We’re kicking off week two of our positional draft rankings. After discussing the top ten running backs and linebackers already, we’re advancing to wide receivers. I’m explaining my reasoning for how I have these names stacked up based on in-depth tape analysis, while using advanced metrics and to some degree testing numbers to aid my arguments.

Similarly to most years recently, we have a massive influx of pass-catching talent due to how much more aerial-centric football has become at the youth levels already. Yet, unlike some other drafts we’ve gone through, this group includes some true blue-chip talent. I have two guys with true top-five grades, another name that’ll probably end up in my top ten on the big board and potentially up to like 20 receivers inside my top-100. So I may have to come back in my annual “my guys” episode to discuss some of these lower-ranked names, since there’s still a lot to like about them.

Now let’s get into the list however:

 

1. Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State

6’4”, 205 pounds; JR

 

Son of a Hall of Fame-level receiver in Marvin Sr., who formed the greatest connection in the NFL historically statistics-wise with Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, Marvin Jr. was kind of stuck behind a ridiculous WR trio of Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba as a freshman. However, in year two he exploded onto the scene with 79 touches for just under 1300 yards and 14 touchdowns, making him a unanimous All-American. Despite missing one week this past season, he basically put up identical numbers and repeated those honors, whilst being named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year winning the Fred Biletnikoff award for the top WR in the country.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Has nimble feet off the line, making defenders freeze as he glides by them

+ Yet he’s pro-active with defeating the hands of press-attempts and doesn’t allow himself to get held up – Shows an advanced understanding for which technique and how aggressive DBs are at challenging his release, more so looking like a pass-rusher swiping by blockers at times

+ For a lankier build, Harrison can lean and plant outside his frame exceptionally well

+ Straightens out his stem after the release, to force contact with defenders, who then often have to grab as he sticks his foot in the ground, in order to not get lost out of the break

+ Graded out as an elite deep threat in 2023 (99.9 PFF grade), hauling in 15 of 24 targets of 20+ air yards for 598 yards and five TDs

+ So flexible in his ankles to roll through cuts and accelerate out of them

+ Does a great job of pacing himself and just rolling through breaks below 90 degrees in order to maximize windows against zone coverage, particularly on quick in routes as the flanker or backside digs before the safety can barrel down in quarters

+ Shows a knack for working his way open and making defenders in the secondary desperately try to locate him

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Elite body control for a receiver of his height, being able adjust to passes mid-flight as well as dissociate his upper and lower body for spectacular catches at the sideline or at the back of the end-zone

+ Tracks the ball exceptionally well over either shoulder and wins with late hands down the field, naturally letting it drop into pocket and not allowing a defender on his hip to disrupt the catch point

+ Uses late turns to defeat trailing DBs down the field, taking advantage of them having their backs to the quarterback

+ Showcases great flexibility when balls are thrown a step behind him and he doesn’t even need to break stride, particularly on crossers

+ Gets held routinely, but doesn’t complain to the refs rather than fighting through contact and often times still making the catch anyway, at times as defenders are already tackling his legs from behind

+ Understands how to draw flags for pass interference, by making defenders run into him or forcing them to reach around him

+ Hauled in 18 of 30 contested targets in 2022 (60%), while his 43.3% success rate last season is more so a representation of some of the prayers that were thrown up to him by quarterback Kyle McCord

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Features a shockingly rapid turn up the field after making the grab as he’s working back towards the quarterback

+ Recognizes when he can utilizes spin moves every once in a while as DBs are driving on him and he makes them whiff

+ Puts the ball away and keeps his elbow in tight to not swing it around loosely – only fumbled once across 155 career receptions

+ Basically earned back-to-back elite PFF grades (90.2 and 89.9) whilst increasing his yards per route run from 3.18 to an insane 3.44 last year (649 total snaps)

+ Does well to slice up into the space of defenders in soft press alignment and at least getting a hand inside their chest

+ When he does get those paws latched, they don’t typically slide off and he continues to move his legs

 

Weaknesses:

– Sometimes there’s a little bit of discomfort when balls are thrown at his chest and he doesn’t extend for it – dropped six of 73 catchable passes in 2023

– That also reflects in his passer rating of just 48.2 when targeted in that range of 10-19 yards past the line of scrimmage

– Doesn’t necessarily have that extra gear once the ball is in his hands to just stride away from the defense, and he’s not a super-creative YAC guy, who makes people miss one-on-one with consistency – only forced five missed tackles last season (67 catches)

– Not dying to get involved as a blocker in the run game, more so wanting to find that agreement with his corner to just

 

As great as this wide receiver class is, Marvin is a true unicorn. You just don’t find true juniors with his type of balanced athletic profile, premiere size and the refined skills plus IQ for the position. He’s significantly before and at than after the catch, to where you don’t want to funnel designed touches his way necessarily, such as screens. However, he can line up at every single receiver spot and projects as an All-Pro level target, who can consistently win his one-on-one matchups when singled up on the backside of the formation. Harrison Jr. is capable of defeating press in a variety of ways, whether he has to apply finesse or force, his body-control to efficiently get out of his breaks is rare for a guy his size and then he makes highly challenging catches look routine frequently. Even though quarterback gets the positional value bump, you can easily make a case for this to be the top name on any team’s big board.

 

 

 

2. Malik Nabers, LSU

6’0”, 200 pounds; JR

 

A four-star recruit in 2021, Nabers already caught 28 passes for over 400 yards and four touchdowns as a true freshman, before going for over 1000 yards but only three TDs on 72 grabs in 2022. This past season, he finished behind only Washington’s Rome Odunze – who played nearly two extra games, thanks to going to the Natty and Nabers only playing the first quarter of LSU’s bowl game, in order to set the school record – with 1569 yards on 89 receptions, scoring on 14 of those. That earned him first-team All-American accolades, although he just finished second in voting for the Fred Biletnikoff award.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Elite mover for any position, combining his flexibility with the abruptness he can also access

+ Has the instant acceleration to threaten DBs along with the extra gear to win down the field

+ That ability to slow-play the release vs. soft press and then hit the gas, to get even with the hip of corners in that five-yard window is eye-popping

+ We’ve seen him blow right by flat-footed safeties or rotations into different versions of (invert) cover-two for long TDs on streak and skinny post routes against some of the premiere defenses in college football these last couple of years (Georgia in the 2022 SEC Championship, Alabama in ’23)

+ Constantly is able to cleanly release inside of straight press-attempts and then the dynamism with which he plants and breaks across the field is truly special

+ The way he can threaten with the take-off and then snap off curl routes made him highly effective on those, yet he can also flip his hips around on speed outs without losing time at the top

+ Understands really well how to sell the initial break on double-moves by decelerating and raising up, before accessing that extra gear to run by guys

+ Recognizes when a safety steps down and tries to cut him off working across the field, adjusting his angle/depth to work towards open grass and make himself available for the quarterback

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Shows no issues at all extending for the ball with defenders surrounding him and swiping at it as soon as he touches

+ Truly gifted with special body coordination, particularly as he approaches the white line due to the flight of the ball or works the back-line of the end-zone

+ How quickly Naber can elevate and then again get a foot down on the ground really stands out, where it doesn’t look like going for a rebound in basketball or having to hang in the air

+ Is able to finish some challenging grabs, where he has to dive back for the ball and pin it against his chest in order for the ground to not dislodge it

+ Posted a massive 61.9% contested catch rate in 2022 (13-of-21), thanks to the way he positions himself, the vertical hops and how much better he is at timing up his high-points; Before another solid rate last year (45.5%), which actually increased with the deeper he was targeted

+ Delivered on third downs, catching 15 of 26 targets which moved the chains (2022?)

