Is There Another First-Round Cornerback Behind Trae Waynes?

In the National Football League, certain positions carry a higher premium than others. Quarterbacks. Offensive tackles.

And in this day of pass-wacky offenses and tons of time in the nickel, most assuredly cornerbacks.

In the 2015 NFL draft, the near unanimous pick as this year's top prospect at the position is Michigan State's Trae Waynes. The 6'0", 186-pound junior is the only cornerback Rob Rang of CBSSports.com has graded as a surefire first-round pick.

However, Rang lists three more corners as potential first-rounders, and given how much NFL teams covet defensive backs, it's a real possibility one or two (or three or four) more could sneak into the top 32.

Rank	ESPN	CBS Sports
1.	Trae Waynes, MSU (16)	Trae Waynes, MSU (12)
2.	Marcus Peters, Washington (21)	Kevin Johnson, Wake Forest (26)
3.	Kevin Johnson, Wake Forest (27)	Marcus Peters, Washington (29)
4.	Jalen Collins, LSU (29)	P.J. Williams, FSU (37)
5.	Byron Jones, UConn (47)	Quinten Rollins, Miami (OH) (44)
6.	P.J. Williams, FSU (51)	Jalen Collins, LSU (54)
7.	Ronald Darby, FSU (54)	Byron Jones, UConn (55)
8.	Quinten Rollins, Miami (OH) (72)	Ronald Darby, FSU (66)
9.	Steven Nelson, Oregon State (78)	D'Joun Smith, FAU (72)
10.	Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Oregon (81)	Alex Carter, Stanford (76)

So who are these young cornerbacks, and how many will we see selected in the first round on April 30?

There's a fair amount of depth in this year's class, but it's a group lacking in so-called "elite" talents at the position. There are even those (including Bleacher Report's own Ryan Riddle) who think Waynes may not be the best of this year's bunch after all:

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When you combine and average his time in the 40-yard dash, three-cone drill and short shuttle, he ranks 15th out of 23 cornerbacks with completed times in those categories from this draft class. Looking at the complete picture of Waynes’ speed paints a much different picture than a guy touted as an elite athlete at cornerback.

The notion that he has good size and length is also false. Waynes is on the lighter side for a cornerback at 186 pounds, he has slightly below-average arm length at 31 inches and his 8 ¼-inch hands are tiny for any position. This gives Waynes below-average dimensions for an NFL cornerback, which can be even more worrisome for a guy who plays as physical as he does in press-man coverage.

"

Still, the vast majority of draftniks have Wayne ranked as this year's top cornerback.

After that, the waters muddy quickly.

There's Washington's Marcus Peters, who may be the most athletically gifted cornerback in this class. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com called Peters a "talented cover cornerback with size, ball skills and the confidence NFL teams are looking for."

Peters certainly didn't shy away from tooting his own horn while speaking with Robert Klemko of The MMQB.

“I’m the best corner in the draft for a reason,” Peters said. “I’ve got three years worth of tape. You go watch it and tell me I’m not the best out there.”

However, Peters was suspended last September after throwing a fit on the sidelines, then kicked off the team altogether in November. Add in Peters' relationship with "mentor" Marshawn Lynch, and one scout told Adam Jude of The Seattle Times there's plenty to worry about with the youngster:

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A huge red flag. He’s a talented kid, no doubt. And it only takes one team (to fall in love with a player). From all the stuff that he’s been involved in and the chances he’s gotten and the immaturity he’s shown, it’s going to be tough for him. … They’re all professionals up here and they won’t put up with that BS. Hanging out with Marshawn (Lynch), that was probably the worst thing for him.

"

Then there's Wake Forest's Kevin Johnson. At 6'0", Johnson has the height scouts crave at the cornerback position. Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson told David Newton of ESPN.com that Johnson is "a tall corner that can run, and he has the loosest, quickest hips of anybody I've ever seen."

Like Peters, Johnson isn't short on confidence, per Newton. "I think I'm the best cornerback [in the 2015 draft]," Johnson said. "To be out on an island [as cornerbacks are] you have to be confident."

However, as with Peters, there's also a rub. With Peters, it was attitude. With Johnson, it's size. While he weighed in at 188 pounds at February's combine, Johnson possesses a slight build. The worry is that slight build will allow bigger and stronger pass-catchers to push him around at the NFL level.

Just like the Mississippi River, the deeper you get into this year's crop of corners, the muddier the water gets.

According to ESPN Insider, the fourth-ranked cornerback in this year's class is LSU's Jalen Collins. In fact, at least one NFC personnel director told Zierlein that Collins could easily wind up being the best pro at his position of this year's bunch:

"They all have holes, but Collins is what you are looking for in an NFL cornerback with his length and speed. He isn't there yet, but he has the traits and ability to become a high-end starter and maybe the best cornerback from this draft."

However, Collins is also a raw prospect (10 career starts) with iffy technique who just had foot surgery. Rang slots him outside the top five cornerbacks this year, and even outside the first round.

For Rang, the No. 4 cornerback is Florida State's P.J. Williams, a 6'0", 194-pounder who Zierlein wrote has "the talent to play on an island, and the swagger to regroup and forget when beaten."

Zierlein added further praise, writing, "Williams can cover outside or from the slot, and has potential to come in and start right away for an aggressive man-cover defense. With consistency of effort, Williams could become the best cornerback to come out of this draft."

We seem to be hearing that last part a lot.

However, Williams can also be handsy and susceptible to giving up the big play, and his speed isn't eye-popping. ESPN has him ranked sixth at the position and well into the second round overall.

Go deeper still and visibility hits zero. One man's second-rounder is another's Day 3 pick. Ask 10 draftniks to name their top 10 cornerbacks in 2015, and you're probably going to get 10 completely different lists.

It's just the nature of this year's beast, a crop of young defenders who have struggled just as much separating from one another as receivers did separating from them last year. It certainly doesn't make the job of NFL teams any easier.

But make no mistake: Waynes won't be the only first-round cornerback selected in 2015.

Year	CB Taken	Player (Pick)
2010	5	Joe Haden (7), Kareem Jackson (20), Devin McCourty (27), Kyle Wilson (29), Patrick Robinson (32)
2011	3	Patrick Peterson (5), Prince Amukamara (19), Jimmy Smith (27)
2012	3	Morris Claiborne (6), Stephon Gilmore (10), Dre Kirkpatrick (17)
2013	4	Dee Milliner (9), D.J. Hayden (12), Desmond Trufant (22), Xavier Rhodes (25)
2014	5	Justin Gilbert (8), Kyle Fuller (14), Darqueze Dennard (24), Jason Verrett (25), Bradley Roby (31)

Over the past five NFL drafts, an average of four cornerbacks have been selected in the first 32 picks. On two occasions, including last year beginning with Justin Gilbert at No. 8, five corners were taken in the first round.

We may not know exactly who, but Waynes is going to have company. The list of teams looking to upgrade at cornerback on an annual basis is about 32 teams long. After all, it's no coincidence that the two teams who faced off in Super Bowl XLIX also possessed the league's two deepest secondaries in 2014.

Of course, being drafted in the first round is no guarantee of NFL success, and that appears especially true at the cornerback position. The last three corners taken first (Gilbert, Dee Milliner and Morris Claiborne) have been unmitigated disasters as pros. Over the last few drafts, there have been a lot more misses than hits among first-round cornerbacks.

And given that, maybe we aren't asking the right question. Instead of wondering which of this year's tightly packed class is most likely to join Trae Waynes in the first round, we should be asking if, a few years down the road, any of them will wind up being worth it.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter at @IDPManor.