2024 BGN Draft #43: Ranking the top 10 Defensive Backs

Intro from the field to the film room to the War Room we've got you covered every step of the way as the road to the Draft starts right now on BGN radio hello and welcome to another episode of the BGN draft show I am your host Shane HAF and you can follow me on Twitter at Shane half NFL I'm joined today by my co-host and fellow draft Enthusiast Dives give him a follow on Twitter Mr crockpot be sure to check out his podcast party on Brad dbes how are you doing today doing well man let's talk about an excellent group a quality group that has a lot of depth a lot of guys that could be in Midnight Green in just a little under a month so let's talk about it all right I'm also joined by my co-host on Chalk talk Mark Henry Jr give him a follow on Twitter Mark Henry Jore and be sure to check out his tough cover radio show every Saturday Mark how are you doing I'm doing great it's WrestleMania week Philadelphia so that's where my focus is but as soon as Sunday night ends and hopefully Cody rhods finishes the story for my wrestling fans out there right after that ends there is nothing stopping me from focusing on the draft 247 until the draft basically WrestleMania is like we got I got through March Madness I'm about to get through WrestleMania and then the draft is going to be the only thing at the front of my mind but cornerback if anyone's followed me on Twitter they know how desperate I am for the Eagles to take one of these quarterbacks or safeties I'm not gonna be picked I heard a rumor Mark somewhere that the Eagles haven't drafted a first round quarterback since 2003 is that right did I get your stat right 2002 sh 2002 I didn't get it right that's why I asked whoever must have been saying that stat must have been a pretty smart pretty smart guy but I I I I I I think uh yeah there's probably more than likely that we won't see the Eagles Take a corner in the first round if we use history as a guide and it's probably more than likely we won't see them use it in the second round because they haven't taken a defensive back in the first two rounds since 2017 yeah well we are talking about defensive backs today it is our second to last position left to rank tight end will be next week and then it'll be done you'll have heard us talk about the top guys at every single position group special teams excluded in the draft so we're going to dive into our top 10 defensive backs we are combining corners and safeties together because there's so much fluidity between safety and nickel and all of that when it goes to the next level so we're just going to combine it all together and give you a top 10 so I'm gonna start us off here with my number one it is quinan Mitchell Quinnen Mitchell quarterback out of Toledo uh he was a three star recruit coming out of high school the number 155th ranked quarterback in his class uh which is kind of crazy that we're talking about him as a first round pick now he is 6 foot 195 pounds he ran a 43340 uh has a 38 inch vertical 34th percentile arm length and 95th percentile hand size which I always just think is interesting when you got short arms and huge hands or vice versa uh but overall he ended up with a 9.79 relative Athletic score he was second team All-American in 2023 he LED all FBS and forced incompletions over the last two system uh Seasons he had the highest coverage grade per PFF in man coverage this year the fourth highest in zone coverage and the highest overall he did not surrender a touchdown per pffs charting in 2023 now when you talk about his strengths uh he's got a well-built frame for a cornerback some of these guys we're going to talk about have good ball production but they're small or maybe they don't run very good he's got a well-built frame he's a good athlete uh he's got good vision and anticipation in zone coverage he reads out route Concepts really well and then he keys off the quarterback's eyes and he goes and makes plays at the catch point he's fast I talked about it but it's not just track speed at the combine he clocked 23.5 eight miles per hour on the GPS this season so he's got a great top speed on the field he accelerates quickly he's got good agility Nimble feet uh he shows physicality when he's tackling receivers out on the perimeter he's got excellent click and close from off coverage so I think he's a really good player now obviously he's coming from not playing the best competition but he did he dominated the Senior Bowl he had a really good uh showing at the combine so I'm a little less concerned about that however I will say he's not as good of a tackler against running backs at times when he's coming down to fit the Run he sort of just dips his head and div at the legs instead of wrapping up I thought he was slow to open his hips and run at times and I think that stems from him being over aggressive and feeling like he has recovery speed if a receiver gets a step on him he's also not real experienced in press coverage so maybe you don't want to ask him to do that a lot early in his career but overall I've got a first round great on him I think he is a scheme diverse boundary cornerback but he is going to be better in off coverage so that's my report on quinan Mitchell who is my CB1 in the draft uh what do you guys what are your guys's thoughts on Mitchell you guys don't have him one but I believe he was I didn't look I gotta look again was two for you mark and a little lower for dbes no opposite I believe I think he was two for Dives and he's he's lower for me um he's down there at number four so I'll chime in just on why I'm a bit lower and if you look at the draft guide that uh we'll be putting out soon that Shane does a great job on um I I in terms of the overall ranks Shane has quinan Mitchell number 10 dobes has him number nine I have him down at 19 so I I have a first round grade on Mitchell but I'm not as willing to to completely uh overhaul my draft board based on the the kind of the the pro day and how great of a job he has done in the draft process which he has he he's helped himself similar in a similar way to the way Devon Witherspoon helped themselves in the draft process last year and there is a lot of similarities there uh with Devin Witherspoon and him so you could use that as a point to say that I haven't uh bumped him up enough in the in the rankings to be quite honest but um it it really does have to do a lot with a the lack of press experience and there's another guy in this class who you could you know I'm speaking out of both ends of my mouth a little bit because I have a guy who I really like who doesn't