Kindle Vildor Overview
Position: Cornerback
Height: 5’-10”
Weight: 191 pounds
School: Georgia Southern
NFL Combine Performance Data
40 Yard Dash: 4.44 seconds
Bench Press: 22 reps
Vertical Jump: 39.5”
Broad Jump: 133.0”
3 Cone Drill: 7.14 seconds
20 Yard Shuttle: 4.28 seconds
Kindle Vildor 2020 NFL Draft Profile
After four years at Georgia Southern, cornerback Kindle Vildor is hoping to continue his career at the NFL level. The 5’-10”, 191-pound cornerback is coming off what easily the worst season of his collegiate career. Appearing in 623 snaps, Vildor allowed 29 receptions on 47 targets for 319 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 78.2 passer rating. This represents a big step down from previous seasons, and could leave Vildor wishing he had declared for the NFL Draft last year.
Vildor initially entered the collegiate football landscape as a three-star recruit. After failing to receive interest from major programs, the Georgia native ended up joining his home-state college. After playing sparingly as a true freshman, Vildor earned a starting job in 2017. Appearing in 596 snaps, Vildor allowed just 15 receptions on 31 targets for 245 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions, and a 46.5 passer rating. He built on this strong campaign by allowed 33 receptions on 58 targets for 362 yards, one touchdown, four interceptions, and a 52.5 passer rating in 2018.
Strengths
- Great straight-line speed;
- Trusts his gut and attacks the ball carrier with ferocity;
- Tested well in most drills at the NFL Combine;
- Not afraid to get up close to a receiver and knock them off their route;
- Physical, hard-nose cornerback that outplays his actual size;
- Looked like he belonged in the NFL in 2018.
Weaknesses
- Streaky cornerback with no real consistent element to his game;
- Poor lateral movement;
- Didn’t face off against great competition, and should have dominated the competition he did face;
- Misses a lot of tackles;
- Poor recovery ability when beat at the line;
- Sometimes struggles with his assignments in zone coverage.
NFL Comparison: Terrance Wheatley
Teams With Need at Position: Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins
Projection: 6th/7th Round
Bottom Line on Kindle Vildor
If the entire 2019 season was a fluke, Kindle Vildor could be one of the steals of the 2020 NFL Draft. As a junior, Vildor boasted a legitimate ability to line up against great college receivers and hold them in check. His physicality at the line worked regardless of any size disadvantage, and he has the athletic gifts required to stick around in the league. His hard-nosed style of play should make him a coaching favorite and most of his experience comes at outside cornerback, which is always a good thing.
However, there is a lot of bad in the 2019 tape. While there were moments of gold, the inconsistency is just too much to completely ignore. He doesn’t move well laterally and struggles to recover when beat. Georgia Southern didn’t exactly face off against elite competition last year, yet Vildor still struggled to lock down his side of the field. While he’s willing to be physical and assist in the run game, he misses tackles at a fairly high rate and is overall a liability on running plays.
Ultimately, Vildor offers decent upside relative to the typical late-round cornerback. He was solid in 2017 and looked like a legitimate early- to mid-round prospect in 2018. If he can recapture his past form, he should be a reliable depth cornerback at the next level. However, even if the 2019 version is the norm moving forward, he has the athletic gifts to compete for a special teams job.
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