Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber is reporting that the Green Bay Packers will bring in Texas A&M cornerback Will Lee III for a pre-draft visit. I can’t lie: I’m pretty stoked about this one.
While Lee only ran a 4.52-second 40-yard dash at the combine, he plays much faster than that (can cover drag routes from depth on film). The former All-SEC cornerback was one of my favorite fits for Jonathan Gannon’s quarters-heavy system when I got through watching the position earlier this offseason.
I wrote a full scouting report on “The Blanket” back in early February, if you want to read up on him.
Lee began his college football career at a JuCo powerhouse, Iowa Western, after his grades slipped during the pandemic. Despite having power conference offers beginning in his sophomore season of high school, he had to go the JuCo route before advancing to the next level.
In his one year of JuCo play, he was named a first-team All-American, the only freshman defender who received those honors that year. He initially went to Kansas State, closer to his hometown of St. Louis, before transferring to Texas A&M.
Here was the tl;dr from the Lee scouting report:
Personally, I believe Lee is better as a click-and-close cornerback, who is able to see the route develop from an off alignment and can snap to the route from depth because of his athleticism. There are times when he’s able to cover drag routes from depth, which is pretty rare from an athleticism and read-and-react standpoint. That’s how he wins.
He plays through receivers’ hands and has the athleticism to undercut routes, but he also loses at the top of routes and in contested catch situations a good bit. I actually think he plays a little smaller than the 6’1”, 189 pounds that scouts estimate him at. I’m not worried about his tackling ability, though, as he runs through tackle attempts and is pretty violent at the point of attack because of how sudden he is.
Lee looks like a Day 2 cornerback to me, but I think he needs a good home. Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon has run more quarters over the last five seasons than any individual NFL team, which means that he’s putting his cornerbacks in off-coverage read-and-react situations frequently. I actually really like the Packers as a landing spot for Lee, considering his strengths and weaknesses.
