Geno Stone, S
School: Iowa | Conference: Big 10
College Experience: Junior | Age: 20 (21 by the draft)
Height / Weight: 5’10” / 207 lbs
Projected Draft Status: Round 5 or 6
NFL Comparison: Duron Harmon
Career Statistics:
Player Overview
Stone was a first team All State DB in Pennsylvania coming out of high school, and was one of 10 freshman at Iowa able to get playing time in 2017, where he won a special teams award in his first year. In 2018, he started 8 games at strong safety (and played in 13), collecting 39 tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 4 INTs (including one pick 6). He also ended up named All Big 10 honorable mention.
During his junior season with the Hawkeyes, Stone was named a defensive team captain and second team All Big 10, starting all 13 games. Stone was responsible for 70 tackles, 3 TFLs, 1 sack, 4 passes defended, 3 forced fumbles, and an INT. Stone’s performance at the Combine was underwhelming, but several commentators have said that it wasn’t necessarily reflective of his on-the-field performance.
Strengths
- Good ability to read the field, with strong situational awareness. Very high football IQ.
- Very physical tackler.
- Well suited for zone coverage.
- Incredibly tough.
- Can be used as a coverage defender on special teams.
Weaknesses
- Not incredibly athletic.
- Lacks the burst to play deep.
- Probably not well suited to man coverage schemes.
- Stronger in the pass game than run game.
Let’s See His Work
How He Would Fit
At the NFL level, Stone projects as strong safety depth and/or a nickel defender. His high football IQ and field awareness make up for his athletic shortcomings, particularly when tasked with defending the pass. Stone obviously isn’t stealing the strong safety job from Landon Collins, but beyond Collins and the recently added Sean Davis - who is expected to start at free safety - the Redskins’ safety corps is a barrel of question marks. Stone could be a late round addition to that group that both adds brainpower and some positional versatility depth.