have a ton of press experience but a little bit of a higher level and then yeah that's B it's the him playing at Toledo a lot of the tape does look really good but I'd be lying if I said that I I was uh aware of a single Mac receiver in my receiver rankings I I have about 25 30 receivers ranked I don't think any of them are from the Mac so I just don't think he went against a ton of top talent whereas I've seen the Alabama guys I've seen the Clemson Corner in Nate Wiggins I've seen even Cooper de in the Big 10 like those guys I've seen just go against more uh top talent at wide receivers so that's why I'm just a little bit lower and I don't want to make it sound like I dislike him but that's why I I I'm just a little bit lower even though I do have a first down grade on him all right well let's get to the guy that I think most people have CB1 in the draft uh you and uh dbes and Mark both have him number one he's number two for me I think have him like one spot behind on my overall rankings that'll come out soon but it is terion Arnold the cornerback out of Alabama dbes talk to me about terion Arnold yeah this is truly a 1A versus 1B situation I love Teran Arnold Arnold uh he's been my guy um all season and that's not a knock on quinan Mitchell at all um but he's just a little bit a not literally I have Arnold number seven and Quin young Mitchell number nine on my big board um but Arnold his uction this season was just as a lead as it gets man 63 tackles six and a half tackles for loss five picks uh he lined up primarily as a left corner uh last year but he also has extensive experience playing in the slot uh he's excellent in coverage he's able to mirror wide receivers with ease what I love most about Teran Arnold man this guy's a ball Hawk when you watch the tape when going up against the run man this guy is not afraid to be physical uh he's a great tackler uh he's he he's loves to get down hill he does not miss tackles um and that's why he's my CB1 in this draft man he's he's a very balanced Prospect um and that aggression you know we we talk about how soft this Eagles defense was in 2023 man this guy's the exact opposite man every time I watch tape on Alabama this guy's getting in the mix he has a nose for the football he's everywhere um you look at this guy he had the highest run defense grade from PFF of Any Corner uh last year at 90.6 I was honestly shocked at his uh 40 yard uh 40 yard dash time of 451 because when you watch this guy he's an effective Blitzer off the edge um he's a guy that can cover a ton of ground and very little time and when when you talk about the negatives this guy doesn't have many you know he's very young uh he's just 20 years old uh yeah he only has one year of starting experience he can get a little lazy with his technique at times but all those are coachable um and I just think his athletic traits and his instincts and his physical play and aggressiveness give him legit CB CB1 upside um and he's a top 10 pick in my opinion all right Mark I know terion Arnold's kind of your guy too so anything that you want to chip in there yeah no Dives did a great job there for sure tyion Arnold is uh for sure CB1 for me I have a little bit of a bigger Gap um between CB1 and CB2 than than you guys would um and a lot of it is just he went against the Malik neighbors and the Brian Thomas' and th those SEC receivers over the last couple years and uh one of the last chances you have at getting a legit SA defensive back um from Alabama obviously with him retiring there uh and tyan Arnold the ball skills are just so Elite and Jaylen Johnson is a guy I've heard him compared to a lot I think that's a really good comp obviously Jaylen Johnson just got Pa just got paid a ton in free agency for for Chicago to stay there and another guy I've seen him compared to Darius Slay he's a better tackler than Darius Slay um ever was so I I I really do think teron Arnold isn't bust proof but I'd be really surprised if he isn't a good starter yeah I think I think both Arnold and Mitchell are just very balanced prospects you know like their size and their physical play um their abilities and coverage their ability to stop the run um they're they're just very good quarterback prospects very both yeah I I think that I think Arnold is better in zone than he is in man so like if you're of course I have Mitchell at CB1 but again I've got him really close if you want to play a lot of man coverage I would definitely prefer Mitchell if you want to play a lot of Zone coverage I would still slightly prefer Mitchell but I definitely see an argument for Arnold there so to me it could come down to preference and what you want to do schematically too as a team because uh if you want to play a lot of man coverage maybe you go a little bit more towards Mitchell but yeah I think Arnold is a great Prospect as well um he's also played a little more in the slot than Mitchell has if you want that versatility to play inside or out Mitchell's always been a boundary guy uh so uh interesting discussions there at the top of the CB board I'm gon to be really interested to see who comes off the board first in the draft because I do very much think it's up in the air right now and I do that I do think Mitchell has the athleticism to play on the inside as well I do think it's that level of an athlete they have like the same build basically yeah he had Arnold had a 9.43 relative Athletic score so very athletic guy good build all of that so okay let's move on to our next guy here this is number two for Mark it's number three for dbes and I I really thought I was gonna be the Cooper de Jee guy on this podcast but I'm not and it's Mark so Mark talk to me about I guess I've got to call him your guy now yeah Cooper DeJean he is he's really becoming the guy who I'm screaming from the rooftops for the Eagles to at 22 and maybe the most realistic guy I'd L Teran Arnold I I just don't think that's at all realistic and dein might not be either and in my opinion he shouldn't be he should very much go with one of the top 15 picks of the draft uh he's 6127 uh hasn't worked out yet because he had a leg injury at the end of last year he's cleared for his pro day which is just a couple days away um at this point uh from the time that you're listening to this uh he was Junior played two full years at Iowa 77.4 PFF grade and an 88.5 PFF grade in those years played a ton of snaps and he was Elite at outside cornerback and I think he was so Elite because of his Elite ball skills he he checks the size boxes for the position he brings top tier natural athleticism uh in terms of his natural athleticism