• Position: Cornerback
• College: Notre Dame
• Class:
• Number: 5
• Drafted at: Round 5 Pick 5 (140th overall)
• Age when drafted: 23.39

Production

Games Watched:

• Ohio State – 09.24.2023
• USC – 10.15.2023
• Clemson – 04.11.2023

Injury History:

Cam has had three shoulder surgeries in the last five years; he suffered a shoulder injury (October 2019), which required season-ending surgery, he then underwent another shoulder surgery after the 2021 season. Lastly he missed the final two games of his junior season with a left shoulder injury (November 2022), which required offseason surgery. He has been fully cleared each time including his latest one (after which he played a full season) but the frequency of these could be a concern, three surgeries in under five years means reccurance is possible.

Positives:

He is able to hold his own against good blocking receivers keeping his leverage through good functional strength. Plays downfield catch technique which is risky but he has the footwork to keep active and make it seem like he’s defending his ground which he is entitled to do. Nice job on the goal line to flow over the top and stay underneath both target routes to cut off any underneath throws; this was a sign of awareness of offensive concepts. Drives well off his backfoot when in off-man, shows no hesitancy to close gaps. Didn’t bite on a nasty head fake underneath when he was in quarters zone. Finally a proper lockup vs MHJ who lined up inside the numbers, he exploded off the line then broke out and up in a typical slot fade release but Cam was there all the way, swiping away the arm bar then closing into his hip pocket and then showing great deep speed to stay with him all the way and force a drop. He shows a good ability to mirror movements in phase in a flash but his footwork coming out of them could be better, he has potential for sure. Good awareness to pick up the leaking tight end screen and force a throwaway. What a heads up play to stop a game winning TD as Cam squeezes all the way from his outside quarter to meet the skinny post inside and times the hit to perfection to rock him back on the one yard line. Cam uses his size to bully any receiver who tries to cross his leverage at the release, he shows smooth feet to keep his weight on his toes allowing him to reset his hands and keep his chest clear of the receiver’s attempts to control the route. USC ran a bubble screen to his side and Caleb left the ball slightly high which exposed the receivers ribs; Cam saw this coming and hammered downhill into the receiver’s side causing a drop, this was the kind of physical play I’ve been waiting for, shows he has it in him to play to his physical strengths. His eyes are well disciplined as he diagnosed a fake double reverse to shut down the alley in pursuit. Whilst his pre-draft testing didn’t manage to put this into plain context Cam can play a lot faster in pads than without them, he made Bruce Feldman’s ‘Freaks List’ because he hit 23 mph on his GPS tracking which is a speed not many players can boast. It wasn’t until the Clemson game that I saw him play press and he showed an improvement of his lateral footwork at the release and good hip transitions to keep himself in position as routes turned vertical.

Negatives:

Like that he knew to stay with his receiver even though the toss play was coming at him but didn’t like how he never tried to get back out to his contain spot, corners need to be able to peel their eyes off their man at points, this was an obvious run he just gave up on. Got crossed up by an outside-to-in seam and did well to recover using a quick transition to get back underneath however he was out leveraged with no safety help so this could have been a touchdown, tough to play this better but a more patient read of the stem could have helped. Got beaten on a slant from MHJ where he played too passively and couldn’t get underneath the pick route with enough speed to make a difference in the passing window, I’d want to see him play this more aggressively at the line. Looks to use his catch technique in the wrong places as he gets caught with his hips open and if MHJ was part of the progression I think this would have drawn a holding call. Failed to disengage from a block and it led to a massive touchdown, if you’re not comfortable being in tight and fighting with upper body strength then keep your feet active and look to get around the block or play over the top of it. Tried to catch a skinny post by Fleming and got punished as he wasn’t able to open his hips in time and was beaten deep for what should have been a touchdown. When his gamble catch technique faces inside breaks it pays off but he really needs to learn a counter for when they go inside to out. Played a C2 flats match rule incorrectly when he hung underneath the two vertical stems but felt he needed to man turn up towards the sideline route which was wrong as it both took his eyes off the ball and the inside route. Hart has a habit of turning his hips too early when operating down low and he can get crossed up by this, when you add on his lack of hip recovery speed this can lead to separation. For a bigger guy he just doesn’t have the mentality to make the most out of that advantage in the run game, other teammates overtake him in pursuit which is inexcusable. Hart had two DPI calls and a holding call in coverage in his senior year as he doesn’t quite know how to carry his long arms which naturally get him into trouble.  He just doesn’t have the killer instinct to win on outside runs, he will happily stay on a block so he can tell the coach he did his job but in reality he could have been more assertive in affecting the play; he’s cautious despite playing with a big body. In press he looks smoother than in other areas but he still looks loose with his footwork, he isn’t a natural backwards mover and his feet tell that story when being attacked off the line by speed releases. Cam’s feet and hands are not tied together so when he extends he tends to overlean and get himself out of balance meaning secondary moves against shifty receivers can lead to pretty consistent separation, this really showed itself at the Senior Bowl where he got taught some harsh lessons trying to stay tight with smaller receivers in open spaces.

