2016 Senior Bowl Practice Recap – Defense
8.) CB Tavon Young, Temple – Undersized corner (5’9 | 180) who impressed all week. Young showed great timing on his breaks and the ability to break up passes without interfering with receivers. He also showed the speed and fluidity to stick with receivers all over the field and boosted his draft grade into the middle rounds.
9.) CB Deiondre’ Hall, Northern Iowa – Teams are always looking for big corners and Hall (6’2 | 190) certainly has size. He proved he can run as well, sticking with smaller receivers for most of the week. Hall was also very aggressive against the run and played with a swagger all week drawing some comparisons to Richard Sherman.
10.) CB/S James Bradberry, Samford – Was a big corner in college (6’1 | 213) and flashed some ability to cover this week but really stood out as a hitter. Bradberry laid out a few receivers and was one of the most popular interviews as he reportedly met with as many as twelve teams. He’s most likely a safety at the next level and showed a good mix of coverage ability and run support, boosting his draft stock significantly.
11.) S Darian Thompson, Boise St – One of the most consistently solid defensive backs in Mobile this week. Thompson was thought of as an in-the-box safety before the Senior Bowl, but he flashed range in coverage all week and the ability to make plays on the ball. He’s a more well-rounded safety then I thought and Thompson should have secured a round 2 grade.
12.) S Jeremy Cash, Duke – Came into Mobile as the highest rated safety at the Senior Bowl and didn’t disappoint. Cash missed Saturday’s game but was all over the field during practice. Cash was physical against the run and showed great range and instincts in coverage. Cash is the complete package at safety and should be an early day 2 pick.
Other defensive backs who stood out this week and boosted their draft stock: S KJ Dillon, West Virginia; CB Harlin Miller, SE Louisiana; CB Jalen Mills, LSU; CB Jonathan Jones, Auburn; S Sean Davis, Maryland; S Kevin Byard, MTST