2020 NFL Draft Big Board: Ranking the top ten cornerbacks

Projected Round- 1st

Game Reviewed: Alabama vs South Carolina, 2019

Coming in as my top cornerback in the 2020 NFL draft is Alabama’s Trevon Diggs. At 6-foot-2, Diggs looms over wide receivers downfield in contested catch situations. Although he doesn’t have the most impressive stats out of the 2020 NFL draft prospects, Diggs is a player that I think has a little bit of everything needed to be an exceptional talent in the NFL. Being the cousin of Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs helps get your name out there too.

For starters, he has great instincts. Against Duke in the season opener, he made a beautiful interception cutting back against the wide receiver. While it is dishonest to judge a player based on his highlight reel, this one play shows why Diggs is a first-round talent. In it, he is step-for-step with the receiver. He turns his head at the same time the receiver turns his head and within one second Diggs is in the air bringing the ball down with both hands.

This play showed more than just great instincts. His size helped him block the pass from the receiver. His speed kept him in pace with a wide receiver sprinting down the field. His instincts made him leverage both those things to come up with a perfect interception.

Against South Carolina, Diggs did not have a particularly productive game. His ESPN game log has him producing just 3 tackles and zero interceptions. Judging an elite cornerback on his stat logs in one game is unfair, because typically if he was any good, most quarterbacks would not be throwing in his general vicinity. I wanted to judge Diggs based on an average game. Not many highlights to speak of, at least not the ones you’d see on ESPN.

But what I saw was something more important, what matters more when trying to determine if a player is going to excel in the NFL. I saw a prepared player who made the most of his time pre-snap. Most plays when Diggs lined up, he found his assigned receiver, got into position and watched the offense.

Most plays, Diggs hunkered down and watched the quarterback lining up, giving last-minute instructions to his offensive line. When he had time, Diggs would signal to other defenders, instructing them on what he gleaned from the receivers motions, the quarterback’s hand signals.

That may seem unimportant. But a sign of a smart cornerback is what he does pre-snap. I can’t tell you how many cornerbacks in the 2020 NFL draft look around at the defense pre-snap rather than the offense. As if they are not sure where they belong on the field. Great cornerbacks can learn a lot about a particular play from watching the offense line up.

How the receivers space themselves, what stance the offensive line is taking, whether the running back looks ready to pounce or ready to hang back and block. Every team is different, but every team has a tell.

Diggs also signals to other defenders what he sees. This is typically the role of a linebacker or strong safety, a leadership position meant to communicate with both ends of the defense what they see. You don’t see this often with cornerbacks since they are not assigned to do this. But Diggs does this a lot more than I saw other cornerbacks on this list, which implies that Diggs has the skills to read an offensive lineup and the respect of his fellow defenders to listen to his calls.

Besides these intangibles, Diggs is rarely caught more than a few yards away from his receiver. Diggs isn’t particularly reckless, he doesn’t jump on routes needlessly. He is patient, keeps abreast of his receiver. When the play turns out to be a run, he gets there quickly but doesn’t sprint there to show you how zealous he is.

Not if he doesn’t have to. He looks calm when tracking his receiver, he rarely flips his hips to sprint downfield unless he is sure his receiver is going deep. Diggs mirrors the movements of his receiver and there is a little delay between when a receiver breaks into a curl or a slant and when Diggs changes direction with him. In zone coverage, he hands off the receiver he is assigned and falls back to cover his zone with ease. Very little disruption or second-guessing.

According to Alabama’s website, Diggs picked up 79 yards on his 3 interceptions this year. When quarterbacks did throw to his assigned receiver, they had a passer rating of just 44.5 (PFF). This season he picked up 2 fumbles and had 100+ return yards. He was also named All-SEC first team by the associated press.

Besides being an elite cornerback, he is also a great candidate for special teams, as he has been used as a punt and kick returner by the Alabama Crimson Tide for all 4 seasons he has played there. In the 2020 NFL draft, teams will be hard-pressed to find a cornerback who played in a ,better system than Nick Saban’s defense.

By all measures, Diggs deserves to be in the conversation for being the first cornerback selected in the 2020 NFL draft. Play for play he does everything he is supposed to. His lack of multi-year starting might hurt him come the draft. But rarely do you see a cornerback who has great technique, speed and size all wrapped into one. His stats aren’t particularly flashy. But college interceptions don’t win games in the NFL; having an ability to read opposing offenses does.

Expect Diggs to be drafted in the first round.