When the Dallas Cowboys drafted Nahshon Wright with their final pick of the third round in the 2021 NFL draft, they confused an incredible amount of people. First, the name didn’t ring a bell; secondly, there were two other highly touted cornerbacks on the board who were available for the team’s choosing; and lastly, the initial reports on Wright were that he was outside of analysts’ consensus top 200 board leaving many to think that Dallas while trying to reach for the sky, somehow made it to the moon instead.
As with every draft pick, judging the value of a pick the day the selection is made only holds value for those trying to draw in ratings, so everything should be taken with a grain of salt. But even several weeks after the selection was made, many of the same analysts who were harping on the team for selecting Wright hadn’t changed their opinions.
In a perfect world, analysts aren’t constantly talking themselves into bad selections teams make, but the Wright selection made sense given Dallas’ situation. The team hired DC Dan Quinn a few months prior and Quinn’s “bread and butter” is the 4-3 Under Seattle Cover 3 defense often prioritizing longer, smarter cornerbacks to help with transition quickness in the deep areas of the field.
Nahshon Wright is… well… hopefully both of those things.
One rookie mini-camp and OTA (organized team activity) later and Wright has been one of the few rookies to show out. Can you believe it? A highly-touted selection ends up performing well early on in their development? Shocking!
The team has yet to report to training camp so Wright still has a lot to prove, but if early reports out of minicamp were that Wright was playing well and a few analysts of the team were praising his work so far, how was he seen as such a low-quality prospect by the majority?
Hopefully, today we can figure out why and where Wright was successful and unsuccessful in college and see if these things work in parallel with what the Cowboys are trying to do on defense. In addition, we might try to compare how his skill set compares to those drafted shortly after him and in the same round to see if the Cowboys stuck too much to need or if they correctly judged everyone’s valuation.
Was Nahshon Wright just an overlooked prospect or a massive Dallas Cowboys reach?
So…
Athletic Ability
His pro-day measurements and RAS (relative athletic score) were certainly underwhelming, but Wright doesn’t look deficient of athleticism on tape. His long legs help provide him with good foot speed which he uses to keep receivers from beating him deep. He displays solid foot quickness and change of direction which he can use to mirror the quickest receivers the PAC-12 had to offer. His balance was solid as he consistently displayed the ability to jam and mirror receivers without losing his base footwork.
With an athlete of Wright’s stature, explosiveness and short-area quickness are always general concerns. Logic tells us it is easier for a smaller person to flip one’s hips and change directions within smaller areas. When said taller person also has incredibly long and lean legs, the ease with which he tries to change direction is heavily compromised. His testing numbers were indicative of an adequate change of direction and that seems to translate pretty seamlessly to his tape.
Lastly, his acceleration through route stems and breaks are somewhere in between solid and adequate, but depending on the scheme he plays in these concerns can be easier to deal with. In all, Wright is a better athlete on tape than suggested on paper albeit it only being a marginal difference.
Play Speed
As previously mentioned, a tall cornerback trying to play off coverage looks a bit clunky no matter the intellect of the defensive back. Wright, who isn’t super explosive, displays adequate play speed in off coverage. Even though he read and reacts to the wide receiver well, having to move a tall frame that doesn’t carry much weight and core strength immediately off a break is pretty hard considering the shorter receivers he covers break much quicker.
However, Wright is a different man in press coverage. He has the quickness at the line of scrimmage to play through receivers’ releases and the acceleration and foot speed to play through the stem and break. In man coverage, his ability to quickly read and react to WRs combined with good usage of speed turns and general hip flips allows him to successfully mirror wide receivers. In zone coverage, his good awareness for route combinations allows him to seamlessly switch between receivers in his zone and he has the acceleration and foot speed for good transition quickness to reduce throwing windows.
Because Wright displays good football IQ, the concerns with his play speed are largely a reflection of his athletic ability. But, his play speed in press coverage hint at a larger point that we will discuss later. (It is also probably something you know the answer to)
Mental Processing
Wright possesses good football IQ. Oregon State’s defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar’s greatest influence hails from the creative Wisconsin defense, known for their multiple fronts, nickel base personnel, and extensive zone coverage. Wright, as a result, lined up as an outside linebacker, cornerback, and safety.
In zone coverage, he was an outside cornerback or safety in Cover 2, Cover 3, Cover 4, and Cover 7. He was required to cover a deep half, deep third, deep quarter, and the flat zone of the field. He displays good mental processing and instincts in the deep third and deep quarter of the field to recognize route patterns while keying the quarterback so he knows where to overlap routes.
