LA Rams select Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson in 6th round of 2023 NFL Draft

Every year, in the draft, top-end talent slips and falls to a later round. And that’s what happened in the 2023 NFL draft with last season’s Jim Thorpe Award winner Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson.

Still, TCU’s star defensive back has a new home in the NFL with the LA Rams after they selected him with the No. 182 overall pick in the 6th round.

Last season, Hodges-Tomlinson was one of the best cover corners in all of college football and has the accolades to back it up. He finished off the year as the Jim Thorpe Award recipient after allowing a passer rating of 38.9 to opposing quarterbacks when in coverage.

Also, during his time at TCU, Hodges-Tomlinson was a three-time first-team all-Big 12 selection. In his final season with the Horned Frogs, Hodges-Tomlinson finished the year with 50 tackles, 40 solo, three interceptions, and a forced fumble.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson

According to the draft analyst Lance Zierlein at NFL.com, Hodges-Tomlinson ranks as the 18-best quarterback prospect in this year’s draft, with a grade of 6.15; just slightly behind Jay Ward of the LSU Tigers. That grade puts him in the category of ‘Candidate for bottom of roster or practice squad.’ Here’s how Zierlein views Hodges-Tomlinson heading into the 2023 NFL Draft.

“Hodges-Tomlinson possesses the athletic profile and ball production to become a starting nickel back. He uses aggression and explosiveness to help overcome his size deficiency. He’s twitchy and sudden to press and hound receivers underneath. However, he needs to trust his technique instead of defaulting to excessive crowding and hand-fighting that turns into penalties. He’s fully accepting of his run-support responsibilities and is generally solid in that area. Hodges-Tomlinson will face occasional size mismatches, but he’s more than capable of holding his own over the course of a season,” according to Zierlein.

As far as Hodges-Tomlinson’s strengths go, Zierlein has them listed as follows: “One of the more explosive athletes in the draft; Twitchy, agile and a voracious competitor in coverage; Allowed 34.6 percent completion rate when targeted in 2022, per PFF; Sudden feet allow him to slide and shade the release; Can smother short and intermediate stop routes; Rockets forward to attack catch point with closing burst; Posted 41 passes defensed in four seasons with TCU, including 18 in 2022; Scrappy tackler stepping downhill in run support.”

As for the things he needs to work on: “Lack of size shows up against bigger targets; Backpedal becomes too upright at times; Route recognition and anticipation is average; Overemphasizes the physical over the technical; Penalized 14 times in 2022, per PFF; Struggles to disengage from perimeter blockers.”