In this dead part of the Steelers’ season, it’s worth taking a closer look at the team’s rookie class. As we never got the chance to do a draft profile on Donte Kent earlier this year at BTSC, here’s a scouting report-style breakdown of Pittsburgh’s new cornerback.

Position: Cornerback

Class: Fifth-year senior

Size: 5’10, 189 pounds

Age: 23

Draft round: 7

Stats via Sports Reference

We’ve made it to the end of the Steelers Rookie Report series, wrapping up with an evaluation of Pittsburgh’s final pick in the 2025 NFL Draft: cornerback Donte Kent (I already analyzed the team’s main UDFA class here).

An important disclaimer with this draft report is that I could only find one full game of Kent’s online — a September matchup versus Illinois. The rest of the clips I pulled from some extended game highlight reels, which generally only show cornerbacks’ worst moments, so I did what I generally never do and used a few reps from Kent’s own highlight reel to balance it out.

That’s to say this isn’t an ideally representative sample. But I feel like I have a good handle on Kent’s game after my research, and I hope you will too after reading this article.

At 5’10, 189 pounds, Kent’s a bit on the shorter side, but he has a compact build and a physical style of play. A versatile defensive back who’s seen reps at outside cornerback, slot cornerback, and even safety over his career, he’s comfortable making tackles all over the field.

His effort and willingness to make tackles late in the play immediately stood out to me. Even as a cornerback he still has safety traits as a last line of defense.

He’s also fun to watch coming downhill, with some successful corner blitzes under his belt.

Still though, he’s not a huge cornerback. There are a few missed tackles on tape, and he can get pushed around a bit. For the most part though, Kent’s demeanor and tackling ability are among the strongest aspects of his profile.

But what about coverage? Kent tested with a respectable 7.43 RAS, headlined by an impressive 4.38-second 40-yard dash. His long speed is not an issue, and I liked Kent best in man coverage carrying downfield routes. He keeps up with receivers well and plays with some physicality.

Sometimes, that physicality can backfire. Kent can be a bit too hands-on in coverage, and he bit hard on a few double moves in the reps I watched.

Ball skills are another, albeit milder, concern. Kent has just two career interceptions over his five collegiate seasons, with none in the last three. As a talented punt returner — more on that later — he’s clearly not allergic to catching the football, but from the limited sample size I watched, he seems comfortable catching the ball when it’s coming directly at him but not so much from other angles.

But with a whopping 46 career passes defensed (other sources credit him with even more), Kent at least has shown that he’s more than capable of breaking up passes.

In zone coverage, I’m a bit less enthused. While I wouldn’t put Kent at 100% fault in all the clips below, he was routinely targeted and allowed a bit too much separation downfield.

Returning back to his RAS, Kent has “elite” speed but “poor” agility testing, and it checks out on-field. He could be a bit late to react to breaks in routes. Receivers tended to have a bit too much space to work with versus Kent in zone.

That’s not to say it’s all bad, though. Kent hits hard when he arrives.

That lack of high-end fluidity is what limits Kent’s NFL ceiling the most, in my opinion, even if there’s still some room to improve his instincts.

He can just get caught flat-footed sometimes. In the first clip below, you can see Kent run into the receiver in an awkward rep after backpedaling late and never flipping his hips; in the second clip, a running back is able to find the edge around Kent, even though his chase-down tackle ends the play on a slightly better note.

His speed is still an asset, though, and Kent was a good return man during his final season in college who should challenge for the job with the Steelers. He averaged 13.6 yards per punt return last season with Central Michigan.

Fluidity is generally the top trait that I look for in cornerbacks, and it’s not exactly a strength of Kent’s game. Still, he has some exciting tools and a fantastic on-field demeanor — he could certainly develop into good seventh-round value for the Steelers.

Strengths

Strong, compact build
Great long speed
Physical in coverage
Productive breaking up passes
Talented, productive punt returner
Aggressive, willing tackler
High effort style of play
Former team captain
Battle-tested, experienced starter
Versatility; played boundary, slot, safety, and special teams in college

Weaknesses

Just two career interceptions over five college seasons
Lacks great feel in zone coverage
Over-aggressive at times in coverage
Not the most fluid change of direction

Lance Zierlein of NFL.com

Speedy four-year starter and team captain with the athletic ability to garner Day 3 interest in the draft. Kent’s measurables are better suited for the slot, but he can play outside if needed. His speed and burst lead to pass breakups, but he lacks the route anticipation and instincts to turn more of those into interceptions. He’s not scheme-dependent but is better in man coverage than he is in zone. He’s tough enough in run support and has potential as a gunner or punt returner, which should increase his draft value.

James H. Jimenez of Hustle Belt

In Kent, the Steelers are getting a former team captain with sticky man coverage; a corner who brings immediate special teams benefits in multiple phases. Although he is a tad undersized to play as a safety at the pro level, he should fit in just fine at either outside or nickel corner despite his lack of turnover plays. His sure tackling, wealth of experience (47 starts over 53 appearances) and diverse skillset will be great adds for a team like the Steelers, who love to stash and develop players over multiple years.

PFF

Kent is a smaller cornerback who broke up five passes in 2024. He is a good special teams player who does his best work on the punt coverage (105 career snaps) and punt return (125 career snaps) teams.

Reports from OTAs indicate that Kent is Beanie Bishop Jr.’s top competitor for the starting job at slot cornerback so far this offseason. It’s a somewhat surprising development, and obviously a lot could change between now and September, but it makes some sense.

Kent has the demeanor to play in the slot in the NFL, and his versatility means he won’t be horribly out of place if coverage alignments change. He’s fairly sticky in man coverage, battle-tested from his time at Central Michigan, and a plus tackler for his position.

However, I see a lot of the same weaknesses that held Bishop back last season on Kent’s 2024 tape — namely, some grabbiness in coverage and his game speed not always matching up to his testing speed.

The bump up in competition from Central Michigan to the NFL is worth noting, too.

While I still haven’t seen enough of Kent to be completely confident in my verdict, I’m willing to bet the second-year pro Beanie Bishop wins the starting slot job. Kent’s biggest contributions if he makes the roster will likely be through special teams. He has the want-to to succeed there in the NFL, and he could challenge for reps as a returner.

TL;DR: Kent is a compact, speedy, and physical defensive back who projects best in the slot at the NFL level. However, some fluidity concerns and over-aggression in coverage might limit his immediate contributions on defense, even if he has the profile of a good special-teamer.