Mike Sainristil's height is well below average for his position. His size, power, and overall physique present significant challenges in all aspects of the game. Fortunately, he possesses good explosiveness and acceleration. However, his speed is average for his size, and he lacks recovery speed. He is a fluid athlete and has a strong motor. 

Sainristil has played in several positions, primarily as an outside cornerback and nickelback. In man coverage, it has been very difficult for him, as he has been outmuscled numerous times on tape. His transitions are quite average, and he hesitates too much, especially on his breaks where he takes a long time to react. In off-man coverage, he allows wide receivers to stack him "Stacking" is an excellent way to help slower receivers gain the upper hand vertically on the field. Once the receiver has successfully stacked the defender, he controls the situation, especially if they are more physical than him. 

In zone coverage, he was primarily assigned to underneath coverage to maximize his closing speed. (The speed at which the defender moves from point A to point B to reduce the distance between himself and the ball carrier) and to avoid any significant mismatches in other areas of the field. That's where he played his best, but the big problem is that he gets lost when the play develops behind him; he tends to freeze and doesn't know what to do. There have been serious questions about his IQ; I've seen Rod Moore get very angry with him and let him know about it several times.

His ball skills aren't bad when he's facing the play; he's able to break up passes. However, when he's back to the ball, he struggles to turn around and track it, and he lacks the physicality and arm length to attack the ball at its highest point. He mainly relies on his aggressiveness to try to get his hand in and defend the pass.

Sainristil is very aggressive against the run, but he's simply too undersized to make an impact. He struggles to shed blocks due to his lack of power and arm length. He misses countless tackles in the open field. Here too, his physical deficit is a mismatch that opposing teams have exploited quite effectively. There have even been instances where he's been literally thrown aside upon contact. He simply can't afford any mistakes. 

Mike Sainristil is the kind of defensive prospect I believe will have a difficult transition to the NFL due to his size and the fact that he'll have a very specific role on the field. Last year, I had doubts about Clark Phillips (many people evaluated him as a late first-round to second-round talent, whereas I had him in the third round with a very specific role, and he was a better prospect than Sainristil) and Falcons fans are even wondering after a year if the fourth-round pick they used on him was simply a wasted pick due to his lack of size and the mismatches he creates on the field. Sainristil isn't quite the same player but has the same size and fewer potential uses, and I don't see him as anything more than a specific role player in low coverage to maximize his abilities or in an off-man cornerback rotation.
I evaluate Mike Sainristil as a 5th round talent.