Film room: 3 cornerbacks the Dallas Cowboys should consider after Round 1 of the 2021 NFL draft

Earlier this week, we examined whether the Cowboys should have Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II or South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn as their top-rated cornerback prospect and most likely selection with the 10th overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

Continuing with the cornerback theme, we are now diving into a few prospects Dallas should consider after the first round, whether that be because it addressed a different position with the No. 10 pick or wants to double up at corner.

For the purpose of this exercise, we are assuming Surtain, Horn, Northwestern’s Greg Newsome II and Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley are first-round picks although Farley is a candidate to slide to the second round because of injury concerns (back). Stanford’s Paulson Adebo is one of my favorite post-Round 1 cornerback targets for the Cowboys, but since we discussed him in last week’s mid-round targets breakdown, he’s being left off this list.

With all of that in mind, let’s examine a few cornerback prospects the Cowboys should consider after the first round in this year’s draft.

Tyson Campbell, Georgia

While many are infatuated with Eric Stokes, another talented cornerback in this draft class, my favorite Georgia corner is actually Tyson Campbell.

Listed at 6-foot-1, 193 pounds with 32-inch arms, Campbell is a little light but has the requisite frame and length that Dan Quinn’s defense historically covets. Campbell is also blessed with easy speed to carry vertical concepts and has fluid hips.

While he doesn’t have the most powerful jam in the world due to subpar play strength, Campbell routinely lands his hands at the line of scrimmage thanks to patience and quick feet, enabling him to dictate the pace and depth of a receiver’s release with regularity. This usually puts him in good position to crowd or mirror receivers at the break, reducing the separation they typically get.

For as sticky as Campbell can be in man coverage, he may be even more effective in zone, where he’s disciplined with eyes, aware in space and understands how to decipher different route combinations related to his zone. Campbell’s interception against South Carolina (above) was a great demonstration of that — he appropriately identified the smash concept, allowing him to undercut the pass for an impressive pick.

I was pleasantly surprised by Campbell’s willingness to throw his weight around in the run game and as a tackler. He’s not the most aggressive cornerback against the run, but he showed no fear when taking on pullers and physical ballcarriers. His tackling technique and run fits need some refinement, but the willingness is there, which is more than you can say about a lot of the defensive backs in this class.

As far as traits go, there’s not much missing in Campbell’s skill set. He does have bouts of inconsistency that were taken advantage of — his footwork and balance during transitions (especially lateral ones) can be clunky, leading to extra steps and slower transitions. Moreover, Campbell does allow separation at the top of routes to more physical route runners, as he lacks the necessary play strength to hold his ground and stay connected to receivers when they push off to generate separation.

Campbell leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to ball skills, having posted just one interception and nine pass breakups in three seasons at Georgia. In 2020, Campbell was on the wrong end of some perfect throws and highlight-reel catches where he was a tick slow to locate and contest the pass in the air.

While he’ll never be a ballhawk, I do believe Campbell will get stronger and become more effective at the catch point in the NFL. That, combined with his stickiness in man coverage and efficacy in zone, is why he’s one of my favorite post-Round 1 cornerbacks in this class.

Ifeatu Melifonwu, Syracuse

If you built a cornerback in a lab to fit Quinn’s scheme, he’d probably look a lot like Syracuse’s Ifeatu Melifonwu.

Listed at 6-2, 205 pounds with 32 1/8-inch arms, Melifonwu checks all the size and length boxes, has elite speed and explosiveness and good enough agility and change-of-direction ability.

While one could assume that someone his size would be a bully at the line of scrimmage, Melifonwu actually doesn’t use a lot of jam techniques when in press coverage on the outside. He prefers to soft-shoe and mirror a receiver’s release. Although he doesn’t always land his hands, Melifonwu still does an excellent job of crowding short-to-intermediate routes in press.

At Syracuse, Melifonwu spent a lot of time in off coverage, enabling him to easily stay on top of vertical routes while showcasing impressive short-area burst to drive forward and contest passes underneath.

