An in depth and complete scouting report and draft prospect profile of Utah Nickel Cole Bishop for the NFL Draft.

Prospect: Cole Bishop

School: Utah

Age: 21

Cole Bishop Measurables:

• Height: 6’2” (NFL Combine)
• Weight: 206 (NFL Combine)

• 40: 4.45 (NFL Combine)
• 10 Yard Split: 1.52 (NFL Combine)
• Vertical Jump: 39” (NFL Combine)
• Broad Jump: 10’4” (NFL Combine)
• Other Notes:
  • Cole Bishop with solid 40, better than we would’ve thought
  • Bishop Inability to locate ball on the 90 degree break drill was bad
  • Bishop stock DEFINITELY trending up
  • Nooooooooooo, hopefully Bishop injury isn’t serious

Tape Watched: Florida, Oregon, Washington, Oregon State, Senior Bowl

Prospect Grade: 57%

Projected Draft Day: Mid Round 4- Early Round 6

Player Comparison: Ceiling: Kenny Vaccaro; Floor: Dane Belton

Cole Bishop Player Summary:

The  Positives

• Versatility shows in the variety of ways Utah used him
• Reads pass routes and concepts really well as down(box) safety/nickel
• Smart against option in the box
• Understands how to set the edge
• Bishop primarily played down in the box during the Senior Bowl, and had a pretty good game

The Negatives

• Gap filling and run fits could use polishing
• Angles can be inconsistent
• Can be a little too aggressive coming down hill sometimes
  • Leads to lack of body control and ability to finish the play
• Tackling inconsistency
  • Tackles too high at times
  • Could wrap and bring his legs with him on tackles a little more consistently
    • Feels like he dives unnecessarily at times
• Concerns about his ability to play as a deep safety. Seemed okay in 2 high looks, but Cover 1 and Cover 3 it doesn’t look like he has the vision or pattern rec to play back there

Side Note:

• Oregon tape is not as clean as the Florida tape, but Washington tape is a mix bag. Flashes what he showed against, Florida, but also shows a decent amount of what he showed against Oregon

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. 

Updated 4/21/24:

• Combine numbers and rank added to measurable portion of profile
• Grade switched from “60%” to “57%”
• Projection switched from “Late Day 2- Early Day 3” to “Mid Round 4- Early Round 6”
• Comp switched from “Shades of DeMarcco Hellams” to “Ceiling: Kenny Vaccaro; Floor: Dane Belton”
• Positives Added
  • Bishop primarily played down in the box during the Senior Bowl, and had a pretty good game
• Negatives Added
  • Concerns about his ability to play as a deep safety. Seemed okay in 2 high looks, but Cover 1 and Cover 3 it doesn’t look like he has the vision or pattern rec to play back there
• Positives Removed
  • Not bad when high safety, but seems better in the box
• Negatives Removed
  • Hard to gauge his speed on film
    • Sometimes it looks good enough to play sideline to sideline and others it looks average