Keon Sabb S Alabama | NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
Keon Sabb S Alabama
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| ROLE: Zone Slot/Nickel Safety | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 05/21/2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 40 time: 4.55 seconds (56%*) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Age: 22.8 DOB: 09/18/2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ROLE: Zone Slot/Nickel Safety | |
| Last Updated: 05/21/2025 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| 40 time: 4.55 seconds (56%*) | |
| Age: 22.8 DOB: 09/18/2002 | |
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| Overall Rating: | 84.9 / 100 | |
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| Average rating of opposition Offense player has faced | ||
| Offense Rating: |
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80% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| QB Rating When targeted: | 72.4 | |
| Tackling: |
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65% |
| Run Defense: |
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78% |
| Coverage: |
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69% |
| Zone: |
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72% |
| Man/Press: |
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68% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
3rd
Overall Rank:
#79
Position rank:
#13
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| College Games: 23 College Snaps: 832 | ||
ESPN RATING: 84/100
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247 RATING: 95/100
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RIVALS RATING: 5.9 (97%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cole Bishop - Utah |
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85% |
| Jonas Sanker - Virginia |
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82% |
| Jaden Hicks - Washington State |
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78% |
Draft Profile: Bio
Keon Sabb started his football journey in New Jersey, playing at Glassboro High before transferring to Williamstown and finishing his prep career at IMG Academy. A four-star recruit ranked among the top-100 prospects nationally, Sabb initially committed to Michigan where he spent two seasons. He contributed to the Wolverines' national championship run in 2023, recording 28 tackles and 2 interceptions while appearing in 14 games with 5 starts, including the title game against Washington where he recorded 6 tackles.After transferring to Alabama for the 2024 season, Sabb immediately stepped into a starting role in the secondary. He started seven games before suffering a season-ending foot injury against Tennessee. During his abbreviated campaign, he collected 39 tackles, 2 interceptions for 87 return yards, and 4 pass breakups. His performance against Western Kentucky, which included two interceptions, earned him SEC Defensive Player of the Week recognition.
Rather than declaring for the NFL Draft, Sabb announced his return to Alabama for the 2025 season. This decision gives him an opportunity to showcase his skills over a full season and potentially improve his draft stock. With experience at two premier programs and a skill set highlighted by his length and physicality, Sabb enters his senior year looking to establish himself as one of the top safety prospects for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Impressive length and frame that plays even longer than his 6'1" measurement, allowing him to disrupt passing lanes and affect quarterback vision from various alignments.
- Displays exceptional zone instincts with natural feel for positioning his body in throwing windows, particularly as an underneath defender reading quarterback intentions.
- Brings the thump as a tackler both in run support and open field situations, delivering several highlight-reel collisions that showcase his enforcer mentality.
- Demonstrates advanced route recognition skills, rarely fooled by conventional route combinations and anticipates breaks with good processing speed.
- Uses length masterfully to re-route receivers and disrupt timing, showing particular effectiveness jamming tight ends and slot receivers off the line.
- Shows impressive block-shedding technique against smaller receivers, utilizing long arms to lock out and maintain leverage while working toward ball carriers.
- Possesses natural feel for avoiding blockers in space, displaying multiple instances of slipping past offensive linemen to blow up screen plays.
- Proven producer at the highest levels of college football, with championship pedigree and big-game experience at both Michigan and Alabama.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Consistently plays with high pad level that compromises his change-of-direction ability and forces him to round off breaks rather than making crisp transitions.
- Lacks true top-end speed when coming out of deep alignments, causing him to arrive a beat late when ranging to the boundary from single-high looks.
- Can get overly handsy in man coverage situations, relying on grabbing technique that'll draw flags at the next level despite getting away with it in college.
- Demonstrates concerning lack of urgency to the ball at times, appearing to coast rather than accelerating through plays when not directly involved.
- Missed tackle rate stems directly from attempting to bring down more powerful runners with high body positioning instead of driving through their legs.
Scouting Report: Summary
Sabb's film reveals both clear NFL traits and concerning limitations that will dictate his role at the next level. His effectiveness defending the run (particularly against screen plays) and natural feel in zone coverage will earn him defensive snaps, though his high pad level and inconsistent motor raise questions about his every-down reliability against elite competition.The ideal deployment lies in versatile safety packages that leverage his strengths in underneath zones and tight end matchups while sheltering him from situations demanding elite change-of-direction and recovery speed. His tackling prowess in run support will earn him early rotational snaps, though his technique must improve to consistently bring down more powerful NFL ball carriers. Special teams value adds immediate roster utility while he develops the technical consistency his game currently lacks.
Day two draft capital would represent a bet on Sabb's developmental ceiling rather than his current floor. Teams valuing length, physicality and collegiate pedigree at premium programs will be more bullish on his prospects than those prioritizing movement skills and man coverage versatility. His return to Alabama offers crucial opportunity to showcase improved urgency and technical refinement – areas that could significantly narrow the gap between his potential and production.
Written By:
Wyatt Brooks (SEC)
How other scouting services rate Keon Sabb (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
67.2
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
10.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.