Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston First Round Graded Cornerback

Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston is a difficult evaluation.

That’s because he missed five games this past season with a shoulder injury, and he played in a “bend, but don’t break” defensive philosophy on the Wildcats.

Mix in Hairston’s aggressive nature, the physicality he plays with, his 4.28 (40) time, and the fact that he allowed catch rates of 65.7% in 2023 and 54.5% in 2024 (Pro Football Focus), all of it left me vacillating about his grade in my mind.

It also caused me to go back and study all of the games he played in during the 2023 season to gain a better understanding of his full body of work.

I’m glad I did.

It’s in those 19 games that the clues, patterns, and tendencies came into sharp perspective.

What was causing me to vacillate so much on his grade?

2023 season

Hairston was good covering the straight-line vertical routes, but he was getting killed on the sharp comeback routes. He was a dependable banger in run and pass support, and I loved that about him. I just kept coming back to, ‘why is he getting killed on the underneath routes?’

That took time and research to figure out, and it goes back to the well-documented ‘bend, but don’t break’ defensive philosophy of the Wildcats’ head coach, Mark Stoops.

Most of the time, Hairston lined up in ‘off-man’ coverage (the cornerback lines up a few yards away from the wide receiver pre-snap). The idea of that defensive philosophy is to keep the game in front of the defense and not give up the big play. The problem was that it was like watching the quarterback and the receiver play catch on the routes Hairston was covering.

It was frustrating to watch.

Hairston also spent a fair amount of time playing in zone coverage (the corner is responsible for covering a particular area of the field, as opposed to a specific receiver). It stood out that Hairston had the skillset to play ‘press-man’ coverage (when the corner comes right up on the receiver pre-snap and shadows his every move), but when lined up in that look, opponents didn’t tend to test him.

Through it all, he looked like a playmaker; that was the takeaway.

2024 season

While the element of the ‘bend, but don’t break’ philosophy still existed on Kentucky’s defense, Hairston started allowing less cushion to receivers and began using his elite short-area downhill closing ability to better defend the margins, and it was becoming harder for quarterbacks to complete those underneath passes against him in coverage. Bingo!

It looked like Hairston was figuring it out, and he continued making plays.

Headed in the right direction

I want to see a prospect that’s ascending heading into the draft, and that describes Hairston.

His jump on film from 2023 to 2024 was noticeable.

Unfortunately, he missed time with that injury. The good news is that he returned for Kentucky’s last two games.

Maxwell Hairston (#31 on 2023 film #1 on 2024 film) 5-foot-11, 183 pounds

Daniel Kelly’s 2025 Final NFL Draft Grade: First-Round (I would select him)

Projected by 16.0% of the NFL Draft Community to be a first-round pick as of April 3, 2025 (nflmockdraftdatabase.com)

2023 film evaluated: Ball State, Eastern Kentucky, Akron, Vanderbilt, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Alabama, South Carolina, Louisville, and Clemson (click to view games watched to form this evaluation)

2024 film evaluated: Southern Miss, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio Bobcats, Texas, and Louisville

STATS

2023 68 tackles (55 solo), 5 INT, 6 passes defended

2024 19 tackles (15 solo), 1 INT, 4 passes defended

2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Competitive athletic and fast complete corner. Long arms. Muscular lower legs. Light on his feet. Twitchy. Springy. Smooth peddle. Energetic. High confidence level. Attitude. Physical. Tough. Good pre-snap posture. Did the job on screens. Opens hips well in press-man. Good get up and go. Understands route leverage. Slight hesitation. Handsy. Contests deep vertical routes strongly. Burst shows in coverage. Good recovery speed and angles deep. Plays receivers more than the ball. No fear providing support.

Final words

Hairston has what it takes.

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock, and has written for Sports Illustrated (Lions, Jets, and 49ers), NFL Draft Diamonds, and Yardbarker, as well as a featured guest on ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. Follow on Twitter @firstroundmock.