Derion
Kendrick.
Derion
Kendrick.
Georgia· 6'0"· 194 lb
"A receiver-turned-corner who ran 4.79 and still started for two national champions, Derion Kendrick proved that eyes can outrun a stopwatch right up until a torn ACL took the job back."Pre-draft read
A converted receiver who still plays like one. Kendrick tracks the ball over his shoulder better than almost anyone in the 2022 corner class, times his hands at the catch point and has the body control to finish the play he sees coming. He is at his best in off coverage with his eyes on the quarterback, where his route recognition and ball skills turn into interceptions rather than incompletions.
The athletic floor is the problem. A 4.79 forty at 194 pounds is not an NFL number at the position, and the tape shows it on vertical releases and on quick out-breaking routes where he has to flip and accelerate. He compensates with anticipation and with physicality in the run game, but he cannot make up ground once a receiver has a step on him.
A zone-heavy defense built on Cover 3 and Cover 2 that keeps his eyes on the quarterback and never asks him to run stride for stride down the sideline.
Year 1: fourth corner and special teams. Ceiling: a starting zone corner who produces takeaways in a defense that protects him over the top.
A man-heavy defense that leaves him isolated on a vertical receiver with no safety help, where his 4.79 speed becomes a weekly target.
His eyes are a starting-caliber tool; his feet are not, so the coverage shell decides the outcome.
Derion Kendrick Georgia 2021 Highlights
His national championship season in Athens after the transfer from Clemson.
Top DB in the Nation | Derion Kendrick
The Clemson tape that made him an all-conference corner in two leagues.
Derion Kendrick Highlights | Welcome to the Cowboys
NFL reel assembled when Dallas signed him in March 2026.
Kendrick arrived at Clemson as a high school quarterback and receiver and spent his first season on offense, catching 15 passes for 210 yards across 15 games as a true freshman on the 2018 national title team. The defense needed a corner in 2019, he moved over on an emergency basis, and he never went back: 44 tackles, two interceptions for 52 yards and a touchdown, five breakups and second-team All-ACC as a sophomore.
His junior year was the best football of his college career and the beginning of the trouble. He played nine games, added a 66-yard fumble-return touchdown and six pass breakups, and was first-team All-ACC, but in February 2021 Dabo Swinney dismissed him from the program after a history of disciplinary issues. He transferred to Georgia in June and started for the defense that won the 2021 national championship, finishing with 41 tackles, four interceptions and second-team All-SEC.
The pre-draft process ended the conversation about round one. He measured 5-11 7/8 and 194 pounds with 31-inch arms, then ran 4.79 with a 31-inch vertical. A corner with two national championship rings, all-conference honors in two leagues and seven career interceptions fell to the sixth round because the timed speed and the off-field file gave teams two reasons to wait.
- 01
Ball skills from his receiver years
seven college interceptions and 14 breakups, with hands that finish the play instead of knocking it down.
- 02
Route anticipation
reads concepts and stems early, which is how a 4.79 corner stayed in phase against ACC and SEC receivers.
- 03
Playmaking with the ball in his hands
a 52-yard pick-six in 2019 and a 66-yard fumble-return touchdown in 2020.
- 04
Big-game proof
started for a national champion at Georgia after winning a title at Clemson, and did not shrink in either playoff run.
- 05
Willing run support
102 career tackles and six tackles for loss from the corner spot, with no hesitation coming downhill on the edge.
- 01
Timed speed
a 4.79 forty is a disqualifying number for most teams at corner and shows up on vertical routes.
- 02
Recovery burst
a 31-inch vertical and a 1.60 ten-yard split mean he cannot close a gap once a receiver stacks him.
- 03
Short arms at 31 inches
he wins contested throws with timing rather than length, and loses them outright when the timing is off.
- 04
Off-field questions
dismissed from Clemson in February 2021 after a documented history of disciplinary problems.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Clemson | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Clemson | 15 | 44 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 2020 | Clemson | 9 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 2021 | Georgia | 15 | 41 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Career | — | 54 | 102 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 0 |
Defensive line verified against Sports-Reference's combined Clemson and Georgia table, with the 2021 Georgia season cross-checked independently on cfbstats (15 games, 41 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, four interceptions for 14 yards, three breakups). The four seasons sum exactly to the career row of 54 games, 102 tackles, six tackles for loss, one sack, seven interceptions and 14 pass breakups. The 2018 zeros are verified zeros: he played that season as a wide receiver and caught 15 passes for 210 yards, which is tracked in the receiving table rather than here. His 2019 interception went 52 yards for a touchdown and his lone 2020 fumble recovery went 66 yards for a touchdown.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Streaky zone corner who starts in the right scheme and bounces between rosters when the fit changes.
Long-strided zone corner with average speed who built a starting career entirely on ball skills and anticipation.
Another Rams day-three corner who flashed early, lost the job to injury and never held a roster spot again.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The Rams took him 212th and immediately needed him. He started six of 15 games as a rookie with 43 tackles and four breakups, then played every game in 2023 with 12 starts, 49 tackles, ten pass breakups and his first interception — a sixth-round corner starting for a defending champion's defense, which is exactly the outcome the pick was drafted for. Then the health caught him: Sean McVay announced on July 25, 2024, that Kendrick had torn his ACL in practice, and he lost the entire season. He has not gotten the job back. The Rams waived him on June 13, 2025, re-signed him four days later, then cut him at the August 26 roster deadline. Seattle claimed him the next day, played him in ten games with two interceptions and five breakups but never as a starter, and released him on November 25. The Rams claimed him back the following day for five more games and three tackles. Dallas signed him to a one-year deal on March 24, 2026, and released him at final cuts before re-signing him to the practice squad.
Through 47 games he has 18 starts, 102 tackles, three interceptions and 19 breakups. Two years of real starting snaps out of a sixth-round pick is a hit; the ACL turned a starter into a roster fringe player before he ever reached free agency on his own terms.