The 5 Best Cornerbacks In 2021 NFL Draft

The 2021 NFL Draft is on April 29, as the next big piece of the pro football offseason comes into focus. Cornerbacks have to be able to prove they can stand up to elite wide receivers and turn the page if they get beaten on the previous play. Tremendous mental toughness is needed in order to handle this position. Let’s look at the five best cornerbacks in the coming NFL draft.

Patrick Surtain II, Alabama

Patrick Surtain rose above the challenges he faced in 2020.

Surtain and the Alabama defense locked down Notre Dame’s offense in the College Football Playoff semifinal round. They were faster and more responsive than Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship game a week and a half later. Alabama so thoroughly established itself as the class of college football this past season, and while the Florida game was a black mark for the defense, the bounce-back performances against Notre Dame and Ohio State in the playoff showed how good Surtain can be. Notre Dame and Ohio State tried to mix the run and the pass, but Alabama’s defense wasn’t thrown off balance. The Tide defense got stronger as games went along. Surtain showed considerable command as a cornerback for Nick Saban.

Jaycee Horn, South Carolina

The South Carolina Gamecocks didn’t do well as a team this past season, but Horn certainly thrived. When South Carolina went up against Georgia, Florida, and other high-end teams from the SEC, Horn was able to show he belonged on the field with the four- and five-star recruits from those prominent football schools. Whereas Patrick Surtain became a better player because of the quality teammates he had to work with at Alabama, Horn represents the other kind of prominent draft prospect: the one who plays with mediocre teammates and learns how to handle responsibilities in a very difficult situation with relatively little support. The lack of team success won’t prevent scouts from noticing how well Horn coped this past season.

Greg Newsome II, Northwestern

The Northwestern secondary was part of a strong defense which bottled up the Ohio State Buckeyes’ passing game in the Big Ten Championship Game this past December in Indianapolis. Northwestern made Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and the rest of the Buckeyes’ offense look below average, allowing just 22 points to an opponent which scored more than twice as many points a few weeks later against the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff. Northwestern’s defense was excellent all season long, even with an offense which sputtered and rarely hit its stride. Newsome did as much as he could to make Northwestern’s defense cohesive and versatile. He’s a terrific prospect.

Caleb Farley, Virginia Tech

The Virginia Tech offense struggled a lot last season. Much of the Hokies’ problems came from that side of the ball. The defense did get shredded at times, but in other games Virginia Tech played in 2020, the defense performed well enough to win. If you didn’t watch this team closely, you might have thought the Virginia Tech defense was a lot worse than it actually was.

Caleb Farley didn’t solve all of Tech’s problems, but without him on the back line of the Hokies’ defense, Virginia Tech’s season would have been exponentially worse than it turned out to be. Evaluators noticed that.

Asante Samuel Jr., Florida State

The son of two-time Super Bowl champion Asante Samuel has been able to learn from the very best. His dad was an elite cornerback who became a two-time All-Pro in the NFL and made four different Pro Bowl teams. With those bloodlines and that kind of personal experience, Samuel Jr. can certainly follow in the footsteps of his father and continue a family legacy.