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Patrick Surtain II vs. Jaycee Horn: Who should be the Cowboys’ CB1 in the 2021 NFL draft?

The shut-down cornerback is a dying breed, but one of these players was about as close as it gets to a shutdown CB over his three-year collegiate career.

The Dallas Cowboys could go myriad different directions with the 10th overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

Florida TE Kyle Pitts has become a popular name in recent weeks, as his dominant film was matched with the elite athleticism displayed at his pro day. His ability to be a matchup nightmare supersedes any concerns with Blake Jarwin or Dalton Schultz’s usage moving forward.

Offensive tackles Penei Sewell (Oregon) and Rashawn Slater (Northwestern) are also the apple of many eye, as they could both potentially beat out Connor Williams for the starting left guard spot until Tyron Smith or La’el Collins departs (or gets injured) in the future. Both players are supreme talent who definitely warrant consideration if available.

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There are even some (not me) who believe that Penn State LB Micah Parsons warrants serious consideration for the pick, as his near-limitless potential — due to his inexperience at the position combined with his freakish athletic traits — in the Cowboys defense.

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Nonetheless, as we sit here today and if I had to bet, I would place that bet on the Cowboys selecting the top-rated cornerback on their board with the 10th overall pick.

For many months, the competition to be the 2021 NFL draft’s No. 1 CB was between three different prospects: Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II, Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley and South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn.

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Unfortunately, Farley, as talented as he is, has seen his chances of being the first CB off the board quickly dwindle due to medical concerns after it was revealed he’d have to undergo a microdiscectomy, which would cause him to miss his pro day.

While unfortunate for Farley, the Cowboys brass shouldn’t be upset with the prospect of choosing between Surtain and Horn, as both are elite cornerback talents with NFL bloodlines who dominated the competition in college football’s toughest conference (SEC).

So, if both are available, who should the Cowboys choose with the 10th overall pick?

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Before we dive into each player, it’s important to understand the scheme they will be asked to fit into under defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. For an in-depth look at Quinn’s base defenses, make sure you check out my Film Room from a few months ago.

The short version is that Quinn has predominately utilized single-high safety schemes in the past, majoring in different forms of Cover 1 (man) and Cover 3 (zone). In this type of scheme, the cornerbacks must be effective in press, have the necessary play speed to stay on top of or in phase with vertical routes and possess good enough ball skills be an eraser at the catch point. There’s obviously much more than goes into it, but those are the basic traits the team is looking for. This why Quinn, and others in the Pete Carroll coaching tree, value tall (6-foot+) and long (31+ inches) cornerbacks who have at least competent play speed.

Physical traits

From a physical and athletic standpoint, Surtain and Horn pass these thresholds with ease:

Patrick Surtain II

At his pro day, Surtain measured in at a chiseled 6-foot-2 and 208 pounds with long 32 1/2-inch arms, leaving no doubt about whether Surtain possesses the frame that Quinn scheme historically has coveted in its CBs. In addition, any concerns about Surtain’s ability to stay connected to vertical routes dissipated when he ran a blistering 4.42 40-yard dash. The 39-inch vertical and 10-foot-11 broad jump were just the cherries on top that Surtain’s was indeed a top-tier athlete.

Jaycee Horn

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Having said that, Horn’s measurements and tested athleticism were even more impressive than Surtain’s. While he measured in slightly smaller (6-foot and 205 pounds) than Surtain, length is more important than height for a CB, and Horn’s 33-inch arms are long enough to make someone like Quinn drool. And if that wasn’t enough, Horn’s performance during the athletic testing sure did, as posted a 4.39 40-yard dash, 41.5-inch vertical and 11-foot-1 broad jump — all of which best Surtain’s performance in each drill. Surtain tested well, but Horn tested better than cornerbacks in recent memory

So while both possess more than enough size, speed and length to play in Quinn’s defense, Horn is slightly longer and more athletic than his Alabama counterpart, giving him the edge in this department.

Stats and skill set

On the field, it may be even tougher to differentiate the two, as both have succeeded despite facing the best competition college football has had to offer in the SEC.

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Patrick Surtain II

YearCompletion rateYards allowedTDs allowedPasser rating when targetedINTsPBUsPenaltiesSnaps
201854.2380172.7171907
201957.1301165.1256840
202043.8273267.4190916
Career totals51.9954468.742172,663

Surtain was a three-year starter, including his true freshman season, for the talent-rich Crimson Tide and displayed remarkable consistency throughout his tenure. Despite starting 38 games across his three seasons, he never allowed more than two touchdowns, a 57.5% completion rate or better than a 73 passer rating across an entire season. In fact, he only gave up more than 65 receiving yards in a game once in his entire college career while giving up less than 30 receiving yards in 29 different games, per Pro Football Focus’ charting.

While he played almost exclusively at right cornerback in 2020, Surtain also has over 150 snaps experience at the left and slot cornerback slots over his three-year career. So even though he didn’t do it at Alabama due to Nick Saban’s defensive philosophy, he has the ability to align anywhere and follow around the opposing team’s No. 1 WR if need be.

