NFL Draft Cornerbacks Group: Sleeper Alert Everywhere!

The staff of NFLMocks got together yesterday to dive into some NFL Draft cornerbacks to see who needs to spotlighted on more leading up to the 2015 NFL Draft! To our surprise, we found some impressive mid-round sleepers who could be of great value in this class.

Craig Mager, CB, Texas State

To our surprise, we all found a guy we really liked as a sleeper (this is rare in the NFLMocks circle). No discussion here! We all think that Mager could go anywhere from the 4th to 6th round.

To start, he can play on special teams right away. NFL teams will automatically bump him up for this.
Excellent tackler — we all agreed that this kid could be drafted on run support alone.
Isn’t afraid to put his nose in there. I described him as “simply a football player”. Cliche? Yes. True? Absolutely.
Four year starter. All of us agreed he can get better with NFL coaching.

Sometimes, Mager will get too aggressive. Don’t count that as a major downfall, however. He’s fiery. Coaches can help him reel it in just a bit. You can’t coach aggressiveness, so there’s no issue having to tune it back a bit.

Overall, Mager is a name you’ll want to get to know. Through the three game tapes we were able to dissect last night, this kid has a future in the league. If he can find a team that doesn’t have a pressing need immediately, his chances of thriving in the NFL are relatively high.

D’Joun Smith, CB, Florida Atlantic

Another small-school guy here. This was a bit of a refresher for some of us. George likes him as a mid-round prospect, so we figured we’d give him a look.

Plus athleticism stands out immediately. He’ll have no problem keeping up in the NFL.
He did very good, but had some slip ups at his lower level of competition. Take that however you wish.
Quickness is good, 4.43 40-yard dash is good, but his long-speed on tape wasn’t proven.
Concerns about going up against taller WRs. Not a massive guy, doesn’t play big either.

Overall, the “second-tier hype” wasn’t there in his overall body of work. He’s very athletic and skilled in quickness. However, we all agreed that he didn’t give the initial “wow factor”.

We’ll be watching more on Smith, but it’s hard to say he impressed in the first three games we saw. Currently, we can’t say he’ll be a Day Two pick. Day Three seems right.

Rakeem Nunez-Roches, DL, Southern Mississippi

Talk about a sleeper alert! Nunez-Roches wasn’t even on my radar until the great folks at Draft Breakdown put his name out there. We were pleasantly surprised here.

His initial burst off the line of scrimmage in unmatched. This alone kept us watching.
His quickness is constant. He doesn’t take plays off.
Not elite strength, but his high motor counteracts this. Needs to learn to use his hands better.
Limited size, will have to prove he can play DT in NFL. 3-4 DE might be his best spot.
Played very good at his level of play (shined vs. Alabama, too).

The consensus here was simply that we all were genuinely surprised at what this kid can do. He’s very good on his feet and should have NFL teams looking.

We need to see more, but I told the guys this: “If you told me this [Alabama tape] was the tape of a high draft pick, I wouldn’t blink an eye.”

Watch out for this guy.

Thanks for joining us! Happy NFL Draft season!

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