Grade
68.7Photo: Troy Wayrynen / Imagn Images
S
4th Round - 5th Round
2026 Draft Class
Jadon Canady
Grade
B-Status
DraftedR4 • P109Kansas City Chiefs Oregon
5'10 1/4"
181lbs
Age 23
Aug 3, 2026
Executive Summary
Jadon Canady is a versatile defensive back whose coverage ability, ball skills, and experience across multiple alignments give him intriguing upside as a nickel corner at the next level
Strengths
Ball Skills, Coverage Ability, and Versatility
Weaknesses
Angles / Pursuit, Tackling / Physicality, and Frame
Full Scouting Report
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Game IQ / Play Recognition
Pros:
•Average at reading plays
•Reads and predicts receivers' routes well
Cons:
•Got confused by his assignment at times
•Nothing is gonna stand out at his ability to dissect plays
•Can get drawn in by a good play action fake
Coverage Ability
Pros:
•Physical in man coverage and good hand activation
•Good in man coverage
•Has the speed to still make a play on a sliding WR or TE across the formation
•Very patient in coverage and has the recovery speed to make mistakes
•Can play press man
•Absolutely clamped Makai Lemon on a play and picked off Maiava
•Can predict a guy's route pretty well when in far off man coverage
•Solid jam at the LOS
Cons:
•Needs to keep his feet moving and not end up flat-footed
•Falls for head fakes and double moves
•Will struggle to hang with more physical and bigger receivers
Range
Pros:
•Solid sideline-to-sideline speed
•Can hawk guys down on breakaway plays for the offense
Cons:
•Doesn’t quite have the range to be a center field FS
Tackling / Physicality
Pros:
•Can come and make a hit close to the LOS
•Hits with pretty decent pad level
•Can shed WR blocks decently well
Cons:
•Doesn’t have knockback hit strength
•Normally just ends up standing around the pileup rather than getting his hands dirty
•Not really about that action
•Tackling mechanics are a little wacky
•Struggles to get off stronger blockers
Angles / Pursuit
Pros:
•Very solid corner blitzer
•Very good hustle and determination to make the play
•Pursues the ball really hard
Cons:
•Takes bad angles to the ball carrier when he is playing as a single high safety
•Overpursues the ball, which leads to more missed tackles
Athleticism / Frame
Pros:
•6.50 RAS Score is meh
•37.5-inch vert is very solid, placing him in the 73rd percentile
•4.47 40 time is very good and places him in the 82nd percentile
Cons:
•30-inch arms are shorter than you would like
•5’10” is shorter than you would like but not a very big problem
•181 is definitely underweight
•10.07/121 is slightly below average
•4.21 shuttle is below average
Ball Skills
Pros:
•High points the ball
•Soft hands
•Amazing ball tracking skills
Cons:
•Timing getting to the ball could be a little better, especially when he gambles and undercuts the route
Versatility
Pros:
•Plays in the slot and does it very well
•Plays up and close to the LOS
•Can play the center field position but I wouldn’t recommend it for him
•Blitzes a decent amount from the outside
•Experience as a boundary corner
Cons:
•Can’t really play in the box or outside in the NFL
Games Watched:
•Week 3 vs NU, Week 5 vs PSU, Week 8 vs WIS, Week 10 vs MINN, Week 11 vs USC, Week 12 vs WASH
Ideal Situation:
•Jadon Canady played SS in college but projects more as a nickel corner/ slot corner to me. I do believe that is the position that the Chiefs will ultimately put him in. Jadon Canady can read receivers' routes well and has average-at-best play recognition skills. His coverage is where he really shines. Canady displays really good patience, is physical in coverage, and can read receivers' posture to predict routes well. He has very solid sideline-to-sideline speed, and his 4.47 40 time shows up on film. He has plenty of range to track down guys and recover in coverage. Canady looks much more like a corner than a safety when you look at his tackling profile. He consistently hits low to the ground to sweep ankles out. Canady also sheds corner blocks pretty well. As a blitzer, he is pretty solid and has plenty of closing speed to apply a ton of pressure or hurry the QB up. Canady has an impressive vertical at 37.5 inches; other than that, he is a pretty average athlete. Jadon Canady has tremendous ball skills. He high-points the ball incredibly well and makes receiver-level plays. Even though he will probably fully transition to slot corner, he still played SS at one of the best programs in the country, and he will always have that experience and versatility under his belt if ever needed. He definitely doesn’t have knockback hit power. His tackling form and overall physicality are not there. As a safety, he took bad angles to the ball, which he will not need to worry about as much as a corner. Canady does have shorter arms, which can make it challenging to be a corner at the next level. He is about 2 inches short of the ideal arm length for an NFL corner. He is also shorter and underweightish, which will strongly limit him to the slot. Canady’s timing when trying to make a play on the ball could also slightly improve. He has less room for air because of his shorter arms. If he fully transitions to corner, he will not be able to play outside as he is far too undersized and raw for the position at the NFL level. Jadon Canady was drafted in the 4th Round, Pick 109 by the Kansas City Chiefs. I definitely don’t mind this pick. I think the Chiefs would be smart to move him to nickelback. Canady will likely not start at NCB, and recent FA signing Kader Kohou will likely start this season, as he will now have 5 years of NFL experience. Canady will likely earn his reps on special teams as a gunner early on. Spags—the defensive coordinator of the Chiefs—definitely likes his physical press-up corners, and that is something that Canady can do. I could see some growing pains early on as he might get bullied by bigger receivers and look really bad in the run game. Jadon Canady turned 23 in May, so he isn’t necessarily the youngest, but not the oldest either. Canady also tore his meniscus and ACL in 2022, which caused him to miss the whole season at Tulane. After that injury, he was healthy throughout college. If all goes wrong, Jadon Canady will be a decent special teams player who offers versatility for a defense. If all goes right, the Chiefs found themselves a scrappy nickel corner that can be league average to slightly better. Even though he is graded lower as a corner, he is much more fit for the position. Things are just weighted differently, and expectations are different depending on the position.
Ratings:
•Game IQ / Play Recognition – 6.7/10
•Coverage Ability – 8.5/10
•Range – 7.3/10
•Tackling / Physicality – 5.0/10
•Angles / Pursuit – 6.5/10
•Athleticism / Frame – 6.6/10
•Ball Skills – 8.9/10
•Versatility – 8.1/10
Total = 68.7/100 (D+) Early 5th or Late 4th (AS SS) and 70.2 (C-) Late 4th or Early 5th (AS CB)
Combine Testing
Height
5'11"
Weight
181lbs
0thPoor
40-Yard Dash
4.47s
82thVery Good
Vertical
37.5in
73thAbove Average
Bench
—
Broad Jump
121in
49thBelow Average
Three-Cone
—
Shuttle
4.21s
45thBelow Average
DPH Proprietary Scores
Frame Score
0
Measures a prospect's physical build and size relative to historical NFL positional standards.
DPH Athlete
50
Diamond Prospects' proprietary athletic score that evaluates a player's overall athletic profile using combine testing and positional percentiles.
Total Score
25
The combined athletic evaluation generated from Frame Score and DPH Athlete Score.
Combine Year: 2026 • Data from DPH Combine Database
I am an Assistant in Player Personnel/Scouting for Washington State Football with over six years of experience scouting NFL prospects and evaluating talent. I previously covered high school baseball as a writer for NMPreps and now run DiamondProspects, where I publish scouting reports, prospect evaluations, and draft analysis. I am currently a junior pursuing a degree in Sports Management and am originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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