Prospect Profile: Max Melton, CB, Rutgers

Context

JUCO transfer to Alabama, back-up CB for two years, transferred to Oregon for Senior year. One-year starter, played the vast majority of his time at outside CB.

Coverage

His footwork in press coverage is elite. He can disrupt at the line of scrimmage through leverage but his main strength is matching angles with even the most elite competition in college and staying in phase through the early portion of the route. He does this through outstanding foot speed and hip mobility. Everything he does on the field is explosive; he’s able to match even the most explosive offensive weapons. He has ridiculous reactive athleticism which helps him to deal with all types of moves at the line of scrimmage. He has physicality and aggression but lacks play strength, so when he does try to jam at the line he can whiff through lack of technique or be put in trail quickly on crossers, pivot and out routes. It’s in this situation only that he gives up a yard of separation and doesn’t prevent the QB from targeting his man. He does however close distance at the catch-point and makes good tackles to prevent any YAC. He makes all transitions with excellent mechanics, fluid hips, explosion and an economy of movement that makes it very hard for receivers to separate from him at the top of their routes. On go routes, he easily has the speed to carry even elite athletes downfield and prevent a target when locked up in man coverage. On deep routes that call for a bam step like posts and corners, he will read the receiver and understand what he’s trying to do. It’s tough to manipulate his hips to get him going the wrong way, as he can then deploy his excellent transition mechanics and explosion to match the receiver stride for stride. He has outstanding reactive athleticism and reacts quickly to 90 degree 2 step breaks for dig routes or deep outs. He drives on the ball with efficiency and explosion and can stay in phase on 180 degree hard angle routes like hitches and deep comebacks. He doesn’t have ideal play strength but when he comes up against bigger, physical receivers with good play strength, he competes with aggression and physicality and he doesn’t often give up separation at the break point due to this. He has good awareness in Zone and can read the Quarterback, route progressions and periph Wide Receivers to make plays on the ball. He has an incredible leap and can high point the ball to pick it off in Man, but also his processing and explosion allows him to jump routes when in Zone and pick the ball off against QBs who don’t have good eye discipline. He has good ball skills otherwise to break passes up but he is inconsistent in turning to locate the football when he’s locked up in Man coverage downfield, in phase, even when the receiver turns to track the ball early.

Run Support

Aggressive and willing in run support, inserts himself where he isn’t wanted and makes plays on bigger ball carriers. He will play as a force player but can also shed the block and make a tackle inside. He takes on blocks from FBs and TEs. Highly competitive and takes pride in his run defense. He can over-pursue and take bad angles but on the whole is open field tackling is very good, coming from high to low, keeping a good base before exploding to the receiver/ball carrier, hitting hard with his shoulder and wrapping up.

SUMMARY
Explosion, speed and processing keep him in phase on most routes. Outstanding footwork in press. Not the greatest play strength. Physical and competitive vs run.

PRODUCTION 
JR: 33 To. Tackles, 3 INTs, 3 PBUs, 1 Sack, 1 QB Hit
SO: 31 To. Tackles, 2 INTs, 6 PBUs
Injury: Played through broken hand (Start of JR)

RAVENS FIT
Athleticism 5
Intelligence 5
Versatility 5
Grit 5
Scheme 5