• A competition for “Best Athlete”: Quinyon Mitchell could have won the superlative, but Max Melton earns the honor after running a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, jumping 40 1/2 inches in the vertical and jumping over 11 feet in the broad.
• Cooper DeJean wins “Best Tackler” and “Best Ball Skills”: He excels in off-zone coverage and at tracking running backs coming out of the backfield.
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The cornerback group is a fun one for the 2024 NFL Draft, which means giving out these superlatives made for some tough choices all around. Here is how we see the cornerback group for 2024 and what they do best.
BEST ATHLETE: Max Melton, Rutgers
We're analyzing the cornerback position, so you know this was a tough decision. A prerequisite for playing the position is having superior athleticism, and while Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell could have been a good choice here (and for many others, as we’ll discuss), a less-talked-about cornerback in this class is more deserving: Rutgers‘ Max Melton.
At 5-foot-11 and 187 pounds, Melton ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, jumped 40 1/2 inches in the vertical and jumped over 11 feet in the broad. That is some serious explosive athleticism. His quickness was also evident on tape and at the Senior Bowl, especially when he was asked to cover in the slot in red-zone drills. Melton's athleticism gives him inside-out versatility as a slot or wide cornerback.
BEST IN MAN COVERAGE: Renardo Green, Florida State
Florida State’s Renardo Green was one of the top-graded players in man coverage this past season, earning a 90.0 mark in such situations. That is his style. He likes to get up in press at the line of scrimmage, stare at the receiver and mirror their movements to close down throwing windows. He and teammate Jarrian Jones earned elite coverage grades in those man coverage situations. He recorded 11 forced incompletions and two interceptions in man coverage this past season. Green has decent height and length, measuring in at just under 6-foot with 31 1/4-inch arms, to continue doing that at the NFL level.
BEST IN ZONE COVERAGE: Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo
Truth be told, Quinyon Mitchell was in the running for best athlete, best in man coverage and best in zone coverage. But I wanted to give other cornerbacks those superlatives because I knew this one would be going to Mitchell. He played more than 800 coverage snaps over the past two years, but only 51 were in press-man coverage. That means his elite coverage grades were forged in zone.
His 35 forced incompletions since 2022 are the most of any FBS cornerback, and not only did he record six interceptions, but he also had eight more hit his hands. He proved at the Senior Bowl he can also play in press man, if asked, but his work in zone is unmatched.
BEST IN PRESS: Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama
McKinstry played exactly 1,000 coverage snaps over the past two years, and 573 were in press, from which he earned a 90.3 coverage grade with two interceptions and an astounding 25 forced incompletions. Playing with your back to the ball in man coverage isn’t for everyone, but McKinstry thrives there. He is calm and confident and has a good feel for when the ball is arriving to punch it out or swipe it away. There are a handful of great press coverage defenders in this class, but it’s hard to not give this superlative to McKinstry.
BEST IN SLOT: Mike Sainristil, Michigan
No defensive back in college football was better in the slot over the past two years 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 quickness is so good, evidenced by his 84th-percentile short shuttle at the NFL scouting combine. His 40-inch vertical jump also showed off his explosiveness to accelerate. He recorded an 82.9 coverage grade when lined up in the slot over the past two seasons.
BEST BLITZER: Mike Sainristil, Michigan
We might as well keep the Sainristil train rolling by giving him the well-deserved nod for “best blitzer” in the class. When in the slot, Sainristil earned an 85.5 pass-rush grade with a 76.2 run-defense grade. He generated 22 pressures and four sacks over the past two years, which were both top-three marks in the FBS at his position.
BEST BALL SKILLS: Cooper DeJean, Iowa
DeJean has fantastic production and feel in off-zone coverage, and that has led to an impressive display of ball skills. 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 over the past two years tied for sixth in the FBS and tied for the most in the 2024 cornerback class with Dwight McGlothern and Mike Sainristil. DeJean wasn’t able to test at the NFL scouting combine or his pro day, but he has the overall athleticism to be a ball hawk at the next level.
Alabama’s Terrion Arnold is right up there for this superlative, as well.
BEST TACKLER: Cooper DeJean, Iowa
There are a handful of really impressive tacklers from the cornerback group, including Missouri‘s Ennis Rakestraw Jr., Wake Forest‘s Caelen Carson and Notre Dame‘s Cam Hart. But for the CB1 types, DeJean will never make you say, “He’s great in coverage but a liability in run support.” At 6-foot 1/2 and over 200 pounds, he has the size to blow up blockers and make tackles on screens and against running backs getting to the sideline out of the backfield. He missed just 10 tackles and made 35 solo stops with 11 tackles for loss or no gain over the last two seasons. Michigan‘s Mike Sainristil and Georgia‘s Javon Bullard are also names to mention here, as their impact stats are similar.
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