Johnathan Joseph, CB, Cincinnati Bengals

May 10, 2006 @ 14:29:34

By Brian Dean and Chris Nelson
Edited by KFFL Staff

South Carolina cornerback Johnathan Joseph is an interesting prospect. In 2003 he played a year at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas after his High School days as a track and football star. Joseph earned All-Conference honors at Coffeyville and was heavily recruited before leaving for South Carolina.

Joseph broke his foot in the second game of the 2004 season. He would get surgery and miss the rest of the season for the Gamecocks. In 2005 Joseph intercepted four passes, returning one for a touchdown, on his way to being named the team's Outstanding Defensive Back.

If his football career hadn't been unorthodox enough, Joseph surprised everyone by following teammate Ko Simpson into the NFL Draft.

"It was a pretty tough decision," Joseph said about declaring early. "I had to talk to my mom, my dad, my uncle just to get the best decision. It was a pretty hard decision for me to make."

Table: Johnathan Joseph - Career Statistics (2003-05)

Year	Tkls	Int	Pass Def.
2003(JuCo)	43	3	2
2004	3	0	1
2005	55	4	9

Positives

Joseph is a flat out burner. On film, he looks like he is moving a different speed than everyone else. His 4.31 40 time was the second fastest at the scouting combine, one-hundredth of a second slower than cornerback Tye Hill of Clemson. At 5-foot-11, 193 pounds, Joseph has prototypical size to go along with elite athleticism.

He is natural in man coverage and could be a shutdown player at the NFL level with more refined technique. Joseph isn't afraid to fill against the run and tackle well. He showed good ball skills as a senior to secure the interception. Joseph is also an explosive kick returner, averaging 23.5 yards on six returns.

Negatives

The first thing you look at with Joseph is his inexperience. He only saw action in 14 games at South Carolina and is still very raw. His overall technique needs more development, especially zone coverage. Joseph is your classic high-risk, high-reward prospect. It is up to him how good he wants to be.

Summary

Although their starting cornerbacks, Deltha O'Neal and Tory James, combined for 15 interceptions in 2005, the Cincinnati Bengals chose to add depth to the position with their first-round pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. Rather than addressing other needs at tight end and interior defensive line, the Bengals selected Joseph No. 24 overall. He was the third pure corner taken.

With the presence of Keiwan Ratliff (45 tackles, three interceptions in 2005), Joseph will not likely be counted on as anything more than the fourth cornerback barring injury to player ahead of him. James will be 33 when the 2006 season begins and Joseph should eventually develop into a starter for the Bengals.

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Brian Dean

Brian "Birdman" Dean has been a contributor at KFFL since 2005. This musician and lifelong athlete is known at KFFL for his foresight and dead-on predictions, as witnessed by his back-to-back NFL mock draft title.

Chris Nelson
Chris Nelson is a college student at Georgia State University currently majoring in journalism. Chris has been playing fantasy baseball and football for nearly a decade. He one day hopes to be a beat writer for the Miami Dolphins while eventually reaching the pinnacle of sports journalism, that being the ability to write about coffee, traveling, kids softball and whatever else he wants, all the while being paid good money by a national publication to do it. He has been a KFFL contributor since 2006.

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