Troy Pride Overview
Position: Cornerback
School: Notre Dame
Height: 5′ 11″
Weight: 193 pounds
Arm Length: 30 ⅝”
Troy Pride 2020 NFL Draft Profile
Troy Pride is a senior cornerback coming out of Notre Dame. There Pride enjoyed a pretty successful career playing and starting in part of all four years. During his true freshman season at Notre Dame, Pride would see the field in eight games and started in three of them. Following this, Pride would go on to play in 12 games his next year, while starting five of them. In this season, Pride would have his first college interception and three passes defended.
In his junior season, he posted two more interceptions and 47 tackles while starting in all 12 games he played in. Troy Pride continued to impress into his senior season, showing off his skills in a wide assortment of coverages. Overall, Pride’s final two years at Notre Dame as a full-time starter were impressive. Pride achieved 16 passes defended over that span and got him the attention of NFL teams.
During draft season, Troy Pride continues to prove his abilities during the Senior Bowl week. During this week, Pride was an obvious standout out of the cornerback group. Pride was able to prove himself in one on one drills that are already slanted for receiver success. Overall, Pride was a big winner in an average cornerback group throughout his practice reps. Pride also had a relatively good combine with an excellent 40-yard dash. However, this isn’t surprising as Pride has a history as a sprinter on the track and field team at Notre Dame.
Strengths
- Off man coverage skills are great;
- Versatility to play in a variety of schemes;
- Quick feet in coverage;
- Closing quickness and long speed are impressive;
- Good hip fluidity in coverage;
- Nice instincts in zone coverage.
Weaknesses
- Ball skills aren’t the best;
- Needs to improve awareness of the ball at the catch point;
- Big bodied receivers in the NFL may take advantage of him;
- Not physical enough in press coverage;
- Has to improve against the run.
NFL Comparison: Bryce Callahan
Teams With Need at Position: Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins
Projection: 4th Round
Bottom Line on Troy Pride
On the field, Pride brings some really nice abilities to play in both man and zone coverage. He played in a variety of schemes at Notre Dame, this highlighted his versatility in coverage. Though I don’t love his physicality or length in press coverage, he can still make plays from it. He also shows some quick footwork and fluid hips in coverage. This helps him in both zones in man coverage and will be immensely useful in the NFL.
At the next level, Pride will have to continue his development in order to be a long-term starter. He needs to improve his ball skills as he has trouble locating the ball at times. Because of this and the fact that he is not a very physical player shows he may become a significant liability at the catch point.
In his first year, Troy Pride will likely be a reserve player who occasionally sees reps. He will probably also play a role on special teams. Since corners usually aren’t good in their first year and Pride has underdeveloped physicality and ball skills, he should not start his rookie season. Pride should be able to make more of an impact in the future, though. With the ability to play in most coverages, and excellent movement skills all around Pride could become a nice starting cornerback, and one of the better value picks of the draft.
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