In the modern NFL, it’s the rare safety who’s paid to be just s safety. Three players classified as safeties finished the 2022 season with six interceptions: Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Justin Simmons of the Denver Broncos, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson of the Philadelphia Eagles. Each of those players had more than 100 snaps in the slot last season, and Gardner-Johnson’s deployment may have been most indicative of the ways in which defensive coordinators would like most of their safeties to play. He had 443 snaps at free safety, 202 in the box, and 208 in the slot.
If you are going to be a traditional deep safety most of the time, as Quandre Diggs of the Seattle Seahawks was with a league-leading 1,012 of his 1,221 snaps in the deep third, you’d better be some kind of ballhawk. Last season, only 21 players had more than 600 snaps at pure free safety, and the slot percentages for most safeties have increased exponentially over the last few years. In an NFL where nickel is the new base defense, and most defenses are playing as much or more dime than old-school base, the ways things worked before don’t work now most of the time.
So, when we look at the top nine draft prospects classified as safeties in this draft class, we’re focusing on positional versatility above all, and if positional versatility isn’t the thing, there had best be one mega/alpha skill if you want to make this list.
No matter where they play on the field from snap to snap, here are our nine best safeties for the 2023 NFL draft.
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus, Sports Info Solutions, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated).
(All prospect measurement percentiles courtesy of MockDraftable.com).
1. Brian Branch, Alabama
Height: 5′ 11⅝” (28th percentile) Weight: 190 (3rd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.58 (42nd)
10-Yard Split: 1.56 (55th)
Bench Press: 14 reps (22nd)
Vertical Jump: 34½” (34th)
Broad Jump: 125″ (78th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 75¼”(39th)
Arm Length: 30¾” (19th)
Hand Size: 9½” (62nd)
Bio: Branch was a four-star recruit out of Sandy Creek High School in Georgia (which Calvin Johnson also attended) who bypassed offers from Ohio State, Tennessee and Oklahoma to roll with the Crimson Tide. Over three collegiate seasons, he amassed five sacks, 20 quarterback pressures, 140 tackles, 74 stops, and 96 catches allowed on 148 targets for 861 yards, 379 yards after the catch, eight touchdowns, four interceptions, 15 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 87.1. Branch played 1,182 snaps in the slot, 300 in the box, 101 at free safety, 59 along the defensive line, and 42 at cornerback.
Stat to Know: As a pure single-high or split-field safety in 2022, Branch allowed five catches on eight targets for 46 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.
Strengths: Branch just sees the game very well; even if he’s beaten on the play, he has a tendency to limit the damage after the catch as a deeper defender. because he’ll close with confidence and intelligence.
As a slot defender, which comprises a lot of the safety position for most of the players on this list, Branch is a real pain in the butt for opposing quarterbacks and receivers. In the slot last season, he allowed no catches on three targets… and he had four pass breakups. When you have more deflections than targets, that says a lot about your range.
Branch’s intelligence and feel for the game extend to his abilities as a blitzer, where he’ll use a linebacker’s sense of how to explode through gaps to get to the quarterback.
Weaknesses: Branch is a feisty player, and stronger than you would expect for his size, but there are times when that third percentile weight does show up in a negative sense. He needs to have that great gap sense, because he’s not going to win a lot of rock fights.
Conclusion: Branch is the very model of the modern versatile safety in that you can play him just about anywhere on the field, but we’re projecting him as a safety and slot defender here because this is where his best NFL value might lie. Most NFL defenses would be able to take him in the first round the find first-round value for him sooner than later, because he does so many things so well from multiple positions. It’ll be fascinating to see where his NFL team has him playing, and whether that changes from game to game and season to season.
NFL Comparison: Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Dolphins took Fitzpatrick out of Alabama with the 11th overall pick in the 2018 draft, and they played him similarly to the ways in which he was deployed at Alabama — all over the defense. When the Steelers traded for Fitzpatrick in 2019, they turned him into more of a pure free safety, and Fitzpatrick was able to make that transition. Branch has all the attributes to make that happen, though you probably don’t want to take too much away from his outstanding slot coverage. Nick Saban and his staff have had a knack for developing these multi-position stars, so it’s no surprise that Branch is the latest guy to shoot out of that pipeline.
