Cowboys 2021 draft positional rankings: Cornerback prospects

Kelvin Joseph

Super Powers

Very fast and long

Weaknesses

Needs to diagnose plays better

Sidekicks

Arch Nemesis

Fifth on my list will be controversial but nonetheless worthy of the placement.

Kentucky cornerback Kelvin Joseph is late to the party but has vaulted himself into the top five cornerbacks of this class. The six-foot-one 197-pound cornerback ran a blazing 4.34 40 yard dash which would have been the third-fastest time at the 2020 NFL combine.

Joseph was inaccurately portrayed as a bad cornerback as his game against Florida tight end Kyle Pitts shows him trailing on the tight end’s highlight reel but Joseph will probably climb higher while in the NFL.

Joseph has very little experience playing the position but offers a good blend of size and speed which puts him over some of the more accomplished but smaller cornerbacks that are going to be drafted.

Smaller cornerbacks have been able to make it in the NFL but with so many obstacles in a cornerback’s way, I don’t want to have to worry about a player’s height which happens to be the tiebreaker of why Joseph is here and others are not.

It is a true statement that Joseph has shown that he can do everything asked of a cornerback at a high level. It is also a true statement that he gets out of position at times and can become a liability with the technique and mental part of the game.

Those are workable flaws which is probably why he is going to get drafted higher than I have him graded.

Joseph is a bit of a project but one that can have enormous value if he can develop into a starting outside cornerback. He has the physical tools but location and coaching will have the biggest effect on Jospeh in this year’s cornerback class.