Penn State's John Reid undervalued as CB prospect, draft analysts believe

Penn State is expected to have one former player taken in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday in pass rusher Yetur Gross-Matos.

Another Nittany Lions alum will go on the second day when wide receiver K.J. Hamler gets the call.

Others will be taken on the third day, including a 5-foot-10, 187-pound cornerback that could be one of this year’s most underrated prospects.

That is the assessment of several draft analysts, including Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network who recently stumped for John Reid to get more recognition from league decision makers.

In its draft analysis, NFL.com put a sixth-round grade on Reid, a redshirt senior who is projected to play the slot in the NFL.

Too low, Jeremiah said.

“He’s a top 100 player for me,” said Jeremiah, indicating an early fourth-round grade. “He’s my 99^th guy. He has production. He’s another one with the versatility to play inside and out. He’s going to be a really good nickel player.”

A native of Mount Laurel, N.J., Reid attended St. Joseph’s High School in Philadelphia and won back-to-back PIAA championships in the 2013-14 seasons. He was the No. 3 prospect in the state in 2015, trailing only Jordan Whitehead and Saquon Barkley.

Reid developed into a dependable corner for the Nittany Lions, appearing in 51 career games and finishing with 37 pass breakups — ranking No. 11 in school history — and seven interceptions. He was named as an honorable mention all-conference selection after his junior and senior seasons.

It wasn’t quite the accolade given to, say, Ohio State corner Jeff Okudah, a consensus top-five draft pick, but it also wasn’t indicative of Reid’s true value, said ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

“Reid is a guy who is often just forgotten about,” Herbstreit said on a conference call this week. “In that fourth, fifth or sixth round, somebody’s going to get a really talented, physical, competitive dude.”

Reid earned an invitation to the NFL Combine and held his own in most of the testing categories. He finished first among cornerbacks in the 20-yard shuttle, fifth in the broad jump, sixth in the three-cone drill and tied for eighth in the vertical jump. He also ran a respectable 4.49 40-yard dash.

What Reid showed to the scouts in Indianapolis wasn’t a surprise to his position coach at Penn State, Terry Smith, the former Gateway player and head coach.

“John Reid has the best feet in the draft of any corner out there,” Smith said on a recent conference call. “John Reid is smarter than anybody out there. John Reid is going to work extremely hard.”

Before Reid’s senior season, Smith tasked him with improving his tackling. Reid increased his tackles from 24 to 37 and had a career-high 2.5 tackles for loss.

“As a junior, he struggled as a tackler,” Smith said. “This year, he led our team in missed tackle percentage. He knows where his weaknesses are. … I don’t know if there’s a better prospect going into the draft to play inside against those slot receivers.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers are set for 2019 at cornerback, with veterans Joe Haden and Steve Nelson starting on the outside and Mike Hilton returning in the slot. Cameron Sutton is entering his fourth season and Justin Layne, a third-round pick in 2018, is entering his second.

Hilton and Sutton, though, will become unrestricted free agents next winter, and the Steelers can take a proactive step toward replenishing the cornerback depth in this year’s draft.

Herbstreit thinks Reid provides third-day value for any team that selects him.

“If you really look at teams that make it to the playoffs, it’s teams that do well in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds,” Herbstreit said. “They find guys like John Reid. He’s coming out of a great program and played for a great system. He has a chance to eventually become a DB that you can forget where he’s from. The next thing you know, he’s out there making a ton of plays. I love his upside and what he can do.”