2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Texas S Andrew Mukuba

All my scouting notes on the strengths, concerns, usage/role, skill set summary, NFL comparison and grade/projection for Texas S Andrew Mukuba

Texas S Andrew Mukuba

Height: 5-11
Weight: 186
Arm Length: 30 inches
Hand Size: 9 1/2 inches
Birthdate: 12/7/02 (will turn 23 during rookie season)
Production: 50 games, 9 TFL, 6 INTs, 23 PBUs, 1 FF
Games Watched: Florida, Georgia, Michigan

Scouting Notes

Awesome instincts in coverage. Sorts through route combinations and attacks patterns with intent to make plays. Ball skills are maybe the best in the class, arriving at the catch point and playing through the hands constantly. Has great interceptions on the ball in flight, off tipped throws and by anticipating where passes are going before their thrown. His interception against Georgia is one of the instinct/ball skills plays of the year.

Lots of pass breakups by playing through the hands of receivers down the field, always trying to dislodge the ball until the whistle. Opportunistic player who creates his own “luck”. However, his overall range will be in question. Mukuba is fast once he gets going toward his target, but lacks the twitch to be that explosive mover in short spaces. A couple times on tape this season he tried to get out of his pedal fast and briefly lost his footing. Just doesn’t have that elite super charge in his feet that some of the top guys at FS have.

Occasionally Mukuba will get caught out of position in coverage due to his aggressiveness. His smaller stature definitely presents its challenges, despite how scrappy Mukuba plays. He never shies from contact and will beef with opponents all game, but he won’t win every battle against bigger targets, and he can struggle to get off blocks in the run and quick pass game. Still, Mukuba is aggressive and quick coming downhill in the screen game. If he can avoid getting pinned down by a blocker, as he often did in college, you can bet he’ll be around the line of scrimmage for a stop.

When he moves to the box or provides run support from depth, Mukuba does his job well enough. Because Texas had the monster that is Alfred Collins and many others up front, Mukuba was often kept clean in the run game and rarely moved into the box. But when runs did break through, his angles to the ball were clean, he usually got runners on the ground and he didn’t hesitate to fill from depth. Mukuba will run the alley and hit too, even if you worry about his frame delivering blows at full speed over and over.

I would be shocked if Mukuba plays a significant box role in the NFL, which could put a lid on his usage if he lands with the wrong team. The NFL loves versatility at their safety spots, and Mukuba’s early down multiplicity could be limited if he can’t get off blocks in the box. His size and strength are probably the biggest concerns about his game. The senior is typically a solid form tackler, but he’ll miss a few due to his lack of wingspan and strength to get runners on the ground.

Late in the game against Florida, Mukuba read out a goal line rush perfectly and ran the alley for what should have been a huge tackle for loss, but he aimed a little high on the opposing runner, who drove through him before falling forward into the end zone. The stopping power just isn’t there when ball carriers are coming downhill at him. But he does typically get opponents on the ground, and his form is good. And despite his size, we’ve seen him rock people too (Georgia’s Gunner Stockton knows), thanks to having no regard for his own self-preservation.

Mukuba plays his best ball at free safety, especially in a defense that likes to go from 2 to 1 (high safeties) at the snap. He’s capable of rolling down and robbing the middle of the field or playing underneath, as well as being the deep safety patrolling the middle of the field. I also think he has potential in the slot for zone heavy defenses (he played in the slot more at Clemson), the real question will just be how well he can play the run on the inside. Mukuba’s aggressiveness and physicality will serve him well, but there would be some early down limitations against heavy personnel.

In today’s NFL, players like Mukuba are more valuable than ever before. He may only be a third safety (I think he can be an actual starter), but his presence on the roster could allow other players to slot into better roles on long and late downs. Every team needs package versatility on pass obvious downs (Packers, Chargers, Chiefs, Lions are prime recent examples of this), and Mukuba could be very valuable in that role. He would allow teams to move their best safety closer to the line of scrimmage, or even add that player on as a blitzer while Mukuba plays deep safety. But Mukuba could also go to the slot on long and late downs, when teams are less worried about the run and more excited about getting quality coverage ability and ball skills on the field.

Because of his high IQ and experience in a complex defense, Mukuba should play early at the next level. He’ll remind some of Budda Baker, but the Cardinals safety was way more explosive in all his movements. Mukuba is a good athlete, but he’s more fast than quick, where Baker was elite in small spaces. Mukuba reminds me a ton of peak Mike Edwards, who played mostly as the Bucs third safety during the Tom Brady years, but was a great spot starter and a turnover machine for the team during the peak of their success. Mukuba is probably a better athlete and perhaps more mature than Edwards too, who fell off faster than someone watching him during those years would have predicted.

I think Mukuba can, at the very least, be an awesome long and late downs chess piece who can move around a defense in a game plan dependent capacity. His ball skills, instincts, IQ and intensity are that valuable, and a smart defensive coordinator can have a package that features him in specific game scripts. But Mukuba could also be a starter in a system that won’t ask him to play down a ton. I’m not sure he’d be elite in a static single-high role, but in a defense that likes to rock n’ roll the safeties, he can be a difference maker.

Grade/Projection

I have a late second round grade on Mukuba, who I think can help every defense in the league, but would have a really important usage in certain schemes over others. It sounds like most media projections have him getting drafted sometime on day two.