Who is Tarvarus McFadden?
If many of you remember correctly, McFadden was mocked to the Rams in a plethora of preseason mock drafts. Most of these mock drafts had the Rams picking early in the draft too. Now the Rams sit at pick 23 and McFadden has disappeared from most of these first-round mocks. Why? Let’s start digging.
Tape: Tarvarus McFadden vs. Clemson (2016)
Strengths
McFadden has the size that NFL teams are looking for in #1 CBs (6’2″ 198 lbs). Florida State blitzed McFadden quite a bit and he was very successful. He offers a great amount of help in run support. He has sufficient ball skills. I really like his aggressiveness.
Weaknesses
McFadden will have a tougher job when matched up against shorter and shiftier wide receivers. His technique is a little choppy and needs refining. He shows signs of greatness in zone coverage, but he is too inconsistent. He didn’t jam receivers at the line in college, so he will have to learn how to do that. I think that will be a strength of his though.
Summary
There is one main reason why McFadden isn’t really considered a first round prospect anymore. How’s come? Well, one can look at his stats and see that in 2016 he had eight interceptions and had zero in 2017. Let’s not get carried away though folks, this happens to a lot of corners after a year like what McFadden had in 2016. McFadden is a big, physical corner that needs some refinement, but he will have his fair share of success in the league.
How does he fit with the Rams?
It is no secret that the Rams need a corner if Trumaine Johnson were to walk away. If the Rams were to draft McFadden with their first pick, I would also expect them to bring in another starting-caliber corner. McFadden is still a little raw and needs time to develop his technique. In a matter of years though, he could replace what Trumaine Johnson was for the Rams, a number one corner. I don’t want to get too carried away with the Trumaine Johnson narrative in this section of this article. Keep scrolling if you want that.
Pro Comparison: Trumaine Johnson
I don’t prefer to compare potential Rams to current Rams, but I could not hold this one back. If you were to put Johnson and McFadden next to each other, you would see that their size is identical. Florida State had McFadden five to ten yards off of the line-of-scrimmage for most of the time, similarly to what the Rams do with Johnson. Johnson is known for his physicality and ability help defend the run. That’s what I see with McFadden. If the Rams were to move on from the 28-year old Johnson, they could draft the 21-year old version of him.
Grade: Early Second Round
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