Sean Bunting's stock continues to rise as 2019 NFL Draft approaches
Draft day is here.
For Central Michigan cornerback Sean Bunting and all other college players involved, the three-day span of the 2019 NFL Draft means everything.
The draft is composed of seven rounds in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The first round is Thursday, second and third rounds are Friday and fourth to seventh rounds are Saturday.
Throughout the past few days, publications have released their final mock drafts. Bunting has continued to rise up the boards of the draft analysts. Many have him set as a second round pick.
Bunting is considered one of the best press-man coverage cornerbacks in the draft. He's had workouts or visits with the New York Giants (twice), Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texas, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.
Here's a full breakdown of where experts have Bunting going in the NFL Draft and how he compares to other prospects.
The Athletic's Dane Brugler: No. 26 overall on Top-100 Draft Board (first or second round). Brugler's most recent true mock draft (April 8) had Bunting at No. 48 (second round) to Miami Dolphins, but that number has likely jumped toward the 30s since then.
Bleacher Report's Matt Miller: No. 41 overall (second round) to Denver Broncos.
SB Nation's Dan Kadar: No. 58 on Top-200 Draft Board. Bunting was not included in his first round mock draft.
NFL's Daniel Jeremiah: No. 68 on Top-100 Draft Board.
Pro Football Focus's Steve Palazzolo: No. 71 overall (third round) to Denver Broncos.
247Sports' Lance Cartelli: No. 79 overall (third round) to Atlanta Falcons.
NFL's Chad Reuter: No. 105 overall (fourth round) to New York Jets.
WalterFootball: No. 104 (fourth round) to San Francisco 49ers.
DraftSite: No. 111 (fourth round) to Detroit Lions.
DraftTek: No. 126 (fourth round) to Chicago Bears.
The Athletic's Dane Brugler
Going above and beyond, Brugler put together an evaluation report on every prospect in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Brugler, on his list of cornerback prospects, put Bunting ahead of Georgia's Deandre Baker, Michigan State's Justin Layne, Notre Dame's Julian Love, Michigan's David Long, Auburn's Jamel Dean, Clemson's Trayvon Mullen and many others.
Here's what Brugler had to say about the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Bunting:
"Bunting has the athleticism to run better routes than the receiver and although his undisciplined mechanics lead to mistakes, he is usually in position to recover," Brugler wrote in his evaluation. "Despite his thin build, he competes with a cover-and-clobber mentality throughout the lifespan of the route and can eliminate the mismatch advantage larger pass-catchers usually have vs. cornerbacks.
"Overall, Bunting needs to get stronger and become a more technically-sound player, but he plays loose and suffocates the catch point, projecting as borderline starter as a rookie and full-time starter in year two."
Brugler has Bunting set to be selected in the first or second round.
SB Nation's Matt Miller
Ever since the NFL Scouting Combine, Miller has been extremely high on Bunting. He's continuously labeled him as a top-40 pick and believes he could be a long-term starter in the NFL.
When Miller first mentioned Bunting on Feb. 15, he called him his "sleeper cornerback" in the draft. Less than a month later, he slated the CMU star as a second round pick.
Then, on April 19, someone on Twitter asked if Bunting could make it up to the No. 95 overall pick. Miller replied, "No, I expect Bunting to go top 50."
"There is serious talk the Central Michigan cornerback (Sean Bunting) could be a top-40 selection after players like (Deandre) Baker and Joejuan Williams have struggled in the last month," Miller wrote in his recent scouting notebook.
