An in depth and complete scouting report and draft prospect profile of Alabama Cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry for the NFL Draft.

Prospect: Kool-Aid McKinstry

School: Alabama

Age: 21

Kool-Aid McKinstry Measurables:

• Height: 5’11.5” (NFL Combine)
• Weight: 199 (NFL Combine)

• 40: 4.46-4.47 (Pro Day)
• Vertical Jump: 34.5 (Pro Day)
• Broad Jump: 10’1” (Pro Day)
• Other Notes:
  • Measured in 1.5” shorter, but 4 lbs heavier at Combine than ESPN had listed
  • Found Jones fracture during medicals, had to sit Combine out

Tape Watched: 2022: Tennessee; 2023: Texas, LSU, Georgia(Up until he got hurt 6 min into the 3rd Q), Tennessee, Ole Miss

Prospect Grade: 62%

Projected Draft Day: Mid-Late Round 2

Player Comparison: Casey Hayward

Best Team Fits: Baltimore Ravens

Kool-Aid McKinstry Player Summary:

The  Positives

• Strong in coverage
  • Relatively smart zone player… in flashes
  • Best in man though
• According to ESPN, put on 7lbs since last season
  • Add 4 lbs more since end of season
• Closing burst looks extremely solid
• Showed much more physicality in rescout than we saw originally

The Negatives

• Minimal to no help in run support
• AD Mitchell gave him problems; Brian Thomas Jr. gave him problems
  • Great route runners could cause McKinstry to struggle
• Block shedding
• Lacks tackling consistency
• Gets very grabby when he’s beat
• Loses sight of receivers in deep zone drops at times
• Sideline is his best friend, mostly hits high. Doesn’t have the strength to finish alone
• Slight concerns about penalty numbers moving forward with how physical he plays receivers
• When he steps downhill against run its passive
  • Does it to show there’s a defender there, but probably isn’t going to do much after that

Other Note:

• If he loses ground on a route it’s typically off the release and not because he can’t run with the receiver

Kool-Aid McKinstry in our opinion wasn’t even the best CB on his own team. We were far more impressed with Terrion Arnold. However, with that being said McKinstry is a good CB prospect. His strong suit is coverage. He’s a relatively smart zone player, but he’s better in man. He’s got good size and length, but he’s really of no help in run support. His tackling lacks consistency, and he gets very grabby when he’s beat. 

Updated 3/22/24: Kool-Aid McKinstry is a slightly better CB prospect than we originally had him pinned to be. We still like his man coverage ability more than his zone coverage. We worry about him losing sight of receivers going vertical on deep drops. The biggest positive we noticed this time around that we didn’t see the first time was that his closing speed looks extremely solid. The other is that we saw much better physicality. The things that popped out this time in a negative way is his tackling. It’s not as decent as we saw the first time around. He hits high and doesn’t have the strength to finish. The sideline is his best friend. 

Updated 3/22/24

• Combine numbers and rank added to measurable portion of profile
• Grade switched from “60%” to “62%”
• Projection switched from “Day 2” to “Mid-Late Round 2”
• Comp changed from “Kaiir Elam” to “Casey Hayward”
• Baltimore Ravens added as a Best Team Fit
• Positives Added
  • Add 4 lbs more since end of season
  • Closing burst looks extremely solid
  • Showed much more physicality in rescout than we saw originally
• Negatives Added
  • Loses sight of receivers in deep zone drops at times
  • Sideline is his best friend, mostly hits high. Doesn’t have the strength to finish alone
  • Slight concerns about penalty numbers moving forward with how physical he plays receivers
  • When he steps downhill against run its passive
    • Does it to show there’s a defender there, but probably isn’t going to do much after that
• Other Note Added
  • If he loses ground on a route it’s typically off the release and not because he can’t run with the receiver
• Positives Removed
  • Good size and length
  • Flashes decent tackling
• Negatives Removed
  • Lacks physicality