The 15 Best Wide Receivers in the 2024 NFL Draft

what is going on everybody Welcome in to our next positional breakdown video for the 2024 NFL draft and today look I I don't mean to be over dramatic or hyperbolic here but we are talking about a wide receiver class here that I really think is not just special we use that term a lot I'm talking like generational this group could go down as the best wide receiver class ever like seriously this group is is absurd so I can't wait for this one I know you guys have been excited for this one thank you for your patience by the way it's been like 2 weeks since we've posted I've been diving into the film trying to get these player rankings up um but we are here and now that the combine is behind us we are like pedal of the metal to the draft so make sure you are subscribed we're going to be getting through all of these position uh positional breakdowns as we lead up to the draft please do hit that like button before we dive in as well and I do want to take just a second to let you know that if you want my thoughts on all of the wide receivers in this class we're going to be talking about 15 guys today because this group is is so deep and so special like I said but I've got 29 players written up over on my patreon where you can get access to my draft guide we'll probably have close to 50 wide receivers fully graded and written up when we get to April's draft so you can get access to all of the wide receivers my writeups updated every couple days on every position group in the draft plus exclusive draft content we just put up a Liu latu film room over there and in April we'll be doing a seven round mock draft for all 32 teams so if you enjoy my draft content you want to support my draft content and get even more of it that is today's plug head over to patreon.com slth thatf franchise guy and go check it out but let's get into it let's have some fun and with my 15th wide receiver it is actually 14b in terms of rankings he has the same overall grade for me as my 14a wide receiver so little distinction there but let's discuss Roman Wilson the wide receiver out of Michigan who really helped his stock down in Mobile for the Senior Bowl was working DBS down there was the guy that quinan Mitchell who was the top Corner down there was kind of calling out saying Bring It On Roman let's see what you got and they were going neck and neck all practice Roman got his quinan got his and you know Roman Wilson coming out of the Senior Bowl was was getting like I want to say one of the top like draft guys put him in like the top 30 for a second then he was kind of Flushed into the second round so like he really got some major buzz after being kind of viewed as like maybe a third fourth round guy heading into the Senior Bowl and I'm not quite on board with him that early I'm going to just be honest I really like Roman Wilson If This Were last year's draft class I would say he Stacks right up with like Jaden Reed who had a second to a third round grade on last year um but in this draft class Roman Wilson finds him self down here at at 15 but I really don't mean that as a shot at Wilson man I have him comped to Randall Cobb and I think their play Styles their really just physical build and athleticism are extremely similar but Cobb's a guy that has played as a steady sturdy reliable slot receiver in the league for for 10 plus years I think that can really be Roman Wilson man he's a a non-nonsense good not great athlete from the slot he's not like lad makoni in this draft or even Ricky peol or some of the other slot receivers in the league where he's going to come out and Dot you up with like crazy foot speed and incredible route running um he's not really all that great after the catch in fact he only forced two Miss tackles in his final season and if anything that's where I do want to see more from him and potentially what drops him down a little bit in this class um but just super reliable hands he's an efficient route Runner like I said he's not going to show that crazy juice and the incredible route running but he's going to get to his Landmark really quickly he's got great acceleration if you don't get your hands on him he's going to threaten that 5 to 10 yard intermediate part of the field like that and when he's making his cut like I said he's No Nonsense he'll plan his feet and go if there's a guy on him he's really good at those subtle push-offs that they're not going to call it on him cuz you know this isn't like Keon Coleman or Mike Evans where when they push off the other guy's going to go flying no Roman Wilson's a smaller guy he'll push off create a little separation and then he's really physical sticking his arms out coming down with contested catches kind of when he's running those horizontal routes and I really think that's where he's going to live in the NFL is from the slot he doesn't have a ton of experience beating press coverage he doesn't really have the stride length and long speed frankly to truly stack on the outside um that's much more about kind of the ability to press and get through some of these guys and some of the physical coverage he would see from bigger corners on the outside um but I think that's all good and well I think you're drafting him to um defeat defenses from the slot I think he can do that day one and do that for a long time so for that to be the 15th wide receiver in a draft class out the gate already we are seeing how special this group is um but then my 14a wide receiver here is a completely different player on and off the field and he is I would say the biggest wild card in this draft class and that's going to be Germaine Burton out of Alabama and Germaine Burton has really second round tape in any draft class and even in this draft class which again like we said with Wilson that's saying a lot he's got the high recruiting pedigree he went to Georgia transferred to Alabama he's produced he catches everything he has the most secure Pair of Hands out of any of the guys in this draft class the best drop rate or the lowest drop rate out of these top 15 wide receivers he flashes really good routes I'm not quite ready to say he's a great route Runner I would say he's a good one but you can see plenty of snap crackle pop in those in those breaks he can um get get off of press outside though still plenty of room to grow there um but the long speed is really good I think his long speed was even a little better than the 445 which now days is uh relative to what these guys are running that's actually not crazy good um it's solid but nothing special I think he runs a little bit faster than that on tape in terms of his film The one thing he's really lacking I would say would be the run after catchability he's a little bit more slender he's going to go down on First Contact not a ton of like creativity and Juice when he's got the ball in his hands um but really with Germaine Burton it's much more of an off field thing and you'll see plenty of readed on the screen here that really hurts his evaluation or at least adds question marks to it there's just some very major maturity concerns with Germaine Burton um he struck a woman in frustration I think it was the Tennessee game um after they I would assume they lost um but I think it was a reporter or a fan was on the field um he hit her in the head uh didn't look like an accident either there's also mixed reports of his departure from Georgia where he started at his career and at Alabama of him kind of not really getting along with the coaches all the time and then you know he's not at the Senior Bowl which I don't want to speculate but there's really no reason for Jamaine Burton a fourthe player who's in that sort of 10 to 12 range of wide receivers there's really no reason for him to be at the Senior Bowl other than Jim naggie didn't want him there so maybe he had an injury that I don't know about but I don't really think he did so there's just a lot of sort of