Kamren Kinchens - Miami-FL

Position: Safety

Height: 5’11”

Weight: 203 lbs

Year: Junior

Hometown: Miami, FL

Experience: 3L

Measurables: 

40yd dash: 4.65s

Broad jump: 9’2”

Vertical: 35”

3-cone: N/A

20yd. Shuttle: N/A

Bench Press: N/A

Career Notes: 

The hometown kid, Kinchens, started his time at the U in impressive fashion during the Fall of 2021. As a true freshman, he played in all 12 of Miami’s matchups and started the final five games of the season. He racked up 44 tackles, with 25 of them being solo tackles, and forced four pass breakups. Coming into the season as a four-star prospect, the Miami native put the ACC on notice.

In 2022, his sophomore campaign saw him start all 12 games with the Hurricanes. In those games, he logged 59 tackles and 6 interceptions. One of those picks came against one of this year’s draft darlings in Drake Maye of North Carolina (a projected top 3 overall pick in his own rite). He even had a 99-yard interception for a touchdown against ACC rival Georgia Tech. Having made a huge splash in his second year, Kinchens earned his way onto the All-ACC First Team and the Associated Press’s All America First Team. 

In 2023, Kinchens produced more of the same success he did the previous two years, earning another All-ACC First Team bid in the process. He racked up 59 tackles again and plucked a team-high five interceptions for the Hurricanes. Throughout the 2023 season he was seen as the consensus top safety in the 2023 draft. As of January 2024, following his announcement to enter the draft, he still tops many big boards at the safety position.

Injury Report: 

Kinchens missed two games in 2023 after taking a hit to his upper body in Week 2 that left him immobilized. He had to be carted off the field. Kinchens was away for only two games and returned to action in Week 5.

Career Stats: 

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/kamren-kinchens-1.html

Analysis: 

Man Coverage 2.75/5.0: Man coverage was not Kinchens’s strong suit, but it was also not a point of emphasis for the Miami defense. Miami’s defensive strategy leaned heavily on zones, so Kinchens didn’t find himself in many 1:1 situations. When he was in man coverage, the deep safety support always seemed to hover away from his side, so he played this coverage very conservatively. In these spots, he would played over the top of receivers, quickly closing out after passes were released to make tackles. He gave up a handful of completions one-on-one to tight ends in Miami’s game against Louisville in 2023, but he was always quick behind them to make tackles or to force a tight window for a throw. Man coverage was not his strong suit, but he was by no means a liability.

Zone Coverage 3.75/5.0: Zone coverage was the strength of Kinchens’s game. Miami always had him covering the larger part of the field in two-deep coverage, and they almost exclusively had him cover the deep middle & single-high safety spots when play calls included those coverages. He was so reliable, almost robotic, in his positioning pre- and post- snap, and took away deep concepts consistently. As the leader of Miami’s defense, he communicated constantly and could frequently be seen calling for switches with James Williams and the rest of the secondary. One of the most impressive plays of his season came with 1:39 left in a tied game against Clemson on 3rd and 10. After Miami spent the whole 4th quarter attacking receivers’ bodies in pass defense, Kinchens laid off of his pass assignment on a wheel route, stayed home at the first-down line, and anticipated where his assignment’s route was going (a wheel route to the sidelines) and got a hand on the pass, almost picking the ball off on Clemson’s side of the field. He occasionally bit on mid-level routes in quarters coverage and gave up open route concepts, but he was in position far more than he was in the wrong spot.

Against the Run 3.25/5.0: Even from the deep-middle position, 12-15 yards off the line of scrimmage at the start of most plays, Kinchens still made his presence felt in the run game. Because he was indispensable in zone coverage, he wasn’t lined up for many opportunities to get tackles for loss or stuff guys at the line of scrimmage, but he was a reliable clean-up man when runs broke past the second level and consistently flew to the ball to help with assisted tackles when runs got past the line of scrimmage. Kinchens showed the strength to take down any ballcarrier in college football, but missed some easy tackle opportunities that would make me scratch my head. Sometimes he took inaccurate angles to ballcarriers and sometimes he just had poor leverage or technique and flat-out missed tackles, but he brought down far more runners than he let slip past.

Speed/Quickness 3.0/5.0: Kinchens’s speed was nothing to write home about, but he played much faster than the 4.65 he ran at the combine. He could keep up with everyone that played against him, only getting burned after taking an unsalvageable angle or after having to completely flip his hips. His agility was also more than serviceable as he could change direction fluidly to adapt his pursuit angles in the run game. He also showed physical quickness along with his quick-thinking in zone coverage to drift one way post-snap, then quickly recover to the opposite direction if he needed.

Impact Play Ability 3.0/5.0: Kinchens’s impact was in his savvy and reliability. The impact plays he made more than any were the plays where he would take away deep concepts or prevent a key conversion for the opposing offense. Of course, he had crucial interceptions, like one against Louisville that helped Miami stay in a game in which they couldn’t get anything going. He also had incredible highlights like his 99-yard pick six against Georgia Tech in 2022. But his biggest impact doesn’t show up on a highlight reel, it shows up in all-22 film.

Summary: Kinchens is primed to be the next pesky safety that NFL offenses will dread preparing for, because there isn’t much of a weakness in his game to exploit (unless you count his speed compared to Tyreek Hill, which would be a weakness of everyone’s game including possibly Thanos and the son of God). Kinchens showed himself to be an intelligent, communicative, instinctive safety with the guts to mix it up in the box against lineman in the run game. Over the top, he was as reliable a deep middle safety as there was in college football. His game forced quarterbacks to think more and receivers to break off routes at awkward times and spots on the field. His tackling ability prevented explosive plays for Miami’s defense, and his coverage bought their offense possessions. I have some concerns about some of his missed tackles, and I wouldn’t put him on an island as a nickel, but as a free safety who’s going to fly down and help in run coverage, he would be an asset to any NFL defense.

Overall Grade 3.15/5.0

If drafted by the Packers:

That level of savvy and discipline he shows makes Kinchens an exciting piece on a defense that has struggled against quarterbacks all season. It seems like all year Green Bay fans have heard Head coach Matt LaFleur DC and Joe Barry talk ad nauseum about communication issues and understandings about defensive assignments. If Kinchens is on the field for Green Bay next year, I would be comfortable saying he would help stem the tide with his willingness to communicate and his understanding of coverages. Given the struggles that the Packers have had this year with leaving intermediate routes open and giving up painful 3rd downs, I almost want to pray the Packers reach for Kinchens at 25. However, given the talent likely to be available at offensive line in this first round, it’s hard to hope that the Packers pass up an Amarius Mims or Graham Barton.

Ideally, Kinchens would arrive to the Packers after a trade back later in the first or if he falls to them early in the second round. With Minnesota’s star safety, Tyler Nubin, being so highly touted and the margin appearing to shrink between Kinchens and Nubin, Green Bay may want to wait on the Hurricane product after shoring up another area of need—especially after the McKinney signing. That said, if Green Bay reached on Kinchens in the first right where they’re at, I would be very excited to see what he would bring to the locker room, the field, and this fan base.

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