2. Sydney Brown, Illinois
Height: 5′ 10″ (6th) Weight: 211 (69th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.47 (79th)
10-Yard Split: 1.51 (83rd)
Bench Press: 23 reps (91st)
Vertical Jump: 40½” (93rd)
Broad Jump: 130″ (92nd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 31½”(46th)
Hand Size: 10¼” (94th)
Bio: Born in London, Ontario, Canada, and the twin brother of Illinois running back Chase Brown, Sydney Brown was a football and track star in high school, and had 585 snaps as a true freshman for the Fighting Illini in 2018. Over five collegiate seasons, Brown had two sacks, nine pressures, 259 tackles, 78 stops, and allowed 91 catches on 150 targets for 1,296 yards, 497 yards after the catch, 12 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 13 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 87.5. Brown played 1,340 snaps in the box, 747 at free safety, 768 in the slot, 101 at cornerback, and 191 on the defensive line.
Stat to Know: Brown did a lot well in 2022, but he was especially tough to deal with as a single-high safety. In Cover-1 and Cover-3 last season, Brown allowed 13 catches on 31 targets for 155 yards, one touchdown, five interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 29.0.
Strengths: If Brown isn’t starting out in the deep third, it doesn’t matter, because he has the transition ability and backup speed to match a receiver from the slot or the box and take him all the way upfield to deny the reception.
Brown is also excellent when it comes to matching receivers on crossing routes and any other route requiring a defender to catch up at the top of the route. When he starts getting sticky, he usually stays there.
And whether he’s asked to press tight ends at the line of scrimmage from the slot, or blow up run plays behind the line of scrimmage, Brown has the size and playing personality to chase, or square up with, just about anybody.
Weaknesses: Brown did have 14 missed tackles last season, and that’s disconcerting for a guy who plays in the box as often as he does. When he’s blocked, he seems at times to be more interested in getting aggressive against whoever’s blocking him, as opposed to finding ways to slip off blocks and stop the play. And sometimes, when he does slip off the blocks, bad things happen from there.
Brown’s sixth-percentile height shows up when he’s charged to defend tight ends and bigger receivers — he’ll do his level best to deal with targets of this size, but there are times when the math just isn’t optimal.
Conclusion: Brown should be an ideal fit for single-high dominant teams in need of a deep-third and slot defender who wants to mix it up in the box, but doesn’t always have the wherewithal to do so. His height will limit him in some instances (nothing he can do about that), and his tackling technique (which will hopefully improve in the NFL) will make him a tweener to a degree, but the things he does well are important enough to make him worthy of a Day 2 pick. Brown played an astonishing 56% of his 2022 snaps in the box last season; the first thing I’d do as his NFL defensive coordinator is to cut that rate in half.
NFL Comparison: Amani Hooker. I’ll compare Brown to another former Big 10 defender in Hooker, who the Titans selected in the fourth round of the 2019 draft out of Iowa. Like Brown, Hooker is an under-tall safety who can play the deep third (and would do so more often were he not in the same secondary as Kevin Byard) and the slot, and uses intelligence and aggression to mask his liabilities.
3. Antonio Johnson Jr., Texas A&M
Height: 6′ 2″ (86th percentile) Weight: 198 (18th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.52 (64th)
10-Yard Split: 1.57 (55th)
Bench Press: 8 reps (1st)
Vertical Jump: 31″ (5th)
Broad Jump: 118″ (32nd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32⅛” (68th)
Hand Size: 9¾” (80th)
Bio: A four-star recruit from East St. Louis, Illinois, Johnson hit the ground running for the Aggies, starting in Texas A&M’s Orange Bowl win over North Carolina as a true freshman. Over three seasons, he had two sacks, 14 pressures, 125 tackles, 60 stops, and 75 catches allowed on 106 targets for 506 yards, 366 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, one interception, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 89.6. Johnson played 262 snaps in the box, 123 at free safety, 1,029 in the slot, 33 at cornerback, and 92 along the defensive line.
Stat to Know: In 2022, Johnson had five tackles for loss in the slot, in the box, and as an edge blitzer.
Strengths: Johnson can use his size and aggressive nature to make life tough for quarterbacks as a pressure defender. Auburn’s left tackle really didn’t appreciate getting embarrassed by a 6-foot-2, 198-pound safety on this sack, but that’s what happened.
And as he showed against LSU, Johnson will not hesitate to get grimy when a running back is coming straight at him, whether Johnson is in the box or playing deep to start.