character maturity concerns with Germaine Burton and that's where it gets tough on someone like me that can only watch the film and tell you what the grade is I can tell you the film grade is second round tape but if he falls to the fourth fifth round and you know he's getting into these interviews and and just not really looking like the professional that all of these other great wide receivers are are really um you might see him fall into the fourth fifth round and then it's just a matter of can he grow up in the NFL can he can he find a good home with a good coach that uh can can get the most out of him really a polarizing potential uh range of outcomes for this player right here Jermaine Burton but that upside is pretty fantastic I think he can be a sort of one of three starter in the NFL because he can beat you in so many different ways from inside and out uh short intermediate and deep um but let's get to my number 13 wide receiver and God I'm so excited to talk about Johnny Wilson here my number 13 wide receiver in this draft and with most of these guys and I know we just talked about Jermaine Burton but most of these guys I have a pretty strong grasp on like who they're going to be in the NFL how their skill set's going to translate if they're going to be good I'm just going to tell you right now I have no freaking idea if Johnny Wilson's going to be any good in the NFL because I I have never evaluated a wide receiver like this he is 66 233 lbs as they say he's a Popeye's biscuit away from being a tight end and maybe that is in his future but I do think he's a wide receiver in the NFL um but again I don't know I've never seen a guy that moves like this he has the most unique movement skill set I've ever seen because he has these long strides that just eat up a ton of space it's no surprised that he had a pretty good 40 time at his size because you watch his film and he pulls away from guys he really does he's he's a difficult physical specimen to keep up with for these Corners um but it's not just that he actually has a very crafty unique route running and release style that just kind of works for him he's really good I don't even know if it's just lower body explosiveness or Core Balance paired with agility or again what it's tough to put true words to how he moves other than just showing you the film of him doing these things is probably the best way to do it so I'm going to show you the film right now but um he does just kind of Glide past these guys and he's a difficult player for Corners to jam to get their hands on to stick with him down the field he does actually separate and in his own way he's actually a pretty good route Runner you pair that with his catch radius which is obviously aite not only is he 66 but he has 35 in arms the next guy down is over 2 in less additionally he has a 37 in vertical so if you pair this guy with a accurate quarterback and not to throw Jordan Travis under the bus he's an NFL caliber Prospect but if you pair him with a really accurate NFL quarterback that can just give him catchable balls there's a chance that this guy's just unguardable now that's all obviously very good the highlights are fun and impressive and this is maybe the most fun player on this list but while there are plenty of times where he's able to shake these guys and run away from guys there's also times where he does get kind of jammed whether that's at the Lanta scrimmage or down the field if he doesn't set himself up where he kind of gets that half step of space where he makes the most of it with those long strides he has a hard time changing directions and accelerating into that top speed you will see him getting locked up and really not creating a lot of Separation at all so when you go against NFL Corners are they going to be able to get him into that state much more often it's certainly possible the other thing is you do just wish with this skill set that he just had better hands now I will say I was super impressed by his hands at the Senior Bowl don't think I saw a drop all week but on film he does have a career drop rate of 12.8% and the last two years it's still over 10% both years so just the hands consistency the focus to use his size um and even the contested catch percentage 40% last year 52% in 2022 that's much more of what you'd want it to be in the NFL um but even just you know using that size to his best Advantage you want to see that a little little bit more so a truly unique Prospect here I'm just excited to see him get to the NFL and see if this works again I would try him and fail him at wide receiver and if it doesn't work out in the first couple of years maybe use the second half of that rookie contract to put another 10 lbs on him and play him as more of a tight end but the last thing I will say is he's not just going to play on the outside he's going to be a bit of a hybrid Flex tight end anyway in his usage just as Florida State used him he's really good over the middle of the field when linebackers try to match up on him safeties I mean slot Corners usually are too small to just come even close to guarding him so he is a very unique chess piece going to take a team kind of with the vision of how this guy is going to work in the NFL but um really excited to to see him get there and and this is a guy I don't have a pro comp on again cuz I just he's so unique but do consider myself a Johnny Wilson fan as we move to my number 12 wide receiver here Debo Samuel I mean Malachi Corley a lot of people comparing Corley to Debo Samuel and um you know I I do get it from a play style perspective like if you're going with that stylistic perspective Malachi Corley is and should be used exactly like the 49ers used Debo Samuel he wins in the exact same ways in fact his size is like very similar he's built closer to a running back than a wide receiver where he's got better speed when the ball is in his hands than he does kind of in his routes um and just like Debo this dude is is Unstoppable after the catch because you're talking about taking basically a power back and just setting him up against 180lb Corners that just can't wrap him up and he's got kind of the the lateral agility the Juke moves the contact balance like he is really a nice player with with the ball in his hands he's forced 55 missed tackles over the last two years that's crazy for a wide receiver and of course you can give him the ball on jet sweeps and screens and all that stuff um but if all's going to be as a manufactured touch guy he's probably not a top 15 wide receiver in this class he actually has a wide receiver skill set on top of that stuff there's a reason he's not just a running back in fact I think they moved him from running back to wide receiver he's actually a pretty good route Runner he's not amazing right like he doesn't have incredible foot speed and he's newer to the position so um just doesn't quite have that polish but he does set up his brakes really well he's got some of that deceptive kind of shoulder shimmy um before his breaks and just like we talked about with Roman Wilson he's he's even better Malachi corle at leaning into the coverage and then using that sort of shove off if he's running an out an in a dig um that kind of stuff he will create separation at the top of his break with that without drawing penalties so um again very similar to Debo Samuel in terms of skill set but I do think Debo is just a tick up in terms of athleticism and I hate to compare guys quite to that level of player but how about Rashi rice who went to the Chiefs as more of an outside wide receiver at SMU and still played from the outside for the Chiefs but did almost exact actly the the usage stuff of a Debo Samuel for the Chiefs Rashid rice was second behind only Debo Samuel in average depth of Target I think Malachai Corley can come in as a late second round pick just like Rashid rice get fed touches and put up really crazy production if he's put in the right right