Draft-Week Buzz
No verified pre-draft news items in the past 30 days for this prospect. See Day 2/3 Team Fits below for projected landing spots and /news.html for the cross-prospect timeline.
Scouting Nugget: Clemson press CB
Expanded bio coming soon. This prospect is Cornerback #26 in the 2026 class.
Background
Clemson CB from Mauldin (SC); four-year Tiger press corner.
College Production
2022-25 Clemson: 120+ career tackles, 4 INTs, 20 PBUs.
Scouting Take
ACC-tested press corner. Straight-line speed modest.
Draft Projection
Round 7-UDFA. Rotational outside CB.
Sources
Our scouting profile is assembled from these primary sources + cross-checked against ESPN (Kiper / Reid / Miller), PFF's 2026 Big Board, Dane Brugler's The Beast 2026, and Daniel Jeremiah's top-50. See our full methodology and citations.
Day 2 / Day 3 Team Fits
NFL teams that lost a same-position veteran this offseason — and could target Jeadyn Lukus as a Day 2/3 replacement option.
- VERIFIED Kansas City Chiefs: traded away Trent McDuffie (press-CB) on 2026-03-16. [verified]
Picks held: R1 #9; R1 #29 via Los Angeles Rams; R2 #40 - REPORTED New Orleans Saints: moved on from Marshon Lattimore (press-CB).
Picks held: R1 #8; R2 #42 - REPORTED Buffalo Bills: moved on from Taron Johnson (slot-CB).
Picks held: R1 #26
Confidence: "VERIFIED" departures cite a publication URL (Spotrac, OverTheCap, ESPN, NFL.com, team transactions page) confirming the move and date. "REPORTED" entries come from public free-agency trackers without a single canonical source we could attach. Fits are archetype-and-position based; we are not claiming the team has expressed interest in the prospect.
NFL Scheme Fit
NFL Scheme Fit
- Cover-3 press-bail / Seattle-style boundary CB
Seattle Seahawks · Detroit Lions · Pittsburgh Steelers · Cincinnati Bengals - Off-coverage zone-match / pattern-match CB
Indianapolis Colts · Jacksonville Jaguars · New York Giants · Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Scheme matches are bucketed from the prospect's height, weight, and (for WRs) archetype tag against a static lookup of which NFL teams currently run each scheme family.
Rookie Contract & Landing-Spot Outlook
Projected Rookie Contract Value
~$0.84M base + bonus (1-yr) · Pick range: UDFA · ~0% guaranteed
UDFA 1-yr deal: $840K base + ~$10K-$25K signing bonus
Contract band uses the 2026 NFL CBA rookie wage scale projected from the prospect's expected pick range; guarantee % is the slot-default at that pick. Landing-spot best/worst case is derived from TEAMS data (positional needs + scheme overlap minus same-position R1 conflicts) — not a claim that either team has expressed interest.
Versatility, Limits & Roster Pathway
Biggest Limiting Trait LOW
100th-percentile height for the position — Frame is among the tallest at the position — long-strider transitions on sharp routes / change-of-direction reps are the typical scout flag for this profile.
Day-3 NFL Roster Pathway
Day 3 projection means a 53-man roster spot is not guaranteed — special-teams contribution (kick/punt coverage, gunner, return-game blocking) is the typical first-year survival path.
Derived from height/weight against the 2026 position cohort and the prospect's projected round. Versatility callouts identify alternate alignments NFL teams have historically used for similar size profiles. Limiting-trait notes flag the single most-cited measurable concern; severity reflects how often that flag ends a Day 1 starter projection. Roster-pathway notes describe the realistic Year 1 NFL role for Day 3 picks.
By the Numbers — 2026 Class Context
- Frame: Among 2026 CB prospects, his 6-1 / 195 lbs frame sits at the 100th percentile in height and 97th percentile in weight.
- Position class: Jeadyn Lukus is CB #26 of 29 ranked CBs in the 2026 class. Of those, 14 are projected in the R7/UDFA range.
- School pipeline: Clemson has 2 CBs in the 2026 NFL Draft class (7 total prospects from the school).
Computed factually from the 2026 prospect class roster — height/weight percentiles benchmark this player against every other ranked prospect at the same position. Recruiting arc compares his high-school 247Sports/Rivals composite to his current projected round.
Jeadyn Lukus’s NFL Archetype: Patrick Surtain II
Patrick Surtain II (Denver Broncos)
Closest CB physical profile in the modern NFL: 6-1/195 lbs. Same frame, same role bucket — NOT a talent or career-arc projection.
Note: this is a physical-profile match — frame, position, role bucket. Not a talent or career-arc projection.
Similar Cornerback Prospects
Closest matches to Jeadyn Lukus (6-1 / 195 lbs, #26 CB) by ranking proximity and physical profile. SIZE MATCH = within 1″ height and 10 lbs; TIER MATCH = within 2 ranking spots.
- DJ HarveySIZE MATCH USC · 6-0/195 lbs · #25 CB · R7
- Stephen HallSIZE MATCH Missouri · 6-0/195 lbs · #29 CB · UDFA
- Domani JacksonSIZE MATCH Alabama · 6-1/195 lbs · #21 CB · R7-UDFA
- Kaine WilliamsSIZE MATCH Texas · 6-0/200 lbs · #23 CB · UDFA
- Josh MotenTIER MATCH Southern Miss · 5-11/185 lbs · #27 CB · R7-UDFA
Clemson & The 2026 Class
More from Clemson
- Avieon Terrell · CB #4 · R1
- TJ Parker · EDGE #5 · R1
- Peter Woods · IDL #1 · R1 10-20
- Blake Miller · OT #5 · R1
- Cade Klubnik · QB #6 · R3
Other R7-UDFA prospects in the 2026 class
Different positions, same projected draft tier as Jeadyn Lukus.
- Garrison Grimes · LS · BYU
- Luke Altmyer · QB · Illinois
- Davon Booth · RB · Mississippi State
- Caullin Lacy · WR · Louisville
- Dillon Bell · WR · Georgia
- Sage Surratt · WR · Wake Forest