A freakish athlete with outstanding size, length and explosiveness, Rochell has evaluators buzzing about his expected testing numbers. He typically works as a press-man corner but has all the tools necessary to play in a variety of coverages, including Cover 3, where he has displayed an ability to excel with his range and ball skills. His technique and spotty transitions will be quickly discovered and exploited by pro talent so he might require a year for additional work and polish. He attacks throws like the former wideout he is and could become successful at baiting quarterbacks into throws they shouldn’t make. The ball production and rare physical traits/abilities could make him a fast riser in this draft as a Day 2 talent.
- Highly coveted physical and athletic traits.
- Explosive leaper with long arms and tremendous straight-line speed.
- Legitimate ball-hawking talent with 12 career takeaways.
- Speed to stay in phase down the sideline.
- Recovery speed jumps off the tape.
- Shadows and crowds any outside release.
- His leap and length create challenging high-point roadblock for receivers.
- Spies the throw and will overlap his coverage to make plays on the ball.
- Uses long arms to tag and separate from blocks in space.
- Accelerates through targets and wraps up as a tackler.
- Needs to improve press technique and calm his feet.
- Too persuaded by early release fakes.
- Inconsistent slowing the release from press.
- Upright pedal causes delays with lateral and vertical transitions.
- Average plant-and-drive to the throw from the top of his drop.
- Forgets to find the football when he’s in trail position.
- Can do a better job of smothering routes underneath.
- Loses contain duties at times.
- Occasional imbalance when changing direction.
By Lance Zierlein