NFL Analysis
10/30/24
5 min read
Mansoor Delane 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Virginia Tech Hokies CB
Height: 6010 (unofficial)
Weight: 187 (unofficial)
Year: Junior
Pro Comparison: Cam Smith
Scouting Overview
Virginia Tech Hokies cornerback Mansoor Delane is a lean, wiry defensive back with the capability to serve as a starting cornerback for an NFL franchise.
Delane has a strong temperament for playing with physicality as a tackler and at the catch point. He’s an eager run-support player on the perimeter as well, offering some hope of perhaps providing nickel value for teams that play matchups or would like a coverage option inside. Delane has the length and movement skills to play press or soft coverage, so he should offer some appeal to most defensive schemes.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Good spatial awareness and instincts in zone coverage to compress windows and attack the football with anticipation
- Has effective foot speed and hip mobility to transition with quickness and react in a flash
- Enthusiasm as a tackler is present, offers good rally effort to the football, and length boosts his tackle radius
Negatives
- Can, at times, be impatient at the line of scrimmage and swing open the gate prematurely to get back into his pedal
- Lean frame looms as an area for added focus to become a more complete player who can play up to his demeanor
- In need of continued press technique refinement in addition to room for growth in functional strength
Background
Mansoor Delane hails from Silver Spring, MD, and played his high school football for Archbishop Spalding HS. There, Delane generated significant interest as a 3-star recruit (247 Sports), collecting offers from Maryland, Minnesota, Boston College, Illinois, Louisville, and others before eventually committing to Virginia Tech.
Delane missed training camp during his freshman season due to a shoulder injury before playing in eight games (four starts) and earning FWAA Freshman All-American honors. Delane assumed a full-time starting role with the Hokies ahead of the 2023 college football season and has been a staple on the outside of the Hokies' defense ever since.
Tale of The Tape
Mansoor Delane is an easy prospect to like. He offers a tough demeanor, and his relentlessness pops off the tape. Given the mental nature of the position, Delane’s short memory, aggressive nature, and effort are welcomed intangibles that should serve him well.
He plays and punches above his weight class — playing like a much bigger corner despite a lean frame that currently imposes some limitations on his play style. Delane manages to be an effective tackler who can successfully compress the catch point with leverage — he’ll make you work in all phases.
Delane has the necessary length to play from in-phase or to trigger through the receiver's body to contest throws. He provides the necessary range to extend and bat the football at its highest point or as it reaches the hands of a pass catcher who has throttled down and worked back to the quarterback.
A number of Delane’s successful challenges of the football have come in the hip pocket of receivers before winning real estate at the catch point and successfully boxing out a receiver after working his eyes back to the football. He has typically converted his opportunities with his hands on the football into turnovers.
Delane has the foot speed, loose hips, and transitional quickness to effectively play in press, soft press, or off the line of scrimmage and trigger downhill against quick game. He is irregular in all of these phases at times due to technique, patience, and discipline in his fundamentals, but he shows little physical restriction that would hinder his physical ability to execute.
There’s plenty of room for growth in his patience at the line of scrimmage and the subsequent trust in his wingspan and vertical speed to mirror and stick with receivers after he filters them into their route release.
Delane can get greedy with his aggressiveness in zone coverage, looking to shade into throwing windows and jump passes before a quarterback works back to a secondary progression where he’d vacated more space for a throwing window. More often than not, he’s quick to transition and does well with his lateral mobility in space to leverage and react to route distribution and position himself to make plays.
He often makes up for his lapses with the needed recovery speed or reliable tackling at the catch point to limit added yardage to his targets. He’s been stingy in coverage in 2024, yielding a career-best reception rate while successfully getting his hands on a number of turnovers, setting a career-high in interceptions after posting one in each of his first two seasons.
Teams will have to decide whether he best fits their needs as a perimeter or slot option. I could foresee his ceiling as a player being higher inside, but that is a devalued position that could potentially require some added mass to live in higher-traffic areas.
However, the coverage variety and future flexibility should have him able to offer value to most teams in need of a long-term coverage option.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Based on his current traits, Delane projects best as a zone-oriented corner. Ideally, he plays on the perimeter, but he has the play traits needed to develop into a viable option to play inside as a nickel, provided he can gracefully carry more weight. He should be considered a developmental starter.
Grade: 78.00/100.00, Second Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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