He can be susceptible to allowing hole shots while covering the flat zone because he doesn’t always communicate with his deep safety to switch, but he does seem to anticipate route combinations just as well closer to the line of scrimmage.
Competitive Toughness
If you are familiar with Wright’s background, you likely know his brother, Rejzohn Wright, was a star character in the popular Netflix reality show Last Chance U in season five. His brother was known for smack-talking opposing wide receivers; I wish I could say his talk lived up to his success. (He wasn’t bad, he just talked too much)
Without audio, we obviously can’t tell if the older Wright shares any similarities with his brother, but on the football field, there are pretty clear glimpses of good physical and mental toughness. Wright is very specific about when he jams in press coverage; part of this might be due to his athletic shortcomings, but he does seem to jam strategically.
Most receivers aren’t as tall as him; in fact, several that he faced this season were noticeably shorter. While these players were more explosive and stronger than him, his continued use of jams prevented targets to receivers as games progressed. He would pick up receivers outside and in the slot and he was incredibly comfortable hand fighting everyone.
Wright cannot help being so tall and long so it’s a good thing that he is willing to be physical even against receivers of his height that are comfortably larger than him. Remember he is barely 190 pounds…
(Also if his phone call with Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones wasn’t indicative enough, he’s pumped up!)
Play Strength
This is an area Wright will get better in as his NFL career progresses, but as it currently stands, he has solid play strength. I know this may be a shock considering his current stature, but his solid balance combined with his solid upper body strength seems to be good enough to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage and tackle ball carriers without a full wrap-up.
The obvious holes in his game are he can’t blitz because he doesn’t have the power, he struggles to disengage from receivers blocking him, and he can be knocked down while hand-fighting receivers in route stems. There were definitely stronger defensive backs available, but Wright provides a starting template the team can work with as opposed to some of the others.
Man Coverage
When discussing Wright’s athletic ability, I mentioned how his current athletic shortcomings limited his ability to play off coverage while succeeding in press coverage. When it comes to man coverage, most of Wright’s completed passes came in off coverage while he showed a consistent ability to prevent quarterbacks from viewing his assignment as a target in press coverage.
The Cowboys are a press zone coverage-heavy team. It is unlikely Wright is forced to play man coverage more than 40 percent of the time, and if he does, almost all of those reps will happen in press. It’s an important trait to have because when the zone defense stops working, you have to try something different.
LOS skills
Dallas drafted the Beaver for his length and long-distance speed. The team probably wishes he was stronger, but fortunately, that is something he can develop as his playing career progresses. Wright understands how to jam displaying solid punch timing and good punch location. While his grip strength is adequate, the violence and upper body strength with which he jams does disrupt receivers and help him get on top of receivers.
He does show a willingness to take on blocks against wide receivers, which comes as no surprise considering his competitive toughness, but his adequate grip strength prevents him from disengaging with blocks. This is concerning especially if Wright is forced to start, but hopefully, the run defense will be better than last year such that he won’t be exposed trying to tackle ball carriers down the field.
Ball Skills
They’re good. His ball skills were some of the best in the class even though his pass deflection numbers were markedly lower than the average. The Cowboys have stressed the need for playmakers at defensive back for years, they got another guy with experience in that area.
Range
Pretty good yeah?
I’ll rightfully admit, it isn’t as good as the top players in this class, but zone coverage seemingly coves really easy for the beaver. He understands route patterns depending on splits and he can quickly get his body out of phase to undercut a route or make a play on the ball.
It is possible that he was taught this, but he does seem more willing to latch onto the deeper route for longer in order to prevent deep completions which can lead to shallower completions in front of him, but as I made note of it when talking about his mental processing, communicating better prevents defensive backs from having to play hero ball when they could just do things a little bit easier.
Open Field Tackling
It’s surprisingly solid, but his technique could absolutely use some work. It is usually harder for taller guys to get lower than the ball carrier, but he doesn’t seem to have a problem doing this. His arms don’t always wrap up and instead applies enough force with his shoulder to knock the ball carrier down. It might have worked in college but it definitely won’t work at the next level.
How does he compare with his fellow draft mates?
The beaver was the second cornerback the Cowboys selected and the twelfth cornerback out of 38 selected in the 2021 NFL draft. Wright was the fourth cornerback chosen in the third round, a round that had eight selected. (The most of any round this year) The Cowboys had three selections in the third round opting to bolster their defensive line before attacking cornerback once more.
