Top 10 cornerbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft

#6 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Greg Newsome (Northwestern)

6’ 1”, 190 pounds; JR

Greg Newsome

A three-star recruit out of high school, Greg Newsome saw action right away as a freshman, starting in four of six games played, but missed half of that season. In 2019, he also missed the final four games, but still led the team with 11 passes defensed.

Last season, he broke up seven more passes and came up with his only career pick, which was crucial in their win over Wisconsin, to secure a trip to the Big Ten Championship game. However, he had to leave that game early and then decided to sit out the team’s bowl game.

While he didn’t show up on as many highlights as other guys necessarily, but this guy has been one of the best cover-corners in college football these last two years. It took me a while to figure this out with where Newsome lines up, but he is usually the boundary corner against single-receiver formations and on the field side against balanced sets, as far as I can tell.

The athletic skillset is absolutely there with Newsome, when you look at the fluidity in his lower body to make easy turns, the length, which he uses to full length to contest caches and the pure speed, which to me really stood out when he chased down running back J.K. Dobbins in the 2019 Ohio State game.

Even without a lot of hands-on press, Newsome does a nice job of taking away space to the sideline on outside-releasing stems and the Wildcats coaching staff didn’t do him too many favors either. He did a lot of off-coverage in certain matchups, where quick hitches were basically lay-ups and he was set up to fail almost, being put a ton of one-on-one tackling situations. Despite that, his explosiveness to break on quick inside routes and limit yardage after the catch is pretty darn impressive.

Newsome wasn’t allowed to play a ton of press man-coverage, but in that role, he rarely takes the cheese with any slow-play / hesitation releases, staying square and often times forcing the receiver to go through him. He uses a lot of catch technique and then is kind of gliding downfield with his man. And he won’t get shielded by big-bodied receivers, he can elevate with them and has a way of getting around them, to stick a hand in there.

Yet, I also saw him show some quick twitch, perfectly mirroring a couple of whip routes in last year’s Wisconsin game. And while being asked to play as much deep coverage as he was, he almost never was beat over the top. Newsome may only have one career interception to show for himself, but he averaged around 1.2 pass break-ups per game.

He certainly showed better urgency and more willingness to be a physical player in 2020, while his coverage numbers improved to an elite level. He held opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 31.7 last season – that was the lowest among all Power-Five cornerbacks. And he also had the lowest completion percentage allowed in single coverage in the 2021 draft class (10.5%).

Before anything else, Newsome comes with a concerning medical history. He only played in 20 career games over his three seasons with the Wildcats (left Big Ten title game with groin injury) and has left several contests. Even though it has gotten better, Newsome still doesn’t aggressively work upfield against the run or as a tackler in general.

Too often, you will see him retreat when a blocker is coming right at him and he gets driven out of the screen by some tight-ends when they are matched up against each other. And he needs to do a better job of breaking down in space consistently. In terms of his coverage, Newsome is very quick to get into the bail phase in zone and his weight is too far back on his heels in man, which makes routes snapped back towards the quarterback pretty effective. He presents a rather slight frame and wasn’t really challenged by big-bodied wideouts in the Big Ten last season.

I’m not quite on board with the hype Newsome is receiving, as the NFL draft community was actively searching for CB4 and has pretty much slotted him in there universally. However, I can see the appeal with his physical attributes, especially just running a 4.38 at his pro day.

I can project him being more impressive when he isn’t left as much in conservative off-coverage, but rather challenge receivers off the snap. He will likely go somewhere near the end of the first round, when I think he should be more of a early- to mid-second selection, especially when you take the injury concerns into account.