Chase
Lucas.
Chase
Lucas.
Arizona St.· 5'11"· 180 lb· 4.48s 40
"The only freshman in the Pac-12 to make an all-conference team in 2017, a six-year Arizona State starter with six interceptions, who at 180 pounds became a coverage-unit specialist instead of a defender."Pre-draft read
A six-year Arizona State corner who started as a redshirt freshman and never really left the field. At 5-11 1/4 and 180 pounds he tested like a slot: 4.48 speed, a 4.16 short shuttle, a 6.78 three-cone and a 39-inch vertical, with quickness and burst well ahead of his mass.
He plays with real anticipation in off coverage and trusts his eyes, which is how he got to six career interceptions and a 22-yard return in 2018. The problem is what happens when receivers get into his body. He is the lightest kind of outside corner, he gives ground on contested throws down the sideline, and his run support is effort rather than force. His last two college seasons, shortened by the pandemic schedule and injuries, produced no interceptions at all.
A nickel-heavy defense that plays off coverage and zone match, hiding his weight while using his change of direction inside.
Year 1: core special teamer and fifth defensive back. Ceiling: a starting slot corner in a zone-match system.
A press-man defense that asks him to jam and mirror 215-pound outside receivers, where his 180-pound frame is simply overmatched at the line.
Both Detroit and San Francisco kept him for coverage units rather than defensive snaps.
Chase Lucas, freshman year, Arizona State highlights
The all-conference redshirt freshman season.
Chase Lucas, CB, Arizona State, draft film
Coverage reel from his Sun Devils career.
Chase Lucas at the East-West Shrine Bowl
All-star week work against draftable receivers.
Lucas grew up in Chandler, Arizona and played at Chandler High School, starting at running back as a sophomore. As a junior he helped Chandler win its first state title since 1949, a team that also featured future NFL players N'Keal Harry and Bryce Perkins, and he contributed 113 rushing yards and 37 receiving yards in the 28-7 win over Hamilton. He was picked for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
He stayed home for Arizona State. Todd Graham considered playing him as a true freshman in 2016 and chose instead to redshirt him so he could learn, a decision that paid off immediately: as a redshirt freshman in 2017 he made the USA Today All-Freshman team and second-team All-Pac-12, the only freshman in the conference to earn all-conference honors.
From there he became a fixture across 49 career games. His best year came in 2018 with 48 tackles, two sacks and three interceptions, and he earned second-team All-Pac-12 again in 2020 despite playing only four games in the shortened season. As a sixth-year senior in 2021 he was a team captain and an honorable mention all-conference pick, with 34 tackles and six pass breakups in ten games. He finished his career with six interceptions and left as one of the more experienced defensive backs in the draft class.
- 01
Six seasons of Power Five starting experience
including second-team All-Pac-12 as a redshirt freshman and again in 2020.
- 02
Elite short-area agility
a 4.16 shuttle and 6.78 three-cone at his pro day, numbers that project cleanly to nickel work.
- 03
Ball-hawking instincts in off coverage
six career interceptions, including three as a sophomore with a 22-yard return.
- 04
Leadership the staff trusted
a team captain as a sixth-year senior on a defense that leaned on his communication.
- 05
Explosive lower body
a 39-inch vertical and a 10-8 broad jump, giving him the leaping ability to contest at the high point.
- 01
Slight frame at 180 pounds
he gets moved off his spot by bigger receivers who can stack and shield him at the catch point.
- 02
No interceptions across his final two seasons
the ball production disappearing exactly as the competition improved.
- 03
Below-average tackling force
he is a willing but light hitter who struggles to finish backs alone in the open field.
- 04
Older prospect
he turned 25 in his rookie season, leaving no developmental runway for a team taking a late-round flier.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.48sp50
- Vertical
- 39inp50
- Broad jump
- 128inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arizona State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | Arizona State | 10 | 38 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Arizona State | 11 | 48 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Arizona State | 13 | 54 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Arizona State | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 2021 | Arizona State | 10 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Career | — | 49 | 189 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
The 2020 and 2021 lines come from cfbstats, which has no Arizona State player pages before 2020; the 2016 through 2019 lines come from StatMuse's Arizona State career table. The two sources disagree on 2020 (15 total tackles at cfbstats, 16 at StatMuse) and 2021 (34 versus 24), and the official play-by-play figures from cfbstats are used for those two years, which makes the career tackle total 189 rather than StatMuse's 180. Pass breakups, tackles for loss and forced fumbles are only listed for the seasons where cfbstats publishes them and are left blank rather than zero-filled elsewhere.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Late-round Lions defensive back who stayed employed on special teams without a defensive role.
Undersized slot defender who turned quickness and instincts into a long starting career.
Same-class seventh-round corner whose NFL career never got past the margins.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Detroit took him 237th and used him as a coverage-unit body. He played six games as a rookie before going on injured reserve on December 10, 2022. The Lions waived him at the 2023 cut and re-signed him to the practice squad, promoted him to the active roster on September 16, released him December 28, brought him back to the practice squad and signed him to the 53 again on January 13, 2024. Twelve games that year, three tackles.
He signed a one-year deal with San Francisco on March 18, 2024, spent that season without an appearance, then made 15 appearances for the 49ers in 2025 with nine combined tackles and a pass deflection, easily his most football since college. Tampa Bay signed him to a one-year contract on April 10, 2026. Across four seasons he has 33 games, no starts, 15 tackles and one pass defended. The redshirt freshman who was the only first-year player in the Pac-12 to make an all-conference team never won an NFL defensive job, but he has kept finding rosters on special teams value alone.