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99th Percentile Cornerback Will Have Predraft Visit With Packers

A fast-rising, small-school cornerback will have an official draft visit with the Packers.
Bill Huber|
National receiver Reggie Virgil (15) of Texas Tech grabs a pass over National cornerback Charles Demmings at the Senior Bowl.
National receiver Reggie Virgil (15) of Texas Tech grabs a pass over National cornerback Charles Demmings at the Senior Bowl. | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

Charles Demmings, a cornerback from Stephen F. Austin, will have a predraft visit with the Green Bay Packers, according to NFL Draft insider Tony Pauline.

With the obvious caveat being that Demmings played against lower-level competition, the coverage numbers from Pro Football Focus are rather absurd. He was charged with a 47.4 percent catch rate in 2023, 41.9 percent in 2024 and 48.6 percent in 2025. During his final season, he intercepted four passes, allowed one touchdown and was charged with a 39.8 passer rating.

He’s got the size and speed to match at 6-foot-1 1/8. With 4.41 speed in the 40 highlighting strong all-around testing, his Relative Athletic Score was 9.93. That puts him in the 99th percentile among all cornerback prospects since 1987.

“While Demmings lacks ideal play strength and is not a firm tackler, his ball skills and man-cover consistency could land him a roster spot as a future CB4 with gunner potential,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote as part of an extended scouting report.

He’s come a long way since his freshman season at SFA, when he was in tears.

“I felt lost,” Demmings said at the Senior Bowl. “I didn’t understand why I was playing football... [and] I had never been away from my family.”

So, “I looked up to the sky and asked God, ‘Why?’... probably 10 times back-to-back. And then I stopped asking why, and realized: ‘Why not me?’”

Demmings got to test his skill against the big-school prospects during Senior Bowl week. In the game, PFF charged him with 2-of-3 passing for 21 yards.

“Man, you're going to see a guy of great poise, a guy of great resilience, a guy with dry-erased memory,” he told the Dallas Cowboys’ Draft Show podcast. “A bad play could come, but that bad play is going to stay in that moment. I will move on to the next moment.

“Not only that, you're going to see my commitment in every play. You're going to see that hustle and that grit. And you're going to be able to tell my mentality, because when I line up against a receiver, I'm okay with that being the last thing I ever do on this earth, man. I'm okay with being in cleats and being in a helmet. That's my last wardrobe choice, because that's where God put me.”

Demmings has a great story, which he told Justin Melo – now of On SI and formerly with The Draft Network – before the Senior Bowl.

“I’ve always had that chip on my shoulder,” he said. “Getting that Senior Bowl invite was a God-empowering moment. A couple of years ago, I wasn’t even playing football. I was mowing grass with my dad on Saturdays instead of playing football (laughs).

“We had this little lawn moving company. I went from that to playing football on Saturday, and now I’ve accepted an invite to the Senior Bowl. It’s definitely been a God-empowering moment. Surrendering my life to my faith has worked miracles for me. I’ve kept faith in a bigger plan for me. It’s another opportunity for me to strap on the cleats, another platform for me to give thanks for my blessings.”

Demmings production, size and speed should put him into the middle of Day 3 of the draft. Or maybe sooner.

Calling him a Scouting Combine riser, longtime draft guru Rob Rang of Fox Sports said: “Demmings can no longer be accurately described as a sleeper. His stellar showing in Mobile, Ala., and Indianapolis could push Demmings into the top 100, a feat no Lumberjack has earned since 1998.”

The Packers have a major need at cornerback. This offseason, they signed Benjamin St-Juste and released Nate Hobbs. St-Juste is the only player under contract for 2027, with Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine entering the upcoming season on expiring contracts.

“I can play with the best of the best at the highest level,” he told Melo. “I want to prove that I’m one of the best, and I will be the best version of myself every time I put on my cleats. It doesn’t matter if it’s an FCS, FBS, or NFL receiver. I will be me, and I will shine in those environments.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.