Players fall in the NFL Draft for a variety of reasons. Some due to injuries. Others do playing at a small school or a lack of size. Lousiana Tech’s Amik Robertson likely fell to the fourth round due to all the reasons listed above, but none of which were due to his play.
By nearly any metric you can use to judge a cornerback, Robertson was at or near the top among his peers. If you care about ball production, its tough to find a cornerback in the 2020 draft who was more productive.
In his three year career at Lousiana Tech, he totaled an incredible 48 pass deflections to go along with 14 interceptions. In 2019, he led the conference in both categories as he was named a first-team All-American.
If you care about more advanced coverage stats, Robertson excels there, too. At Pro Football Focus, he was the site’s top-graded cornerback in 2019. He finished No. 1 in the following coverage categories:
- Versus single coverage (opposing passer rating of 19.8)
- Versus clean-pocket throws (opposing passer rating of 69.8)
- Versus obvious passing situations (opposing passer rating of 26.4)
- In contested-catch situations (opposing passer rating of 14.4)
It’s also worth noting that Robertson finished No. 2 in passer rating when passes were thrown under three seconds. According to Pro Football Focus’ data, he allowed a passer rating of just 53.1 when passes were thrown under three seconds, behind only Trevon Diggs of Alabama (43.5).
Robertson doesn’t have elite size or speed, but it doesn’t really matter. Receivers didn’t beat him in college and all he did was produce like an elite cornerback. As long as he can stay healthy, there is no reason that he can’t become a starting-level cornerback within a year or so for the Raiders.
Given how productive he was in college, don’t be surprised if he significantly outperforms his draft status. Robertson is one of the best cornerbacks in the 2020 draft and should prove that right away for the Raiders. He is just too good of a player not to succeed in the NFL.
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