Johnson is comfortable enough as a deep safety despite his non-existent interception and pass breakup numbers in 2022; on this play against Auburn, he probably would have had a pick were it not for an over-eager teammate.
Weaknesses: Johnson’s height shows up as a negative when he’s asked to cover smaller, quicker receivers underneath — it’s common among defenders with longer moving parts, but it does dot his game tape. Any kind of comeback can be a problem from the slot.
Johnson can also struggle to catch up in off-coverage at times; if you’re putting him in the slot, you probably want him pressing and disrupting the receiver more often than not. Otherwise, that extra millisecond it takes him to get everything moving in the same direction will lead to some easy completions.
Conclusion: Teams want big aggressors at the safety positions, especially when you get closer to the line of scrimmage, and Johnson should be able to walk into his NFL facility from Day 1 with that palette ready to go. He was an underrated and under-utilized deep defender who could be built up in that role, and he’ll be one of your best blitzers from the start.
NFL Comparison: Kyle Dugger. Selected by the Patriots in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Lenoir-Rhyne, Dugger is a bigger (6-foot-2, 220) defender who excels everywhere from boxbacker to press slot defender to the deep third at times. Like Johnson, Dugger is at his best when he can set the tone against receivers as opposed to letting them get him out of phase with certain route concepts, and he’s become one of the most valuable cogs in New England’s defense. Johnson could be that kind of player with a few technique fixes, and maybe a couple of protein shakes.
4. Jammie Robinson, Florida State
Height: 5′ 11″ (19th) Weight: 191 (5th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.59 (42nd)
10-Yard Split: 1.58 (47th)
Bench Press: 23 reps (91st)
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: 116″ (20th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 29⅝” (2nd)
Hand Size: 8¾” (12th)
Bio: Robinson started his collegiate career at South Carolina and played there two seasons before transferring to Florida State before the 2021 season. Over four collegiate seasons, Robinson had one sack, 18 pressures, 223 tackles, 78 stops, and allowed 117 catches on 178 targets for 1,341 yards, 563 yards after the catch, eight touchdowns, seven interceptions, 11 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 84.5. He had 1,348 snaps in the slot, 759 at free safety, 633 in the box, 107 along the defensive line, and 61 at cornerback.
Stat to Know: In 2022, Robinson’s Deserved Catch Rate Allowed (the percentage of targets as the primary defender where the receiver either caught or dropped the ball when the pass was catchable) was 55%, the third-lowest among safeties behind only Boise State’s JL Skinner and Notre Dame’s Brandon Joseph.
Strengths: Robinson also had one sack and 14 total pressures on just 33 pass-rushing snaps last season — he blitzed on just 8% of his snaps, but his pressure rate of 40% ranked behind only Texas A&M’s Antonio Johnson Jr. When Robinson comes after a quarterback on a blitz, he’s got a very good chance of getting home and doing something very good for the defense.
Robinson’s closing speed and aggressive nature extends to his ability to create pass breakups and prevent receptions. He has a nice sense of getting himself in position to close on a receiver just as said receiver thinks he has the ball.
And as a run defender from the box or the edge, Robinson gets things done consistently in ways that belie his size.
Weaknesses: Robinson isn’t always as fluid as you’d like to match receivers through their routes — he seems to take a split second more than he should to get aligned at times, though guys catching the ball in his area will generally pay for it with limited yards after the catch.
And yes, there are times when Robinson’s combination of aggressiveness and size limitations has him bouncing right off a receiver instead of wrapping up and finishing the play.
Conclusion: If I’m an NFL defensive coordinator, and I’m in need of a fat dose of alpha on my roster, I’m begging my general manager to take Jammie Robinson in the second day of the draft, and crowbarring him into my defense wherever he best fits. This is absolutely a case in which NFL teams should focus on what a player can do, and not what he can’t, because Robinson has the look of a guy who will keep defying the odds at the NFL level.
NFL Comparison: John Johnson III. Like Johnson, the relatively undersized (6-foot-0, 209 pounds) safety who was a third-round pick of the Rams in 2017, Robinson does a lot more than people probably told him he could do with his size limitations. And also like Johnson, Robinson is an alert, aggressive defender who will probably wind up being a green dot leader as Johnson has been for years.