At the catch point, Melifonwu is a true nuisance thanks to his size, length and leaping ability. Receivers have a tough time making clean grabs when Melifonwu is contesting. This makes him extremely effective in the red zone, where teams can’t throw jump balls in his direction and expect success.

One oft-overlooked area that really impressed me when watching Melifonwu’s film was his ability to make mid-game adjustments based on how teams were attacking him. He rarely got beat with the same route twice.

The Notre Dame game was a great example. At one point, Melifonwu was beaten for a touchdown on a back-shoulder fade where he lost leverage and was boxed out of the catch point. When Notre Dame tried to attack him the same way later in the game, Melifonwu adjusted his technique to stay on top of the receiver, putting himself in prime position to contest and deflect the pass.

The ability to adjust his technique mid-game will pay huge dividends in the NFL.

But Melifonwu’s profile isn’t all sunshine and daisies, which is why he probably won’t be a first-round pick. He doesn’t have the best anticipation or “feel” for routes. This is a big reason why Melifonwu gave up a lot of easy completions underneath when he was in off coverage — he was slow to anticipate the shorter routes, which was exacerbated by the fact Melifonwu often provided receivers with large cushions to protect against the deep ball.

As is the case for many tall cornerbacks, Melifonwu can get too high in his backpedal, leading to false steps and inefficient transitions that can be taken advantage of by astute route runners.

Nevertheless, the positives far outweigh the negatives. If selected by the Cowboys, Melifonwu will need to learn to use his hands to jam receivers more at the line of scrimmage. With his size, strength, length and quick feet, I don’t think that will be much of an issue.

Melifonwu can play. If Dallas passes on a cornerback in the first round, he definitely deserves consideration on Day 2 of the draft.

Benjamin St-Juste, Minnesota

There are a lot of tall and long cornerbacks in the 2021 draft, but Minnesota’s Benjamin St-Juste is certainly one of the most intriguing.

Measuring in at 6-3, 202 pounds with 32 5/8-inch arms, St-Juste is a true anomaly, and not just because of his size — it’s his impressive mobility at that size. St-Juste isn’t blessed with track-like deep speed, but he does have the flexibility, agility and change-of-direction ability of a much smaller corner.

St-Juste running a 6.63-second three-cone at his size is one of the most impressive feats in the entire class, and it shows up on tape. St-Juste routinely makes fluid transitions to stay connected to receivers in coverage.

While St-Juste has solid tape, he really helped himself at the Senior Bowl, where he displayed the ability to hang with top competition in man coverage. St-Juste led all cornerbacks with four forced incompletions (interceptions plus pass breakups) during one-on-one receiver/corner coverage drills in practice (which are heavily tilted in the receiver’s favor), according Pro Football Focus. After showing well during practices, St-Juste carried his effectiveness over into the game, where he allowed zero catches on two targets with one pass breakup in 46 snaps.

The key to St-Juste’s effectiveness was his ability to disrupt and control receivers in press coverage. St-Juste routinely used his quick feet to mirror receivers at the line of scrimmage while his long arms enabled him to widen and disrupt their release, putting himself in position to stay connected to the receiver and passes at the catch point.

Because of St-Juste’s average explosiveness and merely adequate deep speed (4.55 40-yard dash), it’s incredibly important that he can disrupt receivers at the line of scrimmage and control the pace of the route because he can’t win a track meet with opposing receivers.

Where St-Juste’s lack of speed tends to become a problem is when he has to run with crossing routes in man coverage, as quicker and speedier receivers will generate separation from him. In a Cover 3-heavy system like Dallas’ (which has historically been Quinn’s base coverage), St-Juste won’t have to do that often.

While some will be scared to select a cornerback with 4.55 speed in today’s NFL, I believe St-Juste has the other necessary skills to be successful, especially in a scheme like Quinn’s. Even if Dallas already took a corner in the first round, it’d be hard for me to pass on St-Juste in the fourth (or even with a compensatory pick in the third).

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