situation where he's got space and run after catch opportunities um the one area that I really wish we could see more from him other than the route running and kind of how he's more limited to more of that playmaker role but um just his ability to catch the ball through contact he shows it plenty of times but not consistently enough he only came down with four of his 17 contested catch Targets this year and only six out of 18 the year before that a career contested catch rate of 26.5% that's just not going to cut it when you're a guy that is going to be asked to run Slants and digs where you have Defenders draping all over you he struggles with that a little bit more you know Debo Samuel in the NFL has been 43% on those types of targets and that's why I can't quite go there with the Debo Samuel comp um if he gets really good at that maybe but you know Rashid rice was just one for six on contested catches last year for the Chiefs so I think a little bit more realistic there even though Rashi put up a, yards plus for the Chiefs in his rookie year but I like Corley a lot a little bit more of a flavor of the month type of pick but if you want a run after catch threat a playmaker and you've got a plan to get this guy in the ball uh get the ball in this guy's hands I think late second early third round all the way for Malachi Corley then we've got a guy that is um I think going to surprise a lot of people that he's not in my top 10 wide receivers he's a guy that is in a lot of people's top five and um a common first round mock draft pick and those that follow me on Twitter uh know who this guy's going to be but it's Troy Franklin out of Oregon and you know I watched Troy Franklin he was one of the first players I got to this draft season in January when I was getting through the quarterbacks watching bonix doing his receivers with him and I really hadn't looked at consensus rankings or mock drafts or really anything I was going in really blind at that point and I wrote up Troy Franklin as a third round receiver with good not great speed a crafty route Runner and uh a guy that is is a little bit undersized or at least is is lanky and struggles with uh physical contact within his routes if if a guy can get his hands on Troy Franklin he really can't pull away from him and run through contact comes in and weighs at 176 of the combine so that I think is is very much there um but you know I I write him up and then a week later I'm seeing him in the first round of mock drafts I'm like whoa really and and I had to revisit the tape to see if there was something I'm missing there and and I liked them a little bit more but um you know I just I really can't get there with Troy Franklin relative to the receivers that we still got to talk about here I think he's a good Prospect I have him comped to Darius Slayton I think he can be a starter in the NFL um but for a guy at that size that really won a lot as a vertical threat at Oregon I don't project him as some dominant deep threat in fact I watched his film before I knew any of this hype on him and had him projected at a 44240 comes out and runs a 441 so at 176 lbs when I see you getting disturbed by contact in his routes um I really think you need that Elite Speed to win in the NFL with that frame if you're just going to be a vertical threat um and I just again I I think he can win vertically but I don't think he's going to do it super consistently in the NFL and then you're talking about an undersized possession wide receiver who has a ton of drops on film very inconsistent in terms of catching traffic because of that lack of play strength so I I do still like Troy Franklin I think he's draftable at like the end of the second round and one thing that I really like about him is that football awareness when B Nick started scrambling Troy Franklin was so good at kind of you know keeping his head on a swivel reading out the defense and finding that open space to work with B Knicks in scramble drill so you know I I think you pair him with a momes a Josh Allen type of quarterback at the end of the second round kind of put him in that Gabe Davis or mvs role where again I I think he can win vertically I just don't think he's going to be like like I've seen Deshaun Jackson comps on this guy for example he he's not that but can he be Gabe Davis and take the top off from time to time yeah I I do think he can do that um and then when those plays break down that's where I really think Troy Franklin's at his best so I just found him kind of getting pushed down the rankings a little bit here if other people feel the way consensus seems to be leaning on Troy Franklin I'm probably letting someone else take him in favor of some of these other awesome top 10 guys that we're about to talk about here but it's not to say he can't become a starter because if you're ranked 11th in this class you're still a damn good wide receiver Prospect and probably would have been around the top five last year but that's not where we're at right now so let's get into the top 10 and my number 10 wide receiver is Ricky pea out of Florida and he's a specific guy that kind of leads me to push back on the Troy Franklin hype because I think he does everything Troy Franklin does as a deep threat but better I think he's an even better route Runner has better release at the L of scrimmage I think he's equally as fast and he's got much better hands he made the catch of the decade in college football against Charlotte where he's it's basically Odell Beckham catch but he gets pegged in the chest right after it's insane um now he's not always making those catches down the field but I do think he showed better ball skills um than Franklin now he's not quite as tall but again I just don't think it is a big enough difference to matter the big difference with peol though is he is such a Dynamic Athlete in the short to intermediate game if lad makoni didn't exist he'd maybe be the best route Runner in this draft class the way he sets guys up he's got a cerebral Approach at the position he is a fifth year player so he's had more time to develop that but he's developed it right like you're hoping some of these younger guys like Troy Franklin maybe Xavier worthy you're hoping they get to the NFL and in two years they turn in in the route Runners that Ricky peol is but Pea's there right like he is going to be I don't know a top let's just play it safe and say 25 to 30 Route runner in the NFL the day he gets drafted like he is that smooth with it and it's to all three levels double moves in Breakers in the intermediate game whip routes underneath it's it's all there with him now like uh Franklin which I didn't mention he's he's a little more slender so he's not the best run after catch threat he's usually going to go down uh on First Contact but um I I think he's a little more Shifty than a than a Troy Franklin so this one really was pretty easy for me to slide him above Troy Franklin I think if you miss out on piol you can take Franklin and be pretty happy about it but for me he's he's just way ahead of the curve and is a is a better athlete like his he had a 6643 cone a 405 shuttle this dude is freaky athletic we saw it on display at the Senior Bowl where he was he was right there next to Roman Wilson and lad MCC in terms of just dominating Corners all week he had a great final year at Florida um he doesn't have the drop issues that Troy Franklin has and some of the other wide receivers in this class I don't want to just Tear Down Troy Franklin but um these guys are back toback so it's only natural um but man he's he's really nice I've got him comped to Jerry Judy and it's not a perfect comp but just the way he moves the way he runs routes the way he can make spectacular catches even though he's not like super consistent with it I would argue Judy's a little bit more fluid in terms of athletic quickness whereas peol has more consistent hands in terms of the drops um but I think in terms of role