Virginia Tech football: Caleb Farley Landing Spots
We do not have a “traditional” combine this year and the season was one marred by COVID-19. So teams will have to go off what little tape they have, the seemingly player bumping pro-days, and 2018-2019 film. Still, this does bode well for players who were already thought to be “elite” as it was harder for them to lose ground with the excuse of the season. Farley was the second or best corner in The NFL Draft coming into 2019-2020 and didn’t drop any value, even with not playing.
In the last few years, we have not seen a lot of elite talent coming out of Virginia Tech, but Caleb Farley will look to change that.
From two years in college Farley amassed:
Games- 23
Total Tackles- 56
Sacks- 1
Interceptions- 6
Pass break-ups- 19
Caleb Farley is part of the new-breed of corner he’s tall, big, and fast. Standing at 6`2” and 203lbs he stature wise compares well to that of Richard Sherman who is just an inch taller but about 10lbs lighter. They have a similar style of play, and that size is becoming a must-have in the NFL. Not to mention he was reported as running an obnoxiously fast 40-yard dash for his size at 4.35!
With the likes of smaller faster WR becoming the norm high in the draft such as guys like Jalen Waddle and DeVonta Smith from Alabama, rather than the likes of a larger WR. This is making prioritizing having fast corners with height an even more important task for teams. Having a corner who can stick with the WR deep, who have a longer wing-span and higher jump takes away the elite abilities of the speedy smaller WR.
The question now is where does he fit?
With another elite corner sitting high in the draft in Patrick Surtain II from Alabama. Surtain might not only be the first defensive back taken, but the first defender in general drafted. The likes of a top-5 in The NFL Draft pick for Farley are not high.
There are multiple teams between sixth and fifteenth which is where Farley should land that need a shutdown corner, however, two of them we can take off the board already in the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets. As they both will most likely go quarterback, or the Jets could go WR (if they keep Sam Darnold at QB).
Well, who does that Leave?
Philidelphia Eagles 6th
Carolina Panthers 8th
Denver Broncos 9th
Dallas Cowboys 10th
San Francisco 12th
Los Angeles Chargers 13th
New England Patriots 15th
I am sure you are asking yourself why are the Broncos and Patriots on there. Well, Broncos cut AJ Bouye earlier this week, and the Patriots are strongly rumored to be trading away Stephon Gilmore before the draft.
Of the seven-teams, I just mentioned we will take a look at what would be my top-5 landing spots for Farley in the 2021 NFL Draft.