Cobee Bryant, CB, Kansas
Size:
Height: 6000
Weight: 180
Arm: 31 ¼”
Hand: 9 ¼”
Accomplishments:
First-Team All-Big 12 (2024, 2023, 2022) • Three-star recruit
“Cobee Bryant plays a physical brand of football, doesn’t shy away from anyone, and knows how to be a nuisance in man coverage.”
Strengths:
Timing and length to jab consistently
Man coverage
Ball skills
Physical
Concerns:
Injury risk at 171 pounds
Deep-field speed
Transition deficiencies
Film Analysis:
A four-sport athlete at Hillcrest High School (football, baseball, basketball, and track), Cobee Bryant was a two-way player but flashed high-level traits as a defender. He was named to the All-Defensive Team in basketball during his junior year in 2018, which lined up with his best season on the field. He earned All-State First Team honors in 2018 and racked up 38 tackles, including seven for loss while forcing eight interceptions, five of which were returned for touchdowns. He committed to Kansas as a three-star recruit and has compiled 44 games of starting experience in his four seasons as a Jayhawk. He recorded 128 tackles, 11 for loss, one and a half sacks, 13 interceptions, and 22 passes defended. He’s been a high-level playmaker his entire career.
Bryant is a comfortable man-coverage style corner with long arms (31 ⅞ inches) who shows a good understanding of playing in a hard or soft press at the line of scrimmage. While receivers can move him with releases, he never panics and quickly re-establishes himself with efficient flip-around athleticism to right the ship and stay in phase. He times and locates jabs well in hard press, allowing him to bump and run effectively while throwing off the timing of quicker routes. He can stay in receiver hip pockets through the route stem while maintaining contact, although he can get grabby at the top of the route, which leads to penalties. When he’s in a soft press or zone alignment, his backpedal technique is inconsistent, and he can put too much weight on his heels and lean back, making him an easy target to attack with speed and double moves.
He’s a decent play recognizer, particularly on quick screens and intermediate in-breaking routes while in off-coverage. He hitches in his click-and-close ability occasionally. But the times he triggers, the closing speed is great. Bryant competes at the catch point with any receiver, even if he’s outgunned, but he has the ball skills to turn and locate the football to intercept or break up the pass. While Bryant has ball-hawking skills, he tends to get tunnel vision a few times a game, whether staring at the quarterback or the receiver, and loses sight of things around him. He needs to keep his head on a swivel more often and be more mindful of receivers entering and exiting his zones. Bryant won’t back down in the run game or tackling. However, he is more of an ankle tackler, which will result in a growth of broken tackles at the NFL level.
Bryant projects as a versatile, physical cornerback who can play outside and inside for an NFL team but might find his best output from the nickel. His experience as an outside corner will be invaluable to whichever team drafts him, and having the ability to play inside and out in the NFL is a trait these teams will covet, along with his natural ball skills. If he puts on a little more weight and can maintain his current speed, he could stick as an outside cornerback.
Prospect Projection: Day 2 — Adequate Starter
Written By: Daniel Harms
Exposures: Arizona State (2024), Kansas State (2024), Colorado (2024), UNLV (2024)