in the NFL and play style you're talking about a guy you can put inside and out can stack eyes vertical and just shake dudes in the short to intermediate game and be that route Runner archetype that you move all over the field and scheme up open looks for your for your quarterback so big fan of Ricky peol as are many people but I I do feel like he's a bit of a my guy in this draft as is I think my number nine wide receiver Xavier Legette and we're going from a couple of you know kind of speedier Route running uh types of receivers to a 61 222 lb speed train down the field in Xavier Legette and man he's just a handful to deal with down the field he's drawn a lot of DK metf comps he's not as big and imposing as DK metf so I didn't go quite with DK as the comp but in terms of how you want to use him very similar I want him running Slants go balls and comebackers stop routes and get the ball in his hands on screens cuz he's built and moves like a running back a lot of the times um and that's something that he actually is probably a little better than DK metf and that's where the dearius Thomas comparisons come in for me Demaryius Thomas if you remember was 63 225 lb did a ton of damage in his best years catching those those bubble screens those tunnel screens uh those kind of um quick passes from pton Manning just get the ball in his hands and let him run away from the defense I think he can do a lot of that with Xavier Legette but the one thing about Legette that I really like about him and I think I'm a little bit higher on Legette probably not like a ton like it's tough to watch his film and not like him but I will say I think he gets a little too much criticism for being a poor route Runner and I just straight up disagree I actually think as a fifth year player even though he wasn't playing he was getting better and learning how to run routes like he's actually one of the best receivers in the NFL on those stop routes those comebackers where he can Throttle Down really well and when you're talking about a guy in that DK metf role where a lot of the times you're just going to be lining him up asking him to go deep if he can stop on a dime and keep Corners honest um to stay within range of those comebackers that's only going to help complement both phases of running deep and running those intermediate games and it's another reason I didn't go with DK metf CU DK doesn't Throttle Down as well as Xavier Legette and on those gold Balls by the way Legette was incredible also on deep posts not just the speed to pull away from guys and force Corners into that kind of like panicked recovery mode but I mean this dude has a 40in vertical jump a a 10 foot6 broad jump he showed in this breakout year of 2023 he'll he'll go up and get it man he had a contested catch rate of of 48% which is very very good it's not like Elite or anything but his highlight catches are spectacular and that's where some of the DK metf dots come in there I really think his skill set can work in the NFL and I also think he can he can stop and have some good foot speed to get um going on those dig routes too where he's just a really tough cover so I know he's a fifth year player I know he only had the one year of production but um not everybody develops at the same rate and I really think he's clicked into place and as long as he's used within that role and you kind of know what you're getting with him I I don't think there's a whole lot of stuff to nitpick in his game now if you want him to come out and run the full route tree and be like your go-to read every single play yeah you're you're probably going to be a little bit disappointed in what he turns into but again is that kind of backside Z receiver running a more limited route tree love them I think it can also step in and be a big slot for you too and with Legette with peol there I have these guys as top 50 players in this draft class so every top 10 ranked wide receiver for me I think will make my top 50 big board when all is said and done um but let's get to my eighth ranked wide receiver which is actually another uh 7A 7B situations so my number eight or 7B ranked wide receiver is Keon Coleman the wide receiver out of Florida State we're sticking with some bigger bodies here but with Coleman I I would say him Germaine Burton because of the off field stuff and Johnny Wilson because of his unique profile um I would say those are the three guys on this list that I'm I'm just not entirely sure if their skill set will for sure translate to success at the NFL level um cuz Keon Coleman's just not that fast man he ran a 461 at the 40 time that really wasn't all that surprising you watch his film and he just he doesn't really pull away from anybody but he is kind of like these bigger wide receivers that have made it work in the NFL guys like Michael Thomas maybe or uh Michael Pitman which is my high-end comp for Coleman maybe a little bit of Drake London though I think London is U is is particularly fluid for a bigger wide receiver but the guys that are built like Keon Coleman that have made it work do have the same trait that Coleman has and that is in those breaks he does show really good athleticism he has um good good short area juice if you will and that's reflected in his 38 in vertical jump he had a good 10 yard split on his 40 time he just couldn't sustain um and build that speed um a 10 fo7 broad jump and when he ran the gauntlet drill he actually had the fastest speed in terms of just the play speed kind of running a slant sort of um catching the ball and running and I've always well I've said recently with Michael Pitman kind of having that breakout year Michael pitman's not a guy with great speed I I can't remember if he ran or what he ran but you know 46 is closes for Michael Pitman but when Pitman gets the ball in his hands or when he catches a slant he just he isn't thrown off of that top speed quickly and he even showed in the The Gauntlet drill at the combine where you're just running in a straight line catching a bunch of passes he actually had the fastest play speed in that drill even though he ran the slowest 40 times so it was backed up by one of the more important drills at the combine so he is a really tough eval because yes there are the Pitman and the Drake londons and the Michael Thomas' that just aren't fast but are big and physical and good at their breaking points and good through the catch point and fast through through the catch point but for every one of those there's an inil Harry right a Kelvin Benjamin a Hakeem Butler so there's always going to be that fear with a slower more um contested catch sort of big bodied slower X Type like Keon Coleman but I do think there is a archetype with some of those names we've mentioned that can work for him and he's got that basketball background he's not just kind of physical through contact in his routes and at the catch Point um but he's really got amazing body control he elevates and attacks the football he can kind of hang in the air um not just on like Endzone Fades where they used him a lot um but you know on back shoulders and working the sideline there he showed really good timing with Jordan Travis on a lot of those routes and I'm going to be honest I think his production like we said about Johnny Wilson would have been a lot better if Jordan Travis was an a a consistent accurate NFL quarterback not to trash Travis but he's just he's just not as accurate as the quarterbacks that Keon Coleman will likely be catching passes from that's just the truth so if you can give him a well-placed back shoulder or a well thrown fade or a well thrown jump ball um Keon Coleman's going to make that 50/50 ball a 5560 ball a lot of the times so I I'm right down the middle with Keon Coleman I think I've seen him as a top five wide wide receiver for some I've seen him outside of the top 10 for some he's my wide receiver eight I'm giving him a good chance to succeed but if he's a bust I think we've