+ Exactly half of his 86 catches in 2023 went for 15+ yards (93.5 PFF receiving grade), which is insane

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Reminiscent of D.J. Moore in terms of frame and YAC skills, where he shows zero delays in becoming a runner as he hauls in crossing routes

+ How quickly he re-accelerates are securing the ball on a curl route or has to stop for the catch is pretty special

+ Turns routine plays into explosives, such as catching a hitch between a couple of hook defenders, spinning away from one guy and then nearly splitting the deep safeties in two-high looks, which makes your jaw drop to the floor

+ Yet he can also change up gears on sweeps or screen plays to delay a little bit before he kicks into top gear

+ Forced 51 missed tackles and gained 120 first downs (along with 17 touchdowns) on 161 catches in over the past two seasons combined

+ Had passer ratings when targeted of 144.4 and 121.9 respectively on passes behind the line of scrimmage these last two years, speaking to his skills to create on simple screen passes

+ Finds a good balance to urgently eat up space towards slot defenders yet being able to square them up and force them to take wider angles around him in the run game

 

Weaknesses:

– Ran basically all hitches, slants and go routes as a sophomore, without a whole lot of nuance and is still in need of developing a release package that doesn’t largely revolve around speed – which is why he operated out of the slot on 53.6% of snaps in 2023

– Every once in a while will have a focus drop, where he takes his eyes off the ball prematurely because he’s already in running mode

– Seems to slip at a weirdly high rate, where he doesn’t keep his feet underneath himself and drop his hips at the break-point all the time

– Muffed two punts in the 2022 season-opener against Florida State and never got any more chances, despite his dynamic open-field skills

 

It’s rare to find a receiving profile where someone has 19 receptions of 20+ yards but also forced 30 missed tackles in his final collegiate season, showcasing the ability to be a menace running away from the defense before or after the catch. It’s even more uncommon that a guy like that isn’t the number one prospect at his position – although it is pretty close for me. He’s not as tall or strong as Marvin Harrison Jr., he’s been more effective on the inside and he’ll drop a pass every once in a while because he’s trying to create an explosive play with it. However, I’m more so nit-picking here, because the strengths massively outweigh those factors. All things considered, he may be the most dynamic mover I’ve ever scouted at the position, considering how quickly he gets up to and back down from full gear, the flexibility to not lose speed as he slightly alters his routes, how he’s able to extend his catch radius without needing a whole lot of space to load up his jumps and then the diverse skills after the catch. I’d personally take him over any non-quarterback in this draft outside of MHJ.

 

 

 

3. Rome Odunze, Washington

6’3”, 210 pounds; RS JR

 

A four-star recruit in 2020, Odunze appeared in just a couple of games a true freshman, before flashing his skills as part of the WR rotation for the Huskies in year two (41-415-four), However, with the arrival of transfer QB Michael Penix Jr. in 2022, Odunze’s numbers really took off, touching the ball 78 times for 1151 yards and eight TDs, making him a first-team All-Pac-12 selection. This past season he ascended to superstar status, leading the country with 1640 yards on 92 catches and scoring 14 total touchdowns, making him a first-team All-American.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Highly efficient route-runner, who doesn’t waste much time stuttering his feet or taking longer paths to get to where he ultimately needs to be

+ Smooth mover who can elude the jam at the line and put DBs in trail position early on, without ever giving it up again

+ Yet he also possesses enough play strength to not allow himself to get thrown off a whole lot when someone doesn’t connect with his chest and he’ll rip through that

+ Was an elite vertical threat in 2023, leading the country in catches of 20+ yards (23 – on 49 targets) and yards off those (783)

+ Understands how to attack the blind-spots of defenders and selling them take-offs, in order to get them turned the wrong way as a route-runner

+ Capable of making safeties look silly when he ends up isolated with them down the field and he gets them spun around with a little rocker-step or drift before the break

+ Can really drop his hips and explode off the inside foot out to the sideline on pivot routes

+ Showcases the suddenness to elude ancillary zone defenders or guys leverages towards where he needs to go

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Makes sure to stay friendly for the quarterback by staying flat or even slightly working back towards that guy when going over the middle of the field

+ Can really snatch those balls off the top shelf and grabbing it over his head without losing speed on some crossing route

+ Even at awkward arrival angles of the ball, Odunze can turn his neck, star straight up if necessary and look it into his hands

+ Great body-control and awareness for the sideline, smoothly flipping his body around as the ball is placed away from corners playing way off

+ Adjusts well to underthrown deep balls or back-shoulder placement and forcing defenders to go over his back

+ Has definitely improved his ability to position himself for the ball hanging up in the air a little bit and you saw Washington actually target him on goal-line fades

+ Took the old adage of making 50-50 balls into 75-25 ones literally, as he hauled in 21 of 28 contested catch opportunities in 2023

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Makes it hard for defenders to find him working behind blockers in space on tunnel screens

+ Has a knack for turning his shoulders away for defenders reaching out for him

+ When he does have his ankles clipped, Odunze does a good job of kicking his heels up and has the balance to stay alive as a runner

+ After turning 60 of his 75 catches into either a first down or touchdown, Odunze was even more efficient with a larger workload this past season, as only five(!) of his 92 grabs didn’t move the chains or put points on the board

+ Does a nice job of selling the release off the line and gaining proper positioning as a blocker in the process

+ Yet he can pull the safety out of the run fit when tasked with slot fades for example

 

Weaknesses:

– Lacks the long speed to break phase down the field and be able to catch uncontested passes

– For as amazing as he was attacking the ball through contact last season, he had only hauled in five of 22 contested targets (22.7%) over his two prior years as a starter with the Huskies, kind of mis-timing how he high-pointed the ball

– Averaged just 4.6 and 5.6 yards after the catch respectively these last two seasons, as somebody who more so just tries to run away from guys other than actually making people miss and you don’t ever really see him shake/shrug off tacklers

– Way too often allows defenders to run through him when his teammates are catching screen passes, being tentative with his punch

 

In many other years, Odunze would be the top wide receiver on the board. He’s a smooth operator with a flair for the dramatic when the ball is in the air. He can elude contact at the line of scrimmage but also fight through it, he’s efficient with not taking excess steps at the break point thanks to the flexibility and then he has an elite combination of body-control and ball-skills. I don’t think he quite has that extra gear to detach vertically when defenders are in phase with him and he’s not a game-breaker after the catch necessarily, but that’s more so about the style of player he is. Meanwhile there are no real weaknesses to his game and I think he can be a legit number one outside receiver for a long time in the NFL, who still wins frequently in a vertical capacity just because of how hell he gets into those routes, to some degree thanks to how well he sells double-moves. I do believe the two names ahead of him are in their own tier, but I’d be fine with Rome going any time once those two are off the board.

 

 

 

4. Adonai Mitchell, Texas

6’2”, 200 pounds; JR

 

A top-500 overall recruit in 2021 for Georgia, Mitchell caught 29 passes for 426 yards and four touchdowns as a true freshman. In year two, he appeared in only six games due to a high-ankle sprain, catching just nine balls, but those went for 134 yards and three TDs. In a full 14 games with Texas this past season, he turned 55 receptions into 845 yards and 11 TDs, earning second-team All-Big 12 accolades and being named the conference’s Offensive Newcomer of the Year.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Lightning-quick feet off the line and threatens vertically right off the snap, with his pads over his knees, to back up his 4.35 in the 40

+ Very elusive to evade defenders trying to impede his progress during the route development

+ In particular, he has a real knack for turning his body and reducing the near-shoulder in order to not lose speed on vertical routes

+ Has a great understanding for how to widen his stem to create space and choosing the appropriate angles to take downfield depending on how the safeties rotate and operate generally

+ Deceptive route-runner, who will lean, change up his pace and footwork in order to make guys turn the wrong way, turning the process into an art form

+ The way he can add a little shake to freeze defenders and run away from them is pretty rare, which you’ll see on some double-moves, but it’s the subtle details as he reacts to how defenders turn, that make them look silly

