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Here is another draft guide made just for you! This week’s guide focuses on the top four corners of the 2021 NFL Draft (in order) that fans will want to keep an eye on. Just to be one step ahead of the curve, no, Camryn Bynum is not covered in this article. The breakdown of current Cal players and their NFL futures will come at a later date. With that said, we’re on our way.
Horn was 6’0 « tall, 205 lbs. And recently posted a blazing 4.37 meter mark and a vertical height of 41.5 ». First off, I should say Horn is an absolute roller coaster ride to watch football play. For starters, it doesn’t show a lot of consistent, repeatable techniques. That doesn’t mean it’s inconsistent per se, but it turns it on a lot more than a typical corner. Given his aggressive style of play, this is no surprise.
JAYCEE HORN THREAD !!! I have to start with this piece. He’s pitched up against Seth Williams (a DAWG in his own right) and just eats. his. Having lunch. Perfect mirror foot work on the LOS and he uses his hands beautifully throughout the route. just an excellent rep pic.twitter.com/lcYv7j7kai
The horn is clearly very physical all along the route above. His technique is almost flawless (* Kochkuss *) and he therefore dominates. I’m also in love with its toughness at the catch point. He will not allow a wideout to receive a free reception for him.
again – point out a topic here. He’s reporting on Pitts here (what, credit, where credit is due lol). gets grippy at the top of the route leading to the INC. This is fine in school but he needs to be better able to hit (not grab) earlier on the route, imo pic.twitter.com/W76Ed4FPTD
But as I mentioned above, he is currently far too handy to be successful in the NFL in the long term. However, you cannot teach competitiveness and aggression. Against Auburn that year he followed the Tiger’s best receiver everywhere and dominated him all day.
Again against Williams – this time in the slot. He moves soooo much better in the slot than I expected, it looks very natural here and he’s getting a PBU after forcing Williams way outside his landmark pic.twitter.com/8WJpdDp1Dn
Overall, Jaycee Horn has it all Traits an NFL scout wants to see in a corner and a few more. Tenacity, ball skill, and covering ability are all there. If he cuts some of the grabbiness, he’s more than capable of becoming a Pro Bowl corner.
When I started writing this article, I pretty much had Patrick Surtain II in that cornerback # 2 -Place blocked. But then a couple of friends of mine reached out to me and told me I had to watch Newsome. I have to say I’m so glad I did. Newsome is a prototype corner – the All-American came in at 6’0 » and 192 lbs. And ran a 40-inch vertical of 4.38 at Pro Day in the northwest.
PEOPLE !! Here is the thread on Greg Newsome II, the CB from the Northwest. Start strong – he has exceptional movement skills in the press and shows them all here. Flips hips several times and stays in phase and gets an amazing INT pic.twitter.com/NvaD5s8wai
As shown above, Newsome has really good press coverage skills and is exceptional at turning his head and the ball Finding – an exceptionally difficult skill to learn and perform.
(at the bottom of the screen) Newsome shows really good footwork and patience while reporting – super consistent and never really surprised. Here he stays balanced and runs the WRs route for him and talks a little bit lol pic.twitter.com/aRsIeZloIy
Newsome is absolutely dominant in press coverage and his technique is super repeatable and consistent. His hands, feet and eyes are almost perfectly connected in all of his coverage snapshots.
Another clip of him in off-coverage – super technical with all of his movements and footwork is teaching tape, not really much to complain about via pic.twitter.com/MJdqd03s6n
Here he’s out of cover. Again, it is clear that Newsome is an absolute technician. It’s almost machine-like how consistent he is. Ironically, it’s this machination that « drops » him on cornerback # 2 in my eyes. His change of direction in space leaves a little to be desired, but he is fully capable of holding his own in the league.
last clip – the guy is downright physical at the snap point. really good catch tech here and he goes to the ball very efficiently. pic.twitter.com/GEcH3QdLgk
What stands out the most is that he is comfortable with a variety of techniques and doing them almost perfectly every time. It has almost no wasted movement and it allows it to close the bottom very easily. If Horn’s aggressiveness makes the Scouts nervous, Greg Newsome II can absolutely be considered the # 1 cornerback.
At first I had a hard time deciding on third place in the cornerback, but Surtain is the right choice. He’s the biggest corner on this list – at 6 » 2 » and 208 lbs. Is he at the top of what I think an elite corner should look like.
back up – pushes the WR almost out of bounds without being overly physical and the ball ends up out of the way as a result of the limits pic.twitter.com/7U3qQDPi3X
With a 4.46-meter shot and a 39-inch vertical, Surtain is the least athletic of the three listed so far, but he’s still athletic enough to be in the NFL outwardly thrive. He has exceptional cover ability on courses deeper than 10 meters, but the game below is a little worrying.
Here at the bottom of the screen. This is where the « big corner » theme comes into play for him. He’s very stiff in off-coverage and his hips are a little tense which hurts his COD damage, as this game shows. Pic.twitter.com/sPnLVw67Va
This ranking is perhaps the most controversial on this list, but Surtain is the most limited of the three. The hustle and bustle around Surtain the last few months and when he left high school was that he was a certified shutdown corner. It can absolutely be, but it is also the most schema-dependent corner on this list. Any team that he’s told to play out and stay under is a bad situation for him, and that limitation brings him here.
Everything I’ve said about Surtain also applies to Melifonwu. Even so, I think Melifonwu has a good chance of getting better in the NFL. The two have very similar readings – Melifonwu measured at 6 ‘2’ ‘and 205 lbs. The Redshirt Junior also recorded a 41.5-inch vertical and a 4.48-meter line. Melifonwu is a great athlete and pretty fluid in space, but he’s definitely the roughest prospect of the four on this list. If I were a more confident reviewer, he would be my pure cornerback # 3 – yes, via Surtain. He takes a bit of engineering to join his hands and feet, but he’s a phenomenal player nonetheless.
Guys who can play and push that well are unicorns in the NFL. He can also play against tight ends in the slot.
Every year there are a few late tips that I fall in love with and Melifonwu will make a team very happy on Day 2. In about a year, if everyone is looking around and finding out what’s next. Ground that lockdown corner of Syracuse, you will know.
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