seen this type of player do that as well so he would scare me a little bit but I would also be excited if my team took him and then we have my 7A wide receiver who I think is a a a dangerous pick I'm not going to quite say equally dangerous because I do have him ahead of Keon Coleman for a reason but there are Boomer bust aspects to our next player here Xavier Worthy as well um but his play style could literally not be any different here you're talking about the slowest wide receiver in our top 15 and really the slowest wide receiver in the top 30 to the fastest wide receiver among those guys um obviously broke the 40 yard dash record at the combine 421 ridiculous speed and it's not just the speed he reminds me in terms of movement skills honestly and this is High Praise but a name that you think of is Jaylen Wadd where he's not just fast but is agility the foot speed the change of Direction the stop start acceleration it's elite like there's a reason teams are thinking about Xavier worthy in the first round because you just don't get this type of athlete every year now while he ran a 421 he did do it at6 65 lb which is a whole another 6 lb lighter than what he played at at Texas I I think you're better off having him put six or seven pounds back on and have him run in 425 426 speed uh if that makes sense um because honestly when I watched him at Texas I was a little surprised that he broke the 40 time record like I I wasn't surprised that he was the fastest wide receiver in the draft or anything like that but like I don't think this guy has let's just say 99 speed in Madden like I I I don't quite see that on film I think he's more of a 96 97 speed type of guy just based off the film there but I mean obviously the speed is real and and when you put him outside he can snack corners and win vertical there's no doubt about that if you throw him a Crossing Round he's going to run away from you like you can definitely tap into that speed but what I was getting at was at that size he gets banged in his routes he gets slowed down if you're going against Corners that have really good hand usage and most of the starting Corners in the NFL are long Corners with really good hand usage you can you can delay that speed and and bang with him down the field and he just really struggles to accelerate through contact not to mention his contested catch ability is just laughable people make fun of his hands I don't think he necessarily has bad hands he's going to have drops being a vertical threat it's just part of the territory it's just harder to consistently come down with those balls but I think he has good ball tracking good hands his drop rate actually isn't that bad um but the contested catch rate and the ability like if he has a corner even just like getting a hand on his hip or if if his if his hip and hip or anything the slightest amount of contact is going to redirect his arms redirect his hands and he's just not going to come down with it and usually that's not going to get charted as a drop um but Xavier worthy in his final year at Texas um 23% contested catch rate that's five out of 21 targets like that's a pretty big sample size too so there are issues with his game but man that athleticism plays in the NFL look at tank Dell at 166 lbs didn't seem to bother him there's a lot of modern coaching practices that we're seeing now to use pre- snap motion and certain Bunch formations and all this stuff like look at the Dolphins what they're doing with Tyreek Hill there's so many creative ways you can scheme these guys into space that teams are doing now that you weren't doing maybe five six seven years ago when like a John Ross came into the league for example who who ended up being a bust and he's a pretty good route Runner too like you see the foot speed I mentioned the the fluid athletic ability um he's he's not even 21 years old old um yet he also if you're one of these guys that's looking for that early break out age 20 or at 18 years old not even 18 I think he stepped in Texas um put up 981 yards 12 touchdowns actually had a 50% contested catch rate that year his best year was arguably um his his freshman year so I mean this guy's been doing it declaring as a true Junior breaks the 40-yard dash record it's really hard not to get excited about um Xavier worthy I've got him comped to Maris Brown Brown who I think is very similar in terms of athletic ability and slenderness and Route running um and I know the last couple years for Maris Brown haven't been great but I mean he was retra he was drafted in the first round and then ret traded for a first round because of that vertical ability being something that's just not going to come around every year so I do think someone is probably going to pull the trigger on him in the first round and then it just comes down to obviously worthy working on on some of the craft but also just you know having a quarterback that can unlock that deep ball ability you don't want this to be a uh you know a A taekwon Thon going to the Patriots with M Jones who can't utilize that deep threat ability otherwise you know why are you drafting this guy right so um Landing spot's going to matter for for him and all these guys but I am a I'm a Xavier worthy believer tweeted a couple weeks ago that I just don't understand the idea that Troy Franklin is above Xavier worthy and I think after the combine that's probably going to be a a more consensus opinion here but let's get to my number six wide receiver we don't have to go far here we're staying at the University of Texas Adonai Mitchell and I was really bummed that I couldn't get atai Mitchell into the top five but I would have been equally bummed if I had to exclude any of our top five guys but I will say Mitchell comes in sixth because I think he is the riskiest of our remaining wide receiver prospects the most bust potential but at the same time I I have the third Highest Potential grade on Adonai Mitchell in this draft and he comes in as wide wide receiver six so it comes down to what you're looking for and I I have him as one of three wide receivers in this draft um with that Alpha tag now he's Alpha potential whereas our top two wide receivers I think are just Alphas so Mitchell's got to get there but let's start with like the good stuff before I kind of talk about the knocks and where we need to see him get to but the thing I love about Mitchell and why I think his potential is so high is he's just such a rare mover at his size and I saw Brett Coleman kind of beat me to it he made a great video about ad I Mitchell nailed the eval go check it out um Brett I think did go as far as putting him in the top five for his his rankings but um the CD lamb comp I saw the same thing when I watched a Donnie Mitchell but I didn't go there because of something Brett pointed out and something that Mitchell has since talked about he just doesn't play as fast as CD lamb does lamb has the juice man like he can pull away from guys and you watch Mitchell's tape he doesn't really do that but what has kind of come out is he said himself Mitchell himself said I don't run routes at full speed he wants to kind of save his stamina for the whole game or something and and a lot of it too is just the way he kind of Paces his routes and sets guys up it's an effective route running style for him and that's great um and I think effective and I think you should stick with that a lot of the times but from an evaluation standpoint it is I don't want to say frustrating but difficult to know how much speed is really in there on the football field and his speed grade for me even though he ran a 434 is still going to get kind of an italics hyphenated a minus for me I mean 434 speed is like a speed and if he can unlock that in the NFL while continuing to be the fluid route Runner the guy that can get out of in and out of his brakes flip his hips stop on a dime Juke Defenders um I mean we are talking about CD lamb so there are very