Post by Mondry on Apr 9, 2019 1:28:58 GMT -6
I like this class a lot. I graded 3 guys higher than Dante Pettis and Calvin Ridley from last year and there's about 13 WR's total that get me pretty excited (and more solid guys after that) while last year it was tough to even make a top 10. If you know me, I had a bit of a love affair with DeAndre Hopkins when he came out. I like my top WR in this class ALMOST as much as Hopkins but a couple little things made me pump the breaks a bit. Like last year, I'll write a brief paragraph about the player and post their highlight video with time stamps for things I want to show you.
#1 Hakeem Butler - Like Hopkins, Butler looks like a man playing against boys at times. I didn't care that Hopkins wasn't the biggest or fastest WR, just watching him man handle DB's sold me. Butler is 6'6 and 225 pounds while Hopkins is 6'1, 215. Butler ran a 4.48 40 while Hopkins ran 4.57. Butler is a big dude but he moves like a little guy and while 4.48 isn't super fast it's the combination of his agility, first step quickness, and acceleration that I'm so impressed by. Butler played all 3 WR positions in college
So far, Butler just sounds better than Hopkins right? But I told you I had to pump the breaks a little bit and here's why. Butler has good but not great hands while Hopkins has maybe the best hands in the league. Hopkins' hand strength and ability to vacuum up anything within a yard of him and win through contact and hand fighting is the difference. Butler catches well with perfect technique when he's in the open but if the DB can disrupt his hands or crowd him he struggles and had more drops than you would like. Hopkins is also a better route runner and a better technician.
Still, Butler impresses the hell out of me as is and if he improves at all he'll be ridiculous.
0:32 - Ball way overthrown but Butler picks it out of the air, drags defenders for a couple extra yards.
0:46 - Butler torches this DB but the ball is so under thrown he has to wait on it. He stacks the defender (think shielding him from the ball, the defender has to commit PI if he's going to get the ball) looks a lot like Moss on this catch.
1:09 - Another horribly thrown ball but Butler bails his QB out then makes the DB look like a little kid.
1:36 - Here you can see Butler's speed / acceleration and power. Again looks like a man against boys.
1:54 - Great back shoulder adjustment from Butler here and has the balance to not go down from the contact.
2:09 - Butler gets great separation here and look how he catches with his hands, that's what I want to see from him all the time but he's a little bit inconsistent.
2:21 - This isn't against NFL caliber talent but you can see his speed here as he puts a lot of distance between him and the DB quickly after the catch.
2:47 - Just catch like this all the time!
3:30 - This is what I mean by he moves like a little guy, with one quick step off the line he's immediately behind the defender.
4:09 - He's in the slot here and it's a little bit off camera but he gets so wide open here it's almost unbelievable how quickly he gets out of his breaks.
4:19 - Here he gets open with his strength as he contacts the DB and the DB just bounces 2 yards off of him.
#2 Miles Boykin - Here's another big, strong, fast WR. It's this kind of prospect that we just didn't have in last years draft. When it comes to Boykin, let's compare him to D.K. Metcalfe, the guy who's getting all the attention for being a super freakish athlete. Boykin ran 4.42 40, 4.07 20-shuttle, 6.77 3-cone, with a 43.5 inch vertical. Metcalf ran a 4.3 40, 4.5 20shuttle, 7.38 3-cone with a 40.5 inch vertical.
As you can see Metcalf ran the 40 faster but Boykin crushed him in the 20 yard shuttle, 3 cone drill, and out leaped him by 3 inches. Now I'm not trying to knock Metcalf, all I'm saying is that Boykin is also a freak. I'm a big fan of the 20 shuttle and the 3 cone drill because it shows you agility and quickness which is far more important than straight line speed.
With that out of the way, Boykin played all 3 positions in college like Butler. He has good hands and uses proper technique regularly. His first step quickness helps him defeat man coverage at the snap and he has the strength and body size to shield defenders from the ball. He attacks the ball and snatches it before defenders have a chance to knock it away, you will see all of this a lot in the highlights.