a little fun kind of tidbit about Cooper deine former four-star Prospect out of Iowa so he stayed in state played quarterback wide receiver in defensive back in high school also lettered in baseball basketball and track he was a long jump and a 100 meter dash state champion as a senior he averaged 26 points eight rebounds and seven assists per game on his high school basketball team in his senior year this is not just like like he is a a freak athlete and we haven't had the chance to freak out about it because he didn't go to the combine he didn't have his prod day yet um and I hope that those aren't those numbers you know I'm just not as trusting of pro days in general uh I think sometimes the numbers are a little inflated but hopefully either a those numbers aren't inflated and B he's not affected still by that injury because we've also seen guys like that rush back from their injury to test athletically and maybe it's not a full snapshot of what those guys actually are athletically if they've rush back too fast but I'm really interested to see how Cooper de Jean's pro day goes in terms of that stuff I'm curious to see how he grades out he great footwork very very very smooth Iowa didn't run press a ton he only had 200 press snaps so we don't know how good he is at that but there's plenty of teams that don't run a lot of press anyway cough Eagles cough so uh he's a he's a great tackler uh probably the best run defending Corner in this class which I think is part of why a lot of people think he could be a safety in my opinion I I I'm fighting back against that he was the only Corner in the nation last year with an 85 Plus grade as a run Defender and in coverage via PFF I'd be drafting him to be an outside corner I I'm I'm pretty passionate about his ability to hang out there I think he may have the versatility to play slot corner or safety um and I think I I look at that as a positive more than than a negative in this case for sure it's also a great returner uh the the kick return rules have been changed we've been seeing some of those you know return specialist gets signed in free agency I'm curious to see if you know I don't know if a first round corner is too valuable to use in kick returns or if that kind of philosophy changes at this point with the new rules it'll be interesting to kind of see uh but this is a I think this is a guy who I don't see why the Eagles wouldn't take him if he's on the board and apparently they met with him supposedly they like him I'm I'm really really hoping that this guy's wearing midnight green yeah he was uh pff's seventh highest graded Return Man in 2023 with 11 and a half yards per return and one touchdown he was a gunner on punt coverage and he had a he had a touchdown that should have been a touchdown they said he stepped out he didn't step out it would have won them the game against Minnesota so he actually had a second punt return touchdown that they those those Rascal Big 10 refs took away from him I would have imagine with the new kickoff rules a first round cornerback could also be your return man because you're no longer like it's no longer you're probably going to get to the 25 and get blown up by a guy with a full head of steam anyways like it really is just like a running play now yeah with wide open space and so I think you could see of course obviously you're not drafting a guy for his special team's ability in the first round but it's a plus um and I I also view him as a quarterback I think he can play safe but I would be drafting him as a cornerback and viewing safety as a fall back and I just think it would be really interesting intriguing from an eagle standpoint and I've been on this for a while to take a chony gardner Johnson who was a slot Defender who is now a safety but still plays the slot a lot and pair him with a Cooper de jeene who is a cornerback that could also maybe be a safety and now you've kind of got two quote unquote positionist players that do the same thing and it would give Vic fangio a lot of creativity and how he could deploy those guys and so I really like Cooper deene He's number three on my board I would Sprint that pick into the podium at 22 and and something you always say Shane when it comes to these position players and why sometimes they fall in the draft is because defensive coordinators are worried about not having a backup I I remember um that didn't didn't happen with Isaiah Simmons he he ended up going pretty high in the draft but um there's been plenty of guys who have that are maybe a little bit of a tweener Jeremiah Wu coroa um who's kind of a guy you can use in a lot of different ways even Kyle Hamilton um a guy who you can use a lot of different ways fell in the draft a and in this case I love the point you just made because you know Chanty Gardner Johnson gets hurt Cooper Dee if they had more corners than safeties at that time could slide into the Chanty Gardner Johnson role and maybe you slide uh someone different like a Ringo or a rick into the Dee role if he's starting so um it just gives you a lot of options and Dbacks seem to get hurt uh almost as much as any other position on the field so uh I I do like the idea of having a guy with versatility all right well let's turn the page to our next guy here he's number four for dbes and I he's number three for Mark but dbes hasn't got to talk in a while so dbes talk to me about Justin Wiggins Nate Wiggins defensive back out of Clemson yeah this guy uh has a lot of what you want uh when it comes to uh coverage this guy is a ridiculous uh cover Corner uh 6'2 185 pounds um although that's I think that's a little on the heavier side I think he's a lot lighter than that um but uh he allowed 18 receptions on 41 targets for 176 yards last year just 38 yards after the catch uh he allowed just one touchdown he had two interceptions four pass break UPS an opponent pass rating allowed of 44.4 you know this guy's best traits is his coverage ability and his ball skills uh when the ball's in the air he just does a terrific job of making the play uh he's got exceptional instincts um he can recognize the route break he's got Elite closing speed and he can go from zero to 60 in the blink of an eye uh that's the positives there are some negatives when it comes to Wiggins and it's the other side it's it's the tape and you you can't deny it it's that he's somewhat allergic to physical contact um I don't know if it's a thing I don't know if he's just a bad tackler or if it's a lack of effort thing um but he definitely gets pushed around a little bit when it comes to the Run game you know we've seen stronger wide receivers