Alex Austin NFL Draft Overview
Position: Cornerback
Height: 6′-1″
Weight: 195 pounds
School: Oregon State
2023 NFL Draft: Alex Austin Scouting Report
Alex Austin’s college football career began in Corvallis, Oregon, at Oregon State University, in 2019. During that season, Austin saw action in three games and had a total of seven tackles (six solo, one assisted) while also recovering a fumble, and defending against a pass. In his second season in the Beaver State, in 2020, Oregon State only played seven games due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Austin played in all seven games while making five starts at cornerback. He had 29 total tackles (19 solo, 10 assisted) while recovering a fumble and defending against a single pass. In 2021, Austin became a starting cornerback full-time, playing in all 13 of the Beaver’s games. He had 48 tackles (27 solo, 21 assisted), two interceptions, and defended against seven passes. In his final season in 2022, Austin started 12 of 13 games amassing a career-high 57 tackles (42 solo, 15 assisted), including a sack. He also recovered a fumble and picked off two passes, one of which was returned for a touchdown. He also defended against seven passes.
Strengths
- Is an effective on-field communicator as it pertains to coverages, with his teammates
- Has enough height and jump capability to contest passes
- Is very instinctual when analyzing routes the receivers are running
- Can play a wide variety of coverages, effectively
- Goes all-out, especially when playing against the run
Weaknesses
- Has difficulty staying with his receiver, especially on deep routes
- Is frequently beaten by routes where a receiver crosses his face, horizontally (drag/out)
- Needs to improve his tackles technique; needs to wrap and not try to knock down ball carriers
- Does not have the smoothest backpedal
- Often loses track of his receiver when playing man coverage
NFL Comparison: A raw, less athletic, L’Jarius Sneed
Teams With Need At Position: Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Commanders
Projection: Round 7-UDFA
Bottom Line on Alex Austin
Alex Austin shows a lot of positive qualities that would be of benefit to NFL teams. He is an effective communicator on the field when talking with his defensive back teammates about coverages. Austin has enough height and jump-ability to contest passes, he also has good instinct when it comes to determining what route the receiver he is covering, is running. He has the ability to play a variety of coverages and gives his all even in run coverage. Austin does have some weaknesses that appear to be fixable. He needs to work harder to stay with his receiver on the deep route and work on his ability to stay with a receiver who crosses in front of him, especially on drag-and-out routes. His tackling technique is shoddy at best. Instead of wrapping and driving the opponent to the ground, he tries to throw his body into the ball carrier to get them to the ground, which frequently does not work.
Austin will also need to improve his man coverage as he has the propensity to lose track of his receiver and will also need to work on his footwork especially his backpedal if he wants to stay in the NFL for an extended period. With a very deep draft-class cornerback, Austin falls to a seventh-round pick or ends up signing as an undrafted free agent. He potentially had three years of NCAA eligibility left, with which he could have continued to work on and refine his weaknesses which could have ensured him being a draft pick in a future draft, but instead, he runs the chance of not being drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft, which really does not matter, because he will get an opportunity to show what he can do, regardless.
Main Photo Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