Boykin will need to learn how to drop his weight better and trust his body more. He sometimes doesn't get the proper route depth and he can come out of his breaks a little flat at times but it's not significant enough for me to dock him much.
0:02 - High points the ball well, the DB's have no chance to break this up.
0:11 - This one is pretty subtle, watch the bottom of the screen, Boykin takes one step outside and the DB is so convinced and scared of the fade route he bites hard, leaving Boykin to cut inside. I'm impressed how fluid he is for a big WR.
0:23 - Just a perfect over the shoulder catch. Tracks the ball all the way in and makes it look easy.
0:33 - Because he's so aggressive snagging the ball he can turn his eyes up field, set his feet, and juke this DB. It doesn't look like much but this is really impressive to me.
1:03 - Immediately defeats the press man coverage against him, then squares up to catch the ball and rolls toward the sideline. This shields the ball from the defenders which didn't matter so much here but is good form for the NFL.
1:26 - good little shimmy move off the line defeats the press coverage and I love the way he snatches the ball out of the air and once again protects it well.
1:50 - Boykin doesn't get any separation here but he's so big and good at shielding defenders the back shoulder fade is pretty much always open for him.
2:02 - This is a hard catch for a tall WR but he digs it out nicely.
#3 A.J. Brown - My first smaller receiver at only 6 feet, Brown still weighs 226 and is super jacked. If you haven't seen the ridiculous picture of him and D.K. Metcalf in the gym google it quick. Brown is probably ideal for the slot but I think he has the skills and acumen to play outside as well.
Brown is technically sound, consistent, and reliable. He is easily the most polished WR of the bunch so far as of RIGHT NOW and if avoiding a bust is your goal he's the ideal pick. When I put on the tape for ole Miss it was often Brown having the better game compared to D.K. Metcalf. It wasn't uncommon for Brown to have 5-8 catches to Metcalfs 1-4 so their QB clearly trusted Brown with more work. Not only that but when they needed a key 3rd down it was often Browns # being called.
I see some Anquan Boldin in his game but Brown is more physically gifted than Boldin. Boldin was just so technically sound and reliable that he'd always be a factor each and every game. It's the same thing with Brown. You could argue he should be #1 on my list but I think Butler and Boykin have ceilings I can't ignore.
0:46 - Mostly admiring his concentration on this one, defender clearly interferes with him and he still comes down with it.
1:06 - Decent route here and then you see his ability as a runner with the ball in his hands.
1:19 - Good catch with contact, then good strength / balance to stay on his feet.
2:01 - This is called a whip route that most receivers simply don't have the footwork for but watch closely how smooth green is with this difficult route. It might not look like much but I can't tell you how impressive that is. More Nifty Yac moves.
2:19 - TD on Alabama.
2:39 - You can't quite see it but this is that whip route again, he's the only college receiver I studied that routinely gets a ton of separation with it.
2:48 - These aren't NFL defenders by any means but I love how quickly Brown goes from catcher to accelerating past everyone in one fluid motion.
3:07 - Just a quiet little slant that goes for a TD no big deal.
3:46 - Brown runs a double move here and is just so smooth and fluid the DB bites and it's over, some of it happens off camera but you can see the result. Look closely at 3:47 to 3:48 and look how many turf pellets get kicked up from this action
4:33 - Really impressive side line catch here.
#4 D.K. Metcalf - Metcalf had a horrible 20 yard shuttle and 3 cone drill. Like bottom 10 percentile bad. What's funny is Calvin Johnson didn't run those exercises and likely had someone advising him against it. The reason being big a$$ wide receivers like that simply aren't going to test well in those events so while a lot of people are knocking Metcalf for it, I'm simply saying it's not his game. Yes this limits him some but the 4 routes he's good at megatron made a killing on in the NFL and plenty of guys have succeeded with a limited route tree.
