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Joe Haden
5-11/193
Florida Junior

PROS: Has good ball skills and does a nice job playing the deep ball. Has good hips and can turn and run with receivers. Has smooth footwork and backpedal. Does a good job keeping things in front of him, and competes in run support. Can be effective in either off or pres coverage. Shows ability to blitz off the corner.
CONS: Not a great tackler, and needs to do a better job breaking down and wrapping up. Might have some issues matching up with bigger receivers.
OVERVIEW: Haden is about as polished a cover corner as you're going to find in the college game. He's not great in run support, but shows the ability that he can be competent if not good there on the next level if he works on it. A three-year starter that had his production improve with each year. Finished career with 8 picks, 34 passes defended, 9 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks.
NFL FORECAST: Haden has the potential to be an elite NFL corner. He has the polish and the ability that he should have little issue starting right away as a rookie. He has the potential and ability that he can be an elite lockdown corner able to match up with and take down the best receivers in the league. Yes, he has Darrelle Revis-like potential, although I'm not sure Haden is as athletic as Revis is, although it's not that far. Haden doesn't have elite speed, but he has the ball skills to make up for it when teams challenge him deep. I think like others, by his third season, Haden will have probably entrenched himself as an elite corner.
ATL FORECAST: Haden is everything the Falcons are looking for in a No. 1 corner. He has more potential than Robinson, and probably midway through his second year will probably be considered better than Robinson. Any concerns about his lack of speed would be moot because of the Falcons liking to play a lot of Cover-2. He would become the lockdown corner in a similar mold as Revis and Asomugha as he would likely line up on the left side and offenses would avoid throwing to his side.
VALUE: Haden is a Top 10 talent that is probably a Top 5 talent if such a thing exists for the cornerback position. He's really as good a corner as you can expect to find in the college game.


SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

SPEED: 4.0
MAN COVERAGE: 4.5
ZONE COVERAGE: 4.0
TACKLING: 3.0
BALL SKILLS: 4.5

Pros: He is a very good coverage corner. He has a smooth backpedal and can turn and run with most any receiver. He has very good closing speed and has a good burst to close once he recognizes where the ball is going. He is rarely fooled by play action and double moves, but when he is he has shown he has the recovery speed to help neutralize a receiver who may have gotten open or created separation. He has good ball skills, gets his hands on a good number of passes and can high point the ball to deflect the ball away or to make an attempt at an interception. He was so good in coverage that teams routinely tried to attack the other side to throw away from him. He is a reliable tackler and flashes some pop as a hitter.

Cons: As good of a coverage corner as he is, he does not support the run as well as advertised. Routinely he will dance around in front of his blocker trying to evade him, largely because he struggles to disengage from even a half-way decent block from a wide receiver on the outside. If he is given an open lane he can support the run well, but otherwise he will do what he can to avoid the block or he will essentially be taken out of the play by the block. He will give up some plays underneath, but he routinely was asked to play off the line of scrimmage and he closes well enough that even those short catches are contested by his coverage.

Overall: Haden is by far the #1 corner in this draft, and I think he is a top 10 lock. Some were concerned about his slow combine time, but regardless of how he does in drills it is obvious that he has very impressive speed when you watch him play and he closes very well also. He is a very good man coverage corner and he reads the QB’s eyes well in zone, not to mention he has good ball skills and rarely gets fooled by play action or double moves. He has a lot of potential, and I think that after a year or so in the league he will begin to emerge as a quality #1 corner in the NFL. He may never be an elite #1 corner, but I think he will be a very good corner in the NFL.

Projection: Top 10: He is a very strong candidate to be picked in the top 10, but if he doesn’t go #7 overall to the Browns he could slide out of the top 10. He would be a great pick in the top 10 and an even better value if he were to slide out slightly. I can’t fathom him sliding past #13 where the 49ers would be ecstatic to bring him in to solidify their defensive backfield for the next decade.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

SPEED: 4.5
MAN COVERAGE: 4.5
ZONE COVERAGE: 4.0
TACKLING: 3.0
BALL SKILLS: 4.0