Ronde Barber’s top 5 CBs in the 2024 NFL draft:
1. Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo: “He can easily be the best player of the bunch. He’s a really, really good football player. Size, he has length, outstanding speed at 4.33, checks all the boxes for me. Teams in college attacked his technique, but he was mostly in solo coverage his entire college career if you go back and watch the film. His play speed is outstanding, he looks like a bull in a China shop sometimes when he’s playing out there. There could be a level of competition argument against him. When you put the film on there are a lot of empty stands and some really small stadiums, but that is what it is. What I liked about him and what stands out, he is the most similar cornerback to last year’s No. 1 corner pick Devon Witherspoon. He looks and acts like a pro. If I’m taking a cornerback, it’s definitely Quinyon Mitchell despite the fact that he played at a small school.”
2. Nate Wiggins, Clemson: “The instant knock on this kid is that he’s too slight and not a willing tackler. Don’t buy it. Just put the film on with this guy. He is willing to hit you, it’s just not violent. He had some outstanding, and when I say outstanding, outstanding hustle plays in 2023. He has ideal height obviously at 6’1 and his 4.3 speed makes him very interesting to me. But what he does best is he’s very quiet and still in his upper body. Great feet, really silky movement and always in faze with his Wide Receiver. To me, he looks like a a natural in coverage”
3. Terrion Arnold, Alabama: “He’s 6 foot, 189 pounds some people say that’s not big but that’s pretty big to me. His physique is phenomenal. You can see how smooth he makes the game look and he’s always un-panicked as a player. His physical tools are much more than Kool-Aid McKinstry, and that’s one of the reasons I have him up a little bit higher. The lack of his long speed will show up in time. There are times when guys are just going by him at the top of the stem and you know that he doesn’t have the speed to catch up and he’s not exceptionally quick. Of all the top defensive back prospects in this year’s draft, he took the ball away the most, plus he had double-digit pass breakups. The dude knows how to find the football. He’s going to be a good football player in the NFL.”
4. Cooper Dejean, Iowa: “He’s probably the most well-rounded athlete in this year’s class. That being said, he can play corner, he can play safety, and he was a punt returner at Iowa, there’s nothing this guy can’t do. “He’s a disciplined player, he’s a very good zone corner, but he also has a lot of short space movement and he doesn’t really waste steps which I love. There’s definitely some stiffness in his game, but his straight-line speed makes up for some of the deficiencies in his movement ability. I think he immediately makes any secondary better when he gets to the NFL because he’s going to be able to play a bunch of different roles. What stands out is just how smooth the kid plays, makes the game look easy and there is no doubt you cannot miss how physical Cooper Dejean plays.”
5. Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama: “I know a lot of people have this guy as the number one corner coming in the draft,.. the one thing that scares you is he has a Jones fracture in his foot he’s coming off of it and i think it may deter some teams picking him high right now. That being said, Kool-Aid is an ideal prospect for the position because look, he’s going to be an immediate contributor. He’s clearly talented. He has admirable movement and he’s very consistent with it. The one thing that scares me, he is not a very good tackler and there are times where he rarely even looks interested. Other than that there’s some things that stand out about Kool-Aid, he’s very good at the line of scrimmage with his feet so he can play man coverage. He’s very good man-to-man, the only thing is he’s in position a lot of times and doesn’t make very many plays on the football. That has to change if he’s going to be productive at the NFL level.”