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From a technical perspective, Surtain is in his own tier compared to the rest of the CBs in this class. Surtain’s footwork, hand technique and football intelligence are all outstanding, and they provide the strong foundation that Surtain’s outstanding play has been built off of.

In press, which — as noted above — is important in Quinn’s scheme, Surtain displays veteran-like patience in addition to utilizing a variety of techniques to keep receivers guessing, tilting the odds in Surtain’s favor on any given snap. Not only has he excelled using the traditional jam techniques to disrupt receivers at the line of scrimmage, but Surtain also has an effective fake jam in his repertoire, which is a great change-up when utilizing a lot of jam techniques in a particular matchup.

Surtain’s work at the line of scrimmage is a big reason why he’s so effective defending the deep ball, as he can control the pace of the route so that he can stay in phase with vertical routes even when pitted against faster receivers. In 2020, he allowed just two catches (15 targets) on passes 20+ yards downfield with five forced incompletions (PBUs plus INTs).

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At the catch point, Surtain’s size and length enable him to match receivers above the rim, turning 50/50 balls into 75/25 balls in Surtain’s favor. Having said that, he’s is a little conservative with his contests, opting to knock the ball away rather than look to reel in an interception.

In addition, Surtain reads and anticipates routes like he’s listening into the opposing huddle. He does an excellent job of deciphering different route combinations in zone coverage, and it’s easy to see that he does him homework on opponents during the week, as he’s rarely fooled in coverage.

Surtain is also a fundamentally sound tackler, especially for a cornerback, as he missed just two tackles in the 2020 season.

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The shut-down cornerback is a dying breed, but Surtain was about as close as it gets to a shutdown CB over his three-year Alabama career.

If looking for a place to knock Surtain, it’d likely land on his lack of suddenness. It’s very nit-picky, but he can be a tick slow to drive on quick passes underneath (such as slants).

Jaycee Horn

YearCompletion rateYards allowedTDs allowedPasser rating when targetedINTsPBUsPenaltiesSnaps
201862.7346082.6081624
201951.0333286.5084802
202033.3116354.9255466
Career totals52.4794579.2221101,892
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Similarly, Horn was also a three-year starter for the Gamecocks, which included his true freshman season, and he was also remarkably consistent, though not quite to the same level as Surtain. However, Horn’s 2020 was statistically better than Surtain’s, as he allowed an incredibly impressive 33.3% completion rate, 116 receiving yards and three touchdowns to go with two interceptions and five pass breakups in seven games. His performance against Auburn was particularly impressive, as Horn completely dominated future NFL WR Seth Williams all game long.

Horn isn’t quite as technically sound as Surtain, but he makes up for it with competitiveness and ball skills. While Horn has a tendency to carry his hands too low in press coverage and his initial footwork can be a tad inconsistent, Horn has an innate ability to mirror receivers at the line of scrimmage, which enables him to stay in phase and routinely crowd receivers at the catch point. Even though it’s not always the most technical, Horn loves to bully receivers regardless of size, and he’s going to let them know about it, too.

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In addition, Horn is unafraid of physicality in coverage, which — when combined with quick feet and mirror ability — enabled him to align in a variety of places (RCB, LCB and slot CB) to match up with a wide variety of receiver types during his time at South Carolina.

For example, Horn was forced to cover Ole Miss’ Elijah Moore — a 5-9 jitterbug who clocked in with a 4.35 40 — in the slot after already being matched up with Florida’s Kyle Pitts — a 6-5 wrecking machine who put together one of the greatest seasons we have ever seen from a tight end — on the outside earlier in the year — two pass-catchers who are almost polar opposites but among the best that college football had to offer, yet Horn held his own against both.

If looking to poke holes in Horn’s skill set, the biggest one lies with Horn’s grabby nature in coverage. Horn took full advantage of the fact that college football doesn’t have an illegal contact penalty, as he often resorted to grabbing and tugging receivers who were separating from him in coverage. This is the primary area Horn will need to clean up in the NFL, or he’ll get penalized early and often throughout his NFL career.

Another area where Horn needs to clean up his technique is in the tackling department, as he has a tendency to duck his head into contact, which not only isn’t effective but it’s also dangerous.

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So... who should be the Cowboys’ CB1 in the 2021 NFL draft?

Let me first say that Horn and Surtain are both fantastic prospects who are outstanding fits in Quinn’s defense, and Cowboys fans should be thrilled with ending up with either one. Horn may have a higher ceiling but Surtain has a much higher floor. Both would make an immediate impact for the Cowboys, and I don’t think either would take long to establish himself as the No. 1 CB on the Cowboys roster.

Having said that, I do lean in one direction, as I think Surtain’s technical refinement, snap-to-snap consistency and tackling ability give him the slight edge over Horn despite the South Carolina product’s superior athletic traits. Surtain’s technique and football intelligence should enable him to hit the ground running from Day 1 while Horn’s grabby tendencies and slight technical deficiencies may cause him to have a slightly more difficult transition to the NFL.

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Much like previous Cowboys first-round cornerback Byron Jones, Surtain just goes about his business and gets the job done snap after snap. While some would label that “boring,” I’d say that’s exactly what the Cowboys need at the cornerback position.

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