By this point I’m sure we can all agree that former Alabama standout Dee Milliner is the consensus best cornerback available in this year’s draft.  He’s had a tremendous amount of success in his three years with the Crimson Tide and is a lock to go in the top-10.  Let’s get into eDraft’s scouting report of this talented corner. 

Strengths

Size: At 6’0" and 201 pounds, Milliner has the size, strength and speed to hold his own against any receiver or tight end at the NFL level.  Milliner is extremely physical and uses his size to his advantage; always putting himself in the best place to make a play on the ball and deliver big, ball-jarring hits on the ball carrier. 

Coordination/Awareness: In addition to his strength and top-end speed, Milliner is incredibly agile and quick.  He has extremely-fluid hips that he can turn in an instant to stay with a receiver, as well as very quick feet that can stop, change direction and accelerate very effectively when receivers make quick cuts in their routes.  Milliner also possess great awareness for where the quarterback is going to place the ball for the receiver, as well as when and where a receiver will make a cut; allowing him to always be in the right place at exactly the right moment. 

Coverage: Milliner loves to play bump-and-run press coverage.  He does an incredible job of jamming the receiver at the line of scrimmage, and allowing the receiver to gain little-to-no separation downfield; whether it’s up the sideline or across the middle.   While aggressive and physical man-coverage is his bread and butter, because of his awareness and big hit ability; Milliner also excels in zone coverage as well. 

Weaknesses

Technique: The one thing almost anyone will notice right off the bat, is Milliner’s complete inability to backpedal.  Even those he has great awareness for where the ball is going to be, Milliner still lost the ball in the air at times because he was looking over his shoulder instead of backpedaling.  In college, this wasn’t a huge issue, but any receiver good enough to play at the NFL level is going to out-maneuver him constantly because of this.  I’m positive this will be the very first thing his new NFL coaching staff corrects after the Draft. 

Lack of Interceptions: In three seasons at Alabama, Milliner had just six interceptions and for some reason, this rubs people the wrong way.  Then at the scouting combine he failed to catch most passes that came his way, but was still able to knock them all down; which seemed to make these same people question Milliner even more.  So, let me clear a couple things up for the people that were upset by this really quickly.  1. He’s a shutdown corner.  He’s going to take away that side of the field, and teams won't throw his way much.  When they do, it’s not a huge deal if he just breaks the pass up.  It’s more important to make sure the receiver doesn’t catch it than Milliner intercept it, right? And 2. At the combine he was playing with a torn shoulder muscle.  If that was any of us, we wouldn’t be able to catch any passes.  He did a great job showing off his fluid movement, awareness and ability to swat the pass.  No one in the NFL is worried about his lack of interceptions, so you shouldn’t be either. 

Bottom Line

Milliner is a top-tier cornerback, with the awareness and physical play to be a shutdown corner from day one.  It’s very likely that whatever team drafts him will have him backpedalling like a veteran come the start of the regular season and there’s no chance he makes it out of the top-five in the Draft.