The Pittsburgh Steelers certainly were busy meeting with cornerbacks at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine and that’s a good sign that the team will ultimately select one at some point during the 2023 NFL Draft. One of those cornerbacks the Steelers had a formal meeting with in Indianapolis, Maryland product Deonte Banks, showed out well during the on-the-field drills on Friday.
In the annual combine drills, Banks registered an official 40-yard dash time of 4.35-seconds with a reported 10-yard split time of 1.49-seconds. He also registered an amazing 42-inch vertical jump to go along with an equally impressive broad jump of 11’4″. On the heels of that testing, we’ll have to wait and see what his 20-yard shuttle and three-cone times are when his Maryland pro day rolls around.
At Maryland, Banks, who measured in at the scouting combine at 6001, 197-pounds with 31 3/8-inch arms and 9 3/8-inch hands, recorded 83 total tackles, two interceptions, and 11 passes defensed in 28 games played over four seasons. He also had half a sack which came this past season. Pro Football Focus graded out his coverage in 2022 at 74.3 in addition to giving him an NFL passer rating against of 71.4.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, who recently projected Banks to the Minnesota Vikings at 23rd overall in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, made it known that he’s a big fan of the Maryland product.
“Whether you want to say [Banks] is a No. 2 corner, whatever, he is out on the field when the starting lineup rolls out there,” Jeremiah said. “I think there are 20 of those guys.”
As for Banks and his coverage skills, he described them on Thursday when he held his combine media session.
“I physically impose my will on people all game,” Banks said, according to Vikings team website. “I press all day, and I’m real physical. I feel like that’s what separates me.”
With Banks being a Maryland product, there’s a good chance that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin already knew quite a bit about the young cornerback prior to talking to him in a formal meeting in Indianapolis. After all, Tomlin’s son, Dino Tomlin, started his college career at Maryland prior to transferring to Boston College. The Steelers have obviously drafted a few Maryland players over the course of the last several years as well.
Prior to his Friday field session at Lucas Oil Stadium, Banks teased the media with what they should expect to see.
“Y’all going to see me,” Banks said.
Well, we indeed saw him on Friday and the same goes for all 32 NFL teams. The only question now is which team will take him in the first or second round. Maybe it will be the Steelers.
