2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Darien Porter (CB – Iowa State)

FantasyPros will be taking a look at early NFL Draft scouting reports before the Combine in March. Here’s a look at Iowa State cornerback Darien Porter. And check out our entire 2025 NFL Draft Guide.

2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Darien Porter

Darien Porter (CB – Iowa State)

6-foot-4 | 200 Pounds

Background

Darien Porter is an Iowa native who played wide receiver for three years (2019-2021), catching one pass before converting to cornerback in 2022. Rotated in a bit for two seasons (2022 and 2023), totaling 25 tackles and four breakups, before starting seven out of 12 games played this past season. He posted 18 tackles, two breakups and three interceptions.

Positives

Porter is a massive cornerback with a favorable trajectory; teams respected him this past season and didn’t look his way often, going just 5/17 on targets his way in 2024, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). Often lined up on the right side of the defense during the games reviewed, whether that was the field or boundary side, and played a lot of press-man coverage, with some off-coverage mixed in.

Shows pretty good knee bend from his stance and does a good job of staying there without letting his pad level rise. Has quick feet to mirror opponents, especially for his size. Also covers a lot of ground when bailing into a shuffle technique from a press-man alignment. Does a nice job of using his length to pin opponents to the boundary when working down the sidelines. Pretty twitchy player who reacts quickly as receivers go into their breaks.

Smooth mover with at least adequate hips and solid speed to carry opponents down the field. Made plays on a high amount of targets. Can use his length to disrupt throwing lanes. Does a nice job of getting his head around to locate when his back is to the ball. Is willing to get involved in the run/screen game, with pretty quick key reading to get downhill. Gets extension to play off of blocks and locate the ball. Looks fast in pursuit of ball-carriers. Length gives him an impressive radius.

Negatives

Never really developed into a full-time starter in school and is older than your typical prospect (24). Didn’t get physical with many opponents at the line of scrimmage. Show some waist-bending and balance issues on tape. Porter’s route anticipation/recognition is still a work in progress. Has some trouble processing bunches. Can be caught flat-footed at the stem, forcing him to rely on his recovery speed to get back in-phase.

There’s a little bit of drift to his coverage on in-breaking routes underneath (slants, etc.), which could create opportunities for timing-based throws. Has a thin frame and can be jolted by contact in the run/screen games due to his lack of ideal functional strength. Hasn’t been a very reliable tackler to date. Missed about a fifth of his career tackle attempts, per PFF.

Summary

A difficult evaluation in the sense he didn’t play much before this season and wasn’t even a full-time starter in 2024; moreover, when he was on the field, teams rarely targeted him. That very limited sample size makes him more of a tools-based projection, but they’re certainly some tools: Excellent height and length, solid speed and hips, twitchy reaction times and impressive ball skills.

With further physical/technical development and improvements to his tackling, Porter could easily develop into a starter. Therefore, he is likely to come off the board on the Day 2.

Projection: Round 2/Round 3

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