Taking a good, solid look at the wide receivers coming out in this year’s draft should show you exactly why the free agent market wideouts have been so affordable. There are plenty of elite prospects and, frankly, probably 10 or more guys that will be serious NFL wide receivers in the next couple of seasons.
And while, outside of quarterbacks, I don’t give you my Top 10, I’ll go ahead and toss out 10-6 here just because it was so exciting watching the film on this crew. When we look back in three or four years, this might turn out to be the best wideout class in NFL history. Seriously.
10.) Zay Jones, East Carolina 9.) Amara Darboh, Michigan 8.) Chad Hansen, California 7.) Curtis Samuel, Ohio State, 6.) Chris Godwin, Penn State
5. Corey Davis, Western Michigan (6-3, 209)
2016: 97 catches, 1,500 yards, 19 touchdowns
Corey Davis had to sit out the NFL Combine because of an ankle injury, but that’s not why I’m sticking everyone’s favorite wide receiver prospect at No. 5. I’m not down on Davis at all. There’s every indication the kid will turn into an elite wideout in a couple of years. But I don’t base my rankings on potential. I base them on day-one ability and there are a lot of issues with Davis as an NFL starter and they’re all on the tape.
By all accounts Davis runs in the 4.48 range, which is plenty fast enough for any system. What troubles me on his tape is how many defensive backs he faces that are right on him. He out-jump and out-muscles these guys for the ball and that’s great, but these are scrub cornerbacks. Not a single one of them will play a single NFL down. So why isn’t Davis blowing their doors off?
It’s obviously an issue with Davis’ route-running, his wiggle off the line, his ability to make a move in that first five yards. Now, Davis has obviously not been coached this way. He’s running a high school route tree at Western Michigan and with his natural ability, he’s never needed to sting a guy on the first step. It’s something he can learn, sure, but am I taking that chance with a first round pick? Maybe he’ll get it. Sometimes they don’t and you end up with a Cordarrelle Patterson/Darius Heyward-Bey situation where it takes the guy four or five years to learn the position. If Davis had the second round grade he should have, I would take him at any point there. Hell, I’d even take him late in the first. But a high first? No way.
Ideal situation: Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals
4. Malachi Dupre, LSU (6-2, 192)
2016: 41 catches, 593 yards, three touchdowns
Just like Leonard Fournette in yesterday’s running back rankings, I can’t stress enough how shitty and lame LSU’s offense has been over the last few seasons. When you see Dupre get open, know that it’s not from the middle school play design from former offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, it’s all because of what Dupre naturally does off the line. He’s the exact opposite of Corey Davis. He has to earn, through his ability to manipulate his body across the football field, every catch and yard.
When you look at the other elite wideouts that came out of the LSU program, they all suffered from the same perception. Looking back now, it’s insane that Odell Beckham Jr. wasn’t the top rated wideout in his draft. Sammy Watkins was the consensus No. 1 and Mike Evans was the No. 2, with Beckham No. 3 maybe. It wasn’t close. And yet, you pick that draft over and who goes No. 1? And Jarvis Landry wasn’t taken until pick No. 63, the next to last pick in the second round. Now, that 2014 class was incredible if you look at it, but I guarantee if you redraft it today, Landry goes third or fourth. He sure as hell isn’t the 12th wideout taken.
Ideal situation: Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, Washington Redskins, Green Bay Packers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kyEA3FbTL8&t
3. JuJu Smith-Schuster, USC (6-1, 215)
2016: 70 catches, 914 yards, 10 touchdowns
This is another case of the NFL scouts and pundits talking themselves out of something they already knew before the 2016 NCAA football season even started. Smith-Schuster was a consensus first-round pick in any mock draft you came across back in August. So what’s different now?
Nothing. Not a damn thing.
As the main focus of USC’s downfield passing attack, his numbers dropped as defenses tried to take him away. You can see from those numbers that they were not successful. This is Mike Thomas all over again. Last year he was a first rounder all through the preseason, the season happened and scouts fell in love with other guys. Thomas drops into the second round and the Saints get him. All he did was outperform every single receiver taken ahead of him and run Brandin Cooks, a former first round pick, out of town.
Smith-Schuster is a day-one killer. He’s fast, runs fantastic routes and catches the ball with his hands and tucks it safely away too fast to even see half the time.
Ideal situation: Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers
2. John Ross, Washington (5-11, 188)
2016: 81 catches, 1,150 yards, 17 touchdowns, eight rushes, 102 yards, one touchdown
Ross is what Tavon Austin was supposed to be when he came out of West Virginia back five years ago. What Austin couldn’t do with route running and with his hands, Ross can. He would be the No. 2 wideout on this list even if he wasn’t the fastest man in the history of the NFL Combine. But he is. And, more important than doing it in Indianapolis, that speed shows up on tape.
Ross has all the moves coming off the line and when you watch his tape you have to notice how many times he has to hold up for the ball. He beats his guy by a mile and has to gear down not to outrun the throw from his quarterback. Ross has all the shifty moves in the open field and can do them nearly at full speed. He has complete body control to work the sideline and has the innate ability to track the ball perfectly in the air.
Ideal situation: Tennessee Titans, Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts
1. Mike Williams, Clemson (6-4, 218)
2016: 98 catches, 1,391 yards, 11 touchdowns
If you take Corey Davis, JuJu Smith-Schuster and John Ross and combine them into one guy you get Mike Williams. No one in college football was better at coming down with a contested pass than Williams, but that’s not all he’s got.
His ability to come off the line, beat coverage and reach his max speed within a step or two makes him a consistent threat to score every time he touches the ball. He’s strong, he can control his body, and can perform his best under the lights with the pressure on.
Ideal situation: Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Jets
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