Ronde Barber Reveals His Top 5 CBs In 2024 NFL Draft

Even with these additions to help the secondary, the two outside cornerbacks currently penciled in are Jamel Dean and Zyon McCollum. Both have the size and speed to hold down these spots, but there are also question marks about how productive – and healthy – they will be through a 17-game season.

The position may not be the most pressing need, but if the right player is on the board, Tampa Bay will take a long look at selecting another defensive back.

Could it be one that Barber names?

Before he listed his Top 5, the lifelong Buccaneer went over two honorable mentions – Missouri’s Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and Michigan’s Mike Sainristil. In mentioning Rakestraw, Barber mentioned that “he’s very slight of frame and he has an injury history, but I love his ball skills, I love his feet.” Still, what kept him off the list is that to him, there are “hints of — I’m not sure what he’s going to be in the NFL.”

Sainristil won the national championship with Michigan last season and he was a big part of it. He had six interceptions and two pick-sixes during the season, including an 81-yard interception against the Huskies to help the Wolverines pull off a convincing 34-13 win. The biggest knock on him entering the league is his size, but there is no question that he can be a playmaker.

“This guy Mike Sainristil is amazing,” Barber added. “I love the kid, he’s a proven winner, and he’s a gamer despite the fact that he’s only 5-9. In today’s NFL, that does not fit into their algorithm, but damn, this kid can play.”

Ronde Barber Lists His Top 5 CBs In The 2024 NFL Draft

Below are the five cornerbacks Ronde Barber considers to be the best in this year’s NFL Draft class as well as the positives and negatives that he sees in each player after watching their college film.

5. Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama

“Kool-Aid is an ideal prospect for the position because look, he’s going to be an immediate contributor. He’s clearly talented. He has admirable movement and he’s very consistent with it. The one thing that scares me, he is not a very good tackler.

“Other than that, some things that stand out about Kool-Aid, he’s very good at the line of scrimmage with his feet so he can play man coverage. He’s very good man-to-man, the only thing is he’s in position a lot of times and doesn’t make very many plays on the football. That has to change if he’s going to be productive in the NFL.”

4. Cooper DeJean, Iowa

“He’s probably the most well-rounded athlete in this year’s class. That being said, he can play corner, he can play safety, and he was a punt returner at Iowa, there’s nothing this guy can’t do.

“He’s a disciplined player, he’s a very good zone corner, but he also has a lot of short space movement and he doesn’t really waste steps which I love. There’s definitely some stiffness in his game… but his straight-line speed makes up for some of the deficiencies in his movement ability. I think he immediately makes any secondary better when he gets to the NFL because he’s going to be able to play a bunch of different roles.”

3. Terrion Arnold, Alabama

“He’s a pretty good run defender, he’s long, fast, can play at speed of the game. There is one catch – he’s the only 4.5 guy on my list, but his size agility component is pretty insane despite that. He was a safety at one time, and you can see how smooth he makes the game look. I wrote down in my notes he’s always unpanicked as a player. I love his footwork, I love that he can get through off coverage and then move up to the line of scrimmage and there is really no difference in the way that he is matching receivers.

“His physical tools are much more than Kool-Aid McKinstry, and that’s one of the reasons I have him up a little bit higher. The lack of his long speed will show up in time. There are times when guys are just going by him at the top of the stem and you know that he doesn’t have the speed to catch up and he’s not exceptionally quick. Of all the top defensive back prospects in this year’s draft, he took the ball away the most, plus he had double-digit pass breakups. The dude knows how to find the football. He’s going to be a good football player in the NFL.”

2. Nate Wiggins, Clemson

“The instant knock on this kid is that he’s too slight and not a willing tackler. Don’t buy it. Just put the film on with this guy. He is willing to hit you, it’s just not violent. He had some outstanding, and when I say outstanding, outstanding hustle plays in 2023. He has ideal height obviously at 6-1 and his 4.3 speed makes him very interesting to me.

“What he does best, and it’s something that I talk about very often with corners, he is very quiet and still in his upper body so he has no wasted movement. He has great feet, really silky movement, and he is always in phase with his wide receiver. To me, he looks like a natural in coverage. He is confident as hell. Nate Wiggins is going to be a pretty exciting player in the NFL pretty quickly.”

1. Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo

“He can easily be the best player of the bunch. He’s a really, really good football player. Size, he has length, outstanding speed at 4.33, checks all the boxes for me. Teams in college attacked his technique, but he was mostly in solo coverage his entire college career if you go back and watch the film. His play speed is outstanding, he looks like a bull in a China shop sometimes when he’s playing out there. He lacks some ball skills, but obviously, he can take that away because of some of the other things that he does.

“There could be a level of competition argument against him. When you put the film on there are a lot of empty stands and some really small stadiums, but that is what it is. What I liked about him and what stands out, he is the most similar cornerback to last year’s No. 1 corner pick Devon Witherspoon. He looks and acts like a pro. If I’m taking a cornerback, it’s definitely Quinyon Mitchell despite the fact that he played at a small school.”

Of all the players that Barber named, Mike Sainristil (Top 30 visit), Kool-Aid McKinstry (Top 30 visit), and Nate Wiggins (formal meeting at NFL Scouting Combine) have each met with the Bucs.

Time will tell if any of these players are selected by Tampa Bay, but to hear Barber’s complete thoughts and see highlights of each player, check out the full video below.