Don’t forget about Asante Samuel Jr. in 2021 NFL Draft CB class

Strengths of Samuel Jr.

Perhaps the top trait that sticks out on film the most is Samuel’s ball skills. He shoes high end ability in how he addresses, tracks, and fights for the ball in the air. Samuel really understands how to work back to the catch point and crown receivers. He showed some great moments closing and breaking up passes late with enough length and hand eye coronation to fit hands in and knock balls out of defenders hands.

Samuel also has great speed for the position. He is an explosive player with the foot speed and fluidity to stay in phase with receivers and be effective closing downhill. Athletically Samuel looks to have the explosiveness and redirection skills to be effective in space.

Samuel is active in coming downhill versus the run (though did have some struggles shedding blocks). He shows enough strength and demonstrates this as a tackler, where he is able to consistently drag defenders down. He is an all-around physical player within routes and is not afraid to clamp down on receivers, though I’d prefer to see more of this at the line of scrimmage.

Samuel also shows a dynamic lower half with the ability to mirror receivers at the line of scrimmage and effectively work into their route stems and stay in phase. He has some inconsistencies in press coverage due to a lack of overall hand use at line of scrimmage but what he has shown from a lower body perspective is pretty impressive.