Mel Kiper declares Malaki Starks as a first-round draft pick: 'He's not getting to the second round'

Malaki Starks is considered to be one of the top defensive back prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft cycle. After spending three seasons at Georgia, he has the potential to hear his name called on day one in Green Bay.

Featured during a segment highlighting potential steals early on in the draft, Mel Kiper Jr. was high on Starks and his capabilities during Monday’s episode of ‘First Draft,’ which featured Kiper Jr. alongside Seth Greenberg and Field Yates.

“He’s a pure football player with a high I.Q. If he gets to the late first round, somebody’s gonna grab this kid,” Kiper Jr. told his co-hosts. “He’s not getting to the second round. I can’t see it, but I do think he could be a steal in the late first round. Malaki Starks is a heck of a football player.”

During his time in Athens, Starks totaled six interceptions across 43 career games. He logged 197 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 23 pass breakups as well. Field Yates agreed that Starks’ abilities of the football field speak for themselves, but wasn’t blown away with his showing at the 2025 NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

“Malaki Starks has tremendous versatility,” Field Yates told Greenberg and Mel Kiper Jr. “He can be a deep, middle of the field safety. He can hover over the slot and cover tight ends or even bigger slot receivers. He can impact the running game as well as be the fourth player in the box.

“A couple of things to note here for Malaki Starks that may have impacted his status in terms of being a first round pick. One, this was not as great of the year in 2024 as it was in 2023. On top of that, it wasn’t a great combine for him. He ran a 4.50, 40 [yard dash] which is not a terrible time, but it’s not a great time either. … Some of those change of direction movements weren’t as at the level that you normally would like for a safety to go in the first round.”

Yates made a counter arguement to his point, calling Starks an “eraser” on a Georgia defense alongside the likes of Mykel Williams and Jalen Walker, who may be first-round picks in April as well. During 2023, Starks logged career-highs in both interceptions (3) and pass breakups (7) compared to one interception in 2024, as well as three pass breakups this past season. In all, Yates said that Starks may finish outside of his final top 32 rankings when it’s released.