give him problems especially in close quarters especially on contested catches uh you look at the size and there are con some concerns yeah he's six foot two um but I believe he weighed in 173 pounds and he's got second percentile second percentile he's got shortish arms as well um 18 percentile arms yeah so when you look at the lack of mass when you look at the short arms when you look at the lack of frame you know it's going to be to NFL teams to decide if those are like yellow flags or red flags um and I I'll be honest they're yellow if I'm the Philadelphia Eagles and if he's sitting there at number 22 I probably without hesitation would select him uh because this is the type of cornerback that you can put on the boundary and say shut that guy down and you're good you can just set it and forget it and and and it's that's that's the level of coverage skills you're dealing here with Nate Wiggins and luckily for him man I I think his Elite ability and coverage outweighs any struggles he has as a run Defender um so that's a little bit on M wigs yeah I feel like he he's all about he's all about speed and fluidity like if you were going to describe him it's speed and fluidity and yeah he's underweight he's 88th percentile height but only second percentile weight and so like that would tell you his frame should be able to gain Mass right but the question is like is he the same Elite athlete if he adds another 15 pounds and I don't know the answer to that now and he could you can find a balance there like he could stand to be less athletic and have more mass and still be pretty much functionally the same player you you get that law of diminishing returns at a point like is a 428 Corner really that much different than a 435 Corner probably not but the difference 10 or 15 more pounds could make in his ability to play the run as a tackler maybe that's worth it that's the projection part that comes in but he he's about he struggles and run support and as a tackler had a 13.3% Miss tackle rate in 2023 that's my concern with Wiggins his coverage looks great uh I with no hesitation give him a first round grade it's just why I have him number four instead of number one or two yeah the the Wiggins I mean he's basically Emanuel Forbes from last year and Emanuel Forbes didn't Faire very well in his rookie year I was higher on Forbes than you guys um we've definitely seen plenty of corner struggle early on and then turn it around turn it around so I I don't want to necessarily say Nate Wiggins can't uh you know be that guy if if Emanuel Forbes was bad in his Justice rookie year there's also a lot of AJ Terrell comps that you could make um with Nate Wiggins as well so um I I do like Nate Wiggins he's definitely another guy I'd be really interested in with the Eagles but watching some more tape the last couple days it's definitely a little grab um than I remember watching throughout the season um and I think some of that in general we talk about that a lot when we talk about Dbacks but some of that is the fact that it's just a 15 yard penalty in college so they almost teach you to a little bit if you're gonna get beat deep that that you should go and do that so um I do like Wiggins I think the frame I could support more weight I think the arms the the length it's going to help him at the next level I think he's going to be better than Forbes was even early on so um I'm still pretty high on wiggin all right well that's I don't know if you want to talk in terms of tiers but that's kind of our first tier and then there's like a one guy second tier that we're all the same on and that is Kool-Aid mckinstry out of Alabama he is cb5 for all of us um so Kool-Aid mckinstry besides having an a awesome nickname he's a five-star recruit he is 511 a half inches 199 pounds he's got long arms small hands it's like the inverse of quinan Mitchell 70th percentile arm length eighth percentile hand size he only gave up one touchdown in 2023 I he he's just versatile right he can play man he can play zone he had the number eight Zone coverage grade this year on 265 Zone cover coverage snaps he had the number 49 man coverage grade on 117 coverage snaps uh he had the number 13 overall coverage grade number seven overall CB grade from PFF if you want to get away from PFF charting you can just watch him and say he's got good lateral agility I think he's got quick transitions in and out of his breaks and he can attach to a receiver and press coverage and stay locked up with them he can play from off coverage he's a quick accelerator he's good and run support uh he keeps the edge he's got great length that should allow him to be impactful at the catch point now that hasn't always necessarily been the case uh but he he's got that link that you can work with he also returned punts in 2022 and 2023 he was this is weird and I can't tell you why but he was great at it in 2022 he had almost 16 yards per return it dropped to under seven yards per return in 2023 he went from the seven highest graded returner to the lowest and I could not tell you why but in 2022 he was a great punt returner and so maybe that's something that you key in and you could work with as well as for his weaknesses uh he doesn't get his head around downfield at times and I feel like he struggles to locate the ball when he does I also I talked about him pressing but sometimes he's not the most consistent Landing that press before he opens up to run sometimes it feels like he just doesn't really want to press he wants to just bail and run and I think that could be because he's just got average makeup speed he doesn't have the best long speed uh he gets a little handsy at the top of his routes and I really tried not to write that in every report this year but I did put it in his so I've got a first round grade on him as well I think he's a scheme diverse boundary Corner uh but he's sort of a tier below those top four for me Mark any thoughts on on uh Kool-Aid I know he was your guy early in the year and I think you faded off of him just a little bit yeah it was just there were some kind of spotty things that you mentioned there in some of the bigger games and yeah you you kind of hit most of the spots there he's I I think he's part of the first tier to to be honest I don't even know if he's too much of a tier behind for me um I don't think there's that much that separates uh for for me Wiggins Mitchell and mckinstry I have uh Arnold kind of in his own tier Dee a little bit ahead of those guys but probably in the same tier and then those three guys kind of kind of similar and mckinstry uh again I always kind of with the