Asante Samuel is a cornerback from Florida State University. He has NFL bloodlines with his dad Asante Samuel Sr being an NFL cornerback as well. Like his father, Samuel may be small but he plays bigger than his size and he is incredibly adept at reading offenses.

Strengths: 

  • Incredibly Quick Read and React Ability

Asante Samuel’s instincts are what really elevates his game and it’s the reason why he’s such a highly touted prospect. Similar to his father he has great instincts and reads and reacts to plays incredibly quickly which allows him to break on the ball early and make that many more plays.

  • Good Ball Skills

Samuel also has very good ball skills. He will track the ball well and get his hands in the required location to make the play. He can also come away with takeaways if the opportunity arises.

  • Great Physicality

Samuel is an incredibly physical corner so despite his smaller stature he plays a lot bigger than he is. He is up in the receiver’s grill often and loves to bump receivers off their routes.

  • Good Footwork and Body Control

One of the best parts of Samuel’s game is that his footwork is outstanding and there is no wasted movement. He also has great body control and maintains himself extremely well when moving to easily change directions with a receiver.

Weaknesses: 

  • Not a Great Athlete

Samuel does a lot of things really well but some of those things are there to make up for his lack of athletic ability. Like his dad he’s a smaller corner who’s not incredibly fast or twitchy either so he has to be smart and have great footwork or else he’ll get destroyed. His athletic ability hinders how effective his positive traits can be, and it limits him to playing in the slot rather than outside.

  • Too Grabby

Asante Samuel is physical and that’s a good thing but at times it gets to the point where he is “grabby” and that’s never a good thing. It lead to a lot of pass interference calls and this needs to be cleaned up or he’ll be called for it every time in the NFL.

  • Liability in Zone

Asante Samuel will make for a solid man corner in the slot but he will struggle in zone. He doesn’t peek at the QB often enough and he doesn’t have the length or ability to read multiple receivers coming into his zone that zone teams will covet. 

Player Comp: Asante Samuel Jr. to me projects most similarly to another slot man corner who carved out a nice career for himself and that is Tavon Young of the Baltimore Ravens. Both guys are not athletic at all being below average size wise as well as not being the quickest or fastest corners. Both guys do however, have great instincts and the ability to read and react to what is going on in front of them incredibly fast. They also have great ball skills and physicality, as well as phenomenal footwork and great body control which keeps them in every play. Their weaknesses of getting too physical to the point where they will be flagged is common, as well as their inability to play zone coverage. One of the most accurate player comps of any position is this one in my opinion. 

Final Thoughts: Asante Samuel is going to be one of the safest picks in this year’s draft because of the bloodlines and play style and he’s going to be one of the cleanest projections in the draft I just think that he’s so scheme specific and his skill set isn’t as valued as other outside cornerback spots that I don’t think I can justify taking him too high. I still think he’s a mid to late Round 2 guy but I guess that makes me lower on him than most. His scheme fit is very clearly man and more specifically as a slot corner so I’d say the best spot for him would be the Titans who play a heavy amount of man and need a solid slot corner.