We’re nearly two months from the NFL Draft getting underway and less than a week from the NFL Combine, and experts are starting to give their opinion and inside information on each player.
One cornerback in the 2024 NFL Draft has gotten the attention of those experts: Missouri’s Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
Missouri CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr. Catches Attention of NFL Draft Expert
Rakestraw just completed his fourth season with the Tigers, posting 35 tackles, four pass deflections, and one forced fumble in 2023. While his stats don’t pop out, he has gotten the attention of ESPN NFL Draft Analyst Matt Miller.
“Rakestraw is my guy. That is my draft crush this year. I think all of us that do this for a living, we get a guy or two that you kind of light up when you get a chance to talk about them.”
Miller referred back to Missouri’s matchup against the LSU Tigers this past season, where only one pass was thrown Rakestraw’s way in the game, and it was incomplete. He spoke to the cornerback’s toughness as well as fighting through his core muscle injury for most of the season.
Many experts have connected Rakestraw to the Detroit Lions in mock drafts. Miller agrees that his physicality is a good fit for the Lions’ defense.
“So yeah, if you’re looking for a typical Detroit Lions player, that physicality at the line of scrimmage — he is a great tackler in space, as well, especially for not being the biggest guy.
“He’s not a strikingly physical player when you’re just looking at height, weight, strength, but man, he absolutely plays as one of the most physical corners in this draft or any draft. He’s right there with some of the best corners I’ve evaluated when playing at the line of scrimmage and using that physicality.”
Rakestraw has been projected to be in the range of a Day 1 or early Day 2 pick. He has been mocked as high as No. 22 by the Philadelphia Eagles. His aggressiveness in finding the ball and willingness to run up to make tackles has made him an intriguing prospect.
The one concern that has been brought up is Rakestraw’s durability after his 2021 ACL injury and the core muscle injury he suffered this past season that required surgery in December.
Despite that concern, he has proven to be one of the top cornerbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft and would be a solid fit for Dan Campbell’s Lions.
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After the collapse in the NFC Championship Game, Detroit will surely make that an area of focus this offseason. Rakestraw would be a good foundation piece in the secondary for the Lions — or any NFL team.
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