2023 NFL Draft: The top 11 cornerbacks

From Devon Witherspoon to Julius Brents, here are Doug Farrar’s top 11 cornerbacks in the 2023 NFL draft class.

The 2023 NFL draft presents one of the strongest cornerback classes in recent memory, to the point where some lucky NFL teams are going to get players at the position with a ton of starter traits all the way into the third day of the draft.

That isn’t always the case, and the thing about this class that seems particularly interesting is the number of bigger (over six feet tall) cornerbacks with positive traits and intriguing ball skills. Most classes tend to be more of a grab-bag in terms of the NFL’s preferred size profile, but in our Top 11, nine of the cornerbacks are at least 5-foot-11, and only two (Utah’s Clark Phillips III and TCU’s Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson) are obviously under the “You must be this tall to ride this ride” limit.

From there, it’s all about the traits you need. This class of cornerbacks has everything from press-man monsters with ridiculous wingspans to zone and match detectives who have perfected the art of working receivers into frustrations they didn’t quite expect.

So, it’s time to separate the skill sets for our Top 11 cornerbacks of the 2023 NFL draft class.

You can also read our list of the top nine safeties in the 2023 class right here.

2023 NFL Draft: The top 9 safeties

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football FocusSports Info Solutions, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated).

(All prospect measurement percentiles courtesy of MockDraftable.com). 

Why Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr. is the best cornerback in the 2023 draft class

Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has declared for the 2023 NFL draft. Doug Farrar dives into what makes Porter the best cornerback in this class.

2023 will be a good year for NFL teams needing cornerback talent in the draft. In Touchdown Wire’s latest mock draft, we had five cornerbacks going in the first round. The placement of those players — Georgia’s Kelee Ringo, Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr., Utah’s Clark Phillips III, South Carolina’s Cam Smith, and Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez — depends on NFL team preferences, but there’s a lot of talent at the position, and players who should be able to help their NFL teams right away.

There are other cornerbacks who will be taken in the later rounds, but as it stands right now, it’s quite possible that of all the prospects at the position in this group, Porter — the son of the former Pittsburgh Steelers, Miami Dolphins, and Arizona Cardinals linebacker, as well as the Steelers’ former defensive assistant and outside linebackers coach — is the best of them all.

Why? Because when it comes to defending modern offenses, your cornerbacks must be aggressive enough to disrupt the timing and route correctness of receivers in quick game, agile enough to defend option routes and multiple concepts outside and in the slot, and versatile enough to play well in any sort of scheme. Porter Jr. checks all the boxes.

This week, the junior made his intentions for the 2023 draft official.

This after a 2022 season in which, per Pro Football Focus, he allowed 15 catches on 30 targets for 143 yards, 51 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, no interceptions, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 63.6. When we get into his tape, we’ll tell you why Porter’s metrics should be even better than that. At 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, Porter possesses the combination of size, speed, agility, and coverage awareness in multiple schemes that should see his name called in the first 10 picks of next year’s draft.