Brian Branch

Pos: S

School: Alabama

Ht. 6’0″ 

Wt. 190

Games Watched: Tennessee, Texas, LSU

One Liner: Instinctive safety who wins with football IQ, aggressiveness, and strength.

Strengths: 

  • Elite football IQ. Branch is in the right place at the right time. He takes great angles against the run and maintains solid eye discipline against the pass. 
  • Very good aggressiveness. Branch is a hard hitting player for his size and packs a punch with his tackles. He wraps up well and cleans up the play with little to no room for broken tackles.
  • Very good strength. Branch plays strong for his size, allowing him to compete at the catchpoint against tight ends and shed blocks in the box
  • Good range. Branch displays the required range to play Cover 2 safety at the next level. 

Weaknesses:

  • Adequate in coverage. Branch needs some slight improvement and tweaking in man coverage, where his footwork could use some help. 
  • Adequate athletic ability. Branch is an adequate athlete that displays good short area quickness but isn’t particularly explosive and doesn’t maintain excellent long speed.

Overall Assessment: Brian Branch is a safe pick who could be an immediate plug and play starter for any team that selects him. He displays positional versatility at the next level and demonstrates a sound ability in almost every facet of being a safety. He is more of a nickel or STAR DB at the next level rather than a pure man slot CB due to a lack of immense athleticism. 

Scheme Fit: Nickel/Star DB in a zone heavy scheme. 

Pick Projection: Late 1st

Grade: 6.51