Metcalf has violent and heavy hands, in a good way. He uses them well against press coverage to land blows and create separation. Metcalf will likely be a big time deep threat due to his great speed and defenders unwillingness to take him on in fear of getting knocked down, run over, or left in the dust and once they fear his deep game that should open things up for shallower passes.
As you might expect Metcalf is great at coming down with jump balls and the fade route is one of his best. He'll need to land on a team with a QB willing to trust him to win contested battles and someone who can get him the ball deep with an offensive coordinator who understands how to play to his strengths, rather than his weaknesses. Part of the reason Brown had so many more catches than Metcalf is that the coaches at Ole Miss didn't seem to understand how to use Metcalf as they had him running the entire route tree even though his limitations in agility / stop start are inadequate for those routes.
0:16 - Right off the bat you get a 1 on 1 jump ball, Metcalf wins these a lot. The throw is pretty bad but DK don't care.
0:29 - DK's catch radius is crazy, this ball looks a half yard over thrown for just about any other receiver. At 0:41 they show you a better view off the line, this is what I mean by heavy and violent hands
0:51 - Again with the catch radius.
1:03 - good luck tackling this guy 1 on 1.
1:17 - Horribly thrown ball but Metcalf goes through the DB and holds on.
2:01 - So remember Brown running that whip route which I said is really impressive and one of the hardest routes in football? Here's DK doing it not quite as good but it still works LOL!
2:12 - Have I mentioned he's good at contested jump balls yet?
3:20 - Remember when I said defenders would play off Metcalf in fear of getting knocked down, ran over, or left in the dust? Yeah... this is why.
3:38 - In the first half, DK is thrown the same pass in the endzone and he uses poor technique and the DB breaks it up and he drops it. Fast forward to 10 seconds left in the 4th and he redeems himself with perfect technique. I love that on so many levels. A lot of guys would crumble after that but DK comes right back with the game winning TD and this catch was harder than the one he dropped in the first half.
#5 Deebo Samuel - It's kind of fitting that after DK we go to Deebo who wins in pretty much the opposite way that DK does. Samuel is super quick, agile, and wins with finesse rather than power though his power for a smaller WR is pretty good. Deebo returned kicks in college and had a number of electric TD returns but that's just a bonus for this WR. Deebo is super quick off the snap and has a variety of footwork patterns he uses, often beating press coverage with pure agility and quickness but when that isn't the case Deebo can also defeat the hands of the defender and get off clean. Another thing that impressed me about Deebo is his catch radius. We just watched DK and Deebo isn't that long but he pulls in some balls that he looks like he has no business catching.
The highlight videos for Deebo are all pretty terrible quality or editing or both, sorry!
0:47 - Here's that surprising catch radius I was talking about.
0:52 - And here it is again.
0:55 - And again...
1:14 - And again...
1:35 - Okay finally get to see him run a route, super smooth and fast.
2:32 - You can see his agility / quickness / footwork on this route.
3:31 - Really impressive concentration since this DB is all over him with plenty of contact.
3:37 - lol nice throw QB, but it's okay DEEBO got it.
#6 N'Keal Harry - It was tough to decide between Harry and Deebo or Deebo and Harry but ultimately decided to go this way. Deebo has more versatility and play making ability while Harry some teams will question if he is a perimeter player or big slot receiver which means he may get drafted later if teams cross him out of one or the other but it wouldn't surprise me if he becomes the steal of the draft when it's all said and done.
Harry is just a beast when it comes to making catches with guys draped all over him. I've never seen a WR with such good concentration and ability to stay on his line while getting bumped and at the last second adjusting to the ball.
1:13 - Exhibit A. DB is draped all over him but it doesn't phase Harry.
2:09 - Such great concentration and hand eye coordination to tip it to himself and come down with the catch.
2:41 - Balls severely under thrown so Harry has to make a contested catch. Switches ball to his outside hand and carries nice and tight, good ball security / awareness.
3:38 - Exhibit B. If Harry had better QB play he wouldn't need to make these super contested catches but in some way it kind of shows off his talent more.
