It’s time for part eight of my summer scouting position previews! Last week, I wrote about my top-five wide receiver prospects, and this week we’re discussing their positional rival. Today, I’ll be diving into my top-five cornerback rankings for the 2026 NFL Draft!
The 2025 NFL Draft was an exciting class for cornerbacks, featuring great talent at the top, including Travis Hunter, Jahdae Barron, and Will Johnson, as well as great depth on days two and three. Like last year, I love the elite talent at the top of this class, and the depth is very enticing as well. Now, let’s get started!
Rankings
1. Jermod McCoy - Tennessee
Tennessee Volunteers cornerback Jermod McCoy is my early CB1. McCoy transferred to Tennessee before the 2024 season from Oregon State after a freshman All-American year for the Beavers and broke out in a major way this past fall. In just his second season as a full-time corner, after being a wide receiver recruit out of high school, he was second-team All-American, First-Team All-SEC, and a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist.
McCoy is a really good athlete, being able to change direction on a dime with his quick feet. His fluid hips allow him to maintain his speed when a receiver cuts, and he shows really good closing speed.
Don’t let the athleticism make you think he’s not physical. He’s more than happy to mix it up and press the mess out of a receiver. He’s also not afraid to lay the lumber when needed.
McCoy’s anticipation sticks out as a tremendous strength. He anticipates routes, reads exceptionally quickly, and reacts fast.
He’s not scheme-dependent either. He has great eyes in zone coverage, especially as a flat defender in cover two, and his feel for mirroring in man coverage is sensational.
It is rather ridiculous how technically advanced McCoy was for a true sophomore. He uses the sideline as an extra defender, not allowing receivers to have space down the field in that area.
Perhaps the best part of his skill set is his ball skills. You can see the wide receiver background for him as he plays with excellent hand timing and highpoints the football.
McCoy does need to take better angles in pursuit as a run defender, but the effort and physicality he brings are an encouraging sign of his potential run defense at the next level. He also struggled at times with some lengthier receivers like Arkansas’ Andrew Armstrong and Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith (who didn’t struggle with Smith?), but, overall, was in pretty good position in both matchups.
McCoy is an easy first-round grade for me with his combination of athleticism, IQ, technique, and ball skills. He is coming off a January ACL tear in an offseason training session, so it may be a few games before he’s all the way back, but he is expected to be ready to play by week one. My stylistic comp for him is former New Orleans Saints and current Washington Commanders cornerback Marshon Lattimore.
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2. Will Lee III - Texas A&M
Texas A&M Aggies cornerback Will Lee III is my early CB2. 2024 was Lee’s first season in College Station after transferring in from Kansas State, and Lee proved to be one of the SEC’s best corners, starting all twelve regular-season games on his way to an All-SEC Second Team selection.
The first thing that jumps off Lee’s tape is his size. He stands all of 6’3” and has really lengthy arms. As one might expect at that size, he is super physical, aggressive, and might be the best press corner in this class.
However, for his size and physicality, he is a very fluid athlete. He plays with quick feet and has pretty good long-speed to stick with receivers. He also has the ability to recover from behind.
This fluidity helps Lee mirror receivers with ease. He excels in man coverage, but also plays with productive eyes in zone coverage. And while he doesn’t have the elite ball skills that McCoy has, he does have great hands and range to make plays on the ball in the air.
I don’t think he has elite athleticism, but it’s more than enough to succeed at the NFL level. His length and range nearly nullify this.
Lee has all the tools to be a future All-Pro corner, and he easily gets a first-round grade on my board. My stylistic comp for him is former Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins cornerback Byron Jones.
3. D’Angelo Ponds - Indiana
Indiana Hoosiers cornerback D’Angelo Ponds comes in as my early CB3. Ponds was one of many players that Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti brought with him from James Madison. As a true sophomore in 2024, Ponds made the competition jump seamlessly as he was a second-team All-American and a First-Team All-Big Ten member.
Ponds was a super fun watch and honestly a huge surprise. We’ll start with the elephant in the room: he’s tiny. At 5’9” and 170 pounds, he would be an outlier at the position, especially among outside corners.
However, Ponds showed every skill that a promising corner prospect should. He’s a great athlete, with great top-end speed and elite acceleration. His fluidity laterally was also highly impressive, even with that area expected to be a plus for undersized corners.
