From now until the 2025 NFL Draft, we will scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top-10 picks, all the way to Day 3 selections, and priority undrafted free agents. Today, a scouting report on East Carolina CB Shavon Revel Jr.
#28 SHAVON REVEL JR./CB EAST CAROLINA – 6-3, 193 POUNDS. (SENIOR)
MEASUREMENTS
| Player | Ht/Wt | Hand Size | Arm Length | Wingspan |
| Shavon Revel Jr. | 6’3/193 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Dash | Short Shuttle | 3-Cone | |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| Broad Jump | Vertical | Bench Press | ||
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
THE GOOD
– Great height and length for the position to suffocate receivers
– Elite explosive ability in speed, power, and leaping ability
– Can flip his hips off the snap and carry receivers downfield
– Really good foot speed and can cover a lot of ground quickly to make tackles in the open field in man or zone
– Good vertical speed to close separation and stick to hips of receivers
– Consistently plays with patience and discipline in press man
– Quickly diagnoses and can change directions on routes in real-time
– Zone coverage IQ awareness to leave routes and pursue open receivers
– Knows how to adjust his pacing and speed in his backpedal
– Doesn’t leave much room on vertical routes for receivers to get open, forcing them to sideline
– Extremely competitive player at the catch point
– Sinks his hips really well for a guy his height at the position
– Absolute speedball as a run defender to play on the edges or to shoot gaps with ferocity
– Doesn’t play with fear and wraps up tackles consistently
THE BAD
– Occasionally resorts to tugs and grabs to maintain hip leverage downfield, risking flags
– Can hesitate on his pursuit on curls and comeback routes at times
– Making more plays to turn passes defensed into interceptions
– Needs to get his head around consistently on deep balls
– Will need to add more upper body mass and strength to allow length to jam receivers
– Can drift in his backpedal at times too far
– Gets grabby too often on downfield throws that allow for pass-interference penalties
– ACL injury may cause concerns
– Older rookie to start the 2025 season
– Level of competition compared to others
BIO
– Born 04/12/2002 (22 years old) out of Winston-Salem, NC
– 880 total snaps (709 outside CB, 135 in the box, 19 in the slot, and 15 near the line of scrimmage)
– 142 special teams snaps (57 FG block, 42 kick coverage, 27 punt return, 14 punt coverage, 2 kick return)
– Appeared in 24 games with 15 starts in 3-year career at East Carolina
– Career: 70 total tackles, 5 TFLs, 1 sacks, 4 missed tackles, 21 run stops, 15 PDs, 3 INTs (1 for TD), 43.9% comp. allowed, 60.6 passer rating against, 8 penalties
– 2024-25 season (3 games): 8 total tackles, 1 TFL, 2 INT’s, 2 PD’s, 40.9% comp. allowed, 51.9 passer rating against, 1 penalty
– 2024 tore his ACL in September practice that ended his season
– Suffered slew of injuries growing up: broken fingers in 9th grade, fractured skull, and broken nose after 10th-grade car accident (missed four months of school), broken collarbone 11th grade (out “multiple weeks)
– 2024 Chuck Bednarik, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Jim Thorpe Award, Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Bowl Preseason Watch Lists
– 2023 2nd-Team All-American Athletic Conference
– 2022 Played in 9 games with 108 snaps
– 2021 Signed with East Carolina on Dec. 15th, 2021 season abbreviated schedule due to the pandemic
– 2020 Season was lost due to the COVID pandemic
– 2019 3-star prospect by 247 Sports in HS
– 2019 Spent his first three years at Reynolds HS before transferring to Reagan HS prior to his senior season
– Played cornerback and wide receiver his senior season
– Lettered as a track & field standout in the 55-meter dash, 300-meter dash, long jump, and high jump
TAPE BREAKDOWN
Shavon Revel Jr. has had an interesting path to the 2025 NFL Draft. He started his collegiate career by going to Louisburg College (JUCO) during his freshman and sophomore seasons. While there, he worked shifts at Amazon Co. to help make ends meet. He drove overnight spontaneously to go to a prospect camp at East Carolina University, where he ran a 4.4 second 40 yd. dash and had an 11-foot standing broad jump there in 2021. He gets an offer shortly after that from East Carolina and finds his way onto the playing field in his second year there. Plenty of people thought he should’ve declared for the draft after his impressive 2023-24 campaign at East Carolina, however he opted to come back to play his senior season.
