Big Board ranking: #9

Positional ranking: #2

 

Overview

Position: CB

College: Auburn

Class: Senior

Age: 22

 

Measurables

Height: 5’11”

Weight: 190 lbs.

Arm length: 28 7/8″

Hand size: 9″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: 4.50 sec.

Vertical jump: N/A

Broad jump: N/A

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Extremely smooth. Stays right on the hip of his man. Not fooled by fakes or change of speed by wideouts. Great footwork. Plays bouncy and athletic. Easily sticks to his man on short routes. Calm and quick in the backpedal. Confident and comfortable in press coverage. Very smooth opening up out of press. Above-average speed. Doesn’t get beat vertically and can recover if he loses ground early. Close to wideouts even when allowing a reception. Reliable tackler that doesn’t allow yards after the catch. Excellent instincts and instant reaction time. Great acceleration and closing burst. Tremendous at playing the ball to breakup passes with accuracy. Natural ball skills. Plus strength. Extremely quick to identify perimeter screens. Aggressive coming up to play the run. Wraps up as a tackler. Very high confidence. Thrived in a variety of coverages. Played both sides and saw snaps in the slot. Followed Jameson Williams into slot and stuck with him on a couple of downfield routes (Alabama 2021). Very good in general when matched up versus top wideouts.

 

Weaknesses

Appears smaller than listed measurements in terms of height. Below-average length. Biggest plays allowed occurred when needing to fight through traffic. Allows some separation on comeback routes. Can be too focused on underneath routes in zone coverage.

 

NFL comparison

Chidobe Awuzie

 

Conclusion

Overall, McCreary is a potential lockdown, man-to-man cornerback that can stay right on the hip of opponents in various coverages. His smoothness, confidence, and the way he moves in general reminds me of a smaller Patrick Peterson.