close physical comparisons especially now that we've seen that 40 time to a top five receiver in the NFL and the other thing is even though he he doesn't have the production transferred away from Georgia not the most explosive passing game I'll put it that way um but transfers to Texas where he thought it was going to be more lucrative for him and he could really emerge and show off his traits well he gets to Texas and you got Xavier worthy you got um Whittington who's this big bodied slot guy that's an easy target for ERS you have a Javon Sanders is a you know second round tight end they loved their running backs Jonathan Brooks is going to be a a day two draft pick they had a million miles to feed and honestly man for the most part they just kind of stuck Mitchell outside had him running hitches had him running comebackers outs posts go balls they didn't really look his way that often so what I'm getting at here is he just really at no point in his career has produced much he barely has a th000 receiving yards in his three-year career and I don't want to just write that off and and assume that's going to be there at the next level I obviously think it can be I just said he could be CID lamp for God's sake but I do think there's something to be said about a lot of times he lacks urgency to get into his routes he's not making himself kind of presentable to the quarterback as often as he could be by by winning and separating quickly and I also have a little bit of a knock on him in terms of working his way back to the quarterback it's an awareness thing it's a coaching point but when you're a bigger bodied wide receiver and you want to develop that chemistry and trust with your quarterback you know you've got to basically box out the guys that are going to be playing over the top of you and he just doesn't do that very well he kind of lets the ball come to him and I think over time as Quinn ERS is playing with this guy you might see Mitchell stop on that hitch route but not trust him so much so there is something to be said about becoming the focal point of a passing game and reaching that potential and wanting the ball and urgently getting to that space that is missing with him but I think it can be there I don't think there's a lack of competitive competitiveness with him I don't think it's a lack of physicality I just think it's the offense he played in and the lack of like really coaching and them bringing that out of him so he is a really enticing wide receiver Prospect like Xavier worthy his teammate it's just it's difficult to find these traits now I think his traits come around more consistently than like worthy in his speed but still like there wasn't a ad I Mitchell in last year's draft class that can move like him at his his size so I really think a team probably will take him in the first round and if it's the Chiefs if it's the bills I think they might take him in the first round and steal a top 10 Alpha receiver in the NFL it's it's the the concept of ad I Mitchell is really enticing but that's why my low comp is a guy that got a lot of hype a couple years ago that just was was kind of surrounded by a lot of talent never really emerged as a super productive guy but checked the size the athleticism the movement skills but never made it work in the NFL Terrace Marshall who was effect he went very early in the second round to the Panthers um and I think there's some of that fear with Mitchell that he just doesn't quite have that it factor and overall just like call it football awareness or football instincts at the position we'll see man I'm excited to see see where he goes though and I'm definitely a fan of Adonai Mitchell's game and one thing that got lost in that little Spiel there by the way is this dude catches everything super consistent hands amazing catch radius body control um the just like the the fade touchdown he had against Washington where he's just floating in the air um 39 1 12 in vertical jump and 11 foot 4 in broad jump like dude is a freak so just hope they can I guess put the dog back in him after he left Georgia Bulldogs there's some sort of plan words available there but let's get to my number five wide receiver we've made it we have not talked about lad makoni yet I'm going there guys I'm putting lad in my top five I just don't see how lad makoni fails in the NFL he is the best route running wide receiver I think I've ever watched the only guy that comes close would be Jerry Judy um but I think lad makoni is more nuanced to all three levels I think the day he gets drafted he's going to be to play it safe one of the 10 best route runners in the league um if not top five the way that he dots guys up all of these SEC Corners embarrassing all of these future first and second round draft picks um the pacing in his routes the foot speed his change of direction is exceptional his acceleration in and out of his breaks you know our guy Mike rener went on the Mina Kim show and compared him to to Antonio Brown in the way that he moves and Antonio Brown was famous for basically being one of few humans that can accelerate while he turns that combination of change of Direction and acceleration just it's it's not there in most in in 99.9% of human beings lad makaki has that and guys just can't keep up with him after he's already set you up with technique and foot speed he can then accelerate away from you it's it's special stuff man and I wish I could show clips of it but the conference that lad makoni plays in just doesn't want YouTubers to show NFL fans they're amazing players doing amazing things on the grid iron but but just go watch a highlight reel because you won't regret it it is an absolute treat the way lad makuni moves and I think will be able to separate barring injury in the NFL is as big of a lock as I could tell you from this wide receiver class I just don't know how he could possibly get to the league and NFL Corners are able to stick with him beyond that like he's not tiny he's a little more slender 186 lb 5112 arms are shorter hands are smaller um there's some size stuff there but he's not tiny right like he's not I mean even tank delm hit at work but he's not tank Dell size right but he moves kind of like tank Dell honestly it's not a bad Pro Comp to be fair uh tank Dell another guy that just moves at a different different planet um but lad's bigger he's a bigger tank is is a decent comp for him but my comp is Deontay Johnson who is one of the best route runners in the league and I went with Deontay because um you know just there's so many similarities there not just the fact that Deontay is a top five to 10 route runner in the league and separates in the NFL at a super high level but you know he's a guy that can play inside and out I don't think uh makoni is just a slot guy I think he'll probably do his best damage from the slot but I definitely think I mean he's got you know 439 speed it shows on film they put him on the outside at Georgia he's got you know good fit speed good release um just just as the rest of his technique he can kind of Bend and dip and accelerate away from press coverage didn't see a lot of press um in his role at Georgia but I do think he can go go outside and win vertical as we've seen from Deontay Johnson but he does have smaller hands he does have drops uh he doesn't have the biggest catch radius it's all very similar to Deontay Johnson so I really like that comp and you're taking Deontay Johnson in the first round even though he's dealt with some drops he's dealt with some bad quarterback play but um again I just B in injury which might be a small question for him cuz he's had slight durability concerns with a more slender frame but other than that I just really don't see how lad makoni fails in the NFL so had to put him in my top five and I've got a very close grade on lad for example as I did on both Z flowers and um Jackson Smith and jiga last year so that just kind of puts this in context of the type