2024 Nickel Prospect Rankings
The Gridiron Review’s 2024 NFL Draft Nickel Rankings.
The term Nickel is thrown around a lot, so we just want to clarify what we mean. We classify prospects as Nickel defenders if we believe that they will be best suited at the next level as a slot CB, sub-package LB, or anything kind of in between.
*Click on the player names to see our full prospect profiles of each player.
| Rank | Rank Movement | Player | School | Height | Weight | Grade | Comp | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  NR | Terrion Arnold |  |  | 6' | 189 | 67% with upside | Ceiling: Devon Witherspoon; Floor: Brandon Stephens | Updated 4/5/24: Everything from our original summary of Arnold holds true. The only thing we want to add is that with the inexperience at the CB spot, he tends to get a bit grabby when he’s beat and his footwork could definitely use some improvement. We are also going to classify Arnold as a Nickel. That does not mean he can’t play CB. We believe he absolutely can, but with his history of being a safety and watching how he plays, we truly believe he could THRIVE in the slot. Outside CB in base, and nickel in packages. |
| 2 |  1 | Tykee Smith |  |  | 5'10" | 202 | 70% | Brian Branch | Tykee Smith is small, but he is mighty. Tykee Smith transferred to Georgia at the end of the 2020 season. In 2020 at West Virginia he was a consensus All-American(his tier depended on the platform you looked at). He was part of the rotation of the secondary, but didn’t truly take a starting role until this season. He took over Georgia’s star role, which is one of the most important in their defense. In short, the Star has to cover like a corner and hit like a safety, he needs to be the best of both worlds. Smith took over that role from Javon Bullard who transitioned to safety, and absolutely killed it despite the variety of tasks assigned to him by the Georgia defensive staff. |
| 3 | NR | Kamren Kinchens |  |  | 5'11" | 203 | 63% | Grant Delpit | Updated 4/24/24: Our original summary still stands mostly true. The change in comp from Collins to Delpit comes from the fact that we think he could thrive in a role similar to what the Browns do with Delpit where he’s primarily a nickel, but could play safety as well. He needs some coaching as a safety, but as a nickel should be a good not great starter off the bat. |
| 4 | NR | Ennis Rakestraw Jr. |  |  | 5'11" | 183 | 59% | Troy Hill without the character concerns | Ennis Rakestraw Jr is a CB prospect that has the ability to be a first round pick. Right now we lean to the fact that he is more of a Day 2. We think the fact that he was a rotating starter mixed with the games he missed due to injury will drop him a little bit. His lack of urgency to get down hill and help against the run will also drop him a bit. However, he is a strong coverage prospect who tackles very well. |
| 5 | NR | Cole Bishop |  |  | 6'2" | 206 | 57% | Ceiling: Kenny Vaccaro; Floor: Dane Belton | Cole Bishop is a good safety prospect in this year’s class. He started off hot with a top tier performance against Florida, but when we transitioned to conference play against top dogs Oregon and Washington it wasn’t as pretty. The conference play made us think that rather than continue to be a versatile player, Bishop should be transitioned to a primarily box/strong safety or even true nickel. The highlights of the tape seem to be primarily when he’s closer to the line. He’ll be able to play high on an occasional basis or just not when he’s asked to be single high, but we would have concerns about keeping him deep consistently. |
| 6 | 3 | Sheridan Jones |  |  | 6' | 184 | 58% | Less Athleticc Kyler Gordon | Sheridan Jones is going to be a very solid Day 3 pick for someone in April. We believe that he will make a transition into a nickel defender at the next level. As mentioned in the side notes, he can make some backer reads, he was also blitzed at Clemson and has a quick trigger coming down hill. It just feels like a good fit for him. He’s a good coverage, especially zone, player with good not great footwork. He struggles a little with staying with WRs out of breaks, although it was better in 2023. His hips look tight at times, and his speed is in question, but overall he will find a home and make an impact. |
| 7 | 2 | Jaden Hicks |  |  | 6'2" | 211 | 45% with upside | Ceiling: Reed Blankenship; Floor: Miles Killebrew | Updated 4/9/24: We will say it again, Jaden Hicks is NOT a safety. Hicks looked better in our rescout of him, but it wasn’t super night and day. It still looks to us that he conceptually doesn’t understand football. He’s good at following flow, but doesn’t see misdirection or leaking routes the way other players do. We continue to classify him as a nickel because we don’t want to see him have to play as a high safety in any coverage at all. Whoever drafts him… or picks him up as a UDFA needs to transition him to the box and keep him there. Zone wise he can play the flats, but he needs to go to an extremely man heavy defensive scheme. We will say we don’t entirely blame Hicks for his lack of development, it really seemed like WSU is at least partially to blame. If their defense is representative of their development it’s probably not good. Hicks really would have benefitted from another year of college ball and the transfer portal. Regardless of what happens to him from a defensive standpoint, he should be a Special Teams Ace. |
| 8 | 6 | Jaden Davis |  | | 5'9.5" | 187 | 56% | Kader Kohou | Jaden Davis at Miami was an outside corner who could play slot. At the next level we like him as a slot who can play outside. We personally liked Davis a lot despite him not being a top name. With him being an outside corner for Miami we feel comfortable with wherever they want to play him at the next level, but with his disruptive blitzing and solid tackling we just think that he fits that slot defender role better. |
| 9 | NR | Josh Proctor |  |  | 6'1.5" | 199 | 53% | Lower End Jamal Adams | Updated 4/22/24: Everything in our original summary stands true. Proctor’s film is frustrating to watch because from Ohio State to the Senior Bowl, coaches keep playing Proctor as a FS and that’s not what he is. His strength is box play and everytime I watch him play free it restrains his ability to play to his strength. He’s a nickel defender with the ability to possibly play SS. We think Jamal Adams is the perfect comp from a numbers perspective and style of play although don’t believe he will have a prime like Adams did. |