STRENGTHS
AJ is a tall, athletic, smooth running, cover corner. He has those long arms that make it easy to trail players in coverage and still make a play on the ball. He has good enough hands to make the interception along with the change of direction skills that will allow him to cover any size receiver at the next level. AJ uses solid techniques and this along with his pure athletic talents and his good football IQ makes him the type of corner who can be used in any style of defensive backfield system. He is a willing tackler when he is left on an island against his opponent but cautious also. AJ has the potential to be a pure perimeter, cover corner for the team that selects him.
CONCERNS
AJ is a willing tackler when he has to be, but at the same time, a sloppy tackler and that will not do at the next level. He has to improve mentally and physically in this area. He also needs to get stronger and not allow receivers to push him off his coverage. He relies too much on his athleticism to cover and not enough on techniques. He must get stronger in his upper and lower body and more physical if he wants to be a true cover corner for the team that selects him. He seems to lack that alpha dog mentality when he plays the top dog receiver of his opponents’ team.
BOTTOM LINE 2.06
AJ has all the athletic talent, and size to be a top-flight cover corner but needs to work harder on believing that himself. This could come with maturity but most likely he will struggle and give up the big play until it happens. For the purposes of this draft, AJ projects as a number two corner with development talents to become a number one cover corner. It’s hard to change a player’s natural tendencies in their mental makeup but for AJ you have to guess that the alpha dog is just waiting to emerge with a little cattle prodding. Selecting AJ too early and expecting him to change overnight is expecting too much but, selecting him a little later and bringing him along slowly, might be the better plan to discovering and seeing that alpha dog come alive. It happened to Patriots Stephon Gilmore. He got selected early by the Buffalo Bills and could not overcome poor coaching and being pushed on to the field too early. Stephon went to the Patriots and he came out of his cocoon and the alpha dog emerged just like I profiled it would in the 2012 Draft. Let AJ be the number 2 corner until he is ready to be the number 1 alpha dog cover corner. Trust me he will show you when he is ready in his play, just like Stephon did in the 2017 season for the Patriots after it took him a full four years with the Bills to show it. He was average with the Bills, impacting with the Patriots.