Here were all the cornerbacks selected in the third round this year:
Rd 3, Pick 7: Aaron Robinson, UCF, NYG
Rd 3, Pick 10: Benjamin St. Juste, Minnesota, WFT
Rd 3, Pick 12: Paulson Adebo, Stanford, NO
Rd 3, Pick 36: Nahshon Wright, Oregon State, DAL
Rd 3, Pick 37: Elijah Molden, Washington, TEN
Rd 3, Pick 38: Ifeatu Melifonwu, Syracuse, DET
Rd 3, Pick 39: Ambry Thomas, Michigan, SF
Rd 3, Pick 41: Brandon Stephens, SMU, BAL
Dallas had picks 11, 21, and 36 in the third round, so as it relates to the third round, let’s say the Cowboys didn’t have a chance grabbing Robinson or St. Juste. At pick 11, Dallas went with UCLA DT Osa Odighizuwa over Stanford cornerback Paul Adebo. It’s obviously unclear how the rest of the league felt about the Bruin, but it is clear the rest of the league liked Adebo enough to make him a priority day 2 pick.
How would the Cowboys have viewed Adebo? Probably fairly high. Adebo has the length at 31.5-inch arms and tested off the charts at his pro day. Even though he hadn’t played in a year, the Cowboys likely would have been in contact with him as they were in contact with his teammate Simi Fehoko.
The obvious issue with Adebo is that he hasn’t played the game in over a year and in his last season, he struggled in bigger games in man coverage. Considering my previous remarks on Wright and the Cowboys’ tendency to play man coverage, this might not have mattered too much in the player evaluation but with too many variables in his game, Adebo might not have been high on the board even with an ideal skill set after it was all said and done.
After a small early run on cornerbacks at the beginning of the third round, the end of the third round ended with five cornerbacks being selected in the final six picks of day two. To most analysts, Wright was seen as a worse prospect than Washington CB Elijah Molden, Syracuse CB Ifeatu Melifonwu, and Michigan CB Ambry Thomas. Let us consider their scheme fit with the Cowboys’ current defensive scheme.
Scheme fit
Elijah Molden: Bad Scheme Fit
Ifeatu Melifonwu: Solid Scheme Fit
Ambry Thomas: Solid Scheme Fit
Molden’s measurables combined with his mediocre foot speed is a bad fit in a defense that prioritizes length and good range. It’s impossible to deny that the intellect of Molden would bring a positive impact to the Cowboys’ defense, but positionally his only fit on this defense was as a nickel cornerback and the Cowboys have Anthony Brown, Jourdan Lewis, and now Kelvin Joseph to fill that role. Molden was never an option purely from a saturation standpoint especially at this point in the draft.
Next is Melifonwu. Much like his brother Obi, Ifeatu is tall and an incredible athlete. Even though his 40 yard dash time was average, his jumps highlighted his natural explosiveness. The Cowboys were very interested in Obi, so why was there not as much interest in his brother? Likely because Melifonwu isn’t really a press coverage cornerback…
Having watched Melifonwu and Wright extensively, I can’t help but wonder how two players of similar stature have such different games. Melifonwu was good in off coverage at Syracuse showing good instincts to read and react to the WR and then break on the ball. If you asked Wright to do the same it likely doesn’t end well.
But when you factor in Melifonwu and Wright’s press coverage ability, you could make the case that Wright is a better player in press coverage. Both players have struggled with jamming at the line of scrimmage but Melifonwu struggles more often because of how he deals with contact compared to Wright. The Syracuse cornerback looks out of place either because he isn’t striking correctly or because he doesn’t have the strength to play through receivers.
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When factoring in scheme fit Wright is the obvious choice, but front offices and coaching staffs constantly talk about the need for players to be versatile and Melifonwu quite literally defines versatility. The success of both these players will always be linked for Cowboys fans; fantastic news considering how Trysten Hill and Juan Thornhill’s careers have progressed so far.
As for Ambry Thomas, his downfall is he’s barely 6-feet tall. With Wright being 6-feet-4 inches, Thomas just doesn’t have the same frame and looks closer to Kelvin Joseph than Nahshon Wright. He doesn’t have the transition quickness and he panics when he feels he’s starting to lose leverage on the receiver. Hailing from Michigan, he has plenty of practice playing press coverage, but obviously, the Cowboys didn’t feel the tape stood out enough.
No conclusions can be made about any of these players without them stepping onto the football field, but the Cowboys didn’t get a bad cornerback in Nahshon Wright, and compared to the other players selected around him, he fits well for the Cowboys.
Pegging a player into a hole in the name of scheme fit is usually a losing formula, but sometimes it provides the player an extra confidence boost and that’s all he needs in order to make an NFL All-Pro team. Hopefully, that’s the story we can tell with the former Laney College prospect when it’s all said and done.