NFLsFuture.com

PRESS MAN COVERAGE

Milliner is in press man coverage to the boundary. He has no safety help with them rolled to the trips side. Milliner is locked in on an island on Kadron Boone. Boone is 6-foot-1, 207 pounds and is a physical receiver.

Boone is three steps into his route and Milliner is forcing into the Alabama bench. This route is dead at this point. Mettenberger stays with Boone and forces the ball into coverage for a two-yard gain. This play shows the physicality that Milliner plays with in press coverage.

Good luck on this one. Bray is going to attempt to work the double slants to Milliner’s side. Problem being that Milliner is locked in press man coverage. Bad decision to attempt this one.

If Milliner gets his hands on you on a short in-breaking route, you can forget about it. Milliner locks up Hunter on the slant but Bray sticks with it and narrowly avoids a costly mistake.

Milliner is in great position as he deflects this ball, straight up into the air. Nine times out of ten this one is picked off.

ZONE COVERAGE

Two deep zone coverage. Defense is going to get a vertical stretch with the slot working an out route. First, not a great read by Tyler Wilson but great play and instincts in zone coverage by Milliner. Milliner is going to work his back pedal until he senses the slot receiver threatening the flat.

This is great technique in zone coverage. Milliner sees the slot early and jumps this one. He nearly gets there in time to break up the pass and is there to make an immediate tackle. While, it’s a 5-yard gain it shows Milliner’s instincts in zone coverage and his ability to break on the ball.

BALL SKILLS

Milliner has deep safety help with the Crimson Tide giving the Razorbacks six defensive backs at the end of this contest. Milliner blankets Greg Childs and shows his ball skills to pick this one off.

Poorly thrown ball but Milliner does an excellent job of staying sticky with Childs, sinking his hips and leaping with a big receiver. Childs is over 6-foot-3 and is a solid leaper.

Milliner is able to jump with Childs and use his strong hands to come away with a physical interception. Milliner’s ball instincts show up here with him being able to out leverage the taller receiver for a jump ball. Milliner understands the angle to the ball and wins this matchup with strong hands and good ball awareness.

In the last three draft classes, we’ve had four cornerbacks go in the top ten. Joe Haden, Patrick Peterson, Morris Claiborne, and Stephon Gilmore. Dee Milliner is going to carry a similar grade to Morris Claiborne for me putting him behind Peterson and Haden but ahead of Gilmore. It’s conceivable that he could go as high as No. 4 to the Eagles and I can’t see him falling past the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 13. Milliner may not be an elite cornerback in the mold of Patrick Peterson but he has all the tools to be a solid first option for many teams.