5. Ji'Ayir Brown, Penn State
Height: 5′ 11″ (19th percentile) Weight: 203 (34th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.65 (18th)
10-Yard Split: 1.56 (55th)
Bench Press: 18 reps (63rd)
Vertical Jump: 32½” (18th)
Broad Jump: 119″ (38th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 31¼” (36th)
Hand Size: 10⅛” (92nd)
Bio: A highly-regarded recruit from Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, Brown started his college career at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he played with future Penn State teammate and current Chicago Bears safety Jaquan Brisker. In three seasons with the Nittany Lions, Brown had five sacks, 16 pressures, 131 tackles, 46 stops, and allowed 41 catches on 63 targets for 442 yards, 179 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, 10 interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 67.1. He played 345 snaps at free safety, 157 in the box, 111 in the slot, 58 along the defensive line, and eight at cornerback.
Stat to Know: Brown blitzed on 12% of his snaps in 2022, which led all NCAA safeties. Brian Branch ranked second at 11%.
Strengths: Let’s start with Brown as a blitzer, because he had five sacks and 15 total pressures last season — it’s a big part of his game. Brown has the speed, play strength, and gap awareness to find open spaces when they’re there, and to deal with blockers when they aren’t. Your running back is going to have to be on point with his blocking when No. 16 enters the chat.
Onto coverage, where three of Brown’s four interceptions in 2022 came from the deep third, and he’s perfectly fine when asked to cover sideline to sideline to end plays at the boundary. For all of his aggressiveness as a blitzer, this isn’t a guy you have to hide in the box.
Finally, if you need your safety to stop the run, this three-yard loss for Michigan’s Blake Corum, in which Brown carried Michigan’s pulling left guard on the way to the ball, is pretty impressive.
Weaknesses: There are times when Brown is so invested in making the play that he gets out of his own head and can become a bit discombobulated. In these instances, he’s capable of giving up a big play, and he needs to be encouraged to stay within himself.
Conclusion: Brown’s combination of big-play ability all over the field, and plays in which you’re not quite sure what he’s doing, may drive some coaches nuts. I think you take a chance on a player like this, do your level best to work on the little nuances to make him even better, and reap the rewards.
NFL Comparison: Vonn Bell. The Saints took Bell in the second round of the 2016 draft out of Ohio State, and though I think Brown is better in coverage, I see a lot of similarities in Brown’s “hair-on-fire” play style and occasional resulting misses, but also the functional versatility to get a lot of things done all over the field.
6. Christopher Smith II, Georgia
Height: 5′ 11″ (19th percentile) Weight: 192 (6th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.62 (26th)
10-Yard Split: 1.56 (55th)
Bench Press: 15 reps (33rd)
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: 116″ (20th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 31⅛” (32nd)
Hand Size: 9⅝” (72nd)
Bio: The Georgia Class 2A Defensive Player of the Year as a senior for Hapeville Charter High School in Atlanta, Smith helped his high school team win a state title and then stayed close to home with the Bulldogs. Over five seasons at Georgia, Smith had no sacks, eight pressures, 109 tackles, 33 stops, and allowed 47 catches on 74 targets for 483 yards, 218 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, six interceptions, seven pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 61.9. Brown played 1,270 snaps at free safety, 413 in the slot, 259 in the box, 21 at cornerback, and two along the defensive line.
Stat to Know: Against passes of 20 or more air yards in 2022, Smith allowed four catches on seven targets for 131 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions… and two more dropped interceptions.
Strengths: We’ll start with one of those deep interceptions (against LSU), because here is where Smith’s ability to read a quarterback’s intentions and break on the ball shows up. If you’re a quarterback trying to get a deep ball past him, you’d better look him off. Telegraphing the throw will lead to disaster on your part.
Smith’s anticipatory abilities also allow him to come down from the deep third on shorter passes, and steal them away. Oregon’s Bo Nix discovered this the hard way.
And while he isn’t the biggest safety in his class, Smith has no issue coming down and making tackles for loss if the need arises. His playing personality is pretty fearless, and he has the closing speed to back it up.
Weaknesses: Smith’s NFL coaches will want to work with him on his tackling technique. He had 11 missed tackles last season and 23 in his Georgia career, and there are some real howlers on his tape.
Would Smith lose some of his explosiveness in the back third if he put on 10 pounds of muscle? I don’t know, but maybe he’d be more comfortable squaring up to running backs in power situations.
Conclusion: If you’re looking for a pure deep safety in the draft, you could do a lot worse than Smith from a skill set and traits perspective. He fits the prototype of what you want. But as a slot defender or box guy who needs to be physical in the tackling phase of the game, Smith may leave a lot of teams wanting. Coverage is his game, and he’s good enough when it comes to stickiness and recovery speed to make the most of things even if he’s beaten at the start of the route.
NFL Comparison: Quandre Diggs. The Lions selected Diggs in the sixth round of the 2015 draft out of Texas, and Diggs became a top-tier overhang defender and deep-third eraser. Not that Diggs is a bad tackler or run defender per se, but you really want him in the back end of your defense most of the time, and I think that Smith will present the NFL with a similar profile.
7. JL Skinner, Boise State
Height: 6′ 4″ (98th percentile) Weight: 209 (61st)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32″ (63rd)
Hand Size: 8¼” (1st)
Bio: The former star for Point Loma High School in San Diego also stood out right away for the Boise State Broncos, playing in all 14 possible games as a true freshman in 2019. Over four seasons, Skinner had no sacks, two pressures, 160 tackles, 70 stops, and allowed 54 catches on 95 targets for 743 yards, 315 yards after the catch, seven touchdowns, seven interceptions, 10 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 75.9. Skinner lined up with 811 snaps in the box, 623 at free safety, 336 in the slot, 28 along the defensive line, and 26 at cornerback.
Stat to Know: 2022 was by far Skinner’s best season in coverage — he gave up just 17 catches on 32 targets for 176 yards, 89 yards after the catch, one touchdown, four interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 40.1.
Strengths: Skinner’s average depth of target in 2022 was 16.7 yards — only Pitt’s Brandon Hill had a higher aDOT among NCAA safeties at 17.6 — so you want to see how well he’s dealing with those deep targets. Well, Skinner allowed no completions on four deep targets (20 or more air yards) from the deep third, so that’s pretty good. Skinner absolutely has the size, range, and aggressiveness to turn deep balls into risky propositions for any receiver.
When the play is in front of him, Skinner is smart enough to know where to be on the field, and when to break for the ball.
And if you’re going to draft a defensive back this big, you want him to avoid anybody running through his face in the run game. Skinner checks out well there. He could be an even more formidable run-stopper if he added a bit more mass to his frame without accidentally turning himself into a linebacker.
Weaknesses: If Skinner is late in his diagnosis on a play, he doesn’t have the vertical recovery speed to make up for it. He’s better when he can read the play, keep things in front of him, and attack from there. If it’s a problem against Wyoming, it’s going to be a problem in the NFL.
As is the case for most taller, longer defensive backs, Skinner can be a step late to deal with quicker underneath routes. He may be best suited for a deeper designation as a result.
Conclusion: When evaluating players of Skinner’s stature, you have to understand how he’ll fit in your defense as opposed to being turned on by his traits. And in his case, the improvement in coverage in the 2022 season has me thinking that he’d be a fine two-level NFL safety, roaming from the box to the deep third, as long as things don’t get past him in a vertical sense. He’s a great gatekeeper because of his size, and he may not have reached his peak in how he’ll be able to use that size to his best advantage.
NFL Comparison: Jayron Kearse. The Vikings selected Kearse in the seventh round of the 2016 draft out of Clemson, and the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Kearse has transcended that status with several seasons for Minnesota, the Lions, and the Cowboys in which he’s proven to be adept in coverage from the slot and deep, while providing good run support. Like Kearse, Skinner might not be your marquee safety at the NFL level, but he can do a lot of things that are valuable to professional defensive coordinators.
8. Jordan Battle, Alabama
Height: 6’1″ (60th) Weight: 209 (61st)
40-Yard Dash: 4.55 (58th)
10-Yard Split: 1.56 (55th)
Bench Press: 17 reps (53rd)
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32″ (63rd)
Hand Size: 8½” (5th)
Bio: Battle originally committed to Ohio State, but answered Nick Saban’s call after Urban Meyer left the Buckeyes. He had four starts in his true freshman season of 2019, and became a defensive leader when the Crimson Tide won the national championship in 2020. Through four seasons at Alabama, Battle had one sack, 11 pressures, 175 tackles, 46 stops, and allowed 74 catches on 111 targets for 607 yards, 390 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, six interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 72.9. Battle played 1,523 at free safety, 814 in the box, 703 in the slot, 25 at cornerback, and 22 along the defensive line.