+ Runs a sweet out route, where he threatens the post with an inside stem and then sticks his foot in the ground to beat them to the sideline

+ He’s a nightmare matchup on slants at the goal-line, with the guy he walk onto the toes and get corners off balance before sticking his foot in the ground

+ You love the flexibility and spatial awareness to win in those condensed areas and be an effective red-zone weapon

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Consistently is friendly to his quarterback when breaking towards the middle of the field

+ Frames the ball well, making a mental picture of it, and is able to run through the catch without ever leaving it behind himself

+ Actively works back down towards the quarterback after backing up defenders with the vertical push

+ Tracks the deep ball exceptionally well, letting it drop in over the shoulder and only reaching out at the last moment

+ Shows tremendous concentration to haul in passes with a defender on his hip and raking at his arms

+ Has some impressive snatches on passes behind him or where he has to stretch over his head, such as on digs or glances

+ Only dropped one of 65 catchable passes over the last two years, despite some sub-par ball placement from Quinn Ewers at Texas in particular

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Violently sticks his foot in the ground and gets with the vertical once he secures the catch

+ Had a monster performance vs. Alabama in their 2023 upset win at Tuscaloosa, where he beat star cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry off the line, out of the break and at the catch point

+ Does a great job of eating up the cushion of off-corners and get his hands latched into their chest

+ You like the way he sells the vertical release and then uses the momentum of defenders against them by pushing at the shoulder-pad and keep riding them

+ Slides inside and maintains a wide base as he walls off safeties when asked to crack back on perimeter-oriented run calls

+ Was motioned inside to insert the C-gap against safeties a few times

 

Weaknesses:

– While some of it has to do with the way he alters speed, Mitchell has been accused of not always playing up to what he clocks at, while being a little out of control running routes at times with a false step or two

– His receiving grade vs. zone (49^th-percentile) was significantly worse than vs. single coverage (98^th-percentile)

– Not much of a dynamic YAC threat, who will just make multiple people miss in consecutive fashion

– Needs to do a better job of securing blocks against defenders lined up inside of him (particularly out of the slot) and not allowing them to get past him on screens and plays out to the perimeter

– Obviously has an extensive medical history and has only caught 5+ passes in four career games

 

While there’s certainly a bit of gap between the “big three” among receivers and the rest of the class, Mitchell is my favorite guy to watch of the bunch. His ability to paint a picture with his route-running and understand how to truly manipulate defenders with the way he sets them up, yet can also react to their technique on the fly is second to none this year. You can look at him not always showcasing quite the same urgency, but I personally see a guy who is already like a pro in the way he can force DBs to not play as fast they could and manages games in a certain way. Mitchell doesn’t give you a whole lot of dynamism in the open field maybe – even if his YAC numbers are also lower based on the average depth of target he saw – but in terms of creating openings for the ball, the ability to gain positioning and make challenging catches look easy, I just believe his game translates so well to the next level. Assuming full health and adding how tremendously well he tested at the combine, I think he’s a plug-and-play starter worthy of going around pick 20.

 

 

 

5. Brian Thomas Jr., LSU

6’3”, 210 pounds; JR

 

One of the top-100 national recruits in 2021, Thomas was listed behind Kayshon Boutte and Malik Nabers his first couple of years, but was still able to turn 59 receptions into 720 yards and seven touchdowns. As a junior, he really broke out for the Tigers, turning 68 catches into 1177 yards and 17 TDs, which earned him second-team All-SEC accolades.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ At 209 pounds, his 4.33 speed is pretty insane, and he makes sure to push up to defenders with pads out in front to quickly eat up their cushion

+ Can give his man a little wiggle off the line and then detach vertically for big plays, along with packing a dynamic shoulder-turn to elude jams

+ Was an elite deep threat last season, particularly on slot fades, hauling in 15 of 22 targets for 670 yards and 12(!) touchdowns

+ So good at avoiding being hung up with defenders on the release with the way he can jab one way initially to slow that guy’s feet – In particular, how he can utilize split-releases and then contort his shoulders to go untouched is highly impressive

+ The explosiveness he has allows him to use a little shuffle-step and immediately become an available target as he runs drag routes into the vision of the quarterback

+ Can extend that break-step and drop his weight unlike many receivers below six feet, occasionally flipping corners around on simple slant routes

+ The way he can straighten the stem after releasing inside, slightly lean into the corner and make that sharp transition to get his hips flipped 90 degrees make him highly effective on deep in-breaking routes

+ For a rather lanky build, Thomas is also pretty flexible, to bend around traffic and make subtle adjustments of his routes on the fly

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Turns his head and presents his hands once he’s entered a soft spot in zone coverage

+ Understands when he’s cleared the second level of the coverage vertically or horizontally, so he slows himself from running into the sideline or ancillary defenders

+ Realizes when the defenses loses vision on him down the sideline and he needs to position himself for passes short of the deep level in cloud-coverage

+ His extra gear to run underneath balls and expand the separation he has on guys as the ball in the air really pops for a bigger receiver

+ Yet he also does well to recognize when the ball is underthrown and not notify defenders of that, as he works back to it late at times and makes them run by as he secures the catch

+ Displays tremendous body-control and ability to position himself through contact, leading to a 52.2% contested catch rate over the past two seasons (12 of 23)

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Once the ball touches Thomas’ hands (such as on hitches), his helmet immediately flips up the field to identify nearby defenders and he’s ready to push off one foot to re-accelerate

+ Capable of dropping his weight and getting by defenders trying to square him up with a little shimmy after catching the ball underneath on spot routes and others

+ And while he may not break a ton of tackles or be as dynamic with the ball as teammate Malik Nabers, he does extend that long frame forward when given the chance for hidden yardage

+ LSU quarterbacks registered a passer rating of 148.8 when targeting Thomas Jr. in 2023 (87 targets)

+ Is regularly able to give his corner an extended stutter at the line and pull him further away from the action on run plays

+ Takes great angles and is able to latch his hands in order sustain challenging blocks out on the perimeter in the screen game

 

Weaknesses:

– Presents a large surface area and doesn’t always have his hands up for the fight as he’s facing aggressive press-attempts

– Needs to learn to utilize pacing in his routes at a more effective level

– Doesn’t consistently threaten vertically and then snap off routes with violence, particularly when he’s to the far side of the field and probably not part of the read

– 41.6% of Thomas’ routes in 2023 were either curls or hitches, with nearly another 25% being go routes

– There are quite a few passes, where he could extend his arms for them, rather than letting it drop into his stomach – while he’s improved all three years at LSU, he does have a 9.3% career drop rate

 

Thomas Jr. presents an elite size/speed profile. He’s not as refined a route runner as some other guys in this class and lacks the premiere YAC skills of someone like his former teammate Malik Nabers (the same is true for everybody else), but his vertical prowess combined with the way he drop his weight at that height is incredible. Thomas Jr. can gain a step on his man off the line or when the ball is in the air, as he accesses his final gear. Now, his route tree at LSU was severely limited, where he’d either just go vertically or horizontally across the field, along with stuff where he quickly stops, but you do see some details where he’ll point safeties the wrong way down the field or paces himself as he enters voided areas in zone coverage. Therefore, I don’t look at him as an alpha, number one X-receiver, but a super-charged Z who would be best paired with a quarterback willing to throw the go ball towards the opposite end of the field, along with putting him in the slot at times to get him isolated with safeties or just to clear out space.

