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Jeff Gladney was a highly physical corner for Texas Christian during his career. A redshirt freshman, Gladney finished his career with 42 starts.
In his senior year, Gladney finished with 15 passes defended, 14 pass break ups and 31 tackles. He was awarded first team all big-12 honors after his productive senior season.
Gladney is a tough, hard nosed corner that has a good football IQ. Would he fit with the Falcons?
Strengths
- Good play strength and hands to jam and re-route receiver at the line of scrimmage
- Has all the speed needed for the position
- Shows good route anticipation
- Has versatility to play in press man or off
- Shows consistency in recognizing route concepts in zone coverage
- Always looks to make a play on the ball
- Very physical and loves making tackles in the run game
- Very smooth hips and fluid in transition from his back pedal
- Love his competitive toughness
Weaknesses
- A little undersized for outside corner (5’10”, 191 lbs)
- Will have issues with the bigger wide receivers in the league due to size
- Gets hands on the ball often, but doesn’t have the interceptions that should come with it.
- Due to his aggression, will have issues with good route running receivers
- When playing off, can be a tick slow in planting his foot and driving to the receiver
As the Falcons are looking to strengthen their cornerback corps, Gladney will definitely have their attention. He may be a little undersized for outside corner, but Gladney has adequate arm length (31 7/8”), and is as tough and competitive as they come. Nothing and no one scares this kid on the field.
A sticky man cover corner, he’s physical at the line of scrimmage and will be a nuisance for receivers at the next level. He has some technical issues to clean up, but I do like him to be a productive corner at the next level that could be a late day 1 to early day 2 pick. Never count out the Falcons liking him enough to take him in Round 1.