'There was no other team in the NFL that I wanted to be with besides the Carolina Panthers'

On the second day of the 2016 NFL draft, the Panthers invested their draft capital to infuse their defensive secondary with both youth and talent. While many predicted these positions would be addressed during the draft, few (props to Smokewagon) correctly predicted the names that Dave Gettleman and his scouting department would target – James Bradberry and Daryl Worley. While I’ll discuss Bradberry in a separate article, today’s article features the newly-turned 21-year old Daryl Worley, the 77th overall pick of 2016 NFL draft.

Biography and Statistics

Worley was a 3-year starter for the Mountaineers who declared early for the draft, following his true junior season. Impressively, Worley contributed during his true-freshman season at safety/nickelback and on special teams, recording 45 tackles, 1 interception, and 5 pass deflections. During his sophomore year, Worley recorded 52 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, 3 interceptions, and 4 pass deflections; unfortunately, his season was cut short because of an off-field incident involving his girlfriend, which resulted in an arrest for battery (eventually pled no contest and received a six-month suspended sentence/probation). This past season, Worley was voted 1st Team All-Big 12 and led the league in both interceptions (6) and passes defensed (12). He also recorded 49 tackles and 2 forced fumbles. Unfortunately, he was deemed academically ineligible for the Cactus Bowl after "failing to turn in homework" and "missing the NCAA bowl certification deadline." Prior to declaring for the draft, West Virginia head coach, Dana Holgorsen encouraged Worley to stay in school and publically expressed how he did not believe an NFL team would invest a draft pick on him. The NFL Draft Advisory Board recommended Worley to return to school as well to improve his draft stock.

At a glance, the off-field issues revolving around the battery arrest, academic suspension, and less-than-stellar endorsements from his head coach and NFL Draft Advisory Board, may have appeared like external circumstances that would have kept a prospect like Worley off the Panthers draft board, however, as outsiders, it’s impossible to draw conclusions from this situations.

What is known is that classically, the Carolina Panthers as an organization possess some of the strictest character standards regarding their vetting process under Jerry Richardson. Furthermore, from what I’ve seen and read, Worley developed into a real leader for the Mountaineers this past season, especially after the injury to fellow defensive back, Karl Joseph.

Physical Profile

As with Bradberry, the discussion with Worley has to begin with his measureables – 6’1", 204lbs with 33⅜" arms and 10¼" hands. The latter two values rank in the 95th and 96th percentiles respectively of NFL cornerbacks; his height and weight rank in the 71st and 89th percentiles respectively as well. In short, Worley fits the modern physical-dimensions prototype that the NFL appears to be trending toward – he’s tall, he’s well-built, and he possesses exceptional length with massive hands.

Unfortunately, it was reported that Worley was suffering from illness during the 2016 NFL combine. This may have led to some of the mediocre testing numbers as can be seen from this mockdraftable table. As a result, it’s difficult to conclude too much from the combine; however, I’ll briefly describe some of the personally notable metrics. During his pro-day, Worley was able to improve his 40-time to 4.54 seconds (according to Gil Brandt), which would have placed him in the 29th percentile for NFL corners (Rotoworld records a 4.48s pro-day 40 time which would have placed him in the 58th percentile), a vast improvement from the 7th percentile (4.64s 40-time) shown on the graph. In terms of how I feel this translates on film, although he’s not a burner, Worley can definitely carry the vertical and possesses the acceleration necessary to play cornerback in the NFL. The primary stand-out athletic metric on this chart was the 60-yard shuttle, where Worley tested in the 95th percentile. The 60-yard shuttle tests for acceleration and COD. Considering his physical dimensions, his vertical and broad jumps were fairly impressive as well, indicating good lower-body explosion. Unlike Bradberry, who tested in the 92nd percentile in terms of SPARQ testing, Worley’s numbers were more pedestrian, testing in the 36th percentile for NFL corners.

Perhaps most notable on this chart are the players to which Worley compares with. As highlighted, one of those players is the recently departed All-Pro cornerback, Josh Norman. Although Norman left over unfortunate circumstances, as evidenced with the selections of both Bradberry and Worley, the former Panther may have left his paw prints on the Panthers organization in terms of their draft philosophy regarding corners. At least physically and athletically, both Bradberry and Worley bear an uncanny resemblance to Norman- big corners with terrific lower body explosion and exceptional length.

Film Notes and Fit

Worley typically played RCB on WVU’s 3-3-5 odd stack defense, although he operated on both sides of the field and even began his career as a safety/nickelback. First some brief exposition regarding West Virginia’s defense and specifically, Worley’s responsibilities within this defense.

As mentioned, WVU is primarily a 3-3-5 odd stack defense with 3 down lineman, 3 linebackers (‘stack’ refers to OLB positioning directly behind the defensive ends), and 5 defensive backs, which is pretty unique base alignment. Although differences exist, Rex Ryan’s defenses often use this 3-3-5 look against obvious passing situations. The primary benefits of this type of defense is that it enables enhanced pre-snap deception and adds greater overall team speed on the field (with 5 defensive backs). Further, it allows blitzes to come from any direction from the field and because the 8 players behind the 3 down lineman often all have coverage skills, it’s difficult to predict player assignments regarding drops or blitzes (Kevin Dodd excelled in this role at Clemson which utilizes similar 3-3-5 looks).

In 5 defensive back sets, WVU typically uses 2 corners (a field and a boundary corner), 1 free safety, and 2 additional safeties, whose role and field location depend on the formation. At WVU, as I alluded to before, Worley operated primary at RCB, operating at certain times as either a field corner (who covered the wide side of the field) or as a boundary corner (shorter side of the field) in the 3-3-5 defense. Typically, boundary corners are the more physical of the two corners and are superior in run support; the field corners are typically the more talented M2M corner. WVU’s coverage scheme primary operated on the basis of a Cover 3 (much like Carolina’s) with a smattering of Cover 2.

Worley’s task within this defense was primarily to play press-man coverage or perform spot drops into deep zones that I’ll talk a bit more about. In press-man coverage, Worley already features a highly promising physical skillset that couples with a promising technical foundation. He’s confident and aggressive with his initial jabs and shoves to re-route receivers and possesses deep speed to run with them throughout their route. As he continues to learn more consistent timing and punch location, Worley has a chance to develop into one of the better press-man/press-bail corners in the NFL.

Another aspect I really liked about Worley was his level of competition. During his college career, he faced off against the likes of players such as Amari Cooper, Josh Doctson, Stefon Diggs, and Corey Coleman. He was also on the same team as Kevin White, the 7th overall pick from a year ago, who he practiced often against. Although Worley was far from perfect during these matchups (he had some particularly brutal moments against Corey Coleman though he showed the ability to run deep with him), I believe this experience against upper-tier NFL receiving talent will aid his transition into the NFL. I also believe that Worley has a promising foundation as a tackler, a criminally underrated skill for a corner. He’ll continually look to wrap-up, is reliable in the open field, and is generally consistent with breaking down, aim points, and angles.

Ultimately, in terms of skillset, Worley’s primary attributes are his ball skills and instincts. As mentioned before, WVU’s Cover 3 defense utilized spot drops where the defensive backs’ initial responsibilities were to cover a designated zone of the field, then read the quarterback, and finally matchup M2M if a receiver entered the zone. The standard Cover 3 has both cornerbacks playing off by 7-10 with outside leverage on the outside wide receivers. Within this role, Worley often showcased with his superb reactionary quickness (especially out of his spot drops), calculated risk-taking, leaping ability, ball tracking, competitiveness at the catch point, and ball skills. In terms of ball skills, Worley exhibits a wide catch radius and is comfortable catching the ball away from his frame. Especially as a zone-coverage defensive back, one of the most pivotal traits is the confidence to read-and-react to what the player witnesses in front of him. In my opinion, this is one of Worley’s premier traits. Though stats are sometimes misleading, in my perspective, Worley’s high number of interceptions and passes defensed are not by accident; combined with his physical gifts, Worley’s instincts and ball skills allow him to consistently be competitive at the catch point. Combined with his natural physical gifts, where Worley shows a promising feel of maximizing his size, length, and timing, he’s rarely in a position to concede contested catches.

Unfortunately, there are two primary areas of improvement in Worley’s game – overall inconsistency and suspect lateral agility. This past season especially, general inconsistencies plagued Worley’s game. At various times, he appeared to lose track of receivers, he struggled with his footwork, gave too much cushion in bail coverage, lacked discipline or willingness in run defense, and was wild with his press technique. In terms of his press technique, specifically, Worley needs to become more patient and consistent with his hand usage. Presently, there are too many breakdowns with both aspects that lead to him lunging, losing balance, and having to recover off the LOS. Despite his physical gifts, Worley isn’t talented enough with his recovery to overcome his inconsistencies with his press technique, breakdowns in footwork, and general false steps. He also needs time and coaching to develop a better feel and timing of ball location with his back to the ball.

In general, larger corners struggle moving laterally and Worley is unfortunately no exception. As a result, in situations where he is tasked with playing as a field corner in space or mirroring against receivers with explosive lateral agility, Worley may struggle in these types of situations. I won’t go as far as to say that Worley possesses significant stiffness that impedes his COD. I don’t believe this to be the case and the athletic testing numbers, particularly in the 20-yard and 60-yard shuttle reveal a player that struggles more with inconsistency with footwork than biomechanical inability.

Conclusion

Cover 3 is becoming one of the most popular coverages in college and the NFL. Finding corners that can meet both the physical and skillset requirements to meet this standard are about to become (or are already becoming) a highly coveted asset that NFL teams are willing to invest heavily in. I believe this to be Gettleman's logic with the selections of both James Bradberry and Daryl Worley. Both prospects were corners that perfectly fit this modern prototype demanded for the position. One could say that among all the corners in the 2016 NFL draft, these two corners present the ultimate combination of fit and upside among any corners in this entire draft class within this scheme.

An example of Carolina's Cover 3

Although Worley’s presents a tantalizing blend of measureables, athleticism, skillset, intangibles, and fit, similar to Bradberry, Worley probably requires some developmental time before he’s ready to contribute directly on the field. In other words, Worley feels more like a high-upside developmental corner (or perhaps even safety) than a day 1 starter.

In his most recent post-draft press conference, Dave Gettleman greatly emphasized the importance of intelligence and learning; he was no doubt referring to Worley in this statement. In addition to this ability, under the steady guidance of one of the best defensive backs coaches in the NFL in Steve Wilks and behind one of the premier front 7's in the NFL, hopefully that learning curve can be greatly expedited and Worley can develop into the player I believe he's capable of turning into - one of the best boundary cornerbacks in the NFL.

Time for the highlights!

Other Notes:

Kevin Norwood Edition

James Bradberry Edition

Zack Sanchez Edition