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IDP Fantasy Prospects: Defensive Backs For The 2019 Draft

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2019 is one of the better defensive drafts we have seen in recent times. We have already been over pass rushers and here we look into the future at the Defensive Back position.

Julian Love- Notre Dame 

Cornerback 5’11 193 Lbs.   Pro Comparison: Antoine Winfield

Career Statistics: 23 Games played, 142 Tackles (101 solo), 3 tackles for a loss, 35 pass deflections, 5 interceptions, 1 forced fumble, 4 fumble recoveries, 3 Defensive Touchdowns.

Julian Love is my favorite Defensive Back in this draft. His strength and ability to come off blocks and make tackles is amazing. He showed this by averaging about 6 tackles a game from the corner position. Love excels at making the big hit by also maintaining proper tackling procedure and wraps up his opposition.

Love is also great in coverage. His 35 pass deflections are amazing considering he has only played in 23 games. Getting separation against Love is incredibly difficult. His foot movement and fluidity is amazing. Plus his anticipation is excellent.  Watch the clip below at one of his interceptions:

Any team in need of aggressive Cornerback play could benefit from drafting Julian Love. He sounds like a player that would be great for the New England Patriots. New England does not have a corner with that type of play, that would be my favorite fit.

Where Will He End Up?

#19 Overall to the Detroit Lions

The Lions deploy Nevin Lawson on the opposite side of Darius Slay right now. Love could easily slide in to start opposite of Slay or even slide inside to play nickel corner. Either way it would upgrade to a position that then become a possible strength for the Lions. Between Love and Slay there may not be many completions and especially no yards after the catch for the following season.

Deandre Baker- Georgia 

Cornerback 5’11 185 Lbs.   Pro Comparison: Casey Hayward

Career Statistics: 31 Games, 102 Tackles (71 solo), 3 tackles for a loss, 22 pass deflections, 1 sacks, 7 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery.

Deandre Baker was only a 3 star recruit coming out of high school. He also did not start until the final 6 games of his sophmore season. Enter his Junior year and he formed into a true lock down cornerback. Baker was only targeted 62 times while playing in 456 snaps.

That is only a target percentage of only about 13.5 % which is amazing. Of those 62 targets he only allowed 23 catches and zero touchdowns. He also picked off 3 of those 62 targets and deflected another 9. Look at Baker’s acceleration after this interception:

https://twitter.com/blakejmorgann/status/1057089070243946496

Baker has incredible instincts and ball hawking skills. He moves his hips great and even though he is smaller than your traditional corners, he does not get over matched much physically. Baker has the best cover grade per Pro Football Focus in the SEC with a grade of 91.6. Look at the amazing pass breakup he has here against LSU:

https://twitter.com/blakejmorgann/status/1051947064513490952

Where Will He End Up?

#11 Overall to the Tennessee Titans

The Titans have spent some big time money on the existing group of corners. Malcolm Butler has been a disappointment so far, New England seems to have had the correct opinion of him. Logan Ryan is owed $9.5 million, which is far too much for a player of his caliber and is a candidate to be cut next season. Baker would honestly slide in as the teams best corner and if he falls out of the top 10 Tennessee would be insane not to take him.

Andraez “Greedy” Williams- LSU

 Cornerback 6’2 182 Lbs.   Pro Comparison: Xavier Rhodes

Career Statistics: 20 Games, 61 Tackles (43 solo), 1.5 tackles for a loss, 14 pass deflections, 8 interceptions

Greedy Williams is a big bodied corner with amazing ball skills and gives opposing Quarterbacks fits. Quarterbacks had an abysmal 22.9 during the entire 2017 season. Greedy also did not give up a single red zone reception in 2017 which is huge for today’s pass heavy attack. He did come up with a red zone interception though. Look here at his ability to take away the slant route:

Williams uses his size and athleticism to make great plays. He has quick feet and great instincts. Williams himself can run the entire route tree which helps him keep up with receivers and his 6’2 length makes it virtually impossible to throw over. Look here at this amazing interception:

Where Will He End Up?

#14 Overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Buccaneers best corner is Brent Grimes who is in his age 35 season. After him there isn’t too much. Last year they drafted Vernon Hargreaves who has not lived up to his 1st round draft slot. This is by far the most important position in the draft this year for the Bucs  and they need to make sure they do not swing and miss again. Greedy is one of the most obvious can’t fail picks in the draft.

Lukas Denis- Boston College

Free Safety 5’11 193 Lbs.   Pro Comparison: Tyrann Mathieu

Career Statistics: 26 Games, 121 Tackles (73 solo), 1 tackle for a loss, 15 pass deflections, 0.5 sacks, 9 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, 1 Touchdown.

Denis is a slightly smaller safety but has extremely good cover skills. He has a real nose for the ball with 9 career interceptions with one returned for a Touchdown. He can play corner in a pinch as well with his ability to keep up with receivers, running about a 4.5 second 40 yard dash. Here he shows his great center field ability and speed with his pick 6:

Lukas Denis is not a one trick pony though. He can play nickel corner if needed. Though best fit in an Earl Thomas type role making QB’s lives miserable with pass breakups and interceptions, he does mask blitzes well. Again here we see the speed of Denis as he blitzes beautifully:

Where Will He End Up?

#45 Overall (2nd Round) to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Having grabbed Greedy Williams in the 1st round the Bucs keep bolstering their secondary by adding Lukas Denis. Denis forms a magnificent tandem with Justin Evans becoming one of the best turnover forcing Safety tandems in the NFL.

Amani Oruwariye- Penn State

Cornerback 6’1 201 Lbs.   Pro Comparison: Richard Sherman

Career Statistics: 33 Games, 94 Tackles (61 solo), 19 pass deflections, 7 interceptions, 1 forced fumble, 1 Touchdown.

Oruwariye is a large cornerback that has a lot of similarities with Richard Sherman. Big bodied and highly educated, Oruwariye can make quick adjustments from awkward positions to make plays on the ball. He has amazing athleticism and can high point passes quite well and win most jump ball situations:

When it comes to keeping up with receivers he does a marvelous job sticking step for step. With his size, wing span, and speed you know you shouldn’t try to throw over him. Hoping that your receiver can beat him off the line doesn’t always work either. Here you see where he runs the route better than the receiver and is able to get better position and come down with the interception:

Where Will He End Up?

#41 Overall (2nd Round) to the Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos have had one of the best secondaries for a few seasons now leading up to 2018. Before this season they traded Aqib Talib to the Rams. This showed harder to recover from than they anticipated. The secondary is now a week point for Denver and adding Amani Oruwariye to the team gives them a big bodied corner to join Bradley Roby on the outside, Chris Harris in the slot and Justin Simmons at Safety. Suddenly its looking bright again.

These are just a couple of predictions I have for the upcoming draft for 2019. Many things can change leading up, mainly draft position but needs at this point in the season are pretty apparent. Lets see where the rest of the season brings us and push forward to 2019.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @josephhaggan. Follow the group as well @IDPGuys and listen to our weekly podcast for your best Fantasy football advice and strategy.

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