NFL Draft
2/17/25
6 min read
Quincy Riley 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Louisville Cardinals CB
Height: 5103 (verified)
Weight: 192 (verified)
Year: Sixth Year Senior
Pro Comparison: KeiVarae Russell
Scouting Overview
Louisville Cardinals cornerback Quincy Riley projects as a developmental starter at the NFL level. Riley has an extensive history of good ball production after splitting six seasons between Middle Tennessee State and Louisville — he’s a feisty catch-point defender with sufficient long speed and change of direction in space.
He’s at his best as a deep third/quarter defender and will project most favorably in zone-heavy coverage schemes that allow him to play with his eyes in the backfield. This is a ballhawk who does well with his angles once processing the ball in flight.
2025 NFL Combine Results
| Position | Name | School | 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Split | Broad Jump | Vertical Jump | 3-Cone Drill | 20-Yard Shuttle | Bench Press |
| CB | Quincy Riley | Louisville | 4.48 | 1.54 |
Positives
- Has excellent ball skills, will make adjustments and convert to a receiver or extend through the frame of the receiver
- Offers good acceleration and vertical speed to flip his hips and carry vertical routes
- Route combination awareness popped with the ability to fall off initial landmark to squeeze ancillary route
Negatives
- Angles triggering down to the catch point can lose track of the receiver in favor of the football and give up run after catch if he whiffs on the ball
- Run support is modest due to the high frequency of deep third/quarter coverage, and tackling in head-up challenges was shaky in 2024
- Will be a 24-year-old rookie before training camp opens in 2025
Background
Riley is from Columbia, SC, and played high school football for AC Flora HS. There, he was a multi-sport athlete who had standout performances on the gridiron, the hardwood, and track. As a high school sprinter, Riley ran a 10.48s 100m to win the South Carolina 4A championship and collected several accolades. On the gridiron, Riley was a three-phase weapon who played defensive back, wide receiver, and also returned kicks on special teams. He posted six special teams scores his senior season.
Riley was rated as a 3-star recruit (247 Sports) as a sub-180 pound corner and committed to Middle Tennessee State over offers from programs like Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina. He would play in three games as a true freshman in 2019, redshirting the season.
He then played in six games with five starts as a redshirt freshman during the COVID-19 pandemic season of 2020, once again retaining four years of eligibility while collecting Conference USA All-Freshman honors. He would play one more season at MTSU in 2021, posting seven starts in nine games while logging five interceptions. He was named First Team All-CUSA and entered the transfer portal after the season.
Riley entered the portal as a 3-star transfer (247 Sports) and landed with the Cardinals. Riley was productive in 2022 and assumed a starting role with Louisville full-time in 2023, starting all 13 games. He was named Honorable Mention All-ACC and then followed that season up by being named Second Team All-ACC as a sixth-year senior despite missing time with an ankle injury.
Riley accepted an invitation to play in the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Tale Of The Tape
Riley is a productive talent who boasts nearly 3,000 snaps of experience at the college level. His coverage instincts are imperfect, but they illustrate an ability to process route combinations and properly layer coverage to not only drop to a landmark but also optimize coverage rules and challenge footballs in his general vicinity.
As a coverage player, Riley is at his best playing with his eyes in the backfield as a deep zone defender. He’s well versed in anticipating throws from quarterbacks based on their body language and throw sequencing, and Riley has illustrated a clear ability to pick up the flight and trajectory of the football early, trusting his positioning, length, and leverage on the target to optimize his challenge of the ball’s flight path.
This can get him in trouble, as throws with velocity can beat Riley to the spot, and his angle can lose track of the receiver's body, prompting missed tackles or overrun challenges of the catch point. In these instances, Riley can be vulnerable to running after catch opportunities.
He’s a feisty defender in press coverage. He boasts sufficient length to play press on the outside, and when successfully landing his jolt, he is capable of rerouting the stem and then playing in phase of the back hip. He’s a more successful player in press and collision man coverage than he is in off, where his eyes can be tempted and tested with their discipline. A few too many off-man coverage reps yielded big separations on routes as his transitions were too steep, or he got caught leaning with his hips anticipating a specific route.
Riley is not an overly involved defender against the run. This is a phase that will cut down on his appeal as a potential nickel candidate — he’ll be much better served to stay out of the core, where he’d be charged with inserting into the run fits with more frequency.
Blockers successfully latched on his frame downfield and away from the football. He can struggle to negotiate and deconstruct blocks. As a perimeter run defender, Riley can best be protected playing in a Cover-3 heavy scheme, but his run support prowess is unlikely to be considered a strength or calling card.
Tackles, as a whole, have been errant at times. He’s not a big-time wrap-up or cut-down tackler in the open field. Riley has illustrated the ability to deliver jarring blows at the catch point, as he catches receivers as they adjust their frame to the football.
Still, he boasts nearly a 20 percent missed tackle rate across six seasons (18.8%), and he will need further refinement — both in trying to cut down backs in space, getting off of blocks, and being more vigilant in playing the frame of the receiver when attacking the catch point.
Riley offers special teams intrigue but has not been asked to play the kind of volume in this phase of the game that his high school background may have suggested he was capable of. Based on his high school successes and how well he handles the open field as a defender after interceptions, he should be afforded opportunities to return kicks and punts once he lands on an NFL roster.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Riley projects best as a zone coverage-oriented developmental starter. His tackling must improve from 2024, and his ability to support the run may leave him better off playing in deep portions of the field.
He’ll need to be groomed to be more effective getting off of contact downfield if he’s to maximize his potential as an NFL starter.
Grade: 72.50/100.00, Fourth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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