 

 

 

6. Ladd McConkey, Georgia

6’0”, 185 pounds; RS SR

 

Outside the top-1000 overall recruits in 2020, McConkey redshirted his first year in Athens, before catching 31 passes for 447 yards and five touchdowns. In 2022, he caught 58 passes and carried the ball seven more times for a total of 896 yards and eight touchdowns, which he was named second-team All-SEC for. Across eight games this past season, if you take out one appearance for a couple of snaps before sitting back down with an ankle sprain that had been bothering him, he turned 32 touches into 512 yards and three total TDs.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Highly polished for such a young receiver, in terms of using different gears and being efficient in his movements

+ Yet his acceleration off the line will surprise defenders thinking he’s still small, white slot receiver – In fact, he spent more than three quarters of his snaps on the outside each of the past two seasons

+ Ran a 4.39 in the 40 at the combine, while the three-cone (6.72) and short shuttle (3.97) times he put up at Georgia’s pro day would’ve ranked top-three among WRs in Indy

+ Packs a strong swim move to defeat DBs aggressively two-hand jamming and/or lunging into him

+ Does a great job of drifting or widening his stem in order to open the middle of the field for himself, in particular on post routes

+ Runs some highly impressive deep outs against outside leverage, where he threatens at the inside shoulder, then drops his weight and swipes by the corner, as that guy opens up vertically with him

+ Utilizes rocker-steps and leans at the top of the route exceptionally well for a young player, to turn around some of the better secondar players in the SEC

+ Can really sit down in the chair and stop his momentum whilst defenders are still bailing, in order to create easy completions as the flanker in particular

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Showcases a natural feel for spacing and finding opening against zone looks on option/sit-down routes

+ Displays strong hands to snatch balls outside his frame and/or with defender raking at it

+ Understands when to quicken up the process of catch as defenders are converging on him from multiple directions

+ Already does an excellent job of pacing himself as he approaches the sideline and tapping his feet in bounds, as he extends for the ball

+ Plucks it over his head on deeper throws over the middle and instantly pulls it into his body, to secure it from oncoming hits

+ Georgia quarterbacks throwing his way had an average passer rating of 133.7 across his three seasons with the Bulldogs

+ Highly efficient chain-mover, turning 96 of his 119 career receptions into either a first down or a touchdown, while averaging a massive 3.26 yards per route run last season

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Even as he has to reach behind or below his knees for the ball, McConkey’s eyes quickly go back and he identifies defenders in space

+ Routinely makes the first potential tackler miss with juke moves after aiming right at them

+ There’s enough play-strength to slide or spin off glancing shots

+ Shows the feel for angles and how to set up blockers to be an effective option in the screen and sweep game

+ Fundamentally sound, invested blocker, who keeps his legs and arms aligned

+ Routinely is able to get corners onto their heels with his foot-fire off the line and then fit his hands inside their chest

+ When working out of the slot, he rapidly eats up the cushion to off defenders and then does a good job of coming to balance as he approaches the contact phase

+ Doesn’t hesitate to launch into safety when cracking back on them inside of him

 

Weaknesses:

– There can be some excess steps trying to release into his routes with that crafty style rather than a more efficient approach

– Does have more of a lean frame and when DBs are able to get their hands inside his frame, he has a tough time fighting off contact

– Lacks great play-strength to fend off physical cover-guys to still gain advantageous positioning and make big plays at the catch-point (only six of 14 such opportunities hauled in over the last two years combined), in part due to his combination of 30-inch arms and a 36-inch vertical

– Leaves Georgia with a surprisingly high 7.8% career drop rate (ten of 129 catchable targets overall)

 

I understand why people would get more excited about other receivers in this class, but let’s please drop the idea about McConkey being the Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola or your pick of a shifty slot receivers. He does have that quickness in and out of his breaks, along with the understanding for how to manipulate defenders during the stem, but his burst out of his stance and out of the break-point are very different. McConkey can line up in the slot and route people out when given that three-way go, but he can absolutely play the Z and be a vertical threat for you as well as an extension of your run game on bubble alerts, fly sweeps and others. I do believe you want to largely keep him off the ball and he’s not going to give you a whole lot in contested situations, but I would be shocked if this guy wasn’t an instant contributor as part of your starting three in 11 personnel and should put up 800+ yards in multiple seasons of his career.

 

 

 

7. Ricky Pearsall, Florida

6’1”, 190 pounds; RS SR

 

A three-star recruit for Arizona State in 2019, Pearsall was a rotational piece through his first two years with the Sundevils (17 touches for 248 yards and two touchdowns combined), before starting all but two of 13 contests in 2021 – 54 touches for 624 yards and five TDs (honorable mention All-Pac-12). The following offseason, he transferred to Florida, where he went from primarily a deep threat his first year to an all-around weapon this past season. He turned a combined 109 touches into 1800 yards and 11 scores throughout his time in The Swamp.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Showcases easy acceleration off the line, with the (4.41) speed to blow the top off the defense

+ Transfers force into the ground and is able to make dynamic cuts when he plants his foot on slant routes

+ Outstanding on crossing routes, particularly on those deep overs, where he slides inside of the DB, pushes up the field a little further initially and then negates any angle to undercut him as he comes flat

+ Will drift or slightly adjust his stem to maximize space for himself once he breaks off his routes, and his head-fakes to create softer edges of the guy across him are next-level

+ You see him spin around corners capped over him by giving a hard jab/nod as if he was taking off down the sideline before bending it to the post

+ Runs some nasty double-moves, where he really sells the initial break with his head and hips, making defenders look silly as they try to undercut him

+ Shows great football IQ of when to pace his routes dependent on route combination and the shell coverage they’re facing, doing well to sneak past bodies on more delayed play-action concepts

+ Understands where he can find green grass and how to make himself available for his quarterback on secondary reaction plays

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Led the country last year with insane, acrobatic catches last season

+ His ability to elevate and snatch the ball out of the air is jaw-dropping, but it’s the consistency at which he frames the ball with that I really appreciate – only dropped three of 100 catchable passes as a Gator

+ Understands really well how to become the one leaning into DBs as they trail him on fade routes and creating extra space for the ball to be dropped into him

+ Showcases tremendous focus when having to reach behind himself and deal with contact at the catch-point due to the ball-placement inviting the defender back into the picture

+ Hauls in some challenging passes where he has to work back towards the quarterback and scooping them inches off the turf

+ His awareness for the sideline and how he can speed up getting his feet down in bounds when having to jump for the pass is already pretty advanced

+ Shows a real knack for how to slow himself down just enough to secure the catch but not allow a closing defender to get a clean wrap on him with the ball arriving just behind him

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Does well to turn his body away from oncoming defenders and regularly shakes off would-be-tacklers trying to grab him around his hips

+ Glides with the ball in his hands, with such efficient transitions thanks to great flexibility in his lower half

+ Has some good wiggle and hesitates well to navigate around blockers in space as part of the screen game – in particular on tunnel screens, where he’ll at times dip inside and then cuts back out to the sideline as he sees defenders shoot in too aggressively

+ Quickly erases space towards defenders as a blocker near the point of attack, to get into their frame

+ His quickness is key in the ability to mirror defenders who are looking for a path to work around him in the run or quick screen game

+ Takes excellent angles to slide in front of safeties when lined up closer to the action and does a pretty good job of fitting his hands into their chest initially

+ Almost instantly transitions into being a blocker once he sees the ball completed to one of his teammates

+ Florida regularly used Pearsall as eye-candy for the defense, faking jet sweeps, end-arounds, screens, etc., where he can bring great value since he’s a threat on those if the ball is flipped to him

 

Weaknesses:

– Presents a fairly slender build and may have some play strength concerns if he faces press coverage at a higher rate in the pros

– Quarterback play was clearly a factor in limiting this, but Pearsall didn’t make a lot of big plays down the field, considering his speed

– You like him gliding through cuts much better than being abrupt, such as snapping off curl routes and attacking back downhill

– Lacks pop in his hands to set the tone at contact and the strength in his lower body to sustain as a blocker, which physical safeties slide off regularly when he’s tasked with them

 

I was obviously aware of Pearsall during the fall, watching some of the insane Sportscenter-level catches he made, but I didn’t really get into his tape until we got to spring, because there wasn’t a ton to get excited about on this Florida offense. Yet, when I saw how easy he made it look to create separation during his two Senior Bowl practices and the amounts of times he was open during actual games but the ball didn’t come his way, I was pretty blown away. You’d be best served to play him off the ball at the Z or in the slot and it’s necessarily going to be running these price quick-breaking routes, but this guy can create a lot more explosives when he’s paired up with a real NFL quarterback. Slick Rick pairs elusiveness with the gliding speed to beat defenses over the top, yet he does really well to pace his routes when necessary. He offers steadiness with his 3.6% career drop but complements that with the dramatic, looking at some of the aerial feats to come down with those highlight-reel grabs.

 

 

 

8. Troy Franklin, Oregon

6’2”, 180 pounds; JR

 

A top-100 overall recruit in 2021, Franklin caught 18 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns as a rotational receiver his freshman season. In year two, he upped that to 61 grabs for 891 yards and nine TDs. Yet it was this past season that he truly emerged on the national landscape, when across another 13 contests, he turned 81 grabs into nearly 1400 yards and 14 trips to the end-zone, making him a first-team All-Pac-12 member.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Quick first step to threaten the edges of defenders, to either blow by or get them leaning the wrong way, as he jabs outside

+ With his twitch off the line, you see him gain control during the stem a lot, as he split-releases and turns his body away from press-defenders, putting them in trail-position

+ Long strider to excel on go’s and post routes, presenting the loose hips to tilt outside and roll off in one fluid motion breaking towards the middle of the field

+ Beats DBs across their face in some nasty ways, by adding a little stutter and trigger-step, to make their feet freeze completely

+ Easy ability to gear down and create separation on curls and comebacks

+ Showcases the suddenness to evade ancillary zone-defenders without having to slow down or work around them in a significant way

+ There’s some impressive detail when he’s running a crosser and realizes the safety to his side is stepping down to match him, therefore straightening upfield for a couple of steps before working across again

+ Oregon put him in the slot and let him run a bunch of option routes, where he showed excellent IQ to sit down between zone-defenders (something he’s really worked on) and the quicks to separate from off-man guys who try to sit on him

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Consistently was friendly to his quarterback by staying flat or even rounding slightly down when he comes out of his breaks

+ Excelled at understanding how defenders were moving late in the down and where he could find space on secondary routes, to create big plays with his QB off the scramble drill

+ For his rather spindly frame, Franklin’s 46.7% contested-catch rate over the past two seasons combined is pretty good, especially considering how many of those came down the field

+ Times up his jumps and attacks the ball at its apex when the quarterbacks throws the ball up for him over the head his defender

+ Clearly has that extra gear to detach vertically with the ball in the air, before quickly securing and putting away the ball, so it can’t be knocked out anymore

+ Understands when it’s appropriate to body-catch on quick in-breakers and as the ball arrives with defenders converging on him

+ Slows himself down appropriately with the ball put on his body and forces defenders to go through him whilst pinning the ball against his chest

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Doesn’t waste any time getting vertical after the catch and becomes elusive trying to corral him

+ As he secures the ball, Franklin already adjusts his path to deal with converging defenders, with great ankle flexion to bend away from them without losing speed

+ Quarterback Bo Nix had passer ratings of 139.2 and 147.8 respectively when targeting Franklin these past two seasons

+ Showcases proper effort and solid technique as a blocker in the run game

+ Does a good job of adjusting his angles depending on run-concepts and shielding the path of his man accordingly

+ Consistently is able to secure the corner on slip/tunnel screens to one of his fellow receivers when he’s lined up in the slot

+ Was asked to motion inside and insert against safeties a few times

 

Weaknesses:

– Very slender build and struggles to disengage from press-defender with the athletic feet to stay in front of him

– Has that higher center of gravity and you can see him slip occasionally on his routes when he has to sort of count his steps and at times cuts off the wrong foot, particularly on the intermediate level

– The hand-positioning on passes in front of him as he’s working towards the middle of the field can be a bit odd, not extending and plucking with triangle-technique, which contributed to his 10% drop rate last season

– Elevates for some balls, where it’s not necessary, and makes it easier for defenders to knock it out – a big reason why his contested rate dropped off to 36.8% in 2023

– Definitely lacks play-strength to set the tone at contact and sustain blocks, too often acting more like speed-bumps for safeties barreling down

 

Troy Franklin is one of those names I continued to note and get excited about when I was watching tape on other players and he was roasting guys, but when I zeroed in on him and watched him go up against the other receivers during the combine, I cooled a little bit on him. There’s a lot to like in the way he threaten the deep parts of the field, the way he navigates through multiple layers of zone coverage and the way he can run away from pursuit defenders once it’s in his hands. However, you have to put him in a specific role that allows him to have free releases, the way he approaches the ball isn’t always optimal and he’s not going to give you a whole lot as a blocker other than just getting in the way of defenders. So unlike my initial belief that he may be able to line up at the X and be a primary target for certain offense, I now look at him as more of a movable piece, who can be of great value is deployed properly, even though there are some issues.

 

 

 

9. Keon Coleman, Florida State

6’3”, 215 pounds; JR

 

A four-star recruit for Michigan State in 2021, Coleman only caught seven passes (for 50 yards and a touchdown) as a true freshman, before leading Sparty in receptions (58), yards (798) and touchdowns (seven) through the air in year two. He decided to transfer to Florida State ahead of the 2023 season and immediately made his mark, with well over 100 yards and three touchdowns through the air in his Seminole debut vs. then-number-five ranked LSU. While things did slow down a little bit – in part due to a banged-up ankle – he did turn 50 catches into 658 yards and 11 scores, along with adding 300 yards on his 25 punt returns (12.0 yards per), to earn himself first-team All-ACC recognition as a wide receiver, all-purpose player and return specialist.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ The instant explosion off the line at 215 pounds is rare, which is backed up by a 10-yard split (1.54) that ties him with several guys running sub-4.4 overall

+ For a well-proportioned outside receiver, Coleman’s ability to bend off either ankle and roll through cuts is highly impressive

+ Shows good coordination to slow-play the release and then pretty good placement combined with the strength to swat down jams vs. soft-press corners

+ Can really sit in the chair and create openings for the ball on curl routes

+ Is able to use his physicality to gain position and control on routes, swiping down the hands of defenders trying to knock him off track as he’s attempting to work across the field

+ You see Coleman use brute force to throw by defensive backs at the top of the route and beat their leverage that way

+ Able to de- and re-accelerate in impressive fashion, to win on spot-and-go or stutter-fade routes for example

+ Understands when to replace zone-defenders voiding his original spot

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Has a knack for drawing flags, forcing DBs to run into him or grab his shoulders, especially when he catches them with their backs to the quarterback

+ There were several passes way above his head on hitches/curls at MSU and he was able to snatch them

+ Only dropped five of his 120 catchable targets in his collegiate career (4.2%)

+ While his success rate wasn’t quite as high because the ball wasn’t laid up properly for him all the time, when given opportunities, Coleman truly attacks the ball at its highest point and is able to out-battle defenders in true 50-50 situations in a way that tilts the scale dramatically in his favor – 12 of 18 in contested situations with the Spartans

+ Makes a multitude of acrobatic grabs, often times only getting one hand on the ball initially and having to pull it into his body

+ Even when he has one arm pinned down by his defender and he doesn’t have his jump timed up perfectly, he’s able to at least make an effort for the catch that results in defensive P.I. calls

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ His ability to stop on a dime and get vertical with the ball in his hands for a 215-pound guy is pretty remarkable