4:15 - Always nice to have the option of throwing the ball.
4:50 - Here you can see why he's so lethal on these, hands on the DB until the very last second then he snatches the ball, I can't stress how valuable that is, lot of guys telegraph their catches and the DB knows to shoot hands in to break it up.
5:00 - Quick slant and a pretty tough run.
#7 Preston Williams - Williams is so similar to AJ Green it's a good starting point to see what we're dealing with here. They're both 6'4 and 211 pounds. Green ran a 4.48 forty and Williams ran 4.55. Green had a 3 cone of 6.91 and Williams 7.06. Green's vertical 34.5, Williams 31.5. 20 yard shuttle Green 4.21 and Williams 4.36. While they're the exact same size, green tested slightly better all around and obviously there is a reason Williams is all the way down here at #7.
I like to think of it like Stefon Diggs vs Odel Beckham Jr. Just because Diggs isn't quite as gifted as OBJ doesn't mean he isn't a good receiver in his own right. I think Williams will be successful, even if he isn't quite as gifted as AJ Green.
0:37 - The catch is nice but I like the YAC afterwards, you can see that AJ Green like strength to fight for extra yards.
1:08 - Good technique on the back shoulder catch.
1:28 - Db can't stop this, high points the ball and uses that size / length.
2:10 - Red zone weapon... Check.
2:55 - He's very good about going up and getting the ball rather than letting it come to him.
4:17 - Like how hard he hits this route, shot out of a cannon. Like just look at his pace compared to the other WR's or other players on the field lol.
#8 Parris Campbell - First thing I think of when I'm watching Campbell is Percy Harvin. Urban Myer was the coach at Florida when Harvin was there and he's the coach at Ohio State now. Ohio state didn't really have Campbell running a full route tree so he's a bit of a project in that he has some learning to do. However, when I study Campbell, he's super polished at the things he CAN do and I believe that shows a willingness to work and hone his craft. In a year or two I think he'll be better than Harvin.
There's a lot of dink and dunk I won't really comment on in the highlight video but I'll point out what I find interesting.
0:16 - Haskins throws behind Campbell but he makes a nice adjustment and a good catch here that's harder than it looks.
1:37 - This is a solid route by Campbell, the DB is trying to knock him off line but Campbell sticks to it pretty well, Haskins throws behind again and Campbell adjusts well.
1:54 - The DB is so scared of Campbells speed he's playing 7 yards off and still gets beat easily. Really nice hand technique on the catch as well.
2:30 - Campbell runs this route really well, my only criticism is that he body catches it when he should be reaching out and nabbing it.
7:13 - Defender has inside leverage and Campbell and Haskins know this will come open.
7:50 - This is what I want to see all the time, the way he snatches this ball with his hands and not trapping it against his body.
8:00 - The DB goes to knock him off his route and he runs through it easily.
#9 Stanley Morgan Jr - You don't see a lot of people talking about this guy but I like him quite a bit. He excelled in the 2 drills I put the most stock in for WR's, the 3 cone which he had the 2nd best time and the 20 yard shuttle where he had the 4th best time. He's' the only WR in Nebraska's entire history to go for over 1,000 yards which might be another reason no one knows about him, who looks at Nebraska for WR talent?
0:16 - Stacks the defender well and makes a nice catch.
0:42 - Gets a good inside release but the defender recovers nicely. Luckily the throw leads Morgan and he's able to reach out and snatch it.
1:03 - Sells the outside release and gets a lot of separation on this come back
1:14 - Looks faster than his 4.53 40 would suggest.
1:42 - Nice piece of running here.
2:44 - Another nice grab with the defender interfering.
4:09 - Balls thrown well behind Morgan but he's able to bat it forward towards himself and make the catch.
5:47 - The DB he beats for the TD here is Denzel Ward who went 4th overall to CLE last year
#10 - Kelvin Harmon - Filling this last spot was really challenging, it could have easily gone to Marquise Brown, Jalen Hurd, