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He was the 11th pick overall in the 2015 draft.
Talking about cornerback Trae Waynes, who entered the league with the Minnesota Vikings, spent five seasons there, and was in Cincinnati the last two seasons.
And now he’s a free agent, and it sounds like he’s hanging up the cleats at 29.
“It’s open, but I’m not really exploring anything, to be honest with you,” Waynes told ‘The Geary and Stein Sports Podcast.’ “Multiple teams have actually called. Honestly, in my head, I’m done. I’m not officially doing it just because I don’t give a [expletive]. But I’m retired, but it’s not like I announced it or anything.”
Waynes’ career probably didn’t match the hype he got coming out of Michigan State. He was okay, but kind of a middle-of-the-pack corner during his seven-year career.
Why am I talking about Waynes here? Just to get into how hard it is for personnel guys to ace the cornerback position in the draft, even in the first round.
So that brings us to Sauce Gardner, who the Jets picked fourth overall in the 2022 draft, which is very high for a cornerback. I’m not saying they reached. Not at all, just saying that cornerbacks generally don’t go that high.
Hall-of-Famer Deion Sanders was picked fifth overall in the 1989 draft, and he might be the best cover guy of all time.
One of the best corners in Jets history, Darrelle Revis, was picked 14th overall in the 2007 draft.
The Lions reached for Jeff Okudah with the third pick overall in the 2020 draft, and that has not worked out very well.
The Jets picked Dee Milliner ninth overall in the 2013 draft, and he was out of the league by 2016 due to injuries. A source told me that Jets doctors told the GM at the time not to pick him for medical reasons after he had five surgeries in college, but the GM picked him anyway, and it didn’t work out.
Injuries are often a big part of why many corners don’t work out, and that has been an issue for Okudah in Detroit. He can’t stay healthy.
These are generally smaller guys involved in a sport with a lot of big men. A lot of collisions don’t work out in their favor, and a lot of pulled and torn muscles based on all the running they do in the open field.
Another reason a lot of them don’t work out is just the sheer difficulty of playing cornerback in the NFL, with so many rules favoring the offensive players. They can get away with things they did covering college receivers from an NFL rules standpoint.
So for a number of reasons, a lot of cornerback prospects in the NFL draft just don’t work out.
But some do, like Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard.
Personally, if he can stay healthy, I think Gardner is going to work out.
Now don’t expect him to be perfect. Don’t expect his college streak of not giving up a touchdown to continue in the NFL. He’s not playing East Carolina and UCF anymore.
However, watching him this spring, with his size, speed, loose hips, confidence and hard-working humble nature, I think he will be a good player for the Jets. I’m not saying he will be a star. Too early to tell on that, but I think he will be solid at the very least.
But man, is it hard to hit on this position in the NFL draft.
June 20, 2022
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