Ugo Amadi, CB/S

School: Oregon | Conference: PAC-12

College Experience: Senior | Age: 21

Height / Weight: 5-9 / 199 lbs

Projected Draft Status: 5th or 6th Round

NFL Comparison: Will Parks

College Statistics

Player Overview

Ugochukwu Amadi was a 4-star prospect from Nashville, Tennessee who couldn’t quite make up his mind in the recruiting process. He originally committed to Ole Miss but had second thoughts. Then he committed to LSU and had some more second thoughts. Finally, he committed to Oregon and in turn committed to playing a couple thousand miles from home. He was impressed with where he thought the program was going specifically with Oregon’s berth into the first college playoff game and win in the Rose Bowl in 2014. After the departure of Marcus Mariota to the NFL the Ducks never were quite the program they were before Amadi arrived on campus but he had a solid career in Eugene as a corner, safety, and most recently a return man. Scouts reportedly love his character and leadership ability on and off the field. He had a somewhat disappointing showing with athletic testing at the Combine but did improve his vertical by two inches during his Pro Day. Amadi should be an interesting option for teams looking for a secondary player who can play deep but also come up and play some nickel as well. His value as a return should also check a box as well.

Strengths

Good speed, length, and strength for the position. Amadi has the athleticism to stick with TEs over the middle, WRs on the boundary, and RBs coming out of the backfield.

Highly competitive and passionate player. He’s been praised for his work ethic, leadership habits, and character.

Has some position flexibility and versatility. Can cover as a nickel back or play deep as a safety. Not horrible coming up to play the run either. He’s very strong for his size and has some power behind his hits.

Looks smooth his his movements in coverage and has the flexibility to turn and mirror as well as get some good depth. Keeps plays in front of him and works downhill. Takes good pursuit angles. Showed good ball skills and can finish by scoring.

Added value as a returner.

Weaknesses

With his size and inconsistent athletic traits its going to be hard to find a solid position for him outside of his work on special teams.

Despite his strength he simply isn’t big enough to challenge bigger TEs and WRs in coverage and win.

Gives up too much space in coverage. Relies on his ability to recover but it doesn’t always work out.

Short area agility and quickness are lacking from the slot. Not sure if he can survive at CB 100% of the time when covering laterally where he’ll need that skill.

Need to work on his tackling technique wise.

Let’s see his work:

More Ugo Amadi videos

Ugo Amadi, dude is a spark of energy in the slot. Heady plays like this are why I like this dude. pic.twitter.com/rzSAnT7cuf — Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) April 1, 2019

Ugo Amadi (slot corner #7) is officially #MyGuy. Keeps eyes in backfield for side-shuffle, recognizes sprint out action to the field side, and anticipates out-breaking route from slot receiver. Great burst to the ball. pic.twitter.com/5FR5PuHjai — Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) July 12, 2018

Voted a permanent team captain, strong showing in Indy and click and close with some finish for #Oregon safety Ugo Amadi. I see you, Ugo. pic.twitter.com/eFenBSeIuQ — Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) March 19, 2019

How Would He Fit On The Redskins?

Amadi reminds me a lot of Deshazor Everett. I think he sticks on the roster because of the positives they share. Passion, leadership, toughness, position versatility etc. Unfortunately for Amadi his fit in the NFL is even a bit more up in the than Everett’s was because he’s lacking in height for the position. His athleticism and current cover skills might leave him exposed by certain slot players and his lack of recovery speed might leave him exposed as a deep safety. He can’t do anything about his height but he’s still going to have to work overtime to make sure he stands out on special teams as a returner or on the coverage team. While I like the versatility and depth he would bring to the Redskins I just don’t know how this team would use him outside of a special teams application. I think if he’s still around late on day 3 he’s certainly worth rolling the dice on but he might fit better in other defenses.