2014 NFL Draft Player Review: Marcus Roberson

Coming out of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in  Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Marcus Roberson was considered as one of the best cornerbacks in the country. Rivals.com labeled him as the second highest rated cornerback coming out of high school. Top collegiate programs throughout the nation were offering him scholarships left and right. Ultimately, Roberson decided to commit to the University of Florida, where he would don the colors of orange and blue every Saturday afternoon.

That was then and now things are a bit different. As Marcus Roberson continues to prepare himself for this year’s NFL Draft, team’s throughout the league continue to do their homework on him. What these different NFL Scouts and General Manager’s are seeing now, is not exactly the same things that the collegiate scouts saw. While Roberson still has a very high skill set, he has one major issue – staying healthy. Throughout his career at the University of Florida, Roberson has had periods of time where he would be unable to participate on Saturday’s. Whether it was caused by an injury, which happened on multiple occasions or due to being suspended, Roberson missed a lot of time over the past three seasons.

Despite the fact that his freshman and junior seasons were compromised due to a variety of injuries and a suspension, Roberson caught the attention of many with his phenomenal sophomore season. The biggest thing for Roberson that season was his ability to stay healthy. In his three seasons as a collegiate athlete, this was the only year that he participated in all thirteen games. He had a tremendous impact on the Gators defense, leading the team with twelve pass breakups, tying him with Joe Haden for sixth place on the all-time school list. His play was also good enough to earn him a spot on the AP’s All-SEC Second Team. After an incredible sophomore season, Roberson’s stock heading into his junior season was higher than it has ever been.

With Roberson gaining more national attention and exposure, the opportunity to propel himself up the draft boards of every team in the National Football League was right there in front of him. Unfortunately, the injury bug plagued Roberson again. In his last season with the Florid Gators, Roberson was essentially a non-factor. In just the second game of the season against the Miami Hurricanes, Roberson fell victim to a knee injury. This caused Roberson to miss the next three games of the season, as the Gators were just beginning their SEC play. However, in just three weeks Roberson was back on the field, suited up and playing. Sadly, he suffered an injury  in just his third game back,  as he re-aggravated his knee injury against Vanderbilt. He was also suspended for the game against South Carolina. Despite his suspension, head coach Will Muschamp said that he would not have been able to play due to his injury.

Heading into this year’s NFL Draft there are a lot to like about Roberson, but at the same time, there are some things that bring up some concerns. The biggest knock on Roberson is his inability to stay healthy. With injuries to both his neck and knee, there are some obvious durability issues that might concern a lot of teams. To go along with his health issues, there are some on the field concerns revolving around Roberson. Some of his biggest inconsistencies are his ability to tackle and stop the run. It is imperative that he improves this part of his game if he hopes to become a more complete cornerback. He also is a bit over-aggressive at times in coverage and needs to improve his route-recognizing ability.

On the contrary, there are an abundance of traits that make NFL scouts drool over him. One thing that I found to be quite prevalent in Roberson’s game is his incredible ability to blanket the opposing receiver. He is a naturally gifted cover corner. Another thing that I was able to take away from Roberson is that he is incredibly nimble with his footwork, allowing him to have solid movement skills. Along with his shiftiness and coverage skills, Roberson has good size. While he can add-on some more weight, it is not anything that a NFL training program can’t fix. Roberson also possesses something that you can not teach – a very competitive nature. You can tell just by watching him play that he loves the game of football. He gives it his all every play and commands the same from his teammates.

Overall, Marcus has the skill set to be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft. With that being said, there are still some things that Roberson needs to improve to become an every down corner in the National Football League. Due to injury concerns, teams might find themselves shying away from Roberson a bit. I do believe that this will have some sort of negative impact on his draft stock. Even though he has the skills to be a first round pick, I see Marcus being drafted in the mid-to-late second round. There is definitely some room for improvement for Roberson, but with the right coaching and surroundings, he can turn into a starting cornerback in the National Football League.

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