Player: Derek Stingley Jr.

School: LSU

Height and Weight: 6’0”, 190

Combine Results:

• 40: DNP
• Bench: DNP
• Broad Jump: DNP
• Vertical Jump: DNP
• 3 Cone: DNP
• Other Notes: Stingley did not participate as he is still recovering from his foot injury. It sounds like he will be ready to go come his pro day though. 

Strengths: Leadership, elite level coverage corner and lockdown potential, rolling coverage, great knowledge and awareness

Weaknesses: Predictable alignment at times/disguising coverages, injury bug 

Projected Draft Day: Day 1

Player Comparison: Marshon Lattimore

Player Summary: In my eyes, Stingley is the best corner in this class and may be arguably the best player in this year’s class, but I don’t think he will ever be ranked number one on our cornerback rankings due to his injury history over the last two seasons. Buyer beware, Derek Stingley is a high risk, high reward first round prospect. Stingley, when healthy, has shown that he can be a lockdown corner with an impressive skill set in both man and zone coverages. The issue is that Stingley has not been able to stay healthy since his extremely impressive freshman year at LSU. We could see Stingley slide in the draft due to this concern and whichever team decides to take a shot could be getting arguably the top prospect in this class when healthy. Not necessarily a strength or weakness, but Stingley does not like to press at the line of scrimmage from what I watched on tape, and I think that’s just an interesting tidbit of information. Although Stingley seems to do everything right during play; pre-snap he can be a little predictable. It’s hard to say whether it’s Stingley or the LSU defensive scheme but it seems like he can be a little predictable at times when it comes to his alignment. At certain times it seems like he’s telling you what coverage he’s in with man being about a 2-3 yard alignment and zone being from like 7-10 yards. Stingley, as I stated, does a nice job of rolling coverage/alignment; however, as I just touched on, his ability to disguise coverage does not seem as good.

In the run game, Stingley isn’t a guy who’s making a lot of tackles or jumping on the pile to stat pad. Stingley for the most part seems to stay off in case the runner breaks off so he can chase him down as a last line of defense, but is aware of where the ball is at all times it seems like.

I compared Stingley to one of the league’s best in Marshon Lattimore. Both guys are built similarly, but also have a similar style of play. Both guys like to be aligned about 2 yards off when in man and will not typically press at the line, but like to keep hands on during the play. Stingley will need to find a way to stay healthy if he wants to become the next Lattimore or top NFL cornerback though.