The Los Angeles Rams hope they got a steal in the sixth round when they selected TCU cornerback Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson at No. 182 overall. The Jim Thorpe Award winner was the nation’s top defensive back last season, proving his smaller stature wasn’t a hindrance in the secondary.
At 5-foot-8 and 178 pounds, he’s not the biggest cornerback, but he simply makes plays and doesn’t allow very many completions in coverage – only 28 on 81 targets last season, actually.
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar was high on Hodges-Tomlinson before the draft, ranking him as the No. 8 cornerback in the class. That was ahead of Emmanuel Forbes, who went 16th overall to the Commanders, as well as Kelee Ringo and Julius Brents.
Farrar’s comparison for Hodges-Tomlinson is interesting, too: Antoine Winfield Sr., the former three-time Pro Bowl cornerback for the Vikings and Bills. He’s a similar size to Hodges-Tomlinson and played both in the slot and on the outside, which is what Hodges-Tomlinson did at TCU.
In his career, Winfield made the Pro Bowl three times, had 27 career interceptions and played 14 seasons despite being undersized for the position. And in those 14 seasons, he only finished without an interception once.
Here’s what Farrar wrote about that comparison in his pre-draft cornerback rankings.
NFL Comparison: Antoine Winfield Sr. Drafted by the Bills with the 23rd pick in the 1998 draft, Winfield rode a 5-foot-9, 180-pound frame to 14 NFL seasons, three Pro Bowls, and success both outside and in the slot. He did so with incredible on-field intelligence and an utterly fearless demeanor, and though Hodges-Tomlinson comes into an NFL that is less hospitable to cornerbacks of his size, I don’t think he’s automatically limited to a slot-only “gadget” role.
The Rams could use a slot defender and outside cornerback, so Hodges-Tomlinson will have a chance to compete at both positions. He may not start right away, being a sixth-round rookie, but Los Angeles doesn’t exactly have a loaded secondary now that Jalen Ramsey is gone.
Hodges-Tomlinson wants to become one of the best draft picks ever by the Rams and though that’s a bold statement to make, he was a successful defender in college and his game could translate to the NFL, too.
