STRENGTHS
Desmond is a quality football player who is a coach on the field. He has solid cover skills and is one of the best tackling defense backs in this draft. He has leadership skills and football intelligence that will allow him to become your coach on the field. Desmond has the ability to play different position in your defense back field depending on the system and down and distance. The most impressive aspect of Desmond’s overall game is that he limits the yardage after the catch because of his ability to tackle with authority but not get penalized. He has the hands to make the interception and seems to be always in the right place using the correct techniques when playing zone or single coverage. Desmond’s intelligence and leadership skills along with his talent make him an obvious pick for some team needing that type of player in the defensive backfield and every team needs that type of player in their defensive back field.

CONCERNS
Desmond has good speed and quickness along with solid change of direction skills but his talent to play in any style of defense at the corner position may be in question because he lacks the top end speed and make up speed when the play gets behind him. Desmond’s impact position may be as a safety rather than cornerback and this will affect his draft value.

BOTTOM LINE
Desmond excel’s when the play is in front of him because of his tackling. You can play him at safety or cornerback; I don’t really care because Desmond’s value is how well he can make the players around him better along with his leadership skills. Remember once a player is selected improvement in their play is mostly mental, not physical. By that I mean the talent they have is the talent they have. A player doesn’t get faster or taller or quicker. He can get bigger and add strength and bulk and that might help him to compete but the real improvement comes from leaning better techniques and anticipation/instincts (because of experience) and working within a system that marries the players talents to his teammates talents. That’s what Desmond does; he marries his talents to his teammates by being a coach on the field. Every team needs a player like Desmond in the backfield. I tell people all the time thinking you can replace a player who is a coach on the field with a more talented, bigger, faster, player does not mean your defense will play better. It just means you upgraded the talent of that one position. A player who is a coach on the field can upgrade the production of the players around him and that is worth more than most teams realized in the process of evaluating the talent on the team as a whole. It seems like the value of having a “coach on the field” in the defensive back field seems to threaten some coaches in the NFL. I can tell you the good coaches…the ones in the playoffs year after year understand the value of a player like Desmond. He may not have all of the speed and quickness that some other players have playing his position but he will be one of the best players on your team, I guarantee it.

Drew Boylhart  FEB.2017