In Week 15 of the 2015 NFL season, Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antonio Brown caught 16 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-27 come-from-behind win over the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos.  Perhaps most noteworthy is that both of Brown’s touchdown’s came against All-Pro CB Chris Harris, who later said that brown “embarrassed” him in that game.

With that said, it’s pretty clear that if an All-Pro cornerback can’t defend Brown, not many can.  That is, of course, unless you are University of Colorado CB Ken Crawley.

“I’ve seen best receivers out of the Pac-12. Shifty guys,” Crawley said at the NFL Combine, according to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “Not to take anything away from him (Brown), he’s great guy. But I can cover him. I know I can.”

Cornerbacks, perhaps more than any other position, are forced to play with an unflappable swagger.  Ask any cornerback playing in the NFL; they will all probably tell you that they are the best in the league at their position.

As it stands, Crawley  a “Day Three prospect,” which means most teams probably won’t take him into consideration until the final rounds of the NFL Draft.  However, projections are always iffy at this stage, so let’s take a look at Crawley and see if the Steelers could bet on him to live up to his word:

Strengths:

He has the size of a shutdown, outside cornerback.  Crawley stands six-foot-one and weighs 185 pounds, but looks bigger than that.  While examining several of his highlights from last season, I noticed that he possesses incredible fluidity in his hips, which allows him to run with most receivers and match their moves.  Even for his size, his arms almost disproportionately long, which gives him the ability to defend passes ever if he gets beaten just slightly.

Weaknesses:

There are several notable ones here.  In the several scouting reports that I’ve read, I noticed that many scouts seem to praise Crawley’s willingness to tackle in the open field.  While this seems to be true, Crawley’s form is not great, and he even looks like he pulls up slightly at times before making contact.  In line with Crawley’s seeming lack of physicality, his slim frame will leave him extremely susceptible to larger receivers. During his career, Crawley defended over 30 passes, but only caught three interceptions, which indicates that he probably doesn’t have the best set of hands.

Conclusions:

Crawley is no joke.  While I question his ability to actually cover Antonio Brown one-on-one, it is very clear that he has outstanding coverage skills.  However, while he might be able to match every one of Julio Jones’ movements, the fact that he’s so lean will likely mean that the likes of Jones, A.J. Green, Dez Bryant or any other big, powerful receiver will easily win the 50-50 balls.  I’m not sure if Crawley is the next Richard Sherman, but his coverage skills are undeniable, and some strength and conditioning coach will pack some muscle onto his slight frame.  He’s well worth a late-round investment.