Darnay
Holmes.
Darnay
Holmes.
UCLA· 5'10"· 195 lb· 4.48s 40
"A five-star who started UCLA's season opener as a true freshman and led the Bruins in interceptions three years running, graded as a slot corner because the size and vertical speed closed the outside door."Pre-draft read
Holmes is a compact, twitchy cover corner built for the slot. At 5-10 and under 200 pounds he plays with short-area burst, quick feet in his backpedal and the click-and-close speed to break on throws in front of him, which is where his ball production came from.
He is at his best in off coverage, reading the quarterback and driving on the route rather than turning and running. He tackles willingly for his size and triggers downhill on screens and quick game. The problems arrive vertically and physically: bigger receivers box him out at the catch point, he grabs when he is beaten early in the route, and he gives up separation on deep comebacks. The signature is instincts and ball skills in a small package, plus value as a returner.
A nickel-heavy zone defense that keeps its slot corner facing the quarterback, lets him read and drive on routes, and protects him from vertical isolation.
Year 1 starting nickel and return man, with a ceiling as a long-term slot starter who produces turnovers in a zone-match system.
A press-man defense that leaves him alone on big outside receivers and asks him to run vertical routes without safety help.
HIGHLIGHTS: UCLA CB Darnay Holmes
Team-produced college reel from the club that drafted him, focused on the ball skills.
Darnay Holmes 2018 Highlights
Sophomore-season cutup from his most productive year, including the pick-six and kick return touchdown.
Senior Bowl 2020: Darnay Holmes, CB, UCLA
All-star week reps against NFL-caliber receivers, where the slot projection was confirmed.
Holmes was a five-star recruit who never waited his turn. He enrolled at UCLA in January 2017 and, alongside Jaelan Phillips, became part of the first pair of true freshman defenders to start a season opener for the Bruins. He played thirteen games with eleven starts that year and led the team with three interceptions, returning one against Hawaii thirty yards for a score.
As a sophomore he started all twelve games, led the team again with three interceptions and two forced fumbles, ranked fifth in the Pac-12 with twelve passes defended, took an interception 31 yards to the house against Arizona State and returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown against Stanford. Injury cost him the first two games of his junior year, but he started all ten he played, led the team with two interceptions and added six pass breakups, earning honorable mention All-Pac-12 for the second straight year. He also won UCLA's Pac-12 Tom Hansen Medal for athletic and academic achievement.
The board saw a slot corner. Eight career interceptions and 21 passes defended across three seasons said the ball skills were legitimate, but the size and the vertical speed said outside corner was not the projection. New York took him at 110 to play in the nickel immediately.
- 01
Genuine ball production
Eight interceptions and 21 passes defended in three seasons, leading UCLA in picks all three years.
- 02
Slot-ready quickness
Short-area burst and clean footwork in the backpedal, with the click-and-close speed to drive on throws.
- 03
Three-year starter as a teenager
Started a season opener as a true freshman and never left the lineup when healthy.
- 04
Return-game value
Took a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown against Stanford and handled returns across multiple seasons.
- 05
Willing tackler inside
Triggers downhill on screens and quick game rather than avoiding contact the way many small corners do.
- 01
Size limitations
At 5-10 and under 200 pounds he gets boxed out at the catch point by bigger receivers on contested throws.
- 02
Vertical speed questions
Loses ground on deep routes and comebacks, which is why teams graded him strictly as a slot defender.
- 03
Grabs when beaten
Reaches and holds after losing early leverage in the route, a penalty risk against NFL officiating.
- 04
Injury interrupted final year
Missed the first two games of his junior season and finished with only ten appearances of fresh tape.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.48sp50
- Vertical
- —in
- Broad jump
- —in
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 12repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | UCLA | 13 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2018 | UCLA | 12 | 48 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 2 |
| 2019 | UCLA | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Career | — | 35 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 21 | 0 |
Season lines from UCLA official releases, which publish interceptions and passes defended for every year but tackle totals only for 2018. Unpublished categories are left empty rather than estimated, so no career tackle figure is shown. The verified interception and pass-defended columns sum exactly to eight and 21 across 35 games. He also returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown against Stanford in 2018 and an interception 31 yards for a score against Arizona State the same year.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A steady nickel starter who holds a job for years without ever developing into a difference-maker.
The ceiling: an undersized slot corner who becomes one of the league's most efficient nickel defenders.
A well-regarded college corner who settles into special teams and rotational depth without a defined role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
He became exactly what he was drafted to be, and no more. Holmes played twelve games as a rookie in 2020 with 29 tackles, five passes defensed, an interception and half a sack, immediately handling nickel work for the Giants. His best year came in 2022 with 38 tackles and eight passes defended across fifteen games, but New York never expanded his role, and his 2023 season dropped to eighteen tackles as the coverage snaps dried up.
He signed with Las Vegas in 2024 for a fresh start, played sixteen games with 29 tackles, three passes defended and his first career sack, then re-signed and appeared in thirteen games in 2025 with reduced usage. Atlanta added him for 2026. Through six seasons the line reads 83 games, 159 tackles, 21 passes defended, four interceptions and two forced fumbles. In hindsight the fourth round was the right price for a career slot corner and special-teams contributor: he gave the Giants real nickel snaps for four years, but the ball production that defined his UCLA tape never followed him to Sundays.