Greg Newsome, a player who has shot up draft boards the past couple of weeks, is getting recognized more and more as a first-round talent at the cornerback position. His production at Northwestern was a real boost to their defense and the film only confirms it. He handled his leadership role as the spark of the Huskies defense extremely well. The instincts and skill he showcased in college have garnered multiple team’s interests, and his pro day boosted his draft stock even more. Although he will need to be developed well to reach his full potential, his ceiling is certainly high and teams hold him in high regard

Greg Newsome Stats And Measurables:

College: Northwestern

Position: Cornerback

Number: 2/29

Height: 6’1″

Weight: 190 lbs

2018 Stats: 6 Games/23 TOTAL/19 SOLO/4 PD

2019 Stats: 8 Games/36 TOTAL/28 SOLO/1 FR/11 PD

2020 Stats: 3 Games/12 TOTAL/8 SOLO/1 INT/9 PD

Strengths:

1. In college, Newsome showed excellent recovery skills. Even when a receiver had created separation from him he was able to break on the ball well and erase any space in an instant. He angles towards the ball very well which allows him to jump the route with ease. Very few teams threw out breaking routes against Newsome purely because of his ability to cut off the receiver from the ball. Even if his recovery didn’t result in an incompletion, Newsome was almost always able to tackle his receiver before any significant gain. He is able to react well when the ball is thrown and doesn’t make overly aggressive plays, keeping him in position to make a tackle instead of risking a huge gain if he were to miss the ball.

2. When most receivers come out of breaks Newsome is ready, and his explosive burst lets him catch up to them before their able to reach full speed. Receivers rarely get far away from him so he is always ready to either make a play on the ball or instantly bring the receiver down preventing any yards after the catch. Newsome has extremely quick feet, making him hard to fake out as he can recover in the blink of an eye.

3. He also possesses elite athletic ability. Very few receivers could beat him downfield with speed, nor could many outmuscle him in college, and it helped him tons as he plays very physically. In the NFL most receivers are extremely gifted both athletically and physically, and Newsome can match up with these freaks of nature very well. He is a true physical specimen, and many scouts praise him for it. Newsome won the majority of jump balls he got as he was just able to jump higher than the receiver to highpoint the ball.

Weaknesses:

1. While Newsome was great at jumping routes and breaking up passes, sometimes he got handsy and was flagged for it a couple of times at Northwestern. When trying to get in position to make a play, Newsome sometimes moves through the receiver instead of around them, drawing a couple pass interference calls. He also was caught holding a receiver a couple of times, even if it wasn’t significantly impacting the receiver’s movement, opposing wideouts were able to draw flags often and this will only happen more in the NFL. While it seems being handsy is more of a bad habit for Newsome rather than an attempt to catch up to a receiver that has beaten him, it is still very much a flaw in his game, one that will be exposed often in the NFL if he doesn’t work to improve on it.

2. Even though Newsome was rarely beaten off the press in college, it was mostly because he wasn’t asked to press often and when he was he was lackluster at it. Even with his physicality and agility, Newsome seemed to lack technique when pressing a receiver, and they were able to put him out of position several times. He doesn’t reload his hand well when pushing the receiver back, and it seemed as if he tried to outmuscle them with one big push rather than with multiple firm jabs. This meant that if the receiver was able to avoid this push, Newsome would be extremely far out of position and would just try to catch up, and even if they weren’t able to avoid it receivers were rarely knocked of their timing completely and usually were able to recover and continue on with the route. All of this caused Northwestern to stop Newsome from running press man coverage which was a huge limitation because if Newsome was able to improve his technique, his size and strength combined with his ability would give him a huge advantage in the press.

Closing Ideas:

Overall Greg Newsome is one of the best shutdown corners in this class. His ability to break up passes and break on the ball coupled with his athleticism and quick burst allowed him to lock down the opposing team’s best receiver. When faced up against the physical specimens we have in the NFL, Newsome will stack up well. His skill set is one that many teams are looking for, and he will be a great choice for any team in need of a corner that’s picking later on in the first round. He could end up being one of the more underrated prospects in this draft if developed correctly, and as we approach draft day more and more teams have begun to notice. The impact he can have on a game is truly special, and the talents that he brings to the table are a huge plus to any NFL team.

Player Comparison: Marshon Lattimore.