of player that he is um and where I'd be comfortable drafting him but let's get to number four and Brian Thomas Jr is going to be the player here this he's a very safe projection in terms of what he's going to be at the next level and I think kind of locked that in running a 433 at 62 210 lbs I mean if if you just said you know you're trying to teach someone about football and you wanted to show someone what a z wide receiver deep threat in the NFL is it's Brian Thomas he's got the size he's got the speed he's got good hands he's got good movement skills he's not quite as fluid in terms of stopping and starting and breaking all over the field um that's why I do think he's a z someone that you want to keep in a straight line um very much the DK metf role that we talked about with Xavier Legette uh he's drawn some mvs comps he's just a much better player than than mvs and I comp him to the guy that the Packers replaced mvs with in Christian Watson when he's healthy I mean Christian Watson's um a very good player when he's healthy but Brian Thomas doesn't necessarily have those concerns and he's a lot younger coming out of the LSU as opposed to North Dakota State so um definitely feel better about Brian Thomas as a prospect than I did about Watson but um Pro comp's aside man I mean another guy that I just do really think will be successful if put in the right role like we said about lad makoni I just don't fully see how he fails he's got really good Release Technique for a true Junior he's got a springy uh First Step that with his size and he uses his arms well he accelerates through contact like he's just a very difficult player to press that 433 speed absolutely shows on on tape he's got rare acceleration for a bigger guy and that's where that it really helps him in his release and that kind of 10 yard area I mean he had a 1 10 yard split that was um second best in the class behind uh Xavier worthy who was a 149 so like he he gets off the line and goes man like you pair that with the long speed and the size some of the Highlight catches he makes the the the catch radius he has um it's it's dangerous man now just like all these vertical threats he's going to deal with some drops it's tough over the shoulder you know Ball's not always right where you need it you're probably going to rack up some drops there but you put this guy with the Jags with the 18th pick locked and loaded man like deep balls with him and Trevor Lawrence for days just like we said though with worthy like put him on a team that doesn't have a quarterback that can launch the Deep ball you're not going to get the most out of them but um I think you you take him in the first round any given draft class even this one and you know what you're getting and it's a very nice projection for Brian Thomas so I I still put him at wide receiver four because it's just that that ability to win deep there's only five to 10 guys that can do it at the level that I think Brian Thomas should be able to do in the NFL but then my number three wide receiver is Roma dun and I'm going to try to set this up without com off like a hater it's going to be impossible and I'm going to come off as a hater but I'm just going to be honest I've seen a lot of draft analysts that I respect and continue to respect and everybody's entitled to their opinion I hope I'm wrong and romad dun becomes the next Justin Jefferson Elite wide receiver in the NFL but I don't think it's close between Malik neighbors and romad dun for the wide receiver two spot I think neighbors is closer to Marvin Harrison to the number one wide receiver than adun is to Brian Thomas for wide receiver four I just relative to where the praise on a Dun has gotten where it's like he should go three ahead of Malik neighbors or you should pass on a Joe Al like a franchise left tackle for this guy if if you needed both positions people have talked about romad dun like he is going to be a game wrecking Alpha wide receiver someone that can destroy you at all three levels a run after catch threat a guy that can quote unquote get you a bucket against the best corners in the NFL I just don't see the athleticism and separation from adun to be a Justin Jefferson a Tyreek Hill an AJ Brown a cidd lamb and I'm not saying he can't separate I'm just saying where the discourse is gone with Odun I just can't quite get there with him now I think he's worth a top 10 pick for sure I think he can be a a really high-end starter a a sort of one of three if you will like you if you can get an Odun and pair him with a great deep threat a nasty slot wide receiver like if you could go Odun Deontay Johnson and I don't know Maris Brown as like your three complimentary groups of skill sets great love it and spending a Time 10 pick to get one of those three guys I'm fine with that but where the conversation's gone again I just can't quite match that now he he by far would have been the number one wide receiver in last year's draft class so there's some high praise for him right there but again I just I just don't see the athlete there to reach an immense ceiling now he is one of the best just ball skills receivers you'll ever see that's why I've got him comped to Rody white who just caught everything but Rody white eventually needed his Julio Jones for that receiving room to really open up but dun's ability to just track the ball through traffic consistent hands to not drop the ball to elevate for the ball um get the ball at at the High Point not let DBS get their hands on it toet tap at the sideline you name it I mean he is right there with some of the best I've ever seen at that position Adam thielen comes to my mind um Antonio Brown had that trait too where it just it didn't matter how many bodies were on him he would somehow let the ball just like drift into his arms and find himself in the perfect position I think Justin Jefferson does have a little bit of that um in him as well so that's I mean that's such a valuable trait man and he's another one of these guys like we've talked about with Coleman and um Johnny Wilson where get him with a really accurate quarterback that's going to trust him down the field like Michael penx did and he's going to be lethal man but I do think that's his superpower and it requires a quarterback to get the ball to him in those situations and there are quarterbacks in the league that are you know they're they're throwers not passers and they want to see these guys open before they throw the ball or they don't have the accuracy that pennx has to hit these you know back shoulder um balls when when you know adun is not stacking guys vertically but he can stop and and get those back shoulders um with great timing with a Michael penx but there's a lot of quarterbacks that can't throw that ball accurately so um he is a little bit more landing spot dependent too than our top two guys that's it's part of why there's that tear Gap there um again I I'm not trying to come off as a hater I really am impressed by romad dun's game um but as we get to our top two wide receivers here I think we're just talking about a different specimen and a different ceiling at the wide receiver position and that's going to start with Malik neighbors another sec player that I wish I could run some highlights for you but I finished Marvin Harrison's eval and then I finished Malik neighbors eval and I I'm one of these people where I'm like look the gap's not that big man Malik neighbors is the best wide receiver Prospect I've evaluated in seven years not named Marvin Harrison and that's why I said in the intro that this could be the best wide receiver class ever um the closest guy I think is Jamar Chase also out of LSU very similar to Malik neighbors um if Jamar Chase was able to play that final year his junior year was lost to the covid season he opt it out um it was I don't want to say it was a knock on on Jamar Chase but it it just took away that opportunity to go and have that big third year but