Zemaitis is a very talented cornerback, who has all the talent to be a very good NFL cornerback, but is going to need to greatly improve his backpedal and footwork in order to consistently play up to his athleticism in the NFL. He has very good size for a cornerback, and consistently has shown the toughness and competitiveness to make plays -- he flies up in run support and makes hard hits. He has the talent to stay on a receiver's hip in tight man-to-man coverage, and the body control to reach in front of a receiver and break up the pass without committing the penalty. Additionally, he has shown the willingness to close quickly on passes in front of him, and can break up passes with hard hits right after the ball arrives. He is surprisingly good at cutting in front of the receiver to break up quick, inside passes, but he can be turned around by sharp routes and cannot consistently recover and close quick enough to make plays on the ball. Overall, even though Zemaitis needs to work on his fundamentals a lot, his combination of size, smarts, toughness, competitiveness and athletic ability will enable him to become a very good starting cornerback in the NFL, after a season or two as a backup while he improves his backpedal. CRITICAL FACTORS Athletic Ability M/M Off M/M Tight Competes Play Speed Instincts 6.5 6.0 6.0 6.5 6.5 6.0 STRONG POINTS Zemaitis is a very good athlete, who consistently plays with the tough and aggressive attitude that is hard to find in cornerbacks. He comes up aggressively in run support to make hard hits, and will drive through receivers to break up the pass with a hard hit. He has the quick feet and hips to flip his hips and turn and run without losing a step, and he can plant, drive and close on passes quickly when he keeps his feet under him. He does a very good job of using his body to play physical with the receiver in the route, and really anticipates the inside route well -- he cuts in front of the receiver, shields him from the play and breaks up the pass well. WEAKNESSES Zemaitis is just not as consistent as he needs to be. He is going to need to learn a straight backpedal, and needs to stay over his feet and under control better in order to transition and close more consistently on passes in front of him. When he uses his side-pedal, he can be turned around by sharp out-routes and cannot consistently recover in time to make a play on the pass. He misreads an occasional route and loses contact with the receiver at times. He does not use his hands to jam and slow a receiver's release, which allows receivers easy off the line of scrimmage into their routes. POSITIONAL FACTORS Grade Category Comments/Description 6.0 Read & React He usually reads and reacts very quickly, but occasionally misreads and footwork lead to slow reactions. 6.0 M/M Off Most of the time, he does a very good job in "off" coverage, but does get turned around at times. 6.0 M/M Tight He has the ability to stay on a wide receiver's hip all over the field, but raw footwork hinders his ability to transition quickly. 6.5 Zone Coverage He does a very good job of reading and reacting in zone coverage, and he can plant, drive and close fast. 6.0 Break & Close He is very good when he plays over his feet and transitions well, but he needs to improve his footwork to become more consistent. 6.5 Hips/Turn Ability Has very good hips and athleticism which enable him to flip hips to turn and run without losing a step. 6.5 Tackling For a cornerback, he has the size, toughness and athleticism to break down and tackle well. 6.5 Hands - Interception He has very good hands and has shown the ability to cut in front of a wide receiver to make great interceptions. 6.0 Hands - Fight Blocker He consistently has shown the toughness and competitiveness to fight through blocks and make tackles consistently. 6.5 Deep Speed He has the playing speed to run with any receiver down the field on a deep route without allowing separation. 6.0 Return Ability In games graded, he did not return punts or kickoffs, but he has the hands and speed to be good. 6.0 Errors He misreads an occasional route, but most of his mistakes are due to bad technique or footwork. ATHLETIC ABILITY Section Grade: 6.5 Zemaitis is a very good athlete with the ability to cover receivers all over the field. His very quick feet enable him to close quickly on passes in front of him despite raw footwork. He can accelerate to full speed fast and has the playing speed to stay right on a wide receiver's hip on deep passes. He has the hips and natural flexibility to flip his hips and turn and run without losing a step. He has the hands, body control and concentration to break in front of the receiver and make the tough interception of high passes easily. Overall, Zemaitis no doubt has very good athletic ability, but because they use the side-pedal at Penn State and his footwork is a little raw, he tends to stumble a little when he tries to transition very quickly out of the pedal to break on passes in front of him. Q.A.B. Quick Feet C.O.D. Flexibility Coordination 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 COMPETITIVENESS Section Grade: 6.5 Zemaitis is without question a very tough cornerback, who flies around the field and makes hard hits consistently. Because he plays aggressively on every snap, his production on most snaps is the same as his production on the most important snaps. He can be a shutdown corner when he stays over his feet and uses good footwork so that he can transition and close on passes fast. He does an extremely good job of getting his body in front of the receiver on routes, and he can shield the receiver from the ball to break up the pass. The trouble Zemaitis runs into is that due to his using a side-pedal, he does not transition as well as he is capable of, and gets turned around by sharp routes to the outside too easily -- he allows catches to lesser athletes at times. He has shown he is a team player and never quits on a play with his consistent effort in run support -- not only will he come up aggressively to make tackles in run support, but he will chase down ball carriers across the field in pursuit. Toughness Clutch Play Production Consistency Team Player Pride/Quit 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.0 6.5 6.5 MENTAL ALERTNESS Section Grade: 5.5 It is tough to get a good feel for Zemaitis' smarts because of inconsistencies in his play -- he is clearly smart using his body to cut-off and shield receivers on quick slant routes, but he does not use his hands well in press coverage, and has sloppy footwork at times. He usually shows very good instincts, which combine with foot quickness for him to read and react to passes, but at times, he misreads the receiver's route, gets turned around, and struggles to react and recover due to sloppy transition. A cornerback cannot play as tough and aggressively as Zemaitis has consistently without maintaining a high level of concentration on every snap. Learn/Retain Instincts/Reactions Concentration 6.0 5.5 6.0 STRENGTH/EXPLOSION Section Grade: 6.5 Zemaitis is a tall cornerback with the physique many teams want, and that enables him to play strong and physically with receivers. He has basically been a durable cornerback at Penn State, despite consistently supporting the run so aggressively, and with his size, natural strength and competitiveness, teams should be confident in his ability to be a durable NFL cornerback. He has very good natural explosiveness, and when he is playing over his feet, he can close on passes in front of him in a flash to make plays on the ball, but too often his raw footwork hinders his transition, and he cannot explode as quickly towards the ball. He has very good playing strength for a cornerback -- he can tackle big ball carriers easily and uses his body and strength to cut off and shield receivers from the ball surprisingly well. Body Type Durability Explosion Play Strength 6.5 6.0 6.0 6.5