Oct 5, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Kansas Jayhawks cornerback Mello Dotson (3) against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

New York Giants Draft Prospect: CB Mello Dotson, Kansas

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Nick Falato | Last updated Feb 25, 2025 12:00 PM ET

Mello Dotson might not be the most athletic cornerback in this year's class, but he has some attributes that make him worth taking a flier on.

Mello Dotson, CB

A former three-star recruit out of Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he was the 191st-ranked recruit in his state and the 139th-graded CB during the 2020 cycle.

Dotson started three-and-a-half years for the Jayhawks with 2,732 total snaps and played over 700 snaps in each of the last three seasons; he also added 236 special teams snaps through his career.

Dotson allowed less than a 60% completion rate in the last two seasons. He did miss double-digit tackles in each of the last four seasons and finished his college career with a 19.1% missed tackle rate.

Dotson was honored as a Walter Camp Second Team All-American and an AP Third-Team All-American in 2024, while earning a spot on the First Team All-Big 12.

He was an honorable mention Big-12 Defensive Player of the Year. Dotson holds the Kansas’ school record for interceptions returned for a touchdown (4). His birth name is Ra’Mello Dotson. He was in attendance at the East-West Shrine Game.

Strengths

My favorite part about this Mello Dotson pick-six is Coach Leipold’s reaction on the sideline. pic.twitter.com/rUbP9yYuEG https://t.co/cnwcoxr6LA
— Austin Eckert (@AustinCEckert) February 24, 2025

Weaknesses

Summary

Mello Dotson is an experienced outside cornerback with good ball skills and a solid ability to process route concepts and react accordingly. He intercepted 12 passes in his career and took four of them to the house; his processing + average athletic traits offer him a possibility to find the field in the NFL.

However, Dotson’s athletic ability is not an asset, it’s just adequate; that, coupled with his marginal tackling and play strength, work against him and must improve.

Still, Dotson has enough coverage ability to warrant a look. He created plenty of turnovers in college and that’s a trait every team is looking to add, but there are areas of his game that need work. He’s a solid flier with special teams’ upside late in the draft.

GRADE: 6.12

This article first appeared on New York Giants on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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