From now until the 2025 NFL Draft, we hope to 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, down to Day 3 selections, and priority undrafted free agents. Today, a scouting report on Alabama DB Malachi Moore.
#13 Malachi Moore/DB Alabama – 6-0, 201 pounds (Graduate Student)
Measurements
| Player | Ht/Wt | Hand Size | Arm Length | Wingspan |
| Malachi Moore | 6’0/201 | 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
– Solid overall frame, even if slightly underweight
– Physical, aggressive, and downhill player
– Closes space quickly, shows speed, and flies to the football
– Fluid and solid athlete overall
– Versatile and aligned all over the secondary, trusted to disguise coverage and rotate post-snap
– Hits produce good hit power
– Takes good angles to the ball in the air
– Finds the ball and able to make plays, not just tackle the catch
– Stays low in pedal from slot/nickel alignment, impressive click/close breaking downhill
– Fills alley against the run and embraces contact
– Comfortable in man and zone
– Experienced on special teams, especially kick coverage
– Tons of experience
– Regarded as high-character, leader, and hard worker
The Bad
– Late with eyes and can be slow to react to the ball
– Can be overaggressive downhill and needs to consistently break down to avoid missing tackles
– Pedal from FS spot is upright and tall
– Prone to giving up big plays in vertical pass game, can be late to open hips and run
– Good hitter but doesn’t deliver knockout blows
– Pure foot/long speed is only average, and overall testing is unlikely to wow
– Little older than ideal
– Nagging injury history and often played through ailments
Bio
– Turns 24 in September of 2025
– 64 career games for Crimson Tide, three-year official starter (2020, 2023, 2024), played “Star” position other years; lost snaps to Brian Branch in 2021/2022
– Career: 214 tackles (15.5 TFL) 31 PDs, 7 INTs, 3 FFs, 2.5 sacks
– 2024: 70 tackles (3 TFL) 10 PDs, 2 INTs, 2 FFs
– Team captain in 2023 and 2024
– Four-star recruit from Trussville, Alabama; chose Alabama over Auburn, Michigan, Oregon, and several other schools
– 86 tackles, 4 INTs (two pick-sixes) as a high school senior
– 2024 snap alignment (per PFF): 350 FS, 219 SS, 180 NCB; mostly played NCB in 2023 (468 snaps, 69 at FS)
– Befriended blind child during senior season of high school, brought her and her mother to game as his guests during commit trip; ESPN made 2024 feature piece on the story
– Graduated HS semester early, but Alabama didn’t have room for him to enroll early, spent spring working out on his own
– Began HS career as WR before flipping to DB
– Became first Alabama DB to start first game as true freshman since Minkah Fitzpatrick
– Trained with former Alabama DB Justin Woodall throughout his college career
– Went viral for anger outburst following 2024 loss to Vanderbilt
– First player in school history to win five Iron Bowls (beating Auburn)
– Missed bowl game in 2024 due to undisclosed injury he battled for most of season that required surgery; caused him to withdraw from Senior Bowl
– Battled other nagging injuries throughout career; 2020 back injury he battled during the year and caused him to miss the CFP; left game in 2024 and two in 2023 with injuries
– Mother is elementary school teacher (kindergarten/1st grade); once read to class and gave students action figure through NIL deal
Tape Breakdown
Malachi Moore stayed at home to attend Alabama, making an immediate impact starting as a true freshman. He lost playing time to Brian Branch over the next two years but finished his career as a starter.
Moore brings a well-rounded game. He’s aggressive and tenacious and plays the run hard, showing no hesitation coming downhill to fill the alley and make tackles.
He also makes plays in coverage from the slot or post safety. Moore shows a low pedal and quick transition out of it to blanket underneath routes. As a deep safety, he finds the ball well in the air, taking good angles that highlight his range. Moore is able to finish plays with breakups and picks.
Versatile, he aligned all over the Crimson Tide defense. No assignment is new to him. He looked comfortable in man and zone and wore every hat a coach could ask of him while being taught by Nick Saban until 2024.
Negatively, Moore can be late with his eyes and get beat. In these two clips, he is late on the crosser through his zone, which resulted in a touchdown. On the other, during the team’s 2024 upset loss to Vanderbilt, he was late to recognize the route off the ball and unable to catch up.
And here, he gave up a long touchdown. He was late opening his hips without the pure speed to recover. His biggest blemish is allowing these explosive pass plays.
Conclusion
Overall, Moore is an excellent prospect, not receiving much buzz. He isn’t the pure cover man that Brian Branch was, but he doesn’t feel far off and is bigger and a more impactful hitter. He’s scheme-versatile, high-character (even praised by Ryan Clark in 2020), and an all-around strong player.
Moore would be a great fit in Pittsburgh as a nickel/safety who can rotate and move around the secondary pre- and post-snap. I am way higher on him than where he’s currently projected to land, giving the highest possible second-round grade. Hopefully, those nagging injuries don’t follow him to the NFL. Otherwise, someone is going to get great value.
My NFL comp is Micah Hyde.
Projection: Mid Day Three
Depot Draft Grade: 8.5 – Second Round (Future Quality Starter)
Games Watched: vs LSU (2023), at Wisconsin (2024), at Vanderbilt (2024), at LSU (2024), vs Georgia (2024)
