Carter's Classroom: Steelers shouldn't skip on strong cornerback class

Despite the Steelers re-signing Ahkello Witherspoon and adding Levi Wallace in free agency, cornerback should be a position that Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin take a hard look at in this NFL Draft class. Each of the team's cornerbacks on veteran contracts are on short term deals, including Cameron Sutton. That could lead to the Steelers taking one of this NFL Draft's top cornerbacks to potentially find a top cornerback for the defense over the next several years. After impressive performances at the NFL Scouting Combine and various pro days, there are several impressive athletic cornerback prospects who boast impressive tape for the Steelers to consider.

Cornerback has been a tough position for the Steelers to select in the NFL Draft over the past several years. The most notable success over the past decade has been the selection of Sutton in 2017. But rarely have the Steelers been in position to take one of the top cornerbacks of a strong cornerback class over the past several years, and having the 20th overall selection could put them in prime position with the very strong 2022 class.

The Steelers won't have much of a chance to select either of the top two cornerbacks of the class that seem universally agreed upon to be Ahmad Gardner of Cincinnati and Derek Stingley Jr. of LSU. Gardner is a 6-foot-3 prospect who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds, the 12th fastest time of the cornerback class and the fastest time of cornerbacks who are being considered as potential first round picks. His length, athleticism and playmaker skills will make him most likely a top ten pick of the draft.

Stingley is another highly impressive athlete with the lineage of a father who's played in the NFL. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds at the LSU pro day, which would've qualified as the 15th best of the cornerback class and combined with his 38.5-inch vertical leap and tape of elite coverage that stems back to 2019, he has the potential to join Gardner as a top ten, or at worst top 15, selection. Stingley's biggest drawback is that he opted out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19 and didn't have the same elite kind of season in 2021 that he did in 2019. But his potential is still there, and that will be something teams take a chance on.

But after those two cornerbacks is where this class opens up with players who have a chance to fall to the Steelers at the 20th overall pick. The next top prospects would be Trent McDuffie out of Washington and Andrew Booth Jr. of Clemson. Both are cornerbacks who are almost universally graded highly, but which of them is the better prospect will be a debate for some time. McDuffie posted some of the best collective numbers of the NFL Draft's cornerback class with 4.44 seconds in the 40-yard dash, with a 38.5 vertical leap. 

McDuffie slightly beat Stingley's 40-yard dash and matched his vertical leap while posting better explosive numbers with better 10-yard and 20-yard splits and a better broad jump than Stingley. But where McDuffie looks the most impressive is in his tape with Washington over the past few seasons. McDuffie consistently sticks close to his assignment, demonstrates a strong understanding of how his role in coverage works with others, and regularly covers receivers by running in their hip pocket during their routes.

Watch this extended play at the end of a game from 2020, when McDuffie ran with his receiver on a deep route, and stayed in the hip pocket of his man until the ball was released. When the pass arrived, McDuffie boxed his man out, high-pointed the ball and closed the game out with an interception:

McDuffie doesn't have extensive tape of having plenty of ball skills. His 5-foot-10, 193 lbs. frame isn't the most prototypical for being a top cornerback, but it's also not something that disqualifies him from being in that conversation.

Over the past three seasons he's only totaled two interceptions and eight passes defensed. But thinking those numbers would mean he's not talented at attacking the ball would be a mistake. McDuffie's lack of plays on the ball is more of a result of his consistent presence in coverage that created tight passing windows for PAC-12 quarterbacks during his career. Despite it being a small sample size, he's still shown enough to not be thought of as a cornerback who can't make plays on the ball.

Booth is somewhat the opposite of McDuffie in that his frame is more suitable to a top cornerback at 6-foot-0, 193 lbs., with plenty of ball skills demonstrated over his past two seasons starting for Clemson. During that time, Booth totaled nine passes defensed and five interceptions. Some of those interceptions included being from some of the top ACC quarterbacks over the past two seasons like Kenny Pickett of Pitt and Brennan Armstrong of Virginia. 

Here's what many would consider to be Booth's signature play, an interception of Armstrong in 2020 when he snagged the ball with one hand. Notice how smooth Booth was in opening up his hips while watching Armstrong to turn inside while pinning his wide receiver to the sideline. When the ball was in the air, he boxed out his man and snatched the pass out of the sky for a big turnover:

It was plays like that which made Booth a to be considered a top prospect of this class.

