Max Melton has an average build for the position, and he has long legs which impact his footwork and pose problems in certain aspects of his game, as I'll develop later. However, he compensates for this with good acceleration and solid vertical speed. His recovery speed is fine. Melton's body control is lacking, primarily due to his average footwork and a lack of upper body strength.

I like aggressive cornerbacks at the line of scrimmage, but Max is far too aggressive when he can't establish physical dominance. He loses the power battle on bump and run plays.A technique used by a DB,aligned in front of a receiver, consisting of a block (bump) on the latter, only during the first 5 yards (beyond that, it's a foul), before following them in their running route.) Quite often, he loses these battles and also on attempts to jam with both hands. This lack of power at these moments causes him to retreat under his opponent's strength, giving his counterpart space to create separation. His ability to mirror (follow the receiver's feet like a mirror during the release) is not very good, again due to his footwork. Whether in press or off-man coverage, I find him very hesitant on breaks in and out, leaving a lot of room on curl or comeback routes.

In off-man coverage and zone coverage, he does a better job. His hips are fluid, and most importantly, he has time to understand the WR's route and to let his ball skills and aggression express themselves better than in press coverage. Even though he tends to keep his eyes too much on the QB, he has the ability to break on the ball's trajectory, but if he trusted himself a bit more, his production could have been better. 

Max has poor ball tracking ability when his back is to the play; he almost never looks at the ball and only focuses on the receiver, whether in press or off-man coverage, if he has to defend a deep route. However, when he manages to face the play, he has good reactions and knows how to cut off the ball's trajectory, as I mentioned earlier. He doesn't have particularly good eye/foot/hand coordination, but he has managed to flash some interesting things like attacking the ball at its highest point.

I really like Melton's run support; he shows a lot of commitment in this area and manages to shed blocks quite easily except against very physical CBs. His tackling technique is decent, but he struggles to consistently secure tackles in my opinion due to his lack of power and sometimes suboptimal tackling angles. Overall, he has a real impact in this area, and there's room for improvement.

Max Melton is an intriguing prospect, a great leader and communicator on the field with a very interesting special teams contribution. However, his playing style doesn't necessarily match his current technical abilities. He loves to play in press coverage and tries to impose himself physically, but against the best receivers he has covered, it simply hasn't worked. He needs to work on his power, footwork, and ball skills when facing away from the ball if he wants to thrive in this style of play. He has good versatility in off-man coverage and zone coverage, and there's potential for him to be used in various roles. If he can improve in the areas I mentioned earlier, he could be a very solid number two cornerback.
I evaluate Max Melton as a 3rd rounder.