Stat to Know: Battle had three interceptions in his 2021 season, and three combined in his 2019, 2020, and 2022 seasons. He returned three of his six collegiate interceptions for touchdowns.
Strengths: Battle is one of the most practiced deep-third safeties in this class, and his experience there shows up a lot when he’s asked to break on passes and time his deflections and interceptions. Nick Saban isn’t going to keep you back there if you’re too mistake-prone, and Battle accentuated the possibilities with plays like this.
Battle also shows promise as a box/slot defender with experience reading shorter routes and things over the middle. Here’s another instance in which that closing speed pays off.
Weaknesses: Generally speaking, Battle is better in coverage when he’s coming down on the receiver, as opposed to matching and following deep. He can get betwixt and between with his movements and closing ability when asked to match and carry.
And while Battle certainly has the size to be a quality run defender, the tape tells a decidedly different story. Battle tends to slow-play his way through trash when a more dominant approach is needed, and his tackling eagerness trends toward “innocent bystander.”
Conclusion: Battle should draw considerable second-day interest from teams in need of help in the deep third, especially teams in need of safeties with a lot of experience in two-deep and rolling coverage — which is to say, every NFL team. The extent to which he’s valued outside of that could very well ride on a relative lack of physicality, and perhaps less of an excellence in taking receivers over the top. Is there a “low ceiling” concern in his case? Perhaps, but there’s enough on the ball to make the risk worth it.
NFL Comparison: Justin Reid. Selected by the Texans in the third round of the 2018 draft out of Stanford, Reid has always been a plus deep defender with some liabilities as a tackler closer to the line. Reid’s deep coverage skills have always mitigated that, and the same should be true for Battle as long as his NFL team follows the plan and keeps him out of the box to any serious degree.
9. Jartavius Martin, Illinois
Height: 5′ 11″ (42nd) Weight: 194 (56th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.46 (64th)
10-Yard Split: 1.47 (96th)
Bench Press: 15 reps (55th)
Vertical Jump: 44″ (98th)
Broad Jump: 133″ (95th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 31⅛” (37th)
Hand Size: 9⅝” (83rd)
Bio: Over five seasons with the Fighting Illini, Martin transitioned smoothly from cornerback to more of a slot/safety hybrid role. As you’ll see on his tape, smooth transitions are a big part of his game. For his collegiate career, he had two sacks, five pressures, 181 tackles, 46 stops, and he allowed 119 catches on 203 targets for 1,806 yards, 518 yards after the catch, nine touchdowns, seven interceptions, 18 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 88.4. Martin had 1,012 snaps in the slot, 851 at cornerback, 300 at free safety, 249 in the box, and 91 along the defensive line.
Stat to Know: If you need a single-high safety in your defense, and teammate Sydney Brown is gone, you might want to look Martin’s way. In 2022, he allowed 24 catches on 51 targets for 366 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 45.1 when in single-high coverage (Cover-1 and Cover-3).
Strengths: When Martin knows what’s in front of him, and he breaks decisively to the ball, he’s got all the athleticism and the ball skills to be a real problem for enemy quarterbacks. Were you to assemble a highlight reel of such plays, like this interception against Nebraska, Martin looks like a first-day prospect.
Martin’s pure athleticism also shows up well when it’s time to get aggressive on run plays and short passes. In instances like these, he wants to get his nose in there and create a loss for the offense.
Weaknesses: There are times when Martin needs to be more aware of routes, and keep his feet under him when he’s closing to the receiver. This reception allowed against Michigan State shows the downside. You’d just like to see him be more consistently economical with his movement. At times, you wonder if he reads things late, and his body works too hard to compensate.
Conclusion: If Martin can get his head around route concepts as they begin, he projects well as a tough, feisty safety and slot defender who will be an asset to his NFL team in a lot of different ways. Until then, the late-breaking stuff might get in his way. Putting him more in the slot, as Illinois did a lot (Martin led all 2023 draft prospect safeties with 64% of his snaps in the slot) should promote his attributes and minimize his deficiencies in the short term.
NFL Comparison: Julian Blackmon. The Colts took Blackmon in the 2020 draft out of Utah, and over time, Blackmon has become more of a slot defender to add to his reps at free safety. I think that Martin projects similarly, and perhaps even better over time, as long as the coverage kinks can be worked out.
