2012 NFL Draft: Stephon Gilmore Scouting Report

Another guy the Tennessee Titans will strongly consider if he is still on the board is Stephon Gilmore, CB, South Carolina. Most people seem to have him as the second best corner in the draft. Greg Cosell of NFL Films says he will be a better pro than Morris Claiborne.

There is a good report on him over at Garnet and Black Attack. Here is the conclusion:

I have mixed feelings about Gilmore and the Draft. On the one hand, I think the folks who call him "mistake-prone" (including many of our own fans) aren't quite fair on him. Indeed, there's a certain amount of unfair criticism that goes along with being the best corner on a team. If Gilmore was picked on occasionally while he played for us, he was also the guy who typically got the unkind task of lining up across from guys like Julio Jones. Things don't always work out in your favor in that situation. I also don't think that we always played to Gilmore's strengths. As has been well documented, Ellis Johnson preferred to run containment schemes in his secondary, but Gilmore always seemed to be most comfortable in press-man, which we ran very little of. In any event, the fact of the matter is that Gilmore was an excellent player for us, and he has the potential to continue to improve.

At the same time, I do wonder if the top 15 is too high for him. At that level, you had better be a sure-fire star, and Gilmore simply isn't right now. The fact of the matter, though, is that there aren't many elite corners in this draft. Morris Claiborne is great, but past him, the other guys all have some sort of blemish, just like Gilmore. Yet, some teams need a corner and are going to be tempted to reach for one of these guys. That sort of situation is tailor-made for a Draft-day mistake. That said, I do certainly think you could do worse than take a chance on our man Stephon.