CB, Cincinnati
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 200 lbs
Class: Junior
Gardner was a three-star recruit in the 2019 class and the No. 163 ranked cornerback. Fast forward three years, and he may well be the first corner off the board in the 2022 Draft. Gardner has been a starter for the Bearcats since his true freshman year and has been a First Team All-AAC player every year. He has established a reputation as a true lockdown corner and hasn’t allowed a single touchdown in 1,124 career coverage snaps.
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Strengths
Gardner’s biggest strength as a prospect is his ability at the line of scrimmage. Cincinnati typically used him in press coverage and it worked to great effect. Gardner offers ideal length at the position, with quick and powerful hands to disrupt his opponents’ releases. He pairs this with refined footwork, showcasing good patience and quickness. All of this allows him to shut routes down before his opponent can even get into their stem.
This is a big reason behind Gardner’s success in man coverage. He played a tonne of single coverage with the Bearcats and proved himself capable of locking down his opponents’ leading receiver. He has surprisingly fluid hips for a corner of his size and this allows him to mirror receivers effortlessly. Whilst he might not be the most elite athlete, Gardner’s physicality throughout the route allows him to stick with his man and cover every level of the field effectively.
He was so good at this that opponents were rarely willing to test him. Gardner drew just 40 targets on his 482 coverage snaps in 2021. He was predictably impressive when offenses did throw his way, and gave up just 131 yards all season. His 0.27 yards allowed per coverage snap was also easily the best of any cornerback this season. He proved that he can do this against top competition too, allowing just 14 yards on his four targets against Alabama.
Another aspect of Gardner’s game that teams will love is his ball skills. Whilst defenses didn’t often throw his way, he made them pay when they tested him. Gardner had three picks in each of his three seasons with the Bearcats and also contributed 17 pass breakups. His physicality and length allows him to be incredibly disruptive at the catch point and he should have no problem translating this production to the NFL.
Weaknesses
The biggest weakness to Gardner’s game is his athletic limitations. He doesn’t have elite speed and is not particularly explosive. Given his height, he can struggle to generate the requisite sink in his hips to be truly effective out of his breaks. This also shows up when transitioning out of his backpedal against underneath routes. His press-heavy role helped to neutralise a lot of these problems, and he may need to play in a similar scheme at the next level to translate his success.
The other concern will be his tendency to get overly physical in coverage. Gardner’s game is built around his bully mentality and he is heavily reliant on using his hands to feel routes develop. He looks nowhere near as comfortable when asked to play in off coverage. Gardner also benefitted from the lack of illegal contact penalties in the college game and his tendency to get grabby throughout the route will likely attract more flags at the NFL level.
Bottom Line
Gardner’s skillset may not be the most versatile, but he is the best pure press man corner in this year’s draft class. He showcases tremendous physicality at the line and has a track record of erasing his opponent in single coverage. He may not be an elite athlete, but he projects as a very good starter at the next level.
Ideal role: Boundary cornerback in a press man scheme
Round projection: 1st round
