Big Board ranking: #41

Positional ranking: #10

 

Overview

Position: CB

College: Toledo

Class: Senior

Age: 22

 

Measurables

Height: 6’0 1/8”

Weight: 195 lbs.

Arm length: 31”

Hand size: 9 1/4″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: 4.33 sec.

10-yard split: 1.51 sec.

Vertical jump: 38.0”

Broad jump: 122.0”

Bench press: 20 reps

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Elite speed. Tremendous overall athleticism. Very impressive feet to stick with wide receivers underneath. Great playmaking instincts and reaction time. Able to read the receiver to get a jump on throws. Extremely quick to plant and break. Anticipates throws and will position himself to make a play. Quick to jump short out-breaking routes. Excellent breaking on the ball to cover slant routes with inside leverage. Phenomenal ball skills. Very effective keeping his eyes on the quarterback with a cushion in the side shuffle. Positions himself for potential tips and overthrows as the deep defender. Extremely quick eyes to locate the ball when he gets his head around. Outstanding acceleration to make up for allowing some separation. Doesn’t allow opponents to run away from him if they get a step. Terrific getting a hand in at the catch point. Extremely effective versus stutter-and-go moves. Will play the throttle down but quickly react to vertical move. Excellent mirroring shorter comeback routes from the backpedal. Very strong. Has flashed effective press jams. Experience on both sides and in the slot. Will look to wrap up as a tackler. Showed tremendous effort on touchdown-saving chase down versus Northern Illinois (2023).

 

Weaknesses

Allows too much space on in-breaking routes. Can get turned around on post routes. Flipping hips to cover deeper routes isn’t as smooth. Needs to avoid the outside spin transition versus in-breaking routes. Slower out of vertical sprint to play deeper stop routes. Inconsistent in run support. More of a need-to tackler than eager tackler. Often lived in cushion coverage versus lesser competition. Attacked successfully by top Ohio State offense (2022).

 

NFL comparison

DaRon Bland

 

Conclusion

Overall, Mitchell is a playmaking cornerback that has the potential to be an interception machine and is at his most dangerous playing off coverage. Teams targeting him in Round 1 will likely hope he becomes more of a lockdown cover man to pair with the instincts and ball skills.