NFL Draft Prospect Profile: Cornellius Carradine, DE Florida State

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Cornellius Carradine
Cornellius “Tank” Carradine

Green Bay Packers NFL Draft prospect profile: DE Cornellius Carradine

Player Information:

Cornellius Carradine, DE Florida State
6-4, 276 pounds
Hometown: Cincinnati, OH

STATS: College stats

NFL Combine:

Bench press: 28 reps

News and Notes:

Tore his ACL in late November, which makes his draft outlook murky. Projected as a potential top 10 pick before the injury, maybe even top 5. … Signed with Illinois out of high school, but transfered to Butler Community College due to academic issues. … Registered 26 sacks in two seasons to become the top JUCO propect in the country. … Signed with Florida State in 2011 and had 38 tackles and 5.5 sacks despite not starting his junior year. … Started 12 games as a senior, toaling 80 tackles and 11 sacks. … Tore his ACL in the regular season finale against Florida and missed most of the pre-draft process.

 What they’re saying about him: 

  • National Football Post.com: “He uses his hands extremely well to slap the pass blocker’s hands down to stay free and can beat him inside or around the corner. Outstanding technique taking on run blocker at the POA, Carradine jolts blocker upright, holds ground, sheds and makes tackle consistently on runs at him. When left unblocked on the backside he does an excellent job of maintaining backside contain and making sure the play is going away before crashing down the LOS. When offenses try to “reach block” him on the backside he gets inside blocker consistently, keeps blocker on back and has elite speed chasing down the play in pursuit. On the handful of snaps that Carradine dropped off the ball into coverage he looked surprisingly smooth and fluid moving out in space and seemed to have a good sense and awareness.”
  • CollegeSportsMadness.com: “Carradine is still most likely not considered a first-rounder at this point, but he could turn out to be a great find after Day One.  He is 6’5” and 265 lbs.  He has ample size, and he has proven he has the ability to chase down runners.  The question is his consistency (he really has only had one solid year in 2012).”

Video:

Video Analysis:

  • Not as quick off the ball as I thought he’d be. But he doesn’t get swallowed up by bigger offensive linemen. He’s explosive later in plays because he never really gets completely wiped out.
  • Explosive after engaging his blocker. Once he decides where to go, he gets there in a hurry. Never out of a play because he uses his hands to keep his blocker off of him.
  • The above traits mean he’s never completely out of a play.
  • Seems very aware of his gap/contain assignment in addition to his obvious raw pass-rush skill. Doesn’t take himself out of plays by rushing upfield in an out of control manner.
  • People who know more about this stuff than I do might tell you that my above bullet point means he’s tentative early in plays. I don’t know if I agree. Either way, he’s sure not tentative once he decides to make his move.
  • Check out his stunt up the middle at about the 1:53 point of the video. If I was a QB, and I saw a guy with Carradine’s speed stunting up the middle, I’d poop my pants.

If drafted by the Packers:

All three of Ted Thompson’s previous first-round picks ended up on injured reserve last season. Thomposon also still has Justin Harrell on his first-round draft resume. Would Thompson want to risk picking a player less than a year removed from a major knee injury?

If Carradine didn’t get hurt, he’s an obvious early first-round pick. The guy looks like a stud. But his injury, combined with the fact that he’s only really had one season as a starter at a major college program, probably drop him to the second day of the draft. Of course, if team medical personell say he checks out fine and his recovery is on track, who knows?

If the Packers would take him, either at the end of the fist round or if he falls to the second or third, I’d like to see him play defensive end instead of outside linebacker. He might be small for a 3-4 defensive lineman, but a defense with Clay Matthews at one OLB, Nick Perry at the other and Carradine at DE sounds pretty good to me. I want to see more pass rush out of the Packers defensive line and Carradine could bring it, if healthy.

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Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .

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7 thoughts on “NFL Draft Prospect Profile: Cornellius Carradine, DE Florida State

  1. You’re my boy Blue!

    Thanks for running this article Adam–good stuff.

  2. Tank looks very comfortable playing a read-and-react role (2 gapping) as you pointed out, but also showed quite a good pass rush later on in the game when he pinned his ears back. I’m guessing that his responsibilities changed later on when Clemson was in catch-up mode.

    If Packers fans are looking for a pass-rusher to help neutralize running QBs, I don’t know if a better prospect can be found. Of course, this is all dependent on him regaining his pre-injury form.

    I bet he could put on more weight, if he is asked to.

  3. Always great to hear about players I knew nothing about. I wonder which team pulls the trigger first and gets him….and more to the point, where do they get him.
    Thanks for the heads up, Adam

  4. We already have Worthy recovering from his torn ACL, we don’t need to draft another. This team needs help on both lines, now. We can’t afford to wait until next year, to see if he’s the real deal. TT really needs to hit on the first round this year.

    1. I think that free-agency is the best way to plug holes in the roster, not the draft.

      I think that Carradine is going to work out for teams at a pro-day, but don’t quote me on that. If he can show that he has regained his pre-injury form drafting him somewhere between 26 and 40 could be dynamite value.

      Time will tell.

      1. I think he’ll end up a 2nd or 3rd rd pick. Teams dont want to take a chance if he just injured it a couple months ago. Hes a ways from any meaningful workouts other than rehab.

  5. If he falls to the 2nd round I would move up for him in a heart beat. He’s the nasty pass rushing end that we have been missing in this defense. He has the height that could handle a few more pounds.

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