Unfortunately, he sustained a season-ending injury by tearing his ACL at a September 2024 practice. Up to that point, he had only played in 3 games for the 2024-25 season. He is continuing his recovery process from the knee injury. It’s unknown if he’ll be able to do any pre-draft workouts or testing, but his film and production from the past 3 seasons are enough to get a glimpse of why he’s so highly thought of and where his projection could be.
The most visually apparent things that pop out as soon as you see him are his combination of height, weight, and speed. You can see his athleticism translate from track and field in high school to the football field because he has no issues with long speed, changing directions quickly, being explosive from the ground up, and reaching great verticality on jump balls. His hips are smooth and fluid despite his thin upper body frame. He operates as a boundary cornerback for East Carolina, and you can see the appeal he has in press and man coverages.
Revel uses his length and punch to his advantage to stall receivers at the snap and help redirect them. He can easily carry receivers deep with his straight-line speed and acceleration to catch up, even if he’s been beaten initially.
He is No. 28 for East Carolina in all of the following clips:
There are also times when his eyes will get lost in the flight path of the ball, which results in sizable gains from receivers, but this happens very infrequently.
His footwork is very patient when he’s in press or zone coverage. He knows when to break on a ball and when to plant his heel in the ground to turn quickly.
Revel sometimes has difficulty sinking his hips with his height and upright playing style, but it’s not a glaring weakness as it can be for cornerbacks as tall as he is. His turns are not stiff at all, and he is very physical at the catch point, whether in the short field area or on deep balls. His quick feet help him decelerate and stick with the receiver on comebacks and curls. One thing he has to be careful of in the NFL is being too aggressive with his hands post-snap to stay attached (6 penalties in 2023). He’ll get flagged more than he has in college if he doesn’t improve that. Revel is really good at reading the quarterback’s eyes to anticipate and jump routes. His closing burst is fantastic.
He typically doesn’t miss many tackles, is a very physical tackler, and doesn’t allow many yards after the catch. This guy is not waiting for a receiver to come to him. He brings the fight from the snap. He boxes out receivers at the catch point and makes the most of his vertical leap and large catch radius to impact throws. He knows how to about-face himself to the line of scrimmage, playing the ball and not the receiver. He sometimes relies too much on his athletic ability and makes plays later on the ball instead of trying to convert pass breakups into interceptions.
Revel is a really good run defender who knows how to attack the edges and “put his face in the fan.” He’s a powerful tackler with a great motor. He uses his long arms to stack and shed blocks and has several techniques for defeating blockers.
CONCLUSION
Overall, Revel Jr. has very impressive college production and film, and it’s a shame that the injury this year cut his season short. He still needs to refine his hand placement in press coverage and convert more pass breakups with interceptions, but there is a lot to get excited about with his transition to the NFL. He can play in any scheme and shows great coverage ability, whether in man or zone.
The questions that can’t be answered yet are how much his level of competition affected his production and how he’ll recover from his torn ACL. If the injury didn’t occur, he may be a player who is picked much higher than he could potentially be selected in the upcoming draft.
Revel Jr. and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner share many similarities in size, athleticism, production, and aggressiveness at the position. Pittsburgh should be very interested in him, and he will check many of the boxes they look for as a big, nasty press-man cornerback. Teams will have to look into and vet his injury, but if you’re looking to improve your secondary significantly, Revel is definitely a cornerback who should be highly considered. He has Pro Bowl and possibly All-Pro caliber potential if he can continue improving what he did in college and recover well from the injury.
Projection: Mid-Late Day One
Depot Draft Grade: 8.8 – 1st Round (Quality Starter)
Games Watched: at Old Dominion (2024), vs. Appalachian State (2024), at Michigan (2023), vs. SMU (2023)
