker, Greedy Williams, Byron Murphy, Rock Ya-Sin are the top four corners in the draft. Starting with Baker, I didn’t think he had the best workout. I kinda of expecting that. He’s not a great athlete but he’s feisty and really attacks the ball. His 4.52 time came in as expected. I’ll show some of the clips below. He’s just not that explosive twitchy athlete. Not who he is.

Greedy Williams ran fast but the rest went downhill. His 4.37 time is awesome but he was all over the place in the drills. Totally out of control, high waisted, bad turns, and had numerous false starts. Horrendous performance from Greedy. Mid-way through, Greedy quit with cramping issues. This was a terrible day for him. No other way to say it.

I thought Byron Murphy was at the top of the movement skills today. Not many guys matched him on the field. Just all around solid. No complaints about his performance. Quick and precise all day.

Rock Ya-Sin was just smooth out there. Nothing outstanding but all around solid. The pipes he has are impressive. You can tell he’s really strong and physical at the point of attack. 18 bench press reps is damn good too.

Long Seahawk Corners

The Seahawks have a type of corner they love. They are all about the long corner who is tall with huge arms. We had a group of Isaiah Johnson, Lonnie Johnson, and Justin Layne who went one right after another in the drills. It was a great comparison tool to use. Layne flat out stunk. When Deion calls you out on air, you know it’s bad because he doesn’t wan to just show you up but he was calling guys out all day. Layne was one of them because he couldn’t move. Any type of movement asked of him was an issue, but hey, he caught the ball.

Then we have Houston’s Isaiah Johnson and Kentucky’s Lonnie Johnson. This was a battle at the Senior Bowl too where I thought Isaiah separated himself as the better player. I’ve now changed my mind back to Lonnie. I’ll show the clip below. First, we have Isaiah. His rep was horrendous. His feet aren’t staggered, he’s on his heels, his legs couldn’t be any more narrow, he’s totally bent at the waist like the way I take a shit. Just awful. He did have great ball skills in some of the drills which makes sense given his former wide receiver past.

I thought Lonnie was really good. For a big corner, he moved really well. Not explosive but when you compare him to Isaiah who are both relatively the same size, Lonnie’s rep was 1,000 times better. Good footwork on the back peddle, had his feet staggered and organized. Isaiah ran faster but who cares. The difference in that drill, told you everything you needed to know.

I also want to mention Joejuan Williams too. I thought he had a good day. For a super big, long corner that he is. He moves really well. Really good feet on him. You can see him in the Greedy video above.

Safety First

Deion Sanders was calling people out and for good reason. Some of these corners played themselves into safeties because they lacked movement skills and Prime placed that label on Ryan Pulley and Iman Marshall. Pulley was awful and kinda looked like a linebacker. Marshall was really inconsistent at the Senior Bowl and had grabbing issues. He did move okay in the drills.

Just Suck

There’s too many corners to count that make up the group of guys that suck. It’s a LONG list. This is the list of dudes that you can just cross of your board. I challenge you to revisit this list a year from now. I bet they all stink. Derrick Baity… Trash. Kris Boyd had horrendous hips. You can just tell he doesn’t trust his feet and it led to multiple penalties every time I saw him. Sean Bunting had terrible turns and just wasn’t smooth in the drills. Hamp Cheevers was fast but had zero control. He was all over the place. Double moves will kill him. Can just tell from watching the combine. Xavier Crawford was fast but slow in short areas. Never that second gear when he had to change directions. Montre Hartage might have been the worst player at the combine I’ve ever seen. Slow feet, tight hips, couldn’t catch. Just made me puke every time he was on the screen. Saivion Smith I liked at Bama but he wasn’t great today. His issue had to do with short choppy steps. He never covered any group in his dropbacks meaning that it took him forever to get to the spot. I’m not sure how you fix that. Alijah Holder doesn’t do anything well. He couldn’t tie his shoe well if you asked him to. Ken Webster was fast but he was on his heels in the dropback. It caused him to play much slower than his 40 time. Michael Jackson the singer can play football better than Michael Jackson the Miami Hurricane can. I can’t tell you the number of times I said to myself “what the f*ck was that”? Weaving in and out, never following the line. Just zero pop. Almost looked like he wasn’t happy to be there. No sense of urgency in and out of breaks.

Nickel

I found two slot corners that I think have a lot of potential. Both guys come from programs that have produced productive pros in the past. Mark Fields of Clemson needs more love. His father was a good player and so is the Clemson DB. The drills just went so smooth for Fields. He has super quick feet and explodes when he needs to change directions. Fields gets super low in his stance with great knee bend that allows him to break on the ball. I like him a lot. Fields also showed great speed with a 4.37 – 40 time.

David Long of Michigan was great too. Long stayed on his toes and constantly kept his feet moving. Not every corner can do that or it’s not east to train into them. Long had some sweet feet to him and showed great hip flexibility.

Other Notes

Julian Love did his part. Not a super fast corner but moves well in space. Rashad Fenton had an up and down day. Showed that he is more of a press corner. He got too high in his stance and showed some bad knee bend but really played better coming down him and breaking on routes. Amani Oruwariye is better than you think. He’s a big corner but moves well and keeps those feet churning. Never a pause or hesitation to get to the spot he needs to go. That statement didn’t happen as much as you think with everyone else.

Vendetta Big Board

• 1: Deandre Baker (Georgia)
• 2: Rock Ya-Sin (Temple)
• 3: Greedy Williams (LSU)
• 4: Byron Murphy (Washington)
• 5: Lonnie Johnson (Kentucky)