But along with Booth's upside of bigger frame and a larger sample size of ball skills on tape, he also has some downsides. For one, Booth suffered injuries at the end of the season that kept him from competing in the NFL Scouting Combine and positing scores in Clemson's pro day. It was thought that he would've been among some of the cornerbacks who graded higher in this class, but that wasn't something that could be proven. In addition to that, Booth also had more examples of getting beat in coverage for big plays.

Watch this simple curl pattern that got underneath of Booth to allow a Wake Forest completion from Sam Hartman to go for big yards after he allowed the catch then missed the tackle: 

It's not a fatal flaw in his game, but big plays given up to receivers on Booth's tape is a question mark for NFL teams. There's a chance he could fall as low as the higher 20s of the first round picks in this class, but also a good chance he's picked in the top 20.

After Gardner, Stingley, McDuffie and Booth, the cornerback class takes a step back. Next up would most likely be Kaiir Elam, nephew of former first round pick and Ravens safety Matt Elam. His athletic profile of combined speed and length compares to that of Gardner as Elam is 6-foot-1, 191 lbs. and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.39 seconds. That is tied for the eighth-fastest time of this cornerback class and his combined 20 passes defensed and five interceptions over three seasons show his ability to attack the ball.

One thing I like on Elam's tape is how he sticks with plays and can recover when beaten on routes. Watch this play he made when facing Bryce Young and John Metchie III of Alabama. Elam is initially beat by the inside move from Metchie and opened up a deep shot from Young. The ball was properly thrown, but Elam didn't give up on the play and contested the pass just enough for Metchie to not make the play:

Elam also gets beat at times and can rely on his frame a little too much to cause mistakes.

That's why he's considered more of a late first round prospect who will definitely be picked in the top 40, but might not be an ideal pick for the Steelers at 20 and not be available at 52 in the second round.

One cornerback who should be there in the second round when the Steelers pick is Auburn cornerback Roger McCreary. He spent three years as a starter for Auburn, totaling 29 passes defensed and six interceptions during that time. McCreary has consistently shown solid football IQ, ball skills and the ability to rotate roles within schemes. Watch this pass breakup against LSU last year, when he had to maintain outside leverage because of his zone coverage assignment, but was able to close on the ball and fight through the hands of his receiver to break up the pass and prevent the touchdown:

But one big drawback about McCreary could be his athletic profile.

His running the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds wasn't disqualifying but neither his vertical or broad jumps, shuttle or three-cone drills would've placed him among one of the more average of explosive cornerbacks. The last time the Steelers took a cornerback who was graded to be an earlier pick with a similar athletic profile was Artie Burns. If the Steelers are going to take a potential top cornerback in this class, it might want to make sure they are one of the better graded athletes of this class as well. Between Gardner, Stingley, McDuffie and Elam, the Steelers will have plenty of cornerback prospects to consider who fit that profile. That doesn't include Booth, who might fit that role as well.

One sleeper cornerback in this class could be a familiar face the Steelers wouldn't need to travel too far to find in Pitt's Damarri Mathis. His 4.39 40-yard dash time tied Elam and is faster than any of the cornerbacks graded to the first round. Meanwhile, Mathis boasted what would've been the combine's best vertical leap at 43.5 inches and the best cornerback broad jump of 110 inches to show how explosive he is along with his speed. Combined with a 5-foot-11, 193 lbs. frame, he's potentially an interesting fit who would be available in the fourth round and potentially later.

Under Pat Narduzzi, Mathis learned how to live on an island in coverage and carries himself with a confident swagger. Watch this interception he made against Clemson when he physically controlled his man from the start of the route to when the ball was in the air, then picked it off easily for a huge turnover in one of Pitt's biggest wins of 2021:

Mathis could be a sleeper pick for the Steelers to consider for their cornerback room should they not add to the position in the earlier rounds of the NFL Draft. Considering Justin Layne is the only cornerback on a rookie contract currently on the roster and he's set to be a free agent while not proving himself as a potential starter this season, at least adding another young body to the room should be on the Steelers' short list of priorities in the NFL Draft.