Chicago Bears draft profile: Cornerback Denzel Ward

Weaknesses

Truthfully, it’s not as if Ward’s lack of great size and length is a glaring weakness.

5-foot-10 (almost 5-foot-11), 191 pounds and 31-inch arms aren’t exactly elite, but they’re adequate. You can be a successful corner at that size provided that you have tremendous athleticism, which Ward does, and solid technique to make up for some of what you lack in raw physical makeup.

Ward showed that he was up to the challenge in his last two seasons at Ohio State.

However, on the professional level, he’ll need to step his game up even more in that department.

Though he’s put weight on since coming to college a scrawny 165 pounds, he’s still on the thin side. And it can show itself when he goes up against big, physical receivers.

Simmie Cobbs didn’t do much against him when they met in 2017 — in fact, Ward just knocked down a ball intended for Cobbs right before this — but Cobbs just outmuscles him here.

Ward never lacks for effort, but he simply isn’t big enough to regularly outfight guys at the line of scrimmage or at the point of the catch sometimes.

If he wants to start as a rookie, he’ll need to use his hands more effectively and beat receivers with quickness at the line of scrimmage because he won’t have time to build up the strength he needs just yet.

Furthermore, though Ward can play without having particularly long arms or great size, he will miss some plays because he doesn’t have them.

He reads this play in zone coverage, times his jump as well as he can and comes up just short because he’s too short.

Any team that takes him has to live with this.

And with all of things Ward gives you in terms of ball skills and coverage ability, I don’t think these shortcomings should be a deal-breaker in terms of taking Ward with a top-15, possibly top-10 pick.

But in terms of being a “can’t-miss” corner, there are real football reasons for his slightly underwhelming stature to work against him.