with the Alabama defensive backs I do kind of tend to give them a little bit of the benefit of the doubt because of the success that they've had in the NFL and also because of the fact that uh you know he's played like I said with with with Arnold against the top talent but there's a little bit more concerns with him against the top talent than there was with Arnold all right anything you want to add I'm just curious if we're nitpicking when it comes to KOA McKenry like the the amount of targets he faced between 23 and 2022 is just night and day like he barely saw there were games when he saw one target um a week and next week one Target and next week two Targets like uh the previous season he was seeing five to 10 targets a game and pretty much everything all the attention went towards Terry and Arnold now Arnold won those matchups nine and point. N times out of 10 and kudos to him but um I'm just curious if we're you know it's one of those situations like Caleb Williams where there's too much tap yeah it's probably a little bit too much of like he got he got some flags and that's what people remember in big games it's probably unfair if the draft was in March we wouldn't nitpick as much but we've got the time so this is where we find ourselves yeah all right all right let's keep rolling here let's go to our next guy our first safety of the bunch he's number six for both Mark and dbes he's number seven for me it is Tyler nuban out of Minnesota h mark talk to me about Tyler nuban Tyler nuban is a guy that I've liked all you know all season long last year and all offseason and I'm not letting the poor relative Athletic score Cloud me I didn't move him down my board I'm bullish on his athleticism on field um and you can see that when you look through his full three seasons of starting at Minnesota um he had an 89.2 PFF grade with five interceptions this year um two previous seasons 76.4 and 72.6 PFF grades but 2023 was true breakout season he was the best safety in the country um he waited his turn behind and learned behind Anton Winfield Jr who has turned into one of the better uh safeties in the NFL since then he's only went and become in Minnesota's time leader in interceptions at at 13 in those three seasons he's got great eyes great anticipation for where the passes and ball carriers are going I think he's really versatile but I and I think he can play in any scheme but he excels in a two deep rle to use his ball skills as much as possible um and he has a 90.1 coverage grade uh which is the best among these safeties so nuan's a guy who I I really really like and I I have him ranked right around that range where the Eagles pick but based on the consensus ranking he's a guy who probably goes towards the top to middle of the second round and if the Eagles could figure out a way to get him in the second round I'd be jumping for joy yeah he had a passer rating allow of 36.9 last season the number one overall coverage grade from safeties number two overall safety grade uh he also has 681 career special team snaps so again I mean I'm talking about special teams a lot but when you're drafting defensive backs you're thinking about that as well so um I have a second round grade on him as well there's some you know he doesn't have the top end speed or range I I definitely agree split field safety scheme is kind of where you want him H his change of Direction I think is a little below average a little bit limited range but again he's got 13 interceptions in his career uh he's highly intelligent guy he was a four-time academic All-American uh I'd love to have on the Eagles next season so I'd take him I've got a second round grade on him as well yeah he's in one of my favorite scenarios for the Philadelphia Eagles when they like you know trade back into the mid teens maybe late orid sorry mid to late 20s and they draft Tyler nubin um I think there's like some Brian branch in this guy to be able to like thrive in the slot and do a lot of different things I I love him all right well let's keep the ball rolling here and let's go to a guy that's number six for me he's number seven for Mark and dbes it is Kamari Lasser cornerback out of Georgia a place Kamari Lasser Breakdown the Eagles never select prospects but maybe this is the year Dives talked to me about Kamar loer I think this guy's an elite Eagles Target um especially if they do trade back which would be smart in in some you know some scenarios but you know you you mentioned it Shane like Georgia has a a long history of producing topnotch cornerback Talent um and they've got another nickel Defender here that I think should really interest Eagles fans in Kamari Lasser um he had three and a half tackles for loss half a sack and eight deflections in 2023 but when you watch the tape man like his impact far uh goes beyond everything you saw from the surface stats man he's 6 foot about 186 pounds he's lean but he's got really good length um and he plays so much bigger than his listed size and weight man this guy really packs a punch um he's a very smooth athlete he he's I think a great playmaker despite the lack of uh numbers there and then when you get to run support this guy is just an absolute oneman Wrecking Crew man uh he's he he's an excellent tackler uh he ranked in the top 12 among FBS quarterbacks in both Burns per Target and burns per coverage snap allowed last year and you know I I think his versatility his ability to dominate in the slot his his ability to play all over the place uh has to make him a top-notch target for Hoy Roseman and if you think he can't play um I mean just to go back on the slot like when they matched up against Missouri um it was Kamari last who was assigned to take out Luther buron and if you don't know who that is you will in literally less than 12 months from now because he's a top five draft pick he's a wide receiver and just a Flatout stud Luther Burton is GNA be a big name in the draft circles this time next year and he only held him to one reception he moved into the slot and took him out and that just speaks volumes on how um dominant this guy can be uh I thought he's been excellent throughout the draft Circle or draft cycle these last couple months uh so Kamari Lasser is a guy kind of like Cooper de jeene in some respects that I think uh can give you just a lot of everything at a really high level yeah I he did not play in the slot very much I think he could be a slot candidate in the NFL with his ability to play The Run and with his agility I mean he's 93rd percentile on the three cone he's a little undersized underweight I I'm not not saying he has to play inside