Seventh-round picks aren't supposed to become starters in their rookie season. They're supposed to sit on the bench, land on the practice squad and learn for a year or two before being thrown into the fire. They aren't supposed to capture the imagination of a fan base during a dominant string of spring practices.
But, then again, Jalen Mills wasn't supposed to be a seventh-round pick.
At 6'1" and 191 pounds, Mills certainly looks the part of an NFL defensive back and it isn't like he's some sort of new revelation in the football world. Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. even listed Mills as one of the top defensive backs in the country prior to the 2015 season.
"What you have in Mills is the frame and fluidity of a coveted cornerback, which he could be at the next level and which he had been for a couple years at LSU before he flipped to safety," Kiper wrote. "So while safety might not even be his best position ultimately, at least you're getting the versatility."
Instead, Mills's draft slide stems from his off-the-field issues. During the spring of 2014, Mills was arrested for second-degree battery for reportedly punching a woman in the mouth and knocking her unconscious. However, the charges were later dropped after Mills completed a pretrial diversion program and paid the victim's medical bills. Still, Mills remained adamant in his innocence when he talked to reporters during the first few days of OTAs.
"Me being raised around women, they taught me how to cater to a woman and how to love a woman, and not to do those things I was accused of," Mills told Birds 24/7. “The hurt wasn’t really for me because I knew I wasn’t guilty, but it was the hurt for how my mom and my grandmother [felt], how they knew I wasn’t raised like that and wouldn’t do something like that."
Mills didn't miss any games for his off-the-field conduct, but his 2015 season started a bit later than expected, thanks to a broken fibula he suffered during training camp. The defensive back was in the midst of a conversion from safety to corner when his injury occurred, but he returned to start the final six games and record 30 tackles and three pass break-ups.
Mills spent the spring working mostly out of the slot, which would take advantage of his versatility. Playing on the inside would allow him to play the run as well as cover the smaller, shiftier receivers who usually man the slot for NFL offenses. And when you consider that he was forced to go up against Jarvis Landry and somebody named Odell Beckham Jr. on a daily basis during his weeks at LSU, it's clear he has the experience necessary to go up against the best receivers on the planet.
So why was Mills available in the seventh round? First, he had a terrible 40-time at the NFL Combine, clocking in at 4.61 seconds. However, he did improve on that by running a 4.47 40 at LSU's pro day. Still, that isn't elite speed for a corner and since Mills is an overly physical defensive back, his lacking of top-end speed limits his ability to cover the elite burners in the NFL. That, combined with his injury recovery and off-the-field issue certainly raised enough flags for him to fall down the draft board.
But in his brief NFL career, Mills has turned enough heads to make a lot of draft evaluators scratching theirs.
Tucker Bagley is a staff writer for Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @tbagley515.
