2023 Mock Draft Watch 5.0

No. 27 – CB Clark Phillips III, Utah

Last season, Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White missed all but six games, and while he was pretty much the same guy as before when he was on the field, when a 28-year-old cornerback starts missing time, you start to worry. The combination of Taron Johnson, Kaiir Elam, Christian Benford, and Dane Jackson did a good job in White’s stead, and all those guys are back for 2023, but the Bills play more nickel than any other team on an every-year basis, so they need more cornerbacks than some other teams. That’s the math. The Bills have done well with smaller cornerbacks, and Phillips, at 5-foot-9 and 184 pounds, is an assignment-correct, scheme-transcendent defender whose size might get in the way of some things, but last season, he allowed 41 catches on 66 targets for 511 yards, 286 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, six interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 68.4.

If you want to know how Phillips did against top competition, go turn on his game against USC’s Jordan Addison, who went 12th overall in this mock draft. Phillips didn’t shy away from anything, and he was just fine on the outside.