NFL Draft
2/9/25
6 min read
Cobee Bryant 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Kansas Jayhawks CB
Height: 5110 (verified)
Weight: 171lbs (verified)
Year: Senior
Pro Comparison: Kris Abrams-Draine
Scouting Overview
Kansas Jayhawks cornerback Cobee Bryant is one of the more disruptive cornerbacks in this year’s class. He’s got an excellent resume of ball production and a number of highly instinctive reps in coverage across his film.
He makes up for his undersized frame with a high energy and combative demeanor in the contact window and at the catch point. Bryant is predominantly a coverage player, and teams will need to be comfortable with some of the concessions he will likely bring in perimeter run support. Still, his passing game contributions and nose for generating turnovers will make him an enticing potential fit.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Boasts some elite plays on the football with vision and anticipation in zone coverage
- Offers good length and the ability to disrupt through the hands at the catch point
- Fluid transitional player who offers sharp feet, loose hips, and sudden COD
Negatives
- Undersized player who will likely be forced to play matchup-specific coverage away from big-bodied, powerful X-receiver types
- Eye discipline and patience in man coverage can betray him as he hunts plays on the ball
- Minimal value in the run game or as a tackler due to his size and stature
Background
Bryant is from Evergreen, AL, and played high school football at Hillcrest HS. There, he was a 3-star recruit (247 Sports) while also lettering in basketball, track & field, and baseball. Bryant was a dynamic defender, returning five of his eight interceptions for touchdowns as a junior. His recruitment saw him collect offers from Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Indiana, and more — he ultimately chose Kansas over all of them.
Bryant cracked the starting lineup as a true freshman, starting seven games out of 11 played. He would go on to hold a starting role across the next three seasons, logging First Team All-Big 12 honors in each of 2022, 2023, and 2024 in the process. Bryant accepted an invitation to participate in the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl to culminate his college career.
Tale Of The Tape
Bryant is one of the more dynamic ballhawks in the 2025 class. His ability to sense multiple routes developing and ready body language allows him to squeeze and constrict throwing windows outside of his primary responsibility. He also anticipates opportunities to convert into a receiver and track the football in the air.
He’s been an opportunistic playmaker for his entire career at Kansas, proving over multiple seasons that he does have a ball magnet in his back pocket, and he isn’t simply reaping rewards from an unstable statistic.
Bryant has a bigger area of influence at the catch point than you’d expect, illustrating the ability to go high and attack the football from the trail position or come swooping in late to rake the receiver's hands and force incompletions. His range as a deep third defender in zone is fine, but he’s got the twitch and drive to pop out of a hard flat in Cover-2 or Palms to sink and force highly difficult layered throws into the intermediate areas along the sidelines.
He boasts good natural foot speed and fluidity throughout his hips. Bryant can do himself a disservice with the cadence and tempo of his feet or by playing too high over receivers with open hips, forcing himself to transition steeply to plaster a receiver breaking across his face.
He offers combative play in the contact window, too. He’s sticky playing in man coverage with an aggressive stab and angry hands that fight pressure to allow him to transition into playing in phase without conceding a step vertically. He has the hip fluidity to flash and open when playing over the top to stay in position when mirroring releases through the entire contact window.
His aggressiveness and hands can get him in trouble occasionally — he’s been called for 12 penalties in the last two seasons. Still, he needs that edge to help him make up for his weight.
When playing soft man, Bryant can get a little greedy with his eyes and get caught peeping places that will force him to freeze, drift, or false step out of position. He’ll benefit from further conditioning to his keys and discipline — despite how fruitful he can be when he lets his eyes feel plays developing.
As a run support player, the ambition is fine. However, he plays like a smaller corner, and when not being run off the line of scrimmage, he can struggle to unglue vs. blocks on the perimeter. Plus, his ability to provide stiff contact through block challenges is not a strength. He’s a willing chop tackler who does well to bring down bigger bodies and doesn’t shy away from a head-up tackle challenge, but he lacks the pop and power to bring down opponents without some added yardage after contact.
In all, his size is a barrier that teams will need to be prepared to make concessions with. He can turn into a man coverage tell if not allowed to match with bigger, taller, more powerful perimeter receivers.
He lacks the mass to be a reliable run support player in the nickel to play closer to the core. But he “speaks quarterback” with his zone coverage instincts and plays with a fearless swagger despite his stature, making him an attractive investment to try to build out further and let compete.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Bryant projects best as a developmental starter in a zone-heavy coverage scheme. Bryant has tremendous coverage instincts and vision in zone that will be hard to keep off the field.
However, he would benefit from continued discipline in man and added development into his body to help be prepared for all the rigors a starting cornerback role can ask in run support and as a tackler.
Grade: 75.00/100.00, Third Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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