but I could see him sliding inside really easily uh with his run defending prowess at the next level too yeah it's the the weird thing about him is that just that 40 time is concerning a little bit there with Kamari Lasser it's not as concerning when he's I don't think he's going to be an outside corner um but he the 464 with him being kind of a late Riser and a late bloomer um I I think that he's a dog though I think he's an absolute dog so uh definitely a guy I'd be interested in for the Eagles my comp for him was Byron Murphy uh who plays on Minnesota he makes about like1 million do a year all right well let's go to the next guy we're gonna go to the big 12 my home conference let's talk about TJ Tampa the TJ Tampa Breakdown quarterback out of Iowa State he's number eight for me he's number nine for both of you guys he was a three star recruit coming out 61 189 pounds 7 fifth percentile arm length so he's got height he's got length H obviously that's a good starting spot with the cornerback he allowed one touchdown in 2023 I think he's got good burst H he's got fluid hips he ex he he's in his best when he is pressing and then flipping his hips to run downfield in like a trail technique where he's got that safety help over the top I think he's got really good ball skills that he plays the ball in the air with with good tracking and timing he is 98th percentile for forced incompletion rate in college and so he does a really good job doesn't get a lot of interceptions only three but he does a lot to break up passes and force incompletions he can also deal with blocks in the open field uh in run defense he's got the length for that now he is a little inconsistent as a tackler he's not always technically sound sometimes he drops that head or he Dives for the legs and so that's something that you want to clean up he also takes unnecessary risks both by going for big hits in the open field or by trying to make balls on play or make plays on balls where it's just not there instead of just tackling I mean he's the guy that on Third and 12 will try to knock down a slant route instead of just letting the guy catch it and Tackle him six yards short of the sticks and so there's some of that on film you would like to see cleaned up as well uh he's to Upright in his backpedal at times so it can cause some issues in offb coverage but again he really likes to press so I've got a second round grade on Tampa I think he is a great fit for a team that likes to run a lot of Zone coverage uh and or likes to let their cornerbacks get up on the line and press I think that would be a perfect fit for T maybe we get TJ Tampa in a Tampa 2 scheme and the memes can bound so that's my thoughts on TJ Tampa uh dbes anything that you want to add in there no you nailed it that was exactly what I was going to say about the the whole press thing that's I think you nailed it all right yeah TJ Tampa my comp I'll just throw my comp out there and it's from Lance zerline and it's like exact if you look at the ra stuff rosul Douglas very very very similar to rosul Douglas I loved rul Douglas that makes sense I can see a lot of that now so okay let's keep it rolling here and next we're going to go to Kyrie Jackson he is number eight on Mark's big Kyrie Jackson Breakdown board he is not in the top 10 for either dbes or I so Mark what are we missing here I love Kyrie Jackson 63 and a half 194 and in I mean go through all the names we just mentioned did we mention anyone who's bigger than 61 and a half because I don't think we have yet I think everyone else has been below that he's two inches taller than anyone I think we've discussed um he is just he's a different type of Corner in this year's class um and I'm actually surprised that his r r wasn't higher it actually and then I went and went and looked he's 7.98 now when he first tested at the combo it was 8.48 so he it moved down that much just from the other Corners testing this year which shows how athletic this year is at the quarterback position and we've talked about that I I feel like at every position but I get that a 45 is not on the the faster end his vertical didn't blow people away but he's 63 and a half with 32.75 inch arms u i I just think that length is incredibly valuable he's got the perfect frame uh to he's built to be an NFL outside cornerback you can put him on an island put him in press man Zone he started his college career at Community College before transferring to Alabama he was suspended after being named a starter for undisclosed reasons that's a little bit of a weird thing I know one nothing ever really came out I tried to dig to figure out what that was about but he transferred to Oregon after three years at Alabama and he had a f fantastic season and really the only year that he got a legitimate heaping of snaps and they it was a great year uh great ball skills whether it's those three picks that he had or batting balls down uh you know he's great at the catch Point Walling his guy off definitely a little bit handsy but he didn't really get for it a lot um he's also a great tackler uses his size and arm length 78 inch Wings spin he uses all of it um he didn't miss a single tackle in 2023 he's a pretty direct size comp with Tariq Woolen he's just not as fast at all so I I my comp for him is a slower Tariq Wen a slower Tariq Wen all right I like it Dives did you have anything you wanted to throw in on Jackson even though he wasn't in your top 10 no like Mark said great Manas bus great in coverage um I have him in that tier right outside of our top 10 uh with guys like Kamal Haden and guys that we're talk about during our honorable mentions but uh there's a few guys that I like just a little bit more than him all right well let's go to your number eight who is also not in the top 10 for Mark and I he's number 11 for me let's talk Javon Bullard safety out of Georgia H so talk to me about Bullard so Javon Bullard Breakdown I have a type I guess you know this guy is awesome um he was he's been a force to be reckoned with the last two years uh from that Georgia secondary you know he earned defensive MVP in 20 uh in 2022 uh at the Peach Bowl and the national championship game uh he was second Team all sec in 2023 he had 56 tackles the third most on the team with two picks and five pass breakups in 12 games last year uh last year was Javon Bard's first year at safety after starting at the nickel back uh after starting um in the nickel or that that star position for Georgia uh he went from nickel to safety last year and he the the fact that he showed that seamless transition the fact that um he can be efficient in