Overall Grade:

CB15 / Tier 4 / Round 4

Summary:

Cam Hart is a toolsy prospect that looks every bit like a corner should with good height, long limbs and a solid mass plus his athletic upside especially in straight lines will mean that coaches will want a chance to see if they can turn him into a force on the outside. As a former wide receiver recruit who only made the full time switch to corner in his redshirt year I expect him to make significant leaps in a pro system with coaches who can spend time developing his lateral movement skills. His linear movement skills, football mind and natural athletic ability mean I like Cam’s overall potential but I worry about a few things. His transition from a very simple heavy man Notre Dame system to the pros will be a tough one and could limit his path to playing time, additionally his inability to read two way go’s downfield as he relies on his catch technique could limit his effectiveness at the next level. He clearly prefers to be in alignments that allow him to see the play which, for a big guy, is an outlier and could mean he is caught in between roles. Whilst I think ball production is overrated as a indicator of ability Cam’s lack of interceptions could mean chances are squandered whilst he is on the field as he had his only two in the same game against Wisconsin in 2021 and zero in the rest of his 47 college appearances. In summary Hart flashes abilities to match his prototypical cornerback frame but his lack of killer instinct against both the pass and run plus his inexperience operating horizontally means he is a project player meant for Day 3.

System Fit:

His size and catch technique prowess could be used to neutralize bigger receivers on iso comeback routes on key down, his 93rd percentile arm length paired with his easy early phase mechanics could serve him well here. It also looks like he could play the trap role with his patient read speed and willingness to stay on the ball. These are two of Jesse Minter’s biggest requirements of downhill cornerback play so you can really start to see why they took Cam. His natural linear twitch is seen on tape in flashes and it’s here that I think he should focus his efforts early on in his career because from his outside quarter lane this is the skill that will get him onto the field over the likes of Fulton, Still and maybe even Samuel. If he can match big X type receivers stride for stride from off the line or even down in press then he will be a unique prescence in the cornerback room. The concern I have is that if teams motion shifty receivers into his area of responsibility especially if the call is for man, that’s a bad matchup and I can see that being exposed by teams like the Chiefs with their new found desire for smaller faster recievers that require free releases. The good news is that this isn’t a frequent ask in Minter’s system but still to have any player on the field that limits your play calling against certain teams means he will be less likely to see starting reps. It seems to me like he is going to be matchup specific to teams with big bodies, he’ll be tasked with taking on the Mike Evans type opponents.

System Player Comp:

Of all the prospect profiles I have written for the site I struggled with this one the most, even Mockdraftable can only find a sub 80% match to Cam’s size and athletic skills. To me it seems like the Chargers wanted some length on outside to match up with bigger receivers with the rest of the possible contributors in that position being sub 6ft 1 and only Deane Leonard, the former 7th round pick, being over 6ft. This speaks to Minter trying to find a Will Johnson (6ft 2” 200lbs) type player who can play through receivers backs and not be framed out at the catch point. Now Cam is nowhere near the level as Johnson as a prospect but if you don’t find big corners who can cover fluently outside the 1st round, where Johnson will most certainly go next Spring, so this is a case of “If I can’t find a product to fit my needs, I’ll make one myself”. Minter and his secondary staff will aim to mould Hart into a guy who can fill that backside of the 3×1 corner who can keep them honest elsewhere. The Ravens haven’t really used big corners in the same way Minter did at Michigan, Jimmy Smith was the last player who you could say matched Hart’s frame but their play styles are completely different with his aggressive press style of football aligning with the way the Ravens played football. I actually see a lot of Tariq Woolen in Hart’s game but he has never even been near a system like Minter’s so it’s not a comparison I’ll spell out in any kind of detail.

Pick Assessment:

As I said with the Still pick three spots earlier, I only had Kalen King and DJ James ahead of the pair however the consensus board had Cam Hart much higher than me. They had him 108th overall as the CB12, so to take him 140th overall as the CB19 represents significant value. That kind of drop though usually signals that his injury concerns are genuine however the Chargers medical team have historically been risk adverse when it comes to signing off prospects with injury history and the only ones they have taken have been on Day 1. That said this is a new regime and if this is how they seek to gain value on day 3 then I am all for it as a strategic way of ‘beating’ the system. Overall this is a bet on tools and health because if Cam is available and he can continue to grow into the nuances of the cornerback position then his natural tools can put him into a big man role that usually requires a premium pick or an expensive contract to fill. Without significant improvement Cam will be unlikely to see the field early on but this coaching staff is once again betting on themselves to turn him into a workable player in the secondary who can take out the simple jump ball approach which can sometimes undo a perfect gameplan.