D’Angelo Ponds NFL Draft Profile: Conference Championship Scouting Report for the Indiana Cornerback
D’Angelo Ponds is a cornerback from Indiana who is ranked No. 32 on my NFL Draft Top 100 Big Board. This comprehensive scouting report analyzes Ponds’s draft potential, current mock draft trends, and where he ranks among the top prospects.
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D’Angelo Ponds’s NFL Draft Potential
D’Angelo Ponds is 5’9″ and 170 pounds — a massive size outlier — but everything about his game defies the expectations you’d normally have for a player at that size. Ponds is competitive in press-man, and he doesn’t let larger receivers bully him.
He plays with disciplined technique and eager physicality, and he has a keen instinct for timing and eye discipline when playing the ball. Ponds’ athleticism is assuredly a strength — he’s ultra-explosive and twitched-up, and a 10.47 100-meter dash helps convey his speed — but it’s the soft skills and competitive disposition that help him play above his weight class week in and week out.
When your team has to dig itself out of a hole, pray D’Angelo Ponds isn’t on the other side of the field. Amidst UCLA’s utter dismantling at the hands of Indiana, Ponds was targeted six times, and only allowed two catches for 14 yards. Two of those additional targets, he deflected — using his gnat-like man coverage skills and size-defying targeted physicality. There are times where Ponds’ plant-and-drive can be a bit more efficient in the short range, but those instances are few and far between.
Overall in 2025, Ponds hasn’t been tested much. He’s been targeted just 39 times according to TruMedia, with just 120 total yards against attributed to him — good for just 0.4 yards allowed per coverage snap. In run support, Ponds is a bit easier to direct with poor size profile, but there’s no denying just how effective he is in coverage. He has the vertical speed to run with anyone and regain positioning out of stems, he has the fluidity to redirect and adjust his tracking angle, and he plays the ball with precise timing and placement at the catch.
Ponds’ upcoming matchup against Carnell Tate, Jeremiah Smith, and the Ohio State passing attack will be his greatest challenge of the 2025 season — and perhaps one of the most important for his 2026 NFL Draft projection. To this point, his size has not been an issue, and his profile is almost devoid of holes outside of that. But if Tate and Smith expose him in the Big Ten Championship, more limitations could come to the forefront.
Nevertheless, as of now, Ponds grades out as a Top 50 prospect in spite of his size, and profiles as a future NFL starter with high-level off-man and zone utility.
Where Is Ponds Being Selected Most Often in the PFSN Mock Draft Simulator?
Ponds currently holds the No. 110 overall rank among prospects, reflecting his standing among mid-round prospects. His most recent Average Draft Position (ADP) of 111.7 as of December 6 reflects that he is typically being selected in the middle rounds.
This small gap between rank and ADP suggests he’s consistently valued among evaluators, even amid fluctuations in player evaluations at this stage of the draft cycle.
Users controlling the Cincinnati Bengals have been the team that selected Ponds the most frequently over the past week, accounting for 0.6% of their picks across all seven rounds.
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Where Does D’Angelo Ponds Rank Amongst Other NFL Draft Prospects?
Ponds is currently ranked No. 32 overall in my December 2026 NFL Draft Big Board. Among CB prospects, Ponds ranks 6th at the position, trailing prospects like Mansoor Delane, Jermod McCoy, Keith Abney II. As a first-round caliber prospect, Ponds is among the top-tier players in this draft class.
Want to see how we rank all the draft prospects in the PFSN Mock Draft Simulator? Check out our NFL Draft Prospect Rankings page, which includes more than 750 prospects.
