Silver And Black Pride
Raiders got an ‘upside’ prospect in 4th round
The fourth round of the NFL Draft is typically when a lot of teams start looking for ‘upside’ or potential in prospects. That’s likely a big reason why the Las Vegas Raiders used the 113th overall selection on Mississippi State cornerback Deacmerion Richardson.
Richardson stands at a little over 6-foot-2 with good arm length for the position — 32⅜” which is in the 81st percentile, according to MockDraftable. Also, he put up some impressive numbers at the NFL Combine, highlighted by a 4.34-second 40-yard dash and a 10’8” broad jump, to earn an 8.61 RAS out of 10.
Even better, the former Bulldog is coming off a good season where he ranked seventh among SEC cornerbacks with an 86.5 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus, two spots ahead of first-round pick Terrion Arnold (84.9). Additionally, Richardson had the most defensive stops in coverage with 18, three more than any other corner.
The fourth-round pick still has some work to do, but he shows plenty of traits to become a quality player down the line, as the clips below highlight.
A big reason why Richardson racked up so many defensive stops last season is he has good acceleration to close in coverage, shown by his 1.53-second 10-yard split.
Here, Arizona runs an RPO with a smoke screen to the single receiver. With the corner playing off coverage on first down, the quarterback throws the screen instead of handing it off. Richardson quickly triggers downhill and makes contact with the receiver right at or about a yard past the line of scrimmage.
However, Richardson does have some room for improvement on this rep. He’s only 188 pounds which is pretty skinny considering his height and needs to spend some time in the weight room to bulk up. Also, his pad level is about as high as can be which leads to him getting carried for about three or four more yards after contact.
This may not seem like a big deal, but those extra yards are the difference between the offense staying on schedule and being behind of the chains in a second and long situation.
Plays like this showed up a few times in this game, including one rep where Richardson did everything correct but ended up allowing a fourth down conversion by giving up extra yards after contact.
Now, to the Mississippi State product’s credit, he did show growth in this area last season as the clip above comes from the following week.
This time, LSU is in second and long and dials up a short curl to Brian Thomas Jr., the Jacksonville Jaguars’ first-round pick. Again, Richardson is playing off coverage, and he gets even deeper in his zone since the slot receiver is running a vertical route and the defense is playing Cover 3.
The corner does a good job of reading the quarterback’s eyes and, similar to the clip above, driving on the short route. This time though, Richardson...
