Washington Football Team: Defensive prospects to watch at Senior Bowl
By Ian Cummings
No. 2 – American Team CB Ifeatu Melifonwu (Syracuse)
Continuing with the theme of adding athletic upside to the secondary, let’s flip over to the American side, where there’s a defensive back with a ton of talent waiting for the Washington Football Team to pounce. He’s Ifeatu Melifonwu, of the Syracuse Orange.
His name might be familiar; he had a brother drafted in the NFL a few years ago. You might remember Obi Melifonwu, and how underwhelming his NFL career was compared to his pre-draft hype. No need to worry this time around, however. Ifeatu is just as athletic as his brother, and checks a lot of the mental boxes necessary to succeed.
Standing at just under 6-foot-3, with a 212-pound frame and a wingspan over 80 inches, Melifonwu is predictably an athletic specimen. He participated in both safety-linebacker drills and cornerback drills over the course of practice week at the Senior Bowl, and did fairly well in both. With his size, he was able to blanket smaller receivers, and with his easy mobility, he was able to match them in coverage stride-for-stride.
Across his college tape, Melifonwu flashes the same upside. He’s incredibly physical and proactive with his length, and he has the agility, click-and-close ability, and explosiveness to maintain positive positioning more often than not. For the Washington Football Team, he’d be another versatile piece. He has the skills to play the boundary, but his athletic profile gives him a ton of positional flexibility.