Name: Caleb Farley
Position: CB
School: Virginia Tech
Class: Junior
Height/Weight: 6′-2″, 207 lbs.
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Games Watched: @ Miami (2019), vs. North Carolina (2019), @ Notre Dame (2019)
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PROS: Farley is a very smart ballplayer and a true lockdown outside cornerback. He has excellent instincts at the position and he has a keen knowledge of opposing WR routes. Farley is one of the best tight man corners at the college level. He doesn’t give his opponent an inch of breathing room. He has great hands and above-average height for a cornerback, enabling him to make highlight-reel plays and keep the ball out of the receiver’s hands. He has game-breaking speed and he stays in front of the opposing receiver throughout the route, making it impossible for the QB to get a good look and find a hole to throw the ball into. Farley is very aggressive in coverage and is versatile to where Virginia Tech also used him in blitz packages at times. Once he has a target in his sights, he reacts extremely quickly and jumps head-on into action
CONS: Farley is a liability in zone coverage. On slant and inside routes, he tends to play off his man and let the receiver get in front of him, which runs counter to his style of play. Farley needs a target or he’s lost in the field. He tends to limit his field of vision either solely towards his target or the ball, which leads to slower reaction times on run plays or in zone coverage than should be expected for a corner like Farley. Farley’s hyper competitiveness and aggressiveness in man coverage also leads him to be a little too handsy at times and opens him up to pass interference penalties if he’s not playing towards the ball. He also needs to refine his tackling ever so slightly, as he tends to have an insecure grip on the target and his hands wind up slipping in the process of the tackle. He also has had some significant injuries in the past, as he had a knee injury that caused him to miss all of the 2017 season and then suffered a pinched nerve in his back which caused him to miss the final 3 games of the 2019 season.
SUMMARY/BOTTOM LINE: Farley is the true shutdown corner an NFL team would love to have. He put up very solid production in the ACC in 2019, ranking 2nd in the conference with 4 interceptions and 12 pass breakups. His height, speed, and top-tier man coverage will play well at the professional level against some of the league’s toughest receivers, and his knowledge of how opposing receivers like to work suggests that Farley isn’t going to let the game be too much for him as a rookie. Once he’s drafted, he should initially start out in a rotation before being inserted into the starting lineup around Week 3 or 4 simply to refine his tackling technique and to learn to use his peripheral vision to absorb the game beyond his target. Farley shouldn’t spend too much time in zone coverage; his speed and coverage talents would be better used when lined up on the outside and in man coverage.
DRAFT PROJECTION: Early first round.