I also think Malik D Malik Neighbors is very similar to Jamar Chase but is actually a little faster um now I think Jamar Chase ball skills and ability to catch through traffic was a little better people use that as a knock though on Malik neighbors and I couldn't disagree more um I think people are looking for a criticism of Malik neighbors because well he's wide receiver too you got to have criticisms of him right and you look at him and you're like there's a couple reps where he you know got out physical at the catch point so he's not a good contested catch receiver and I'm like okay but what about the seven other times where he's Mossing dudes what about his career 50% contested catch rate that's dragged down pretty bad from it being 36% in his freshman year he was 62% 2 years ago and 45% last year like I've seen this dude use his size at 6' 200 and with outstretched arms pluck the ball away from dudes and box guys out with his frame um so I disagree with that as a knock in fact I think his catch radius is Sensational I was disappointed that he didn't work out because I think he could have jumped over 40 in put up one of those 11t broad jumps and that takes me to the core reason that he is above a Dun and that is that athletic profile that again if he were to test we're talking 435 speed and just on the field man like his foot speed his acceler a paired with honestly like really good route running ability he sets dudes up he understands pacing within his routes he can snap in and out of his brakes talk about a guy that can threaten vertical but also just stop on an absolute dime and just leave Corners in the dirt before they even realize that he stopped and turned um in that ability working in tandem with him as a vertical threat it's it's just different um his run after catch ability is also probably second best in class to Malachi Corley um but even neighbors it's like he can make a couple guys miss and then he also has the speed to just pull away from dudes and that's where the kind of Jamar Chase and DJ Mor comps really come in CU those are two of the best run after catch receivers in the league so you go through the whole profile literally what does this guy not have he's got the athleticism all across the board not just speed but change of Direction lateral agility amazing ball skills amazing run after catch great route Runner incredible production dude's special so I'll I'll end on neighbors with a point I made in one of my mock drafts he is no consolation prize to our number one wide receiver here and I wouldn't be stunned if neighbors actually overtime maybe was even the better player in fact I have a higher potential grade on neighbors than I do Marvin Harrison the number one wide receiver um I even know of people that have neighbors um ahead of Marvin because of that athletic difference and uh Harrison is almost like if you just took everything we said about adun and neighbors um athletically speaking and just met in the middle uh like I don't think Marvin is as special of an athlete as neighbors but I do think he's faster and moves a little better than adun and he's also the tallest of the three he's a a about a half a foot taller than a dun but this is the most polished wide receiver I've ever seen and I I don't know how long we're going to wait until we see another guy as as polished and complete and as close to a sure thing at the wide receiver position as Marvin Harrison Jr um clearly has the Bloodlines has spent his whole life training to be a professional wide receiver and it shows like let's just start with the route running like the new Nuance that he understands it shows up in his release package which is one of the best I've ever seen he already has like three or four different release packages that he can go to it's just unfair for these college Corners trying to press this dude cuz he looks like Devonte Adams at the line just like the foot speed and the inside outside releases the speed releases the delayed releases you name it it's it's crazy but then he gets down the field and you can see understands that sort of advanced timing in his routes that he doesn't always have to run at full speed but when he needs to he'll unhook the plow and really accelerate into his breaks as well he can stop on a dime uh then you get to his ball skills did have some drops show up this year it was really in one game the Purdue game he had three of his seven career drops in the Purdue game alone so he got in his head a little bit in that game but you throw that one out he's got super super consistent hands some of the best body control contested catch ability talk about everything we said about adun copy and paste to Marvin Harrison whether there's bodies on him whether he's got to contort his body and making a weird over the- shoulder catch whether it's trying to keep both feet in on the sideline whatever it is his ability to catch the ball through traffic is creme delic creme um the catch radius he'll High Point the boy the ball he can jump unbelievable and he Blocks he's a good run blocker um clearly that's been you know kind of put into him is is you got to be able to block in the NFL he's like all right no problem I'm 63 210 shouldn't be too big of a deal against these Corners um and then even this final year against Ohio State uh showed better like going into the year the one question was like is he good at with the ball in his hands after the catch and in his final year at Ohio State he like really showed an uptick and making guys miss being a screen threat um you know kind kind of like catching that slant and showing that spin move to the outside uh just I mean dude it's it's wild so we had to Rave about him but you knew what it was it's it it is Marvin it's always been Marvin and uh he's going to be an absolute get for somebody he is I will I guess end on this Banger he's the highest graded non running back that I've had since I've done this running back obviously position that um we've seen these has come in with a really high floor I think we've seen more of that from these wide receivers but this is the highest floor wide receiver I've I've ever seen barring injury we are talking about a likely perennial Pro Bowl caliber player I haven't comped to AJ Green some people have said that's disrespectful no youer are being disrespectful to how amazing AJ Green was um was the number four overall pick out of Georgia and kicked ass with Andy Dalton for almost a Whole Decade so um I think if he has better health Marvin Harrison can have a better career than AJ Green but in terms of at the peak of his powers I see a very similar player and uh we're going to send it out on that note um thank you so much for watching I know this got long but I think you guys are going to enjoy the length I wanted to do 15 players because this class is special man but if you want my opinions on even more wide receivers there's still some fascinating names that we we didn't talk about guys like TZ Walker Javon Baker Jaylen Hulk I mean the list just keeps going in this draft if you want my grades my writeups you name it on all those players check out my draft board over on patreon it's patreon.com thatf franchise guy nothing else please do hit that like button on the way out make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the rest of these positional breakdowns they won't all be this long uh but we'll see you guys for the next one I think we're going to do Edge rushers next so we have that to look forward to and that'll be in a about a week so we'll see you guys then I'm back to the film until I see you guys for the next video peace [Music] out

Channel: That Franchise Guy

Views: 184,794

Keywords: NFL, Analysis, That Franchise Guy, Marcus Whitman, Draft, 2024, Wide Receivers, Top 10, Top 15, Rankings, Odunze, Nabers, Franklin, Worthy, Mitchell, Legette, Pearsall

Id: 7AihGym49mc

Length: 69min 20sec (4160 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 05 2024