Josiah
Scott.
Josiah
Scott.
Michigan St.· 5'9"· 185 lb· 4.42s 40
"A true freshman who started his college debut and left with 25 pass breakups in thirty straight starts — coverage instincts and 4.42 speed housed in a 175-pound, short-armed frame."Pre-draft read
Scott is a 5-10, 175-pound cornerback who compensates for a small frame with anticipation, footwork and genuine competitiveness at the catch point. He plays with tight feet in his backpedal, mirrors quick receivers through breaks and closes on the ball as well as any corner in the class, which produced 25 pass breakups in thirty college starts.
He works in press and off coverage with the quickness to survive in the slot, and he ran a 4.42 and plays to it. Size is the rest of the story: at 175 pounds with arms under thirty inches, he loses contested throws and cannot shed blocks in run support. The signature is ball production.
A nickel-heavy defense that plays match zone and asks its slot corner to read routes and drive on throws rather than press bigger receivers on the boundary.
Year 1 slot corner in sub packages and special teams contributor, with a ceiling as a starting nickel who produces eight to ten passes defended a season.
A press-man defense that asks outside corners to jam and travel with 6-3 receivers on the boundary.
Josiah Scott college highlights
Career reel of the coverage technique and ball production at Michigan State.
Josiah Scott (Michigan State CB #22) vs. Wisconsin (2019)
Full-game cut-up from his junior season against a physical Big Ten offense.
Josiah Scott Film Breakdown
Post-draft film study of the slot projection and size limitations.
Scott was ready before anyone expected him to be. He became just the third true freshman position player under Mark Dantonio to start his collegiate debut, then started eleven games in the 2017 regular season, the most ever by a freshman position player in that era at Michigan State, and was named a first-team freshman All-American by ESPN.
He never came off the field again. He started all thirty games of his Spartan career at cornerback and finished with 98 tackles, 25 pass breakups and seven interceptions, earning third-team All-Big Ten from the media as a freshman and second-team as a junior. The 2019 season was his best: a career-high 55 tackles, three interceptions and eight pass breakups, and his eleven total passes defended tied for fourth in the conference during the regular season. He was on the Thorpe Award preseason watch list and was, by consensus around the program, the best defensive back Michigan State had.
Then he left a year early, which surprised people who assumed he would return for a senior year and chase the Thorpe. The board's hesitation was physical rather than technical: nobody doubted the coverage instincts, and everybody saw a 175-pound corner with 29-inch arms. He graded as a nickel. Jacksonville took him at 137.
- 01
Ball production
Twenty-five pass breakups and seven interceptions in thirty career starts, with eleven passes defended in 2019 alone, fourth-most in the Big Ten.
- 02
Immediate readiness
Started his collegiate debut as a true freshman, the third position player to do so under Mark Dantonio, and never lost the job.
- 03
Mirror quickness
Tight, efficient feet through the backpedal and transitions, which lets him stay attached to shifty receivers inside.
- 04
Timed speed that matches the tape
A 4.42 forty confirms the recovery burst he flashes on deep routes when a receiver gets a step.
- 05
Slot projection
The short-area agility and anticipation to handle nickel duties immediately, which is the clearest NFL path for a corner his size.
- 01
Size and length
At 175 pounds with 29.38-inch arms, he is outmatched physically by bigger receivers on jump balls and back-shoulder throws.
- 02
Run support
Struggles to shed blocks from receivers and tight ends, which limits his value against teams that run to the perimeter.
- 03
Contested-catch losses
Gives ground at the catch point rather than playing through the hands of a larger opponent.
- 04
Durability questions
A slight frame invites concern about holding up across seventeen games of NFL contact in the slot.
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
- 4.42sp50
- Vertical
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- 17repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Michigan State | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Michigan State | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Michigan State | — | 55 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Career | — | 30 | 98 | 0 | 7 | 25 | 0 |
Career totals and the 2019 line come from the Michigan State athletics release: 98 tackles, 25 pass breakups and seven interceptions in thirty games, all starts, with a career-high 55 tackles, three interceptions and eight pass breakups as a junior. A Spartan Avenue report credits him with 52 tackles in 2019; the school figure is used. His 2017 and 2018 season lines were not published in the sources checked and are left empty rather than estimated. He started eleven games in the 2017 regular season as a true freshman and declared after his junior year.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A rotational corner and special teamer who moves between rosters without locking down a role.
The ceiling: an undersized slot corner whose instincts make him a multi-year starting nickel on good defenses.
A slight corner with real cover skill who never sticks anywhere and is gone inside five years.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Scott bounced but never broke through. He played six games as a rookie in Jacksonville in 2020 with eleven tackles before being traded to Philadelphia in May of 2021. He appeared in thirteen games for the Eagles that year in a rotational nickel role, then had his best season in 2022: sixteen games, four starts, 26 tackles, eight passes defended and two interceptions across 390 defensive snaps and 154 on special teams, with the Eagles reaching Super Bowl LVII.
That was the peak. Philadelphia released him in August of 2023, Pittsburgh signed him to the practice squad, the Eagles brought him back for four games, then waived him again in November. He signed a futures contract with the Steelers in January of 2024 and was cut that July. Across four seasons he played 39 games with four starts, 51 tackles, eight passes defended and two interceptions. In hindsight the scouting report was right about both halves of him. The instincts were real enough to produce eight passes defended in his one full season of snaps; the frame was exactly the reason no defense ever trusted him with more than a rotational nickel job.