Arizona Cardinals: Senior Bowl Wrap-Up

Cyrus Jones – CB
Alabama – Senior
5-9, 198 Pounds

Just like the slide reads out, it would be dumb of me not to mention the great day that the Alabama players had at Mobile for the Senior Bowl, and one in particular really made some big noise. Cyrus Jones, the kind of corner back who really went took the opportunity to star on defense, and took away the dreadful wide receiver play at the Senior Bowl. Jones gave an unbelievable performance, and should be considered heavily as big riser.

What surprises many scouts is his breaking ability, being able to make big plays while driving on the ball while it was in the air. Many (including me), such as Mike Mayock of NFL Network, said he started the week as a 5th-6th round prospect, but the time the game ended he seemed to have earned much praise from the many who watched the game. Cyrus Jones really made a believer out of me, maybe raising his game from obscurity to being a 1st-2nd round prospect.

The Cardinals love to play man-on-man, leaving their corners on an island, and Cyrus Jones is that kind of player that Bettcher loves when the games on the line. Jones has been seen as nickel corner, being a smaller body, but I could really see him as a Jason Verrett type of player. He wraps up very well in the open field, and uses his hands very well in press coverage. I wouldn’t place him out there in prevent coverage by himself, but as a follower or shadow, he fares very well.

Some are very infatuated with the passing league of today, I don’t like it as much as I love to see a dominant defense, and I saw a lot of great potential when watching the Senior Bowl this year. Cyrus Jones made himself known, if the Cardinals want to take a step in the right direction, they need to give themselves some more help in the back-end of the defense. Jones is really going to need to rely on a big combine performance if he wants to get up into the first round this year, and it’s very possible. I don’t care if he is a slot corner, he is still going to be a great slot corner to replace Jerraud Powers. Should he join the Cardinals, it would be another SEC defensive player in the back-end, and you’ve seen how competitive the Rolling Tide players are.