An Inside Look at Ronald Darby

With the 2015 NFL draft in the books, it’s time for these new Buffalo Bills draft picks to settle in and get to work. Mini camps, rookie symposium, training camp and so on are all a part of becoming a winning team. Being on a winning team is not a foreign concept to cornerback Ronald Darby. In 2013, Darby won the NCAA national championship with now Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston and the rest of his Florida State Seminole teammates.

People say that losing builds character but winning breathes life into the beast that is a successful football team. I believe Darby has what it takes to become a successful cornerback. He allowed just 41.9% of passes to be completed that were thrown to him and has the ability to swivel his hips quickly in order to stay with a receiver. Due to those facts, Darby has no problem with man-press coverage and can jam a receiver at the line and slow down the play immensely. That kind of physical play can disrupt an entire offense, therefore giving his team a chance to score.

Many people question Darby’s toughness. In an interview with NFL.com, an AFC assistant coach said:

“I worry about his toughness against the run. He’s just fine in coverage, but he will have teams running at him every chance they get until he proves that he’s willing to step up and be tough.”

In his time at Florida State, Darby recorded 79 tackles, 57 total and 22 assisted. Even though he doesn’t have a crazy amount of tackles, the difference between his solo vs. assisted tackles speaks volumes. More solo tackles to me says that he is not afraid to tackle, he just happens to be a better cover corner. However, that will not fly in the NFL. With defensive-minded Rex Ryan as his head coach, Darby will likely turn into a hard hitting corner, not just a coverage guy.

Let’s forget the people who doubt Ronald Darby and focus on the positives. When it comes to reading the offense, Darby has an uncanny ability to recognize early route development and makes easy breaks on throws. That could be the difference between a pass breakup and an interception. If I had to pick an NFL comparison, I would agree with NFL expert Mike Mayock and say Johnathan Joseph, both are very good in pass coverage. The differences between Darby and Joseph is the slight speed edge for Darby and the more aggressive tackling tendencies for Joseph.

In my opinion, it’ll take a few years for Darby to develop. But with that being said, as long as he improves on his tackling in the run game, Ronald Darby could potentially become one of Buffalo’s most dangerous cornerback

Zack Jankowski @ZackAttack5514

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