This year’s corner class is filled with talent. In my opinion, there are at least eight different players I would take in the first two rounds of this year’s draft. With all that talent, there are players that didn’t make my top five that I still think will be absolute studs in the league. In today’s pass-first league, you can never have enough cover corners. Here are the five in this year’s class who have the most upside.
5. Cobee Bryant 6′ 0″, 175 lbs
Cobee Bryant is a raw ball hawk with a boatload of potential. Bryant is in his happy place playing physical press-man coverage. His long arms allow him to get hands-on opposing receivers at the line of scrimmage, disrupting their routes in the process. His physicality lets him get away with some fixable but glaring technical flaws when lined up outside. Bryant also showcases the ability to cover receivers man-to-man in the slot, where the corner’s hip fluidity is on full display.
Strengths:
-Bryant is a certified ballhawk, recording eight interceptions in his past two seasons. He showcases the ability to anticipate quarterbacks’ eyes and jump routes when in zone coverages, as well as getting his head around and making a play on the ball at his highest point while in man coverage.
-Bryant’s wingspan is no joke. His arms are long and are an incredible asset in press coverage. Bryant is outstanding at widening receivers off the track of their routes and killing timing between them and their quarterbacks.
- He is capable of playing both outside and in the slot. Bryant’s technique actually gets better when playing inside as he excels in playing catch man from the slot.
- The defensive back plays well above his listed 175lbs frame. He is absolutely fearless and has no worries putting his body on the line as he flies around the field, making difficult open-field tackles look effortless.
- Bryant seamlessly flips his hips and runs with receivers, has the speed to match wideouts stride for stride and shows good speed in his backpedal.
Weaknesses:
- Bryant has a bunch of technical flaws that are easily fixable.
- He has a bad habit of lining up too far inside or outside receivers while in the press, which allows them to get cleaner releases away from Bryant’s leverage.
- While in his pedal of playing soft press technique, he has a tendency to get on his heels rather than staying on his toes.
- Bryant is too inconsistent in holding his leverage in man coverage. This is due mostly to his eyes wandering at the top of routes.
- He can be too handsy at times. Bryant is often over-aggressive at the top of opposing receivers’ routes and will push them away from him, thus creating separation or losing his leverage.
Scheme Fit/ Utilization: Seattle 3 press bail
Bryant’s ball-hawking prowess and press-man skills would be best utilized in the Seattle 3 scheme. The systems cover three looks that will allow him to bait quarterbacks into throws using his instincts, route recognition and ball skills while being able to play in press looks while in man coverage.
Player comp: Marcus Peters
Bryant and Peters both stand at 6’0 tall, have long arms and have a knack for creating turnovers. If he cleans up his technical issues, Bryant could be well on his way to following in Peters’ footsteps, collecting his own bundle of interceptions and All-Pro honors in the league.
4.Azareye’h Thomas 6′ 2″, 198 lbs
Azareye’h Thomas is a tall, physical press corner. Thomas is the ideal size for an NFL corner and pairs that with tremendous movement skills for someone his size. Thomas is adequate when playing off-coverage, but the team that drafts him will want him in press man as much as possible.
Strengths:
- Thomas has ridiculous hip fluidity for his size. He’s able to turn on a dime and redirect with receivers with ease while in press coverage.
- Thomas has long arms and gets hands on receivers at the line of scrimmage frequently. He is excellent at widening receivers off their track and disrupting their timing.
- Thomas has an excellent understanding of how to maintain his leverage while in press.
- Willing, physical tackler.
Weaknesses:
-Thomas is just okay at all things off-coverage. He’s in no way a detriment but is quite raw and needs substantial refinement within his technique. He’ll get too handsy at the top of routes, not gain enough depth in his pedal in off-man and deep zone coverage and have poor eye discipline.
-Lack of turnovers forced.
Scheme Fit/ Utilization: Press man corner/ Man heavy scheme
Thomas is your prototypical press man corner that travels with the opposing team’s best wideout all game long. He’ll be best suited in a man-heavy scheme disrupting wideouts routes with his long arms on Sundays.
Player Comp: L’Jarius Sneed
Thomas’ length, physicality and fluidity while being over six feet tall reminds me of Sneed. If Thomas can develop and round out his skillset in off-coverage like Sneed has he’ll be looking at a long career in the league.
3.Benjamin Morrison Notre Dame 6’0, 190lbs
Benjamin Morrison is a do-it-all, outside corner who had his season cut short in 2024. The Junior is as technically sound as they come and should be a day-one starter for the team that drafts him. Morrison excels in both press and off-coverage and despite not registering an interception in his final campaign at Notre Dame, his film and prior seasons showed that he’s more of a ballhawk than those stats would indicate. He flourished in Notre Dame’s man-heavy defensive scheme.
Strengths:
- Morrisson is like a seatbelt in soft press coverage. Receivers stay safely strapped into the corner’s reach as he perfectly mirrors their routes.
- The corner has a PHD in holding his leverage. Morrison rarely allows receivers to win to his leverage side. He uses incredible eye control and patience to stay glued to his opponent’s leverage side hip while in coverage.