both nickel and free safety at the highest level of college football just speaks volumes of what kind of prospect this is uh he is instinctive with high high football IQ he has great ranging coverage uh he's a great processor very quick feet uh he has excellent closing burst he's a reliable tackler in space this guy loves to fly downhill he's not afraid of contact and when you get to negatives about this guy it's his size you know his his weakness is his size uh and you know you look at the NFL when it comes to the safety position who are I think probably more so trending towards bigger safeties you know guys that kind of blur the lines of a safety and an off ball linebacker um you know guys that can play a little bit closer to the line you know help disguise different coverages Javon Bullard certainly doesn't really fit the mold of that uh he's definitely on the smallest side you know he's he's 198 pounds but he and he's got a dense build like he's way bigger than than that 180 it says um and I and he's probably maxed out in that area um but I think overall Bard probably fits best as a you know free safety nickel hybrid Defender that I think and big time leader on and off the field that a lot of you know defensive coordinators will love so uh love Javon Bard especially in that day two range for the Eagles yeah I've got a third round grade on Bullard and I wrote down Big Nickel I mean he played the slot in 2022 he played Safety in 2023 overall in college he's got 555 snaps in the slot 362 at safety and 132 in the box so I think I mean he's a guy I would love to be my big nickel third safety put him in the slot that sort of guy um I think he'd be a great pickup on mid to late day two okay you guys covered it you guys nailed it all right we nailed it so let's keep the show rolling here and we're going to go to my number nine and it's my turn to have a guy that nobody else has on their list and it is inis Rick straw Jr um so he's from Missouri Javon Bullard Stats three star recruit well he went to college at Missouri I don't actually know where he's from I phrase that weirdly but he was a three star recruit he's 5'11 and a half inches 183 PBS ran a 45140 yard dash 70th percentile arm link 7.2 relative Athletic score so he's uh average size or average height underweight long arms kind of average to slightly below average speed but I do think he is a fluid mover like he's got quick feed I think he goes through his transitions quickly he's really strong in zone coverage where he does a good job of maintaining spacing H but I think he's comfortable in press man coverage where he can use those long arms to get hands on receivers and he can control reps early once he gets hands on those receivers he's good in run support he had the eighth highest PFF run defense grade among corner or among defensive backs uh when the ball's in the air I think he does a good job of locating it and knocking it away and I think he brings a lot of divers scheme diversity and versatility he can play in both man or Zone uh he's got just shy of 14400 snaps at the boundary he's got 367 snaps in the slot so I think you could play him a little bit of anywhere now he does have a thin frame he lacks some strength and he can have difficulty with bigger receivers at the catch point I think he also only has one interception uh in his college career and so you know you look at that and say maybe not the best ball skills right H he's got below average recovery speed there's some injury concerns he tore his ACL in 2021 he had a groin injury in 2023 and then had surgery to repair a core muscle injury that caused him to miss the Senior Bowl and so I have a medical red flag on him uh overall I have a second round great on him but I do have that medical red flag that obviously I can't know uh how what how teams are going to view that what information they're gonna have but I think he's a diverse guy that could potentially move into the slot at the next level uh so you know maybe he goes near the end of that second round if all the Medicals check out yeah he's a guy that I'm I'm not quite that high on he in terms of his he definitely some injury red flags I wasn't all that impressed with the ball skills so um he's probably 13 or 14 for me uh all my DB all my DB ranks all right oh I lied I said he wasn't on anybody else's list he is Dives number 10 so I I just missed that there when I was looking but Dives anything you want to add on RI straw um no just excellent cover Corner sorry a lot going on but go ahead okay you're good uh so let's go on to this is min and marks number 10 it is dbes number 11 it is Mike Sandra still out of Michigan uh Mark talk to me about Sandra Mike Williams Stats still he's not us he's not the type of guy that I would usually have um on this list uh but he's just so impressive despite the size 59 and a half 182 really really small obviously but still even with that size an 8.4 relative Athletic score ran a 447 40 in vertical um and we'll get back to that in a second 3.875 inch arms had over an 80 PFF grade in both years he had six picks in 2023 he played receiver in his first three years at Michigan before moving to defensive back full-time in 2022 he caught 37 passes for 539 yards and five touchdowns uh before moving to DB and that wide receiver skill set translated to Corner in the form of top tier ball skills and it's helped by an insane vertical uh like I just mentioned that 40inch vertical is is just crazy for a guy who's 5'9 and a half he's a physical physical tackler really plays with a dog mentality some people think he could be a safety I I think he's a little undersized to to move him to that position I I would draft him to be a slot cornerback and my comp would be Kenny more from the Colt who just got three years 30 million in free agency yeah he's a SL only guy for me he's also a plus special teamer almost 300 career snaps on special teams uh the wide receiver skills you mentioned two of those six interceptions he returned for touchdowns this year as well I will say I think he's got really good vision and instincts in the passing game and that comes from his wide receiver background like he just understands what the opposing wide receivers are trying to do but I feel like he's slow out of his breaks sometimes like he doesn't trust his eyes fully which he's only two years into being a corner so there's a lot of rawness there but I really like him as a slot only guy at dbes he was just outside of your top 10 at sort of the same thing there for you all right so if anybody knows me or has been following along I I I've been one of the biggest Mike Sam still