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• A competition for “Best Athlete”: Quinyon Mitchell Could have won the superlative but Max Melton Earns the honor of running a The fastest 40-yard dash time is 4.39 seconds, with a vertical jump of 40 1/2 inches and a broad jump of over 11 feet.
• Cooper DeJean wins “Best Tackler” and “Best Ball Skills”: He excels at off-zone coverage as well as tracking running backs who are coming out of the backfield.
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It’s a great group to have for the NFL Draft of 2024. The superlatives were a tough choice for everyone. Here’s what we think of the cornerbacks for 2024, and what they excel at.
Best Athlete: Max Melton, Rutgers
You know that we’re analyzing cornerbacks, so this was a difficult decision. The position requires superior athleticism. Toledo‘s Quinyon Mitchell Although a cornerback who is less talked about in this class would have been a better choice (and many others as we will discuss), one who is less talked about would be more deserving. Rutgers‘ Max Melton.
Melton, at 5’11 and 187 lbs, ran the 40-yard dash 4.39 seconds. He jumped 40 1/2″ in the vertical and over 11 feet wide. This is some serious athleticism. His quickness also showed up on tape and during the Senior Bowl, particularly when he had to cover in the red zone in drills. Melton is a slot cornerback with a lot of versatility.
Best in Man Coverage: Renardo Green, Florida State
Florida State‘s Renardo Green This past season, he was one of the best-rated players in man coverage. He earned a 90.0 in such situations. This is his style. He likes to stand up in the press at the line-of-scrimmage and stare at the receiver, mirroring their movements. This helps to close the throwing window. He and his teammate Jarrian Jones In these situations, he received elite coverage grades. In man coverage, he recorded 11 forced incompletions as well as two interceptions. Green is tall and long, measuring just under six feet with 31 3/4-inch arms. He has the potential to play at the NFL.
Best in Zone Coverage: Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo
Truth be told Quinyon Mitchell I was nominated for best athlete, man coverage and zone coverage. Mitchell would have won this award, but I wanted to give it to other cornerbacks. In the last two years, he played more than 800 snaps of coverage. But only 51 of those snaps were press-man coverage. This means that his best coverage grades were earned in the zone.
He has forced 35 incompletions, the most by any FBS cornerback since 2022. Not only did he have six interceptions but he had eight more that hit his hands. He showed at the Senior Bowl that he could also play press man if asked. But his work in zone was unmatched.
Best in Press Kool Aid McKinstry, Alabama
McKinstry has played 1,000 coverage snaps in the past two seasons, 573 of which were in press. He earned a 90.3 grade in coverage, with two interceptions, and 25 forced incompletions. McKinstry excels at playing man coverage with his back to the ball. He is calm and confident, and has a good sense of when to punch out the ball or swipe it away. McKinstry has a few other great press coverage defenders, but it is hard to give him this superlative.
Best in Slot: Mike Sainristil, Michigan
In the past two seasons, no defensive back in college football has performed better in the slot than Michigan‘s Mike Sainristil. The wide receiver-turned-cornerback may be small at 5-foot-9 1/2 and 182 pounds, but he thrives in the slot at that size with his athleticism. His short-area speed is impressive, as evidenced by the 84th percentile short shuttle time at the NFL Scouting Combine. His 40-inch vertical leap also demonstrated his explosiveness when accelerating. In the past two years, he recorded an 82.9 grade in coverage when lining up in the slot.
BEST BLITZER Mike Sainristil, Michigan
Sainristil’s train is already rolling, so we might as well give him the well-deserved award for “best blitzer”. Sainristil’s pass-rush grade was 85.5, and his run-defense grade was 76.2 when he played in the slot. He has generated 22 pressures, and four sacks in the past two seasons. Both were among the top three marks at his position.
BEST BALL SPORTS SKILLS Cooper DeJean, Iowa
DeJean is a fantastic ball-handler with a great production and feel. That’s not to say he can’t play man — he can do it all as CB1 on my Board — but DeJean excels when playing a little bit off the line of scrimmage and keeping his eyes on the quarterback. His seven interceptions during the past two years tied him with the sixth-most in the FBS. He also tied for the second-most in the 2024 class of cornerbacks. Dwight McGlothern You can also find out more about the following: Mike Sainristil. DeJean was not able to take the test at the NFL Scouting Combine He may not have had his pro day but he is athletic enough to be a ball-hawk at the next level.
Alabama‘s Terrion Arnold It is also a superlative.
BEST TACKLER Cooper DeJean, Iowa
The cornerbacks have a few really impressive tacklers, including Missouri‘s Ennis Rakestraw Jr., Wake Forest‘s Caelen Carson You can also find out more about the following: Notre Dame‘s Cam Hart. DeJean, however, will never make the CB1 type say “He’s great at coverage but a liability when it comes to run support.” DeJean is a 6-foot 1/2, 200-pounder with the size and strength to take down blockers, make tackles against running backs coming from the backfield to the sideline and on screens. Over the last two years, he missed only 10 tackles while making 35 solo stops and 11 tackles with no gain or loss. Michigan‘s Mike Sainristil You can also find out more about the following: Georgia‘s Javon Bullard You can find out more about this by clicking here. There are also names that we would like to mention, as the impact stats of these names are similar.
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