Malaki Starks NFL Draft Overview
Position: Safety
School: Georgia
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 197 pounds
Arm Length: 31 5/8 inches
Hand Size: 9 ½ inches
40-yard Dash: 4.5 seconds
10-yard Split: 1.54 seconds
Vertical Jump: 33 inches
3-Cone Drill: 7.26 seconds
20-yard shuffle: 4.45 seconds
2025 NFL Draft: Malaki Starks Scouting Report
Malaki Starks is identified as a top 50 prospect by NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah. Starks made 42 starts in his three years for Georgia, living up to his five-star ranking by performing well in big games throughout his time in Athens. He is a versatile safety who possesses the ideal measurements to play slot in the nickel defense and the ball skills to play a cover-3 deep safety floating sideline to sideline. Starks may be the heaviest hitter on defense, but he is not averse to making sure tackles in the open field using his closing speed. He will also need to clean up some mental errors that he is prone to on occasion.
Starks was an Associated Press First-team All-American and First-Team All-Southeastern Conference in 2023. This past season he was AP Second-team All-American and Second-Team all-SEC. Starks was a Jim Thorpe Award finalist in each of his last two seasons at Georgia.
Strengths
- High football IQ and provides scheme flexibility.
- Speed to cover wide receivers on one-on-one deep routes.
- Ability to locate the ball with excellent body control playing the run and the pass.
- Capable of evading blockers and playing downhill in the running game.
- Excellent at getting to the high point of jump balls against receivers.
Weaknesses
- He needs to add five to ten pounds of muscle to his frame.
- He needs to work on pursuing angles with ball carriers to prevent long gains.
- On film, he showed too many missed assignments for a player with skill level and football IQ; I.E. such as losing connection at breaking points in man coverage.
NFL Comparison: Jessie Bates III
Teams with needs at the position: Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, and Philadelphia Eagles.
Draft Projection: Late First Round—Early Second Round
Bottom Line on Malaki Starks
Malaki Starks is a bright, versatile, and athletic prospect who has the athletic ability to play on any scheme on defense at the NFL level. He has all the tools to be an elite cover-free safety, even if he is not the ideal player that you would want to play in the box. However, he is a willing tackler, and with the proper coaching, he will overcome that hurdle (pursuing angles and being better at finding ball carriers coming through the hole and filling the fit in the running game), along with his coverage capabilities; Starks will be an almost immediate starter and a long-term answer at the free safety position.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee – Imagn Images
