Expert Analysis
4/26/24
5 min read
Tyler Nubin 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report for New York Giants Safety
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Tyler Nubin.
Tyler Nubin's 2024 NFL Combine Results
- Height: 6-foot-1 1/4"
- Weight: 199
- 40-yard dash: 4.56
- Arm length: 32"
- Vertical jump: 32"
- Broad jump: 10'
Tyler Nubin's 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report
Strengths
- A long, rangy athlete with play speed to run sideline-to-sideline and make plays; a run-and-hit element to his game
- Decisive reactor with strong key and diagnose; transitioned effectively without segmented or rigid movement
- Ran the alley in the run game with conviction and sudden reactions; played with an NFL demeanor as a run defender
- Physical element to his game, consistently willing to attack with velocity, deliver hard hits and set tempo
- Not afraid to mix it up, a bit of a heat-seeker mentality vs. the run; he sees it and goes with speed and velocity
- Excellent feel for reading routes and the quarterback from a back-end safety alignment, also showed decisive plant and drive
- Showed excellent recognition and instincts in the pass game as back-end safety with a strong feel for route concepts
- Athletically transitioned to undercut routes and make interceptions, changed direction with no wasted steps
- Strong zone coverage defender in split safety coverage and as the post safety
- Excellent ball skills as a back-end safety; showed excellent technique getting his hand up and through the receiver
- Comfortable pedal in off-man coverage vs. tight ends with a smooth transition to turn and run vs. vertical routes
- Quick recognition reaction on reads in front of him and triggered downhill with sudden plant and drive
- Outstanding playing personality: his competitive edge and attitude consistently showed up
Weaknesses
- Despite aggressiveness his tackling technique needs work, too often he dropped his head without seeing the ball
- At times as a back-end safety, he was a little sticky and segmented in his transition to plant and drive on routes
- Speed may be an issue for some but the tape showed that his recognition and instincts compensated
- There were snaps, especially in the red zone, where he struggled in man-to-man coverage matchups with a wide receiver
- Overall did not match up man-to-man effectively vs. wide receivers when the coverage called for it
- Did not see him match up man-to-man on tight ends in Minnesota’s defense; his size and traits suggest he can do it
NFL Transition
Nubin is one of the better safety prospects in the 2024 draft class, and I could easily make the argument that he is the best safety prospect due to his overall traits, his competitive demeanor and his playing personality.
Nubin played almost exclusively on the back end in 2023 as both a two-shell safety and post safety. One of his best traits was his recognition of receiver splits and route concepts and his concurrent ability to trigger with burst and speed, planting and driving on routes in front of him to take away throws, especially in-breakers.
Nubin displayed outstanding vision on the back end with a refined, instinctive feel for reading both the route concepts and the quarterback. That was a main reason he had excellent ball production throughout his career. Nubin was aggressive and competitive playing downhill as an alley defender and gap shooter in the run game. He had an excellent feel for which gap to hit based on the defensive front and the gap fluidity once the play took shape. What consistently stood out on tape vs. the run and pass was that Nubin was a decisive reactor with strong key-and-diagnose traits. He always played with a quick trigger and high-level competitiveness.
His reaction time and quick trigger allowed Nubin to play fast. His game speed is much faster than his timed speed. That also showed up in his range on the back end, where he often reacted before the quarterback threw the ball.
While Nubin rarely aligned in the box in Minnesota’s defense, he has the size and physicality to do that and be a factor in the run game and as a blitzer. He was successful blitzing from a distance in college.
Where Nubin could struggle at the next level and would need some development is matching up to wide receivers when quarters was the coverage call and he had to man-match on intermediate and vertical routes.
Overall, Nubin is a higher-level safety prospect who has the traits and playing demeanor to be an interchangeable safety in the box and on the back and be effective in both roles. It would not surprise me if he was a Day 1 starter and became one of the NFL's more complete safeties as his career develops.
Other notes
Nubin played five seasons at Minnesota, starting his final three years and finishing with 36 starts in his 55 games. In 2023, Nubin earned First-Team All-American honors. Nubin was heavily recruited out of Illinois as a 4-star recruit after playing safety and wide receiver in high school.
Nubin was predominantly the post safety in Minnesota’s single-high safety coverages and he almost always aligned to the boundary in split safety coverages. Nubin matched up to a tight end in some of Minnesota’s Cover 1 defenses, and there were snaps he was deployed as a blitzer from a distance. Against Purdue and Wisconsin, Nubin played significant snaps aligned to the field in split-safety coverages. His interception vs. Illinois was a textbook split-safety play: Nubin was responsible in coverage for the boundary x vertical route. From the boundary hash, he rotated to the edge of the numbers with his eyes on the quarterback reading the throw to the in-breaker from the field. He consistently provided high-level safety play.
