2021 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: CB Asante Samuel Jr, Florida State
CB ASANTE SAMUEL JR
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 184 lbs.
Class: Junior
School: Florida State
Samuel was a former four-star recruit out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Attended St. Thomas Aquinas, a school that has won seven state championships in the last decade and has produced countless NFL talent.
Samuel was a First-Team All-ACC selection in 2020 and earned a third-team selection the year prior. In his three seasons at Florida State, he recorded 97 tackles, 3 for a loss, four interceptions, and 29 passes defended. He allowed only 178 yards receiving in 8 2020 games.
Samuel is a versatile player who was used mostly on the boundary, but Pro Football Focus had him as the highest-graded coverage defender in the slot in October of 2020. 247 Sports had him listed as their “fan favorite,” and many considered him an impactful leader on a Florida State defense that has struggled for several years.
Notables
Son of two-time Super Bowl champion and four-time Pro Bowler, Asante Samuel Sr.
Traits
Is undersized; he’s 5’10"--but it’s a Kyler Murray 5’10". He has more of a lean frame with exceptional athletic ability that allows him to be incredibly effective in man coverage. Very light on his feet--has superb quickness, rare change of direction ability, and shows a great burst.
Very fluid hips allow him to turn with ease while maintaining speed. Lateral movement skills are excellent, and he’s an ideal fit as a man coverage cornerback. Plays fast, diagnoses fast, attacks fast.
He shows a very good line of scrimmage skills handling the releases of wide receivers. His discipline and patience at the line allows him to stay square and commit his hips once the receiver declares his direction in press.
He has a low, squatty, stance and his footwork is solid. Press skills aren’t terrible, he only brings adequate play strength, and he isn’t overly long. He could struggle to jam bigger-bodied receivers at the next level effectively.
He stays in phase very well on receivers - is very sticky in man coverage. Clicks & closes downhill very quickly when in off coverage. While off, he can prematurely flip his hips at times (he seemed to do it more often to the wide side of the field), but his hips are so smooth that it hardly affected the situation at the collegiate level. Stop/start ability and going in and out of breaks seems effortless for Samuel Jr.
Very smooth mover when backpedaling (and in all phases, for that matter). Plays with excellent balance and control in space while showing very good spatial awareness. Very good anticipation and reactive quickness in coverage. One of the best-read, react, and attack players in the draft.
He has a feel for match principles, keys route combinations well, and comes off assignments with good timing to disrupt offensive plays - he has a very high football IQ. These traits assisted him in zone coverage responsibilities, something he executes at a solid rate. I love how he sees the field, and it’s no surprise that his old man was an NFL player.
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Excellent range and ability to cover ground - has recovery speed as well. He brings a disruptive nature and good play strength to the catch point and has solid ball skills. They only had four interceptions in college but was constantly playing through the catch point and forcing incompletions.
Could do a better job locating the ball downfield to secure more interceptions, but he would disrupt and be a nuisance for the receiver.
Could be better in run support; he tries but misses tackles and must drive through offensive players and wrap up. Technique isn’t always clean with tackling, and his size deficiencies hurt him in this area. He also struggles to defeat blocks at times from bigger wide receivers. His play strength is adequate at best in these areas.
Overall, Samuel is a very good athlete who can play outside corner in the NFL despite his size limitation (at worst, he can be one of the better slot corners in the league).
His intelligence, man coverage ability, and special athletic traits should allow him to be in the league for quite a while. He may be undersized, but he would be an excellent selection for the Giants in the early second round, and I feel he can work as an outside corner.
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