Kris Abrams-Draine scouting report: Exploring the Missouri CB's strengths and weaknesses

A top-500 overall recruit in 2020, in his first year after switching from wide receiver to cornerback, Kris Abrams-Draine was a play-maker for the Tigers defense, lining up all over the place, picking off three passes and breaking up nine more, while splitting his time between the slot and outside.

Over those three seasons, where Kris Abrams-Draine started to settle in at the nickel, he combined for 136 total tackles, seven interceptions and 34 pass break-ups. As a senior he earned first-team All-SEC and second-team All-American accolades.

Details: 5-foot-11, 180 pounds; RS JR.

Breaking down Kris Abrams-Draine's scouting report

Man-coverage:

Playing a lot of soft press, Kris Abrams-Draine throws off receivers during the stem and forces them commit prematurely regularly
Does a nice job of staying attached to receivers releasing stemming inside and has the length to disrupt the catch point
From reduced splits, the way he attaches to guys pushing vertically and then gets his head around as they break towards the sideline, to undercut corner routes, stood out to me on a couple of occasions
In particular defending slot fade routes, his ability to negate space to the sideline, lean and look back for the ball, to knock it down, is highly impressive
Yet his patience and confidence to read the hips of receivers and not flip his hips prematurely in off-alignment is excellent as well
When he does, he’s very confident in turning through the opposite shoulder as receivers slide the opposite way of how they initially stemmed their route on vertical patterns
Effectively navigates around traffic on mesh concepts and pick-plays, to get back to his man

Zone-coverage:

Does a great job of playing top-down and with outside leverage in quarters coverage
Adjusts his width accordingly to the receiver’s stem in match and close the gap towards seam threats in deep-third responsibility
Oily hips to be have his hips opened one way and then flip the other effortlessly, such as fades where the receiver threatens with the inside release initially (bailing out into cover-three)
Understands when he’s adequately carried receivers to a certain depth and can get his eyes back around
Has some highly really impressive reps stacking over vertical routes, turning early to track the flight of the ball all the way and attacking it at its highest point
Yet when he is put in trail position, he also expertly punches through the pocket for PBUs
Had a nice leaping interception on a jump ball on the outside against South Carolina in 2021 and should have had another sick one, when he was in man-coverage on the tight-end, who stayed in protection, so he could drift underneath a slant route off an RPO/play-action look, snatching the ball at full extension, only for a defensive hold by one of his teammates to negate the play
Only allowed 24 of 51 passes his way to be completed (47.1%) for 324 yards and three touchdowns compared to his four interceptions (472 coverage snaps) – PFF coverage grade of 89.9

Run defense & tackling:

Well-proportioned for a big nickel role
Reliable contain player, who locks out and keeps his outside arm free against blockers
When offenses condense the formation and pull linemen out to the corner, Abrams-Draine doesn’t shy away from dipping underneath those and funneling the ball back inside
Mizzou blitzed him a few times off the short corner when there was no wideout to his side and he took the appropriate angles in accordance to the quarterback’s drop
Attacks low as a tackler and frequently flips over bigger ball-carriers
Only missed 7.5% of his attempted tackles in his career (12 of 161)

Weaknesses:

Skilled receiver can give him some trouble at the line with fancy footwork, which gets him a little off-balance
You also see guys be able to separate when the slow-play the route early and then hit the gas, not stacking the twitch of instant explosiveness to stick with them
There’s room for improvement in his technique at defending back-shoulder fades, as he ends up too far up the field at times
Could do a better job of disengaging from blocks and getting his hands on the ball-carrier, particularly in the screen game

Kris Abrams-Draine's 2024 NFL Draft projection

Kris Abrams-Draine spent well over 80% of his snaps out wide each of the past two seasons after playing nickel on two thirds of snaps in 2021. So I don’t want to label him a “slot only” by any means.

However, I think that’s still where he fits best because while he has the adequate speed, if bursty receivers slow-play the release before taking off or sell the vertical push and then snap off routes violently, the DB doesn’t need to commit to either one extensively in order to avoid giving up big plays.

I also believe you want him closer to the action vs. the run because he’s a reliable contain-player and tackler.

So if a team drafts him with the idea of putting him outside, I’d like it to be in a coverage structure that is built off split-safety principles, where Kris Abrams-Draine can anticipate and drive on routes, while I don’t believe there are any limitations of what you can ask of him at the nickel spot in terms of schematic fit. With his pedigree, he should be a mid-Day 2 selection.

Grade: Early third round