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2025 NFL Draft Film Breakdown: Andrew Mukuba Ideal Fit for Cincinnati Bengals' Defense?

The Bengals need help on the back end of their defense.
Mike Santagata|
Jan 10, 2025; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive back Andrew Mukuba (4) in action during the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Jan 10, 2025; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive back Andrew Mukuba (4) in action during the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

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Cincinnati Bengals

Andrew Mukuba is a former four-star recruit from Texas that was originally born in Zimbabwe before immigrating to the United States at nine years old.

Mukuba originally played for Clemson before transferring to Texas for his final collegiate season. He was the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year for Clemson and a freshman All-American that season. This past year he caught five interceptions which was the fourth best number across the entire NCAA. He’s a thin but fiery safety who plays with urgency.

Let's take a look at what the film says about the former Longhorns star:

Where He Excels

  • Quick processing and ability to diagnose what the offense is trying to do.
  • Does a great job of playing the ball in the air both in situations where he is punching the ball through the hands of the receiver and playing the ball at its highest point in uncontested situations.
  • Flies down to run the alley from deep safety positions to make plays against the run and against screens.
  • Great athleticism allows him to close quickly, play with range, and recover.
  • Quickly changes direction with flexibility throughout his body.

Areas of Concern

  • Very slender build at 186 pounds. Would be an outlier for safeties in the 1st percentile for weight. Hard to find guys at his weight who become star NFL players.
  • He has a tendency to miss tackles at times and give up an additional yard or two on contact because of his size.
  • Inconsistent ability to take on blocks

Overall Thoughts

Mukuba is an intelligent and athletic safety who should provide plus coverage ability early in his NFL career.

Mukuba is highly athletic and intelligent with good ball skills. It’s easy to fall in love with him in this area of defense because of those traits. He was deployed in a variety of ways for the Texas defense although it would have been nice to see him as a post safety a bit more often because the sideline to sideline range was not showcased enough.

He may have the highest ceiling of any safety in this class from a coverage standpoint. He does an excellent job of punching the ball through the hands of the receiver to generate late PBUs while also catching every tipped ball that comes his way and making plays on the ball at its highest point. With his skills, traits and experience he should be a plus player in coverage early in his NFL career.

In run defense, Mukuba plays with his hair on fire to get downfield quickly and make plays. He shows his speed, agility, and intelligence when coming off of the top of the defense to meet the ball carrier quickly at or near the line of scrimmage.

However, he also has some inconsistencies with his ability to take on blocks. He does a better job when able to slip blocks versus using his hands to punch into the blocker and keep separation to shed those blocks. His arm length and wingspan show up along with his weight in these scenarios. He also has some issues with tackling.

He will miss tackles on occasion because he’s a guy who hits ball carriers low and tries to take out their legs to make tackles. He also doesn’t provide a ton of thump for goal line and short yardage situations. He concedes ground on tackles in those situations because he doesn’t have the mass to push the ball carrier backward.

Schematic Fit

At his best as a deep safety and there’s reason to think he may struggle some if placed into the box. He's versatile in coverage and can play single-high, quarters, half, hooks, flats, and man-to-man coverage at a very high level.

For the Bengals, he would work well next to Jordan Battle. Mukuba would allow Battle to be more of a box safety. Mukuba would be able to stay deep and come off the roof as needed.

Grade

Early 2nd Round

Published
Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

Mike Santagata is an offensive line and film expert. He's written and analyzed Bengals film for the past four years. He also hosts the Always Gameday in Cincinnati podcast and is a regular guest on the Locked On Bengals podcast.

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