Background
Treydan Stukes grew up in Litchfield Park, Arizona, and attended Millennium High School in Goodyear, where he posted 97 tackles, 11 interceptions, and 25 passes defended across his prep career while also contributing 10 receptions for 173 yards and 5 touchdowns on offense as a senior. He won a state championship in the triple jump, was a state finalist in the long jump, and maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout high school. His father, Ray, played college football at Pacific University and in arena football. Unranked and without a star rating, he walked on at Arizona and redshirted in 2020 during the COVID-shortened season. As he gradually climbed from reserve to starter, the team awarded him a scholarship in 2021 and named him team captain twice. He earned Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 in 2023 before tearing his ACL against Utah in 2024, limiting him to just four games. He returned for 2025 and produced the best season of his career: 52 tackles, a sack, 4 interceptions, and 6 pass deflections while allowing zero touchdowns on 39 targets, earning First-Team All-Big 12 and AP Third-Team All-American. Career totals across six seasons: 206 tackles, 7 interceptions, and experience at cornerback, nickel, and safety. He also made the honor roll three times at Arizona. He declared for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Physical Attributes
Stukes is an elite athlete. Most of that athleticism is uniplanar and does not translate to great lateral quickness or agility. By easily flipping his hips, Stukes changes curved paths into linear ones to his advantage. He closes well with his speed, but not as much as a 4.33 would suggest because of his loss of speed when on a curvilinear route. Very physical and strong, Stukes is not afraid to muddy it up in the run game.
Data and Tape Analysis
If you are unfamiliar with my CB radar charts, you can find more information here
There is every chance that Stukes celebrates his 25th birthday before he ever plays an NFL snap. So, as a 24-year-old in the Big XII, we have to be more harsh than we otherwise would be on his data and tape because Stukes is most likely towards the end of his development curve. That being said, that radar chart is really good, but not dominant against a mediocre schedule, so let's get into how he did it.
The key problem with Stukes' playing style is that he only reacts to what happens, rather than taking action himself. Most of his snaps were in off coverage, and he would not move until the WR was right on his toes. If that meant the WR was hitting top speed to run a deep route, that meant Stukes had to turn his hips and accelerate from a stop to try to catch up to a WR who was already nearing their top speed. Or maybe it was as simple as letting a WR have a yard and a half head start on an in or an out. It was truly maddening, and while his athleticism allowed him to negate some of it, it was the biggest reason for completions against him that the NFL will take advantage of.
That is probably the reason I liked his reps a little closer to the line of scrimmage in man coverage better. That seems to simplify the task on hand for Stukes, which is just stay really close to this guy and make his life difficult, which he does really well. The same slow reaction to moves occurs, but because he is already moving it helps him keep up better.
Stukes really improved as a player once he moved to the slot primarily in 2023 and has stuck mostly there since. He took snaps as a box safety and free safety as well, and because of his ability to get downhill, I liked what I saw. He has positional versatility that more creative DCs could use at the next level.
In zone coverage, when sufficiently off the ball and the play is entirely in front of him, Stukes does a great job. The patience that hurts him when only 5 yards off the line is not as terrible 10 yards off because a lot of stem breaks have occurred by that point. This allows him to put his back foot in the ground and drive. Causing a forced incompletion percentage of just 17%, the slight delay in his game is clear. However, his excellent performance in denial shows in that only just over 10% of the time was he targeted.
Special shout-out to his willingness to get involved in the run game, and physicality in trying to tackle.
Grade and Outlook
Treydan Stukes is a prospect that could come in and help shore up a nickel spot for an NFL team. I see him come in and be middle of the pack for that position right away, and with much less development upside, I would rather take a bigger swing. The classic pick a GM takes to just get one on the board.
Grade: 5.4 (3rd Rounder)
