Name: Nick Cross

School: Maryland

Year: Jr

Position: safety

Measurables: 6’0 1/8^th 212

Stats: 

General Info:

Cross attended DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland. He was a consensus four-star recruit and the top-ranked player in Maryland. He also played in the Army All-American Game. The former Terp finished his senior season with 94 tackles and four interceptions. As a freshman at Maryland, he played in all 12 games with five starts. He collected 45 tackles, 1 TFL, two INTs, and five PBUs. He allowed 13 completions on 22 targets and three TDs. For the 2020 season, he played in four of his team's five games, starting three. He finished the season with 23 tackles, one INT, one sack, 3 PBUs, and one FF. In coverage, he was only targeted twice and allowed no completions. For his junior season, he started all 13 games and finished with 66 tackles, three INTs, two FFs, 3.5 TFLs, three sacks, and four PBUs. He was targeted 28 times and allowed 21 receptions and four TDs.

Positional Skills:

Strengths

Fast and explosive athlete; his 4.34 speed, 37” vertical, and 10’10” broad jump shows up on film. Elite range to go sideline to sideline in a flash. Cross has a well-built muscular frame. He backpedals and flips his hips with ease. When he can line up his target he can really lay the wood and even dislodge the ball sometimes. He is a willing tackler and a physical player who has no problem getting dirty in the run game. He can cover tight ends in man coverage due to his size and explosiveness. The former Terp is solid in his run fits. He does a really good job of reaching in at the right time to knock the ball away. The safety from Maryland has great hands for the interception and does a good job of timing his jump when in zone.

Weaknesses

Cross lacks some starting experience, he only has one full season as a starter in ’21 and 8 games over ’19 and ’20. He has 23 missed tackles in his career with 21 career starts in 29 games played in his career. His missed tackles are usually because he didn’t break down and settle in a tackling position and he ends up diving and missing the tackle. Also Cross will go for the hit and miss when just wrapping up and tackling a guy is the better option. He has miss-timed his jump on some balls when in trail. Cross could also improve on his angles to the ball. He could still be better in his run fits and needs to bend his knees more to get more leverage. His arm length is just average which might cause some problems with covering taller tight ends. Cross will still show some missteps on film, mostly due to his inexperience.  He played some in the box in ’21 but not much before that, you would have liked to see him get more experience there. Cross can also get tricked by motion and misdirection occasionally.

Fit with the Packers:

Cross would be a great fit for the Packers. He is the first player since Nick Collins to come out that has a similar size, athleticism, and skills. He can play free, strong, the slot, or even as a nickel linebacker. He could tag team with Savage and they could alternate playing free and nickel depending on the matchup. He would also bring a hitters’ mentality that hasn’t existed in the Packer's secondary in a long time. If they can extend Amos that would give the Packers one of the best secondaries in the league.