fans uh over the last several months um you know the Michigan is just loaded with draft prospects this year and the guy that I was pounding the table about was Mike Sam still was just making play week after week after week week just a straight up Ball Hawk he's always around the football uh like you said he's going to be an elite slot cornerback uh and his rise has been like kind of Bittersweet you know every year you fall in love with with a guy and you know he went I think at the start of this season he was kind of a day three guy that I don't think a lot of people know about so it's been kind of cool to see him now like he's probably like somewhere in the top of round two midtop two mid round two area so uh shout out to Mike Sam still he's been awes awesome man an awesome Prospect all right so that is our top 10 um now obviously there's a lot of defensive backs there's always guys that just missed the cut for us guys that are maybe honorable mentions whether it's a guy that just barely missed a day three prospect that you really like uh dbes do you have anybody that you want to give a shout out to uh before we get out of here did you want Max Melton I wasn't sure H I will definitely talk about Max Melton but you can talk about him first okay because I could I mean there's some slot Corners that I really like which is a big position of need like for me I tried so hard to get Max Melton into my top 10 just so I could talk about him and I just couldn't put him over sanr still to get him in there but I love Max Melton but yeah go ahead talk talk about him he's 11 for me too by the way is he really yeah he's uh definitely a guy that doesn't have enough Buzz around his name uh 5'11 187 p pounds 32 inch arms just a physical freak man uh some of the most explosive athleticism in this year's draft 40 and a half inch vert 43940 114 on the broad jump um and he's just got a lot of Versatility but I think he his bread and butter is going to be uh in that slot area uh he's got a lot of length he looks really fast on tape um I do think he's got some inside outside upside but I I like at least year one he's going to be in the slot and um he does tend to rely on his physical attributes sometimes um but all those can be coached up and I think Melton has a ton of upside and if you're looking for a slot cornerback I made a video on my favorite slot corners and this guy was at the top of the list so max Melton's a name to know yeah I love Max Melton I've been pumping this guy up at 9.58 relative Athletic score he was is a sub 4440 uh his brother Bo Melton if that sounds familiar is a wide receiver for the Packers both of his parents played or played Sports at ruter his dad played football his mom played basketball um he's got a lot of Versatility I think he's got average size but great length in athleticism uh he he's got good ball production three2 and three interceptions in the last three years he fits the Run aggressively um I think the reason I couldn't put him over a guy like sanr still is because I think he's a slot but he hasn't played the slot much only 108 snaps in the slot and so there's a bit of projection in moving a guy that's mostly played outside corner into the slot and he did good at the Senior Bowl in it he had some really good reps we showed on this feed um I just couldn't put him over a guy like Sandra it's more proven in the slot but I love uh Max Melton and he's a easy easy day two Target for me yeah Max Melton's my number 11 corner and my number 12 Corner my honorable mention would be cam Hart uh cam Hart is a guy who I've been obsessed with and uh he made me look smart at the combine 9.82 relative Athletic score um he's 63 202 so like Kyrie Jackson just a rare size guy for this draft a 39 and a half inch vertical ran a 45 which again at that size is a little bit different than these guys at 61 running a 45 um he also has 33 inch arms so just incredibly long uh maybe not the best of ball skills I feel like he flashed ball skills early on in his Notre Dame career maybe not necessarily later on um in the career so uh but camart a guy who graded out incredibly well athletically and a guy who just has the frame uh to translate to the next level you could say that cam Hart stole Mark's heart there you go I I I feel like I'm not high enough on the other Notre aim guys in this class so I feel like I'm throwing all my I'm throwing all my humorism behind camart you think Maris Leal is a day two pick no probably maybe Fringe like I Outro I'll have him outside my top 100 I want to throw out a name also um you know more Georgia football uh tyi Smith another slot guy uh another guy that undersized but just a ball Hawk uh keep an eye out for TIY Smith in that like round three round four area all right well there you have it uh our top 10 Again from one to 10 I went quinan Mitchell terion Arnold Cooper deene Nate Wiggins Kool-Aid mckinstry Kamari Lasser Tyler nuban TJ Tampa Innis rraw JRR and Mike sandrel mark from one to 10 went terion Arnold Cooper deene Nate Wiggins quinan Mitchell Kool-Aid mckinstry Tyler nuban Kamar ler Kyrie Jackson TJ Tampa and Mike sanr still and then Dives 1 to 10 went terion Arnold quinon Mitchell Cooper to jeene Nate Wiggins Kool-Aid mckinstry Tyler nuben Kamari Lasser Javon Bullard TJ Tampa and inis R straw I realize now that the reason I missed inis rraw on your list is because I didn't put the Junior after his name and that's what I was looking for when I was skimming through but there you have it our top 10 H I'm also realizing as I read those off that last year when we did these podcasts we went from like 10 to one to keep that suspense about who was number one and I'm realizing now that we have one episode left ranking position groups that I didn't do that this year so maybe next year maybe next year we'll bring the suspense back we'll make BG and draft show suspenseful again uh but that's going to do it for this episode thank you guys for joining us for this episode of the BGN draft show if you enjoyed the show if you've been tracking along with us throughout all of our position rankings or even all the way back to week zero of the college football season this year we really appreciate you guys um thank you for listening click that subscribe button so you may get all the other shows on the BGN feed and so you never miss one of our draft shows uh you can check us all out on Twitter I'm at Shane half NFL Dives is at Mr crockpot and Mark is at Mark Henry Jr we will catch you guys next week for the final position ranking episode of this year of the bgm draft show when we rank tight end prospects we'll catch you guys then