Regardless of his size, he’s a really good tackler. He obviously lacks some play strength to get off blocks in the run game with his size, but he is crafty when knifing in to make a play.
Ponds’ coverage tape was very impressive as well. He plays with great anticipation and is very sticky in man coverage. I think he gives too much cushion at times in zone, but he plays with plus eyes and plus feel in that phase as well.
The most impressive part of his game, though, was his ball skills. His ability to make plays on the ball at his size was shocking, and the range he showcased in making them left my jaw on the floor at times. He even mossed Washington receiver Denzel Boston, who we discussed last week, who stands 6’4” and 209 pounds.
Ponds may be my biggest “my guy” so far in the summer scouting period. The size concerns are real, but the tape was more than enough for him to earn a second-round grade for me. My stylistic comp for him is former San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49ers cornerback Jason Verrett.
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4. Avieon Terrell - Clemson
Clemson Tigers cornerback Avieon Terrell is my early CB4. Terrell is the younger brother of Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell and was a member of the All-ACC Second Team in 2024 as a true sophomore. He’s another member of Clemson’s loaded roster, along with guys like Cade Klubnik, Peter Woods, and T.J. Parker. The Tigers should make a deep run in the 2025 College Football Playoff.
Terrell has been regarded in the draft community as a top-two corner in this class. I didn’t quite see it, but there were some things I liked in his tape.
I think he plays with great eyes in zone coverage. He operates with good feel and picks up routes with relative ease.
While Terrell isn’t an overwhelming athlete, he is a very good one. He accelerates fast and has quick feet.
I also think he probably grew up watching former Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers corner Charles “Peanut” Tillman. Terrell is always trying to punch the ball out from behind and has a knack for making game-changing plays.
Everything else in Terrell’s game needs development. While he has that “Peanut” Tillman skillset of punching the ball out and is a solid tackler, he needs to give more effort and be more physical when taking on blocks.
On the flip side of that physicality, he tends to be way too physical with receivers at the top of their routes. He gets really grabby and it leads to back-breaking penalties.
Additionally, I don’t think Terrell finds the ball well in the air. While he has great eyes in zone coverage facing the quarterback, his vision seems to dissipate when the ball is in flight.
Still, the flashes he showed were enough for him to get a second-round grade for me. If he can show more technical discipline, he’ll definitely rise on my board. My stylistic comp for him is former Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, and current Indianapolis Colts cornerback Charvarius Ward.
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5. D.J. McKinney - Colorado
Colorado Buffaloes cornerback D.J. McKinney rounds out this list as my early CB5. McKinney transferred to Colorado from Oklahoma State before the 2024 season, and he manned the opposite corner position of Travis Hunter. He played very well, being an honorable mention to the All-Big 12 team, and he’ll be the Buffs' CB1 in 2025 after Hunter’s departure to the NFL.
McKinney was another one of these lengthy, rangy, physical corners, of which I’m a fan of. His length and fluidity made it difficult for receivers to create much separation, and he’s a good tackler.
He excels in man coverage with his length and positions himself with great leverage, closing any throwing window that the quarterback has. I think he’s decent in zone coverage, but I liked his tape in man a lot more.
McKinney is a fluid athlete, but I do think he has some athletic limitations in terms of long speed. It’s enough to play well in the NFL, but he’s not the level of athlete that the previous four corners are.
While I like McKinney’s physical play, he, like Terrell, is very grabby. It didn’t lead to penalties as often as Terrell, but it still showed up a decent amount on his tape.
Still, I’m a fan of his physical frame and his short-area quickness, and he has a second-round grade on my board. My stylistic comp for him is former Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard.
Honorable Mentions
Now that we’ve gone over my top five, here are five more corner prospects who missed my list but are still very enticing in this class. All of these five have a third-round grade, which speaks to the depth of this class.
Mansoor Delane - LSU
Davison Igbinosun - Ohio State
Chandler Rivers - Duke
Jontez Williams - Iowa State
Domani Jackson - Alabama
Final Thoughts
This 2026 group of corners as a whole is my second-highest rated position group so far (with safeties, tight ends, and linebackers left to go), just behind offensive tackle and neck-in-neck with wide receiver. I’m a big fan of a lot of the prospects in this class, and I’m very excited to watch this position this upcoming season.
As always, this list certainly won’t be the exact same next April, but as of now, I’m confident in my top-five cornerback rankings in the 2026 NFL Draft class.