- Morrisson has a smooth backpedal, excellent eye control and fluid hips.
- Morrison shows a great understanding of route combinations and quickly diagnoses which receiver is his to cover in zone and zone match coverages.
- The corner has tremendous ball skills, which he showed off with nine career interceptions, including six picks in his freshman season.
Weaknesses:
- Morrison’s hip injury, which required surgery, is his main question mark for teams.
- A lack of tape against quality opponents during his junior year may hurt his stock.
- Morrison needs to continue to build strength. If he gains the ability to disrupt receivers at the line, not just mirror them, he’ll be even more effective.
Scheme Fit/ Utilization: Boundary side/ heavy press man scheme
Morrison can play in any defensive scheme and succeed due to his diverse skillset outside. His best fit would be a team that loves playing man which will allow him to showcase his elite soft press coverage skills.
Player comp: A.J. Bouye
Bouye (6-0, 191lb) and Morrison have very similar builds and versatile skill sets. Bouye may have had a short prime, but while he was at the height of his game, he was one of the NFL’s best corners. Both players can play from depth and have good ball skills, but they are at their best getting in receiver faces, mirroring their routes and sticking to wideouts like glue in press coverage. Morrison’s ceiling is just as high as Bouye’s, hopefully he can reach the same heights and for a longer period of time.
2.Will Johnson 6′ 2″, 202 lbs
Will Johnson is an off-coverage technician in man, zone and match coverages. Johnson is an elite processor post-snap. As routes are distributed, he anticipates and reacts seamlessly, executing his assignment to perfection and sticking to receivers like glue. Despite missing most of his final year at Michigan, Johnson has more than enough tape to show he’s a top talent in this year’s class.
Strengths:
- Johnson is a technician. He has a flawless pedal, an understanding of leverage, patience in coverage and incredible closing speed.
- Elite processing skills in zone and match coverages.
- Strong in press coverage.
- Excellent athlete able to match receivers step for step.
Weaknesses:
- With his injury causing him to miss most of his last collegiate season and the NFL combine, Johnson didn’t have the opportunity to boost his draft stock.
Scheme fit/ Utilization: Fangio multiple
Johnson will flourish in a Fangio, or Fangio adjacent scheme that utilizes zone and zone match coverages on a regular basis. As I’ve mentioned twice, his processing in those schemes is incredible, and coordinators who specialize in running those schemes would do just about anything to have Johnson in the fold.
Player comp: Darius Slay
Johnson and ‘Big-play Slay’ are both specialists and technicians in off-coverage. I can see Johnson having a similar career arc as the smooth corner fresh off a Super Bowl victory. Only time will tell if Johnson can win a championship as well, but if I was a betting man I’d put good money on him being a future All Pro.
1.Travis Hunter 6′ 1″, 185 lbs
Travis Hunter is a freak of nature. Playing both sides of the ball at an elite level that we haven’t seen since Charles Woodson or his former head coach, Deion Sanders. Hunter frequently makes plays that just don’t make sense from a physical standpoint. He’ll be upright with no knee bend in his pedal and as a receiver appears to be about to blow by him he’ll seamlessly flip his hips and match him stride for stride. If the team that drafts him wants him to focus on being a corner, Hunter has the ability to be a generational talent at the position.
Strengths:
- Hunter shows great awareness in zone coverages and ball skills seldom seen at the position.
- Hunter has fluid hips, elite makeup speed and explodes out of his breaks.
- Hunter is a willing tackler and will come up in run support despite his slight frame.
- Generational athleticism lets Hunter makeup for his technical deficiencies. Sometimes even when Hunter’s wrong he’s right because of his physical tools.
Weaknesses:
- Hunter does have a slight frame and would be wise to put on some additinal weight and get stronger. His lack of strength affects his ability to shut down stronger wideouts (We all remember the Elic Ayomanor game versus Stanford)
- Whether it be due to exhaustion or a lack of reps fro playing both ways Hunter showcases technical flaws quite often. He’ll be far to high in his backpedal, loose his leverage and work to flat on recivers release’s in soft press man.
Scheme fit/ Utilization: Mike Macdonald multiple
Once Hunter fixes up his technical flaws, he can excel in any scheme. The Macdonald scheme has the ability to utilize a variety of coverages from both off and press looks. Defensive coordinators will be excited to utilize Hunter’s ability outside in a variety of different looks, making him an essential chess piece to any secondary.
Player Comp: Deion Sanders
Sanders made me fall in love with the corner position growing up. The swagger, playmaking ability and elite athleticism are all things Sanders and Hunter share. Like Sanders, Hunter will never bully a receiver at the line in the press, but his elite hip fluidity will allow him to match wideouts step for step while covering them one-on-one for years to come.
I watched hours upon hours of Sanders games and highlights to pump me up before games and Hunter shares a lot of his former coaches’ qualities. Once Hunter becomes a technician just like Sanders, I imagine we’ll see him high-stepping down the sideline on his way to a plethora of pick-sixes.