25 Days of Draftmas: Temple CB Rock Ya-Sin is strong in press-coverage, but struggles in zone

A very Merry Draftmas to you! It’s 25 Days of Draftmas on Arrowhead Pride, where we’ll be giving you a Kansas City Chiefs draft prospect every day in April leading up to the NFL Draft. You’ll get a daily prospect profile like this one right up until Draft Day.

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When we post a video for 25 Days of Draftmas, we give you a full write up from the KC Draft Guide. Here is the breakdown of former a Presbyterian College and Temple cornerback:

Rock Ya Sin, cornerback

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

5’11” | 189 lbs | Temple

Decatur, GA

Draft grade: third round

Draft range: second round

NFL Combine: 4.51 40-yard dash, 39.5” vertical jump, 120” broad jump, 4.31 20-yard shuttle, 7.31 three-cone drill, 18 bench reps

2018 stats: 12 pass breakups, two interceptions, 47 tackles

Background: First name is “Abdurrahman.” Two-time state champion wrestler in high school. Spent his first three years of eligibility at Presbyterian College. Transferred to Temple as a graduate student. First-team All-American Athletic Conference in 2018.

Strengths: Ya-Sin is a physical, long-armed press cornerback. His wrestling background definitely shows up in his hand placement and leverage. He knows how to utilize his body and position himself well to box out receivers at the catch point. Ya-Sin has a very high motor and rarely takes plays off. He regularly shows up on the box score as an aggressive tackler, and he has the ball skills to fill the stat sheet with pass breakups and interceptions.

Weaknesses: Once Ya-Sin moves outside of his press-man technique, things start to fall apart. He struggles to feel the route from off-man coverage, not breaking well enough on routes where he doesn’t have a hand on the receiver. Zone coverage also looks uncomfortable for him; too many times, he’s on top of another zone or not recognizing when to sink and find a receiver. While he has a pretty good athletic profile, Ya-Sin’s recovery speed leaves something to be desired. His long legs lead to long strides that make him a half-step slow coming out of his breaks.

How he fits with the Chiefs: Ya-Sin’s length, work ethic and ball skills should make him a good press cornerback quickly in the NFL. While Spagnuolo’s scheme will certainly feature coverages where press cornerbacks would be ideal, the mix-and-match nature of the scheme will make Ya-Sin’s fit cloudy with the Chiefs. With the amount of match zone and off-man coverages that Kansas City will likely run, Ya-Sin would probably be a project in 2019 — unless his deficiencies are quickly rectified by improved coaching. His prized traits could mean that the Chiefs would roll the dice for a high-upside player.

Player comp: Brendan Langley

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