How To Evaluate: Cornerbacks

For those just entering the scouting world the evaluation process can seem extremely difficult and complex, especially at first when you don’t completely understand what it is you’re looking for when the tape starts playing. In this piece I want to try and alleviate some of that complexity by breaking down what you should be keeping an eye out for when it comes to scouting and evaluating corners.

Let’s first start with clarifying the general things you should ask yourself as you watch a cornerback play. How do they play in press? How do they play from off press? How do they play man or zone from press? And lastly how do they play man or zone off press? Going into a tape session with these questions in your mind will greatly help you when assessing a cornerback, but what exactly should you be looking for? Well let’s take this one step at a time.

Press

First on the list is press. When evaluating press there are many things you need to look for, the first thing being patience at the line of scrimmage. So what does that mean? An ideal corner playing press will have his hips and shoulders squared while at the same time keeping his feet calm when the ball is snapped. When playing press you never want a corner to turn his hips and turn his shoulders to the sideline or to the middle of the field immediately, because it defeats the main purpose of a press in the first place. The next thing you need to watch is how quickly the corners hands react when the ball is snapped, scouts call this “jamming”. A good jam will make the receiver start running lateral or a great jam can make a receiver stone walled at the line of scrimmage. Jamming is extremely vital to the success of press coverage and will show you how physical a corner truly is.

Off Man Coverage

When evaluating how a corner does off press look at his ability to back pedal. Does he look uncoordinated with his footwork and off balance? Or does he look balanced while possessing smooth footwork? If he possesses balance with smooth footwork it’s a good sign. Next you need look at how well he recognizes the play and how well he anticipates a throw. These are the most crucial parts of playing off and great corners do this consistently well. Next assess if he possesses the ability to break on the football? This trait is ideal for any type of corner and especially one who plays off press. Lastly can he tackle receivers on the corner. This is very essential when playing off because of the fact playing off gives the quarterback an opening to throw a quick pass to his receiver. The ability to be able to tackle could be the difference between a one yard reception and a 50 yard touchdown.

Man Coverage

Now that we have press and off press covered let’s focus on once the receiver is able to make it off the line of scrimmage while in man. When a corner is in a man coverage you want to assess how well he can stick with his receiver, so ask yourself when watching film, is he trailing evenly or slightly behind his receiver? If so the corner is in a great position, however if he’s falling far behind or if he’s far ahead of his receiver he’s not in good position.

The next thing you must assess is how well a corner can anticipate a route break. This is vital to a corner’s success. Does he look instinctual and natural on his breaks? Or does he miss time and lack balance on his breaks? These are a few things you need to keep in mind. Next you must ask yourself if he can run routes with his receiver. This means does he possess fluid hips, good foot quickness, and lastly good body control. If the corner you’re evaluating has all these traits then you’re almost there.

The final thing you need to assess is how well he finishes on the football. To properly evaluate this trait you must ask yourself, how well does he close coming out of a break, how under control is the receiver he’s covering, is he staying in position or getting lost in the route, does he look for the football, and lastly when the opportunity presents itself can he intercept the football. This last part is what separates a good corner from an elite one. A guy can have all the traits I’ve talked about above, but if he lacks an ability to finish he will never be great.

What do you guys think. Should I do a series on how to evaluate each position? If so let me know!