Cowboys 2021 draft positional rankings: Cornerback prospects

Patrick Surtain II

Super Powers

Long, Smooth, and Experienced

Weaknesses

Game Speed

Sidekicks

Arch Nemesis

I first want to say that Patrick Surtain II is a winner who not only competed for championships in High School but also in college. If drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, I would assume he would bring that type of championship mentality with him.

After logging many hours evaluating and checking for fit, Patrick Surtain is my top-ranked cornerback in this class. He is my seventh-ranked overall prospect and the best defender on my big board.

Standing at six-foot-two and 208-pounds, this cornerback who ran a 4.46 forty-yard dash is a perfect fit for the Dallas Cowboys. His forty should have quieted down the naysayers who question his game speed but some will stay with that narrative until he dispels it.

I did have some pretty decent concerns about his overall game speed when I initially observed him but he has such a veteran savviness about him that I think he will overcome those questions very early in his career.

Surtain played a lot of football for a powerhouse team yet he is still relatively untested. That has to do with how well he was coached not only at Alabama but I’m sure his father, a former Pro Bowl cornerback, taught him some of the finer points of playing the position.

It also helps that current Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs was a teammate of Diggs while at Alabama and has vouched for his former little brother.

Surtain was beaten only five times in man-to-man coverage in his career so the questions about him being a zone cornerback only are misleading. Surtain can play any coverage that is called by his defensive coordinator making him one of those few players who can adapt to any scheme.

This is important for Dallas just in case there happens to be another defensive coordinator job in available in Big D. That is not a shot at the Cowboys but the exact opposite as I believe Quinn will do such a good job that a head coaching opportunity might come along faster than some might believe.

I have the Carolina Panthers as his nemesis as that is probably the likeliest landing spot not named Dallas so keep an eye on that team during the draft. Surtain in Dallas gives the Cowboys legit talent on the outside.

My rankings sometimes have a similar path to the experts but oftentimes they are quite different. I watch tape and develop my own opinions so if my thought process is different than the mainstream media, it is because I refuse to allow others to singlehandedly alter my thoughts on a prospect.

With that being said, I am very interested to see what our readers think about how they have their prospects ranked. There aren’t any wrong answers in the game of prospect projections so please explain your thought process and enjoy the draft everyone.