Expert Analysis
4/26/24
5 min read
Cole Bishop 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Buffalo Bills Safety
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Cole Bishop.
Cole Bishop's 2024 NFL Combine Results
- Height: 6-foot-2
- Weight: 206
- 40-yard dash: 4.45
- 10-yard split: 1.52
- Vertical jump: 39"
- Arm length: 29 3/4"
Cole Bishop's 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report
Strengths
- Versatile safety with size and length and extensive experience lining up in multiple positions
- Smooth, fluid pedal when aligned as back-end safety, reps with comfortable transition and direction change
- A strong run defender who played in the box and downhill from the back end with aggression and toughness
- Run game snaps in the box in which he took on and defeated blocks to make tackles, played with physicality
- Fluid pedal with a quick plant and drive as a back-end safety; played with eyes effectively reading routes and the quarterback
- Excellent straight-line play speed, short-area burst and accelerating speed with stride length, covered ground quickly
- In 2023, showed quick recognition and reaction from back-end safety in the run game and attacked with aggression
- Always seemed to be a purpose and a conviction to his movement, saw things with clarity and played fast
- Smooth transition and change of direction at back-end safety, played with range and excellent game speed
- Played with clear eyes at post safety, reading the quarterback and routes, and reacting with anticipation and range
- Strong route recognition from back-end safety with a quick trigger to plant and drive on routes
- Effective as box safety navigating through traffic to make tackles in the run game, played with vision and feel
- Showed blitzing ability off the edge, attacked running backs with competitive aggression
- Effective as a green dog rusher adding to the pass rush when matched on a tight end who stayed in to block
- Was physical in press-man coverage vs. tight ends, disrupting their routes off the ball; has size and strength to control
- His tackling ability consistently stood out, especially on the move, where he wrapped up with force
Weaknesses
- Surprisingly short arms for a 6-foot-2 safety will be an issue for some teams and coaches
- Straight-line linear athlete with some transition stiffness more than a loose-hipped change of direction athlete
- Missed a few too many tackles when he had clean looks and the play was his to make, tendency to slide off
- Struggled to match up to wide receivers when aligned in the slot, did not have the lateral quickness or change of direction
- Can he match up effectively man-to-man on tight ends? He will need to do that at the next level
- A little sticky and segmented with transition and change of direction
- In 2023, his ball production on the back end, especially at post safety, will be scrutinized. Can he make plays on the ball?
- Will his short arms negatively impact his ability to play off offensive line and tight end blocks and make tackles in the run game?
- Will his short arms negatively impact his ability to make plays on the ball as a back-end safety?
NFL Transition
Based on a detailed evaluation of his 2022 and 2023 tape, Bishop is one of the best safety prospects in the 2024 draft class due to his size/movement/versatility/competitiveness/savvy/intelligence profile, and his active communication with teammates in the pre-snap phase.
Bishop has excellent size with a desirable combination of physicality and athleticism that consistently showed up in his outstanding play speed and range to make plays all over the field. Bishop is extremely versatile as a coverage safety with his tape showing that he can play post safety in Cover 1 and Cover 3. He also can play half field safety in Cover 2 and all variations of Cover 4. What stood out in coverage was his smooth, fluid transitions and direction changes and his quick downhill when planting and driving on routes in front of him.
In Utah’s defense, Bishop played significant snaps in the box and on the ball on the edge, and he was a strong run defender with excellent key and diagnose. He was also a physical tackler who wrapped up rather than throwing his body at the runner. Keep in mind very few NFL safeties are elite athletes, and Bishop is without question on the higher end of the athletic spectrum. He also plays with a high football IQ that shows up in all phases of his game.
Bishop has the physical and mental traits to become a starter early in his career. He can play in a variety of defensive schemes, including the big nickel packages that are becoming more and prevalent in the NFL. Bishop can be an interchangeable safety with the ability to play on the back in multiple coverages and in the box depending on the defensive scheme.
Other Notes
Bishop was a 3-star recruit as a linebacker from Georgia, and he became a starter midway through his freshman season. He finished his Utah career as a three-year starting safety.
In 2022, Bishop was deployed as a versatile safety playing in the box, on the back end, over the slot, man-to-man on tight ends and receivers and as a blitzer. Bishop predominantly lined up in the box on the tight end side of the offensive formation when Utah went to single-high safety coverage. He played on the back end in split safety coverages on third down and selected down and distance situations.
In 2023, Bishop was deployed in multi-dimensional ways again, including man-to-man on tight ends, which led to an interception vs. Oregon State, and at times blitzing off the edge, when he had a sack vs. Florida in which he beat the running back. A sack vs. Weber State came on green dog when he was matched man-to-man on a tight end who stayed in to pass protect.