+ Has some impressive moments of plucking the ball thrown in front of him and directly turning over the opposite shoulder to make the driving defender miss and get into yards-after-catch mode

+ As an All-ACC punt returner for the Seminoles, you see those skills show up regularly on offense as well, which is how he averaged 6.3 YAC per reception last season

+ On his first catch for Florida State, he took a square-in 40 yards to the house, after making the safety miss in space, in the ’23 opener vs. LSU – he followed that up with two more scores on jump-balls to help the Noles pull off the win in that top-ten matchup

+ Consistently is able to slide inside of the corner and wall them off in the run game

+ Showcases an impressive ability to drop his hips, latch his hands and sustain blocks

+ When his man plays with extensive cushion or Coleman is lined up in the slot responsible for the safety in two-high looks, how he eats up that distance and then can aggressively drive guys out of the frame leaped out a few times to me

 

Weaknesses:

– His tremendous athleticism and size are his trump cards, but making details of the position a bigger strength will be highly important and potentially challenging for him making his way to the pros

– Very little tempo, crispness and overall nuance to his routes – too often allows DBs to wall him off due to being able to anticipate where he wants to go, particularly last season when dealing with a banged-up ankle

– The 4.61 he ran at the combine (second-slowest among wide receivers) brings along questions about his long speed, trying actually being to detach vertically

– While the body control and ability to elevate wow you, his contested catch rate in 2023 didn’t match up with those skills (plummeted from 62.5% in 2022 to 33.3%)

 

Coleman presents one of the most challenging evaluations of this entire draft. He presents a powerful frame, impressive burst off the ball and acrobat skills to haul in passes. Yet, he ran the second-slowest 40 time of any wide receiver at this year’s combine, his contested-catch rate didn’t illustrate those ball-skill and that’s on top of being far from a refined route-runner. To really nail down a final scouting report on him, I would need information on how much did his injury last season affected him over the second half of the season. Right now I’m looking at a piece of clay in terms of the explosive traits and body-control to become a dangerous number two with his ability to push vertically and how he can make things happen after the catch, but he doesn’t have that final gear to win as much as you’d like down the field for that role and he could be buried on the depth chart early on if he doesn’t show that early growth on what he does before the ball gets to him.

 

 

 

T.-10. Xavier Worthy, Texas

5’11”, 165 pounds; JR

 

A top-100 overall recruit in 2021, Worthy immediately made his mark with the Longhorns, with 63 grabs for 998 yards and 12 touchdowns, becoming a first-team All-Big 12 selection as a true freshman. He put up slightly lesser numbers in year two (60-760-nine) but still repeated those honors. This past season he cracked the 1000-yard mark and reached the end-zone six times, including one as a punt returner – where he averaged 16.9 yards per attempt – as he made first-team all-conference at both spots.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Literally has record-breaking speed with his 4.21 40-yard dash (along with a 41-inch vertical at the combine)

+ Brings the easy acceleration to blow by corners if you leave him one-on-one, but also dust deep safeties who try to play him flat-footed – Had a massive average depth of target at 17.6 yards per in 2022, before being used on more designed touches to lower that number last season

+ Excels at reducing the near-shoulder to his defender and not getting the terms of the route dictated to him by physical cover-guys

+ Also utilizes a well-timed swipe down at times as he’s trying to release outside on corners

+ Does a tremendous job of widening his man and luring them in comfort before kicking into top gear and just running away from them as he bends it down the post

+ Runs some nasty deep out routes, where he sells the inside take-off to the post momentarily and then is able to break it off to the sideline with one dramatic wider step and then getting his hips flipped

+ Sudden with the way he can whip around those hips and break towards the middle of the field

+ Creates multiple yards of separation on some slant routes, by aiming at his defender’s outside hips with the first three steps and violently jamming his foot into the turf

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Has clearly worked on his ability to track the deep ball and you see him stay focused to haul in passes where he has to look straight up in the air

+ You now see him reach out at the last moment and get his pinkies together as he allows the ball to drop into the bread-basket, also not allowing defender to play through his mitts

+ Has become much better at dealing with defenders raking at the ball as he runs slant routes for example

+ Does well to turn his body away from driving defenders as he secures the catch with his feet off the ground

+ Fundamentally sound on screen passes and quick game, to get his fingertips together for overhand technique whilst already opening his hip upfield, in order to transition into YAC mode

+ On the first play of his Red River Rivalry debut against Oklahoma, Worthy caught a simple bubble screen, made a couple of defenders miss and took it 75 yards to the house, And he was far from done, catching a total of nine balls for 261 yards, including another TD – That marked the start of regular big performances against the top competition

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ With his speed, Worthy can kill pursuit angles in a hurry if he gets the ball on the run and accesses that next gear

+ The way he can vary speeds and hit defenders with sudden bursts in the open field makes him devastating to corral

+ Will hit some step- or jump-backs to badly make defenders whiff as they barrel down on him

+ Then when he’s in break-away mode, he can slice inside of safeties angling towards him charging up the sideline, to turn them around in a way they can’t recover from

+ Bounces off more big hits than you’d expect and stays alive as a ball-carrier

+ Steve Sarkisian made it a bigger priority to draw up designed touches for Worthy on screen passes, as the threat in the flats off orbit motion and sweeps/end-arounds

+ Off that, he can be a positive contributor in the run game, without having to touch the ball or put his hands on defenders

 

Weaknesses:

– Didn’t face a ton of press coverage, yet when he did physical DBs were able to throw off his routes and lock him up at times

– Dropped seven(!) passes in 2022, including some blatant ones on deep balls, which legitimately took touchdowns off the board – five more last season

– His contested catch rate has decreased all three years with the Longhorns, with an 34.1% mark for his career, which in part is due to defenders being able to reach around his slender frame and knock down passes

– Still has plenty of room to set up his blockers more effectively and force defenders to commit to one side as they’re approaching them on designed touches, while his YAC-ability is largely based on his speed

– A non-factor as a blocker pretty much, without the play-strength to latch and sustain with consistency

 

We’ve seen receivers in the past fly up draft boards for running fast and if you hit a new bench-mark with a 4.21 in the 40, you’re probably a lock for the first round. However, for a player with record-breaking speed, the fact that Worthy has only been able to haul in 15 of 67 targets of 20+ yards – whether it’s based on drops or not winning through contact – definitely hurts his profile. So at this point, you want to use that dynamic ability with the ball already in his hands, and while he does bounce off more hits than you’d expect maybe, you do have to question how he’ll hold up taking multiple big hits per game. With that being said, I do believe he’s somebody who can shift between gears, be efficient as a route-runner to also decelerate again after threatening vertically and he’s improved his ball-tracking. He’s unproven against press-coverage and I’d think he needs to be deployed in a role that puts him off the ball, yet I do believe he can be a field-stretching Z or slot in terms of how he threatens defenses horizontally and vertically. Personally, I think there are more complete receivers that I’d take over him past the “big three” but I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s the next name off the board.

