Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson wasn’t the biggest cornerback in the 2023 NFL draft. Far from it. In fact, he was one of the smallest at just 5-foot-8 and 178 pounds with 29-inch arms.
It’s a big reason he fell all the way to the sixth round despite being the Jim Thorpe Award winner as the best defensive back in college football last season. Past players who also took home that award since 2000 include Eric Berry, Patrick Peterson, Adoree’ Jackson, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Grant Delpit.
Yet, Hodges-Tomlinson still slipped to No. 182 overall where the Rams finally ended his Day 3 slide and selected him. And really, we shouldn’t have been surprised that they were the team to take a chance on the undersized cornerback.
Hodges-Tomlinson is glad the Rams selected him and he hopes to repay them by becoming one of their best picks ever.
“People just degrade me and even though I’ve done as much as I’ve done in this game of football and continue to prove others wrong, it seems to still go over others’ heads,” he said after being drafted. “The Rams, they believed in me and they chose to make the pick, so I’m gonna make sure this pick right here is one of the greatest picks they’ve ever had. I’m just ready to get to work and I’m gonna continue to show others why they shouldn’t have passed up on me.”
The Rams have a good track record under Sean McVay of getting the most out of smaller DBs and Hodges-Tomlinson could be the next in line.
We only have to go back a couple of years to find an example of an undersized cornerback thriving with the Rams. Darious Williams, who’s just 5-foot-9, was one of the most underrated cornerbacks in the league in 2020 and 2021. He allowed just 34 receptions on 68 targets in 2020, finishing the year with a grade of 80.0 from PFF. He regressed a bit in 2021, but he was still an important part of a secondary that helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI.
The Rams opted not to re-sign him in free agency last year, but the Jaguars rewarded him with a three-year deal worth up to $39 million, including $18 million guaranteed. He doesn’t get that contract if not for the Rams getting the most out of him in his two seasons as a starter.
Like Williams, Hodges-Tomlinson plays a lot on the outside despite being smaller, and he makes it work. Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire even compared Hodges-Tomlinson to Williams, loving his fit in Los Angeles.
My NFL comparison for Hodges-Tomlinson was Antoine Winfield Sr., but you could also compare him to Darious Williams, the 5-foot-9, 187-pound undrafted free agent the Rams got out of UAB in 2018, and who eventually turned into one of the team’s best defenders. As the kids say, he’s got that dog in him.
From 2017-2019, it was 5-foot-8, 180-pound Nickell Robey-Coleman excelling as an undersized defensive back for the Rams. Though he only started eight games in that span, he played 47 of a possible 48 contests and had a ton of success as the team’s nickel corner. In three seasons, he had 96 tackles, three interceptions, 20 passes defensed and forced three fumbles. He also had nine tackles for a loss, showing he can make plays near the line of scrimmage.
He never had a PFF grade below 74.5 in those three years with the Rams and peaked in 2018 when he had an 82.6 mark with a stellar 79.5 run defense grade. He never allowed a completion rate above 69% in a season during his Rams tenure.
Going a little bit further back, there was Lamarcus Joyner, a 5-foot-8 and 185-pound defender who played the slot from 2014-2016 before McVay arrived and moved him to free safety in 2017. That’s when Joyner’s career took off.
McVay saw a player who wasn’t used properly in the past and turned him into a starting safety who had three interceptions and a pick-six in 2017, the first interceptions of his career. Joyner’s PFF grade in his first season with McVay? A stellar 91.0, the second-best of any safety in the NFL that year, largely thanks to his 91.3 coverage grade with only 10 receptions allowed on 26 targets.
Joyner went on to sign a four-year deal worth $42 million with the Raiders in 2019 after receiving the franchise tag in 2018, making the most of his breakout season in 2017.
None of those three players let their size hold them back from becoming starting-caliber defenders with the Rams and Hodges-Tomlinson won’t, either. He said he’s looking forward to contributing early and earning a starting spot on defense.
“I feel like even though some people may look at it as a lack, I look at it as a benefit for me because if God wouldn’t have made me this way, I may not have the same great abilities that I have as far as my explosiveness, the way I can jump, the way I can run, my hip fluidity,” Hodges-Tomlinson said when asked how his diminutive size is a strength. “And being low to the ground, it just makes it easier for me to get in and out of breaks and everything like that. And also, just being solid. My build and everything on making tackles and stuff. I feel like it has continuously benefited me and it hasn’t shown any weaknesses in my game. I have continued to be the No. 1 cornerback in college football since I’ve played. I feel like it hasn’t had a problem with me at all. I’m just very thankful that a team, the Rams, have finally been like, ‘We need to take this guy and not look at it for what my measurements were.’”
Hodges-Tomlinson is a fiery competitor ready to make his mark right away. And he may have landed in a perfect spot with the Rams, given their track record of maximizing the talent of undersized defensive backs.
“I would describe myself as a dog and someone that wants to win and is gonna do everything in my ability, anything I can do to help the team win. Very confident player and just a playmaker,” he said when describing himself.
