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Ennis Rakestraw 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Missouri CB

Originally posted on The 33rd Team | By Greg Cosell | Last updated 4/11/24

The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.

Here's our report on Ennis Rakestraw.

Ennis Rakestraw's 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS

Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 183
40-yard dash: 4.51
10-yard split: 1.54
Broad jump: 10"
Arm length: 32"

Ennis Rakestraw 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

STRENGTHS

Extensive experience playing outside and the slot. Also has experience playing press man in both spots.
Quick transition from press bail to plant and drive on throws. No wasted steps with some sudden twitch.
Showed sticky-tight coverage when playing press man from the slot. Stayed in phase, riding the receiver’s hip.
Despite smaller size, he played press man on the outside with physicality through the early part of the route.
Poised and composed in press man, waiting for the receiver to declare release. Excellent balance and body control.
Mirrored receivers cleanly from outside and slot positions. Showed balance and the body control to stop.
Showed willingness to play physically and competitively as a run defender on the outside. Made tough tackles.
Outstanding playing personality. Played with competitive and physical and mental toughness — tough-minded.

WEAKNESSES

Not as big or as timed speed fast as you’d ideally want in outside corners. Will NFL teams see him as a slot corner?
At times, he took a false step in press man, which put him back on his heels and in recovery mode off the ball.
Tendency at times to be a little too handsy through the receiver’s routes. That will need to be corrected at the next level.
Needs to learn to do a better job in press man of getting his head around and locating the ball on vertical routes.
Ball production must increase at outside corner. Too often played the receiver with little awareness of the throw.

NFL TRANSITION

Rakestraw is one of those corners whose tape you love to watch because of how he plays with a feisty, competitive swagger and attitude. He never allows his thin frame and less-than-ideal weight (183 pounds) to negatively impact his approach and physicality. This was especially evident as a run defender, where he was as physically tough and competitive as any corner in the draft.

Rakestraw’s 2023 tape showed he could be effective on the outside, playing press man coverage and off-coverage with the athletic traits to be successful in both techniques. Some teams could see him more as a slot corner, given his lack of desired size for the outside, his short-area burst, quickness, and toughness playing the run.

Rakestraw’s tackling ability will be a big factor for many teams. He is more than a cover corner and might also lead teams to believe slot corner is his better transition. Rakestraw has extensive experience playing outside corner and slot corner. If teams believe his thin frame presents an issue outside, then he can be deployed in the slot with the needed athletic and competitive traits to succeed there.

Remember that Denzel Ward came out of Ohio State with the same height/weight measurables as Rakestraw. The difference is that Ward’s overall athletic testing numbers, including a 4.32 40-yard dash, were clearly better than Rakestraw’s. Ward was the fourth-overall pick in the 2018 draft.

Rakestraw consistently played press man on the outside at a high level with patience, discipline, balance, body control and hip fluidity to open and match the receiver’s release. At times, he used his plus arm length to jam and disrupt. The more I watched Rakestraw’s tape, the more I liked him, especially given his high-level competitiveness and mental toughness.

OTHER NOTES

Rakestraw played four years at Missouri, becoming a starter in his freshman season. He suffered a season-ending ACL injury in his sophomore season of 2021 but returned in 2022 to start all 13 games. Rakestraw came out of Dallas as a three-star recruit after being part of a high school team that made back-to-back Texas state championship game appearances.

Rakestraw played significant snaps outside as the boundary and field corner and in the slot in Missouri’s sub-defenses. He has outstanding positional versatility, with extensive experience playing multiple coverage concepts. Rakestraw was deployed as a blitzer when aligned as the boundary corner. He also showed the versatility to sink from the slot and play half-field safety in Cover 2.

This article first appeared on The 33rd Team and was syndicated with permission.

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