In 2023, Kamal Hadden was rated as the Tennessee Volunteers’ best secondary player. Hadden is rated as one of the top cornerback prospects in this year’s draft by Pro Football Focus as well.
With a 92.4 grade, PFF ranks Hadden first among all FBS corners in single coverage. That implies that no cornerback in the draft this year or in college football overall scores higher in one-on-one coverage than Tennessee’s Hadden.
The NFL uses a separate system to rank potential draft picks. The prospects are ranked between 5.50 and 8.00. With a grade of 6.20, Hadden is expected to play as a starting corner in the NFL in the future.
Hadden played well his final year at Rocky Top before an injury ended his season. Among other corners, he is ranked in the top 25 in four major categories. Based on his collegiate records, AtoZ Sports writer James Foster concluded that Hadden is undervalued at the cornerback position.
Third, yards/tgt: 2.91
Yds/Snap (20th): 0.52
Allowable Passer Rtg: 7.0 (1st)
21st-century forced completion rate: 24.2%
This follows a difficult junior season during which he lost favor with Vol supporters as a result of some of his late-season on-field exploits. Speaking with reporters, Hadden talked about the improvement in his play from his junior to senior seasons and said he needed to make significant adjustments to improve in his last season at Rocky Top.
“I discovered how to take things slowly. I kind of concentrated more on it once I became more attuned to the game than I did on hyping things up and being loud all the time.”
– Kamal Hadden
Hadden isn’t experiencing the entire combine; instead, he is only concentrating on position drills. He said he would be able to accomplish everything on Pro Day, which makes us think that since he is still healing from his shoulder injury, he would not be fully prepared to take advantage of everything the NFL Combine has to offer.
As the only defense player from Tennessee invited to the NFL Draft Combine, Hadden has a fantastic chance to spend some time in Indianapolis, Indiana, with NFL teams. He states that his physicality and ability to make plays have drawn the attention of certain NFL scouts. He certainly proved his mettle in those two areas last autumn on Rocky Top.