 

 

 

T.-10. Roman Wilson, Michigan

5’11”, 185 pounds; SR

 

A four-star recruit in 2020, Wilson only touched the ball ten times as a true freshman, but then had 28 and 27 touches respectively the following two seasons, combining for basically 900 yards and nine touchdowns. This past season, he put up career-highs across the board in receptions (48), yards (789) and touchdowns (12). That made him a second-team All-Big Ten selection.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Has that shimmy off the line and makes it tough for DBs to get hands on him with the way he turns his body away from contact

+ Already shows tremendous detail in his routes, such as threating with an outside burst to sell the slot fade before breaking out to the sideline (on deep outs)

+ The looseness at which he can straightening the stem off motion and flatten the break out of stair-steps is rare

+ Utilizes some rip-throughs to not get hung up with defenders trying to wall him off or widen his stem

+ Has the raw speed to run away from slot defenders on routes across the field and probably more downfield as well in an offense that utilizes him that way / a quarterback willing to launch the ball

+ Dynamic in his transitions and will freeze the feet or get off-defenders leaning the wrong way with those staccato-like feet

+ Fully capable of putting safeties in a blender who he gets isolated against with deep responsibility, such as on corner-post routes

+ Utilizes different pacing and rounds off deep over routes to clear coverage and find green grass well

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ His spatial awareness vs. zone coverage is a definite plus, sitting down where he can perfectly split the distance to nearby bodies

+ Immediately gets his head around once he clears coverage

+ Understands when he should slow himself down in windows and be ready for the ball, as well as to become friendly to the quarterback and negate angles for defenders trying to undercut him

+ Does a great job of clearing out space for his teammates and purposefully leaning into guys late, to force safeties trying to close to work around them

+ Presents soft hands and consistently applies overhand technique when possible – only dropped one of 49 catchable targets in 2023

+ Does not have to gear down at all when passes arrive at his back-hip whilst on the run and is able to run away from guys driving on him

+ Recognizes when he needs to secure the catch quickly and wrap it up tightly as defenders are converging on him from multiple angles, such as the spot element on mesh concepts

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ There’s zero delay turning upfield once the catch is secured, off crossing routes in particular

+ Can stop on a dime to watch pursuit defenders fly by him and has the quickness to make people miss in tight areas

+ Gets to balance in just one shuffle-step and showcases tremendous effort as a blocker

+ Does a great job of choosing and adjusting his angles in the run game, to get his body in the way of defenders

+ His initial quickness to establish positioning and cut off the angle for slot defenders trying to shoot the crease sticks out in a positive manner regularly

+ Excellent on stalk-blocks, being patient with sliding in front of guys but also sturdy enough to take a punch into the chest

 

Weaknesses:

– Plenty of his production came in part thanks to advantages through releases and hiding him behind stacks

– Rutgers DB Max Melton kind of bullied him and didn’t allow any separation against Wilson in their 2023 matchup

– Presents a limited catch radius and doesn’t give you a whole lot in jump-ball situations down the field – only hauled in nine career contested catches (37.5% last season)

– When he can catch a crosser and turn up the field, he can rack up good yards after the catch, but he actually only forced two missed tackles last season (on 48 receptions)

– The lack of play strength and pure mass does show up with Wilson, when overhang defenders and big safeties are able to initiate contact as well as go through him as a blocker

 

Similarly to Michigan receivers in the past, such as Nico Collins and to some degree also Donovan Peoples-Jones, Roman Wilson did not get a chance to fully showcase his skill-set naturally as part of the offense. That’s why seeing him route everybody up during Senior Bowl week boosted his draft stock massively, to where he actually sat out after two practices due to having shown everything he could. He’s a sub-six-foot slot receiver with a limited catch radius and hasn’t been a great YAC weapon necessarily. However, he can absolutely stress the deep areas of the field from that alignment, he’s dynamic out of his breaks, catches everything thrown his way and he’s going to block his ass off for his teammates, guided by the mantra of “no block, no rock”. If you use him in that capacity and how you value a player like that as part of your offense will determine how high Roman will go, but him and the next guy up here have elevated themselves into top-50 status I believe.

 

---

 

Just missed the cut:

 

 

Xavier Legette, South Carolina

6’1”, 220 pounds; RS SR

 

One of the top-1000 national recruits in 2019, Legette was almost a complete unknown through his first four years with the Gamecocks, combining for 42 catches worth 423 yards and five touchdowns. However, he erupted in 2023, when he turned 71 catches into 1255 yards and seven TDs. He received second-team All-SEC accolades in the process.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Big body, who can really move

+ Can throttle down on curl routes better than many other receivers his weight

+ You’ll even see him run some whips or return routes, where he can reduce his frame, pivot off the inside foot and efficiently work back inside

+ On dig routes and other stuff where’s not just breaking off at a certain depth, his ability to bend and gain speed through those slight changes of direction is excellent

+ Is able to avoid traffic on drag routes and you love what he brings on those deep over routes (off play-action), to straighten defenders supposed to trail him across the field before flattening across the field

+ Working out of the slot, you see the ability to widen his stem in order to gain inside access against defenders leveraged that way and then snap off curls

+ Adds in some nasty rocker-steps before bending to the post when isolated on the perimeter

+ Understands how to affect key defenders and run off coverage for his teammates, with the way he stems his routes or can get in the way for opponents to have to work around

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Does a great job of timing up and positioning himself for those rebound-like high-point grabs down the field

+ There are several passes at the sideline, partially off the initial timing, where he has to go straight up to a spot defenders can’t reach and get his toes down in bounds

+ You see the strength to hold onto the ball or kind of wrestle it away when it’s contested

+ Has the flexibility to pluck passes arriving below his knees (when going over the middle)

+ Only dropped two of 73 catchable passes in 2023 and posted a borderline-elite 3.15 yards per route run

+ Slows himself down as he approaches the sideline, to be ready to turn upfield quickly and make

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Brings the horse-power to shake off or drag along tacklers for big yardage after the catch – particularly with guys trying to jump on him but sliding off

+ The way he can stop his momentum, make defenders break down and then dishes out stiff-arms to get away from them stands out quite a bit – forced 16 missed tackles on 89 catches since the start of 2022

+ When he can really stride it out catching balls on the run, he covers ground in a hurry

+ There are only so many 220-pound receivers who teams design fly sweeps and similar touches to – in part because he didn’t fumble once across 125 career touches

+ Plays up to his size as a blocker, snatching cloth and locking up smaller DBs after erasing the space to them

+ Even with safeties barreling down against him working from the slot, Legette is typically able to absorb that force and secure those guys in space

+ Quickly turns himself into a blocker on designed leak routes or if he realizes a teammate has caught the ball

+ His hard-working mentality is commendable, when you look at how he earned opportunities through his work on special teams, worked on his craft and built up his body

 

Weaknesses:

– Lacks refinement or diversity in his release package, while not taking full advantage of his size advantage, more so relying on little stutters into speed releases

– Not like a super precise route-runner, who rolls through a lot of cuts when he should make sharper transitions

– Almost everything he does is go vertical or horizontal, where you’re not going to ask him to win with savvy set-ups of the break-point or great change-of-direction

– Some adjustments on passes over the middle of the field don‘t look very natural – although he didn’t drop many last year

– Wasn’t targeted at least 30 times in any of his first four seasons and combined for just over 400 yards combined throughout that time

 

Legette was one of the breakout stars of college football last season, stocking up his highlight reel after only seeing 76 targets coming his way through the first four years at South Carolina. I’m not as worried about the late breakout profile considering the background and personal tragedies he’s had to overcome, losing both his parents, the setbacks recovering from a motorcycle injury and others. Now I don’t look at him as a very natural separator and while he does present the physical dimensions of an oldschool X-receiver, I don’t look at him lining up there the majority of snaps. He can be moved across the formation and be a productive weapon for you however, taking advantage of his ability to pluck balls off the top shelf in jumpball situations, the toughness and size going over the middle of the field and then the power to break tackles after the catch. So you may want to manufacture touches his way early on to some degree, whilst you refine his ability win off the line and at the top of the route more regularly.

 

 

Johnny Wilson, Florida State

6‘6“, 230 pounds; RS JR

 

Slightly outside the top-100 overall recruits in 2020, Wilson barely got to see the field through his first two years (18 combined catches for 243 yards), but really made a name for himself as a junior, when he hauled in 43 passes for 897 yards (20.7 per) and five touchdown, which earned him second-team All-ACC accolades. This past season, he played nearly 100 snaps fewer due to a lower-body injury, but only caught two passes less for 617 yards and two TDs.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Measured in with the longest wingspan ever recorded by a wide receiver at the combine at 84.5 inches, along running better than anticipated with a 4.53 in the 40 and posting the sixth-best time in the short shuttle among all players in Indy at 4.11

+ For a guy with his size, Wilson doesn’t need much time to get that big body moving

+ Doesn’t lose really any speed as he bends his routes or incorporates some trigger steps down the field before committing to the break

+ The efficiency at which this guy snaps off curl/swirl routes by reducing his height and presents himself as a target is excellent for such a massive frame

+ Uses his arms pretty well to swat away the hands of ancillary defenders as he’s evading them in space

+ A huge 72 of his 84 receptions over the past two seasons went for either first downs or touchdowns, while in 2022 he hauled in 12 of 22 targets of 20+ air yards

+ Averaged a massive 3.37 yards per route run as a junior (fourth-highest among WRs with 50+ targets)

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Has some impressive fingertip catches on tape, where he can just reach passes over his shoulder on fade routes

+ Nearly unguardable if the ball is placed correctly on back-shoulder fades and comebacks, with the way he positions himself and makes use of his gigantic frame

+ You see some passes thrown short of him by a little bit, inviting a defender into the catch-point, yet Wilson snatches it over their head and pulls it into his frame

+ Fearless going over the middle and elevating between linebackers and safeties converging on him

+ Aggressively works back down the stem and is able to pluck some low passes as he lays out for them

+ Uses his body very well to shield the ball, hauling in 21 of 44 contested targets since the start of 2022 (47.7%)

+ Quickly secures and wraps the ball tightly, in order to not allow nearby defenders to punch it out of there, even if he has to fully extend for it initially

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Instantly puts the ball away, takes the direct route up the field and lowers the pads into oncoming defenders

+ Regularly bounces or spins off big hits, where the defender ends up on the turf

+ Possesses the powerful frame to clear arm-tackles and bounce off glancing shots from the side

+ Overwhelming presence as a blocker and tosses cornerbacks to the ground with authority on several occasions (PFF run-blocking grades of 74.8 in each of the past three seasons

+ Was asked to crack back on safety as the boundary receivers, where he was able to swallow them up and dig them out of the lane on off-tackle runs

+ His long arms allow Wilson to sustain blocks longer than most guys could at challenging angles and ride defenders off track

 

Weaknesses:

– While having the play-strength to power through press-attempts, Wilson lacks the foot quickness off the line to cleanly release off the line

– Ran a somewhat limited route tree, with a lot of slants, curls, digs/glances and goes

– Lacks the top-end speed to detach on vertical routes, even if he establishes stack-position early on during the rep

– Tends to body-catch quite a bit and his hands aren’t perfectly aligned all the time – his 10.9% drop rate in 2023 was actually the lowest of his career (12.8% overall)

 

Watching those two big Florida State receivers, it’s somewhat funny to see the guy with tight-end size actually run much cleaner routes, yet the other guy be more of the designated jump-ball option. Wilson does an exceptional job of counter-acting his height when he has to be compact at the break-point but then also make use of it when the ball is in the air. Unfortunately, he lacks suddenness out of his stance, a pull-away gear and he doesn’t always position his hands optimally to catch the ball. Therefore, many people considered his as a transition candidate to tight-end. However, watching him run better than expected and then his field workout in direct comparison to the rest of the receiver class, I think a big slot role and some work on the outside in two-WR sets are definitely in his future. If his future position coach can work with in order to maximize that insane wingspan to defeat press and when the ball is in the air, he could be a long-term starter in the league.

 

 

Ja’Lynn Polk, Washington

6’1”, 200 pounds; RS JR

 

One of the top-500 national recruits for Texas Tech in 2020, Polk only stayed in Lubbock for one season (28 catches for 264 yards and two touchdowns) before transferring to Washington. After a quiet debut campaign with the Huskies, he put up 700 yards and six TDs on 41 catches in 2022, despite being the de-facto WR3 for that group. Last year, he stepped up in the absence of Jalen McMillan, putting up career-highs across the board – 69 receptions for 1159 yards and ten total TDs.

 

Releases & route-running:

+ Solidly built receiver with good burst off the ball

+ Highly effective vertical target, who can win in isolated situations or split the safeties in two-high looks

+ Nicely incorporates little sticks inside as he’s releasing down the sideline, in order to not allow the corner to ride him further than he wants to go and maintain space to that white line

+ Regularly runs by guys on slot fade routes, using his hands as he’s about to get even with them in order to gain stack-positioning

+ You like the shoulder-fakes and explosiveness to put DBs on his back-hip off hesitation releases and on quasi double-moves

+ Does a great job of not allowing defenders to take away his space, by drifting their way initially and then bending back towards his landmarks

+ So efficient on routes towards the middle of the field, getting his hips flipped in one extended break step

 

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Has those strong hands to really snatch the ball away from his frame and even pull it off the backs of defenders face-guarding him

+ Effortlessly plucks passes over his head without having to slow down for them as he works his way across the field

+ Showcases the body control to get his cleats in the ground, leap sideways and extend for off-target passes after turning back towards the quarterback

+ Makes sure to work back towards the QB in aggressive fashion and not allow defenders to disrupt the catch-point

+ There are some highly impressive moments of attacking the ball at its highest point and pulling it in like a rebound – leading to a contested-catch rate of 53.9% over his last two seasons

+ Showcases tremendous toughness over the middle of the field

+ Doesn’t away from laying out for catches or embracing the fall when the flight of the ball takes him to the ground

 

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Consistently turns over the right shoulder in relation to the defender driving up on him on curls, comebacks, etc. – leading to 15 missed tackles forced on 69 catches last season

+ Won’t shy away from taking his head down and powering forward through defenders when there’s no space to make any moves after the catch

+ Does a nice job on screens to dip to one side of blocks and force defenders to leverage themselves incorrectly

+ Pretty effective stalk-blocker, sliding in front of and timing up his strike appropriately, along with sticky hands to stay plastered

+ Takes excellent angles when the play is designed away from him, to put his body in front of the guy originally lined up across from him

+ Quickly turns himself into a blocker once one of his teammates secures the catch, with plus awareness for where the guy who was covering him will be

 

Weaknesses:

– Doesn‘t really load his front-foot or have his hands up for a fight vs. press-coverage consistently

– Was largely limited to going horizontal on crossers or vertical on goes and slot fades

– Not the most precise route-runner, rounding off his breaks quite a bit, and wasn’t very effective on stuff working out to the sideline

– Too reliant on his contested-catch ability, rather than consistently finding ways to create extended separation

– Isn’t going to offer you a whole lot of dynamic moves and quick bursts to threaten defenses with his YAC skills

 

Polk suffers from being part of a wide receiver class which features a multitude of dynamic athletes. He’s basically average in terms of size and ran a 4.52 at the combine. He heavily relied on his ability to stack defenders vertically and his ability to be a ball-winner down the field in Washington’s aggressive aerial assault. With that being said, the way he incorporates little subtleties to create softer edges of DBs for himself, the way he attacks the ball in the air with perfect framing and the strong hands to finish those catches through contact are all excellent. With his lack of fear of going over the middle, how he stays friendly to his quarterback and naturally adjusts to the ball will make him a favorite target for his future signal-caller, whether that’s optimally as a high number three or a low-end number two, if don’t ask him to run a diverse route-tree. If you already have a legit number one and someone who can be a productive player in the slot, this is your optimal secondary outside receiver, worthy of going mid-day two.

 

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The next names up:

Jermaine Burton (Alabama), Javon Baker (UCF), Malachi Corley (Western Kentucky), Malik Washington (Virginia), Jacob Cowing (Arizona), Jalen McMillan (Washington), Jamari Thrash (Louisville), Anthony Gould (Oregon State), Ainias Smith (Texas A&M), Devontez Walker (North Carolina) & Tahj Washington (USC)