During the 2024 NFL Draft, Ryan Parish debuted his list of “Bargain” NFL prospects the Steelers could target at positions of need. Now, Ryan’s series is back to once again highlight some of the lesser-known players in this year’s class. This series is not meant to predict who the Steelers will pick, but rather highlight some players Ryan thinks would fit with the team and should be available in Rounds 2-7. For this series, Ryan will avoid highlighting players frequently listed in the top 50-75 range on big boards. Looking for more? Check out Ryan’s picks this year at wide receiver and running back.
As the Steelers have navigated the offseason, it’s felt pretty clear that cornerback is not a position they felt was a huge area of need. After letting Donte Jackson sign elsewhere in free agency, the team brought in veteran corner Darius Slay to mentor and/or split reps with Cory Trice. Former Jet Brandin Echols also signed a cheap deal to presumably compete with Beanie Bishop Jr. for reps at nickel and provide some outside versatility. The Steelers had plenty of cap space to attempt a splashier signing but appear to be playing the compensatory pick game for the 2026 draft.
Add in that they’ve only hosted predraft visits with two corners — Azareye’h Thomas and Trey Amos, both fringe first-rounders — while scheduling visits with several running backs and defensive tackles projected to go on Day 2, and it’s probably a safe bet the Steelers will not be spending a high pick on the position.
Still, I can’t help but hope for more competition when I look at the corners on the depth chart. Joey Porter Jr. is locked in as CB1, but Slay is 34 years old. Should the Steelers feel confident that he won’t start to see his talent diminish or suffer any injury setbacks? Especially with the oft-injured Trice as his primary backup? Echols seems competent and Bishop could develop further, but neither are players that should prevent a team from keeping its options open. James Pierre is a good special-teamer who can fill in on a pinch, but we’ve seen enough of him to know the Steelers would be in a tough spot if they needed extended reps from him.
That’s why I think cornerback is actually a position perfect for this series. The chances of the Steelers drafting a cornerback in the first round seem slim. Later in the draft, though? That could be on the table.
So, let’s keep our heads on a swivel and get to the prospects.
Jacob Parrish, Kansas State
Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images
Age: 21
Height/weight: 5’10, 191 pounds
Arm Length: 30 7/8”
RAS: 8.82
Parrish is your favorite draft analyst's favorite sleeper. As the draft gets closer and we start to see more “My Guys” types of content, Parrish is a name I expect to be popular, and for good reason.
I think he might be the stickiest cover in the class.
Jacob Parrish from K State is an underrated corner in this draft. He can play inside and outside and only gave up 3 catches on 8 targets against Iowa State.
A few clips vs. Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins pic.twitter.com/NkpxQ1CJp7
— Marcus Johnson (@TheMarcJohnNFL) April 10, 2025
Parrish glides around the field and is such a smooth operator. He’s best in press coverage but possesses the athleticism and smarts to play off-man and zone effectively both inside and out. His 4.35 second 40-time, 37.5” vertical and 10’9 broad jump hint at explosive athleticism as well. In two years as a starter, Parrish had 5 interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
Parrish needed to improve as a tackler coming into 2024, and he bulked up during the offseason to help accomplish that. Kansas State listed him as 183 pounds in 2023 and at 198 pounds for 2024. He weighed in at 191 pounds at the Combine, which makes me think the 183-pound listing for his sophomore year was probably a little juiced. Either way, it paid dividends, as he cut his missed tackle rate almost in half from 2023 (15.3%) to 2024 (8.3%).
Parrish’s size could see him fall. There will be teams that view him as a nickel corner only, but I think that’s selling him short.
Darien Porter, Iowa State
Photo by Keith Gillett/IconSportswire
Age: 24
Height/weight: 6’3, 195 pounds
Arm Length: 33 1/8”
RAS: 9.99
The draft isn’t an exact science. There are lots of factors that go into a player’s development. No matter how hard we try, when it comes to projecting players, there is no exact formula that tells us who will continue to grow in their development and who will flounder as the competition rises. In my opinion, there are two main buckets that prospects fall under: athletic freaks and students of the game. Of course, there are players who are both of those things, but those guys tend to be shaking hands with Rodger Goodell early on the first night of the draft. The best drafting teams know you’ll need a mix of both types to field a competitive team.
If the 9.99 RAS above didn’t tip you off, Iowa State’s Darien Porter falls into the “athletic freak” bucket. Players built like Porter don’t come around often. According to the database at Mockdraftable, Porter is one of the nuttiest combinations of size and athleticism. Consider these testing numbers:
95th percentile height
80” wingspan (95th)
33 1/8” arm length (93rd)
4.30 40-Yard Dash (98th)
1.49 10-yard split (93rd)
131” broad jump (92nd)
6.71-second 3-Cone Drill (89th)
That’s all pretty tantalizing. So what’s the catch? Well, for starters, Porter only started one season at corner in college after converting from wide receiver and contributing mostly on special teams. He’s also on the older side, having turned 24 in January.
Iowa State – CB – Darien Porter#BuildingTheBoard #NFLDraft
✅Tall, long CB (33.125″ arms) with impressive athletic gifts (9.99 RAS)
✅Plays physically downfield and makes his presence felt
❌Didn't start until 6th year at Iowa State and still only played in rotation pic.twitter.com/fs0hFdakEC
— Quinten Krzysko (@ButkusStats) March 23, 2025
Predicting who Porter will be as a pro will require a lot of projection. In 2024, PFF credits him as playing 203 snaps in coverage. He was only targeted 17 times all year and didn’t allow a single touchdown while collecting 3 interceptions and 2 PBUs. However, Porter’s profile is also skewed by Iowa State’s heavy zone scheme. Porter crushed it in zone, allowing only 2 receptions for a total of 13 yards. He only was targeted 5 times in man coverage, however, giving up 57 yards on 3 receptions, with most of that yardage coming on a single 32-yard completion.
Porter comes with a lot of uncertainty just because we didn’t get a chance to see him do it for long. I think it’s fair to wonder why it took until year six in college for the coaching staff to get him on the field despite his obvious athletic gifts.
Still, if the Steelers are looking at him in the third or fourth round, they could do worse than betting on the upside of such a uniquely gifted athlete.
Nohl Williams, California
Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images
Age: Turns 23 in September
Height/weight: 6’0, 199 pounds
Arm Length: 30 3/4”
RAS: 7.13
Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching the Steelers all my life, but I definitely have a type when it comes to cornerbacks. I want my corners to do at least one of the following, but preferably both:
Make wide receivers fight their way out of a phone booth to get off the line of scrimmage.
Turn the damn ball over.
Last year that player was Jarvis Brownlee Jr. This year, I have to give that nod to Nohl Williams.
Cal CB Nohl Williams vs Stanford WR Elic Ayomanor
This was one of the most fun matchups I've watched all cycle. Both guys are incredibly physical. Williams got the better of him this day but I still like Ayomanor as well
Here's every one-on-one man coverage rep… pic.twitter.com/iB2w5Xb3yK
— Chicago Football Connection (@CFCBears) March 30, 2025
Williams, a fifth-year senior, also led the nation in interceptions with 7, including this pick-six against the presumptive first overall pick of this year’s draft.
Williams returned to form as a tackler in 2024 after a down season in 2023. His 5.7% missed tackle rate beat his previous best (6.8%) in 2022, during his final year at UNLV.
Williams' draft stock is impacted by a combination of his age, average athletic testing, and the usual concern about press corners being grabby. I’m not too concerned by any of those. Williams’ 4.50 40-time is not a barrier to success, and his other scores were not poor, they just weren’t freaky good.
Williams is projected on NFL.com as a potential Round 3-4 pick. I think he’d be a steal in either round, but especially in the fourth round if that allowed the Steelers to add an offensive playmaker or a defensive tackle in the third.
Cobee Bryant, Kansas
Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images
Age: Turns 24 in September
Height/weight: 6’0, 180 pounds
Arm Length: 31 1/4”
RAS: N/A (Only ran a 40, clocked in at 4.53)
Cobee Bryant is one of my favorite watches in this class. I love a corner that plays with an edge, and will let his opponents know about it. Every year I’ve taken to declaring one of the defensive back prospects the Chauncey Gardner-Johnson Yapper of the Class after one of my favorite non-Steelers in the league.
Cobee Bryant one of my guys in this draft. The fact he already wants to lock down a Bungle is music to my ears https://t.co/IpwiUiUuFh
— Ryan Parish (@RyanParishmedia) March 1, 2025
It’s important to note, though, that just being brash is not enough. Your play has to back it up. Bryant does.
He has a ton of experience as a guy who was starting games by the end of his freshman year. In all he’s played 2,640 defensive snaps and 1,405 coverage snaps. He’s a ballhawk with season interception totals of 2, 3, 4 and 4. He has 18 career PBUs and vastly improved as a tackler in his senior year, reducing his missed tackle percentage to 8.5%.
Watching him, it’s easy to see how he’d fit in the Steelers ethos of winning the turnover battle.
I know he's 170 lbs but Cobee Bryant is one of my favorite players in this class. 11 INTs/16 PBUs/3 FF over the last 3 seasons and the most physical CB in run support that I've watched pic.twitter.com/nWVzBC1vg0
— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) January 21, 2025
Bryant faces many of the same concerns as Williams — he’s an even older prospect and he has plenty of holding penalties — plus the added concern about his slender frame. Many teams will take him off the board just for that, and it’s why he’s being projected as primarily a nickel corner for the NFL.
That’s why it was a big deal when Bryant weighed in at 180 at the Combine. The Steelers have previously let Mike Hilton and Beanie Bishop Jr. start for them, and both of them are listed at 183 pounds.
NFL’s website is currently projecting Bryant to be drafted in the sixth round. But watching his film and looking at his profile, and it’s hard not to feel like he’s going to find away to hang around the league.
Dorian Strong, Virginia Tech
Photo by Ryan Hunt/Getty Images
Age: 23
Height/weight: 6’1, 185 pounds
Arm Length: 30 7/8”
RAS: 8.33
In addition to having a fun name that sounds like it was generated in a video game, Dorian Strong hits a lot of the familiar qualifications we look for in a Steelers cornerback. Long-limbed press corner with 4.50 speed? Check. Assisting on a tackle against Mike Tomlin’s son, Dino? Check.
Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Strong is a prime example of the type of solid, but limited press corners that find a way to play for years as long as they end up in a complimentary system. Strong has some change-of-direction stiffness and doesn’t have great makeup speed if he gets beat vertically. But he counters that with sound tackling, good vision and aggressive instincts.
Virginia Tech DB Dorian Strong deserves some more love.
Quick, fluid, instinctive corner that can really run who is also competitive as a run defender. I think he shows that in Mobile next week. pic.twitter.com/uzrtB1qfSj
— Ryan Fowler (@_RyanFowler_) January 22, 2025
Strong got 15 starts across his freshman and sophomore seasons at Virgina Tech. He started four games in 2022, but an injury forced him to miss the rest of the season, and allowed Strong to use a redshirt. He became a full-time starter in 2023. Strong is another prospect that’s played a lot of ball, something I think the Steelers have been prioritizing in recent years. Strong finishes his college career with 2,770 snaps on defense, with 1,518 of those coming in coverage. He has a career 9.7% missed tackle rate with 2024 his best performance at 5.6%. He’s allowed a completion percentage of just 45.5% across his career. His 2023 was especially impressive as he only allowed 9 receptions for 83 yards on 33 targets.
Virginia Tech – CB – Dorian Strong#BuildingTheBoard #NFLDraft
✅ Long, agile, and highly competitive press CB with loose hips
✅ Impressive range in back and side pedal due to long legs
❌ Lacks makeup speed and ideal burst to get downhill in off-coverage pic.twitter.com/7MUXG23PsA
— Quinten Krzysko (@ButkusStats) April 10, 2025
Strong is currently being projected as a Day 3 pick.
Zah Frazier, Univ. of Texas-San Antonio
Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Age: Turns 25 in October
Height/weight: 6’3, 186 pounds
Arm Length: 32 7/8”
RAS: 9.36
Earlier, I mentioned I tend to think players late in the draft typically fall into two categories: athletic freaks or students of the game. We’ve been on a run of the latter, so let’s close this thing out with a raw athletic marvel, shall we?
Remember Darien Porter? Zah (pronounced like Zay) Frazier is like if you copied Porter’s homework but changed it just a little.
Frazier only started in his final season for UTSA, and he took a circuitous route to get there. After redshirting at Southern Illinois in 2019, Frazier spent two years at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. He transferred to UTSA in 2022. Frazier is our oldest prospect, as he’ll turn 25 during the upcoming season.
That’s a red flag that will knock him down the draft boards. Pair that with just 596 snaps and 338 coverage snaps at the FBS level, and you get the idea of how risky of a profile Frazier is.
So why the interest? Well, watch him.
Zah Frazier is the next high upside Day 3 CB from UTSA. He isn’t quite as athletic as Riq Woolen but he has better college tape.
– 6-3 with long arms
– 6 interceptions in 2024 (2nd most in FBS)
– Overwhelming press CB
– Only 1 career missed tackle
pic.twitter.com/OSgM3SjLyT
— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) December 13, 2024
Frazier is tall with plus length, speed, and agility. For a player who hasn’t played many snaps, Frazier was a surprisingly sound tackler. PFF credits him with two missed tackles and a 5.6% career missed tackle rate.
NFL.com projects Frazier as a fifth-round pick. The risk is baked into the cost, one I find to be reasonable.
That’s it; that’s my list. Per request, here is a final listing of prospects:
Jacob Parrish, Kansas Stte
Darien Porter, Iowa State
Nohl Williams, California
Cobee Bryant, Kasas
Dorian Strong, Virginia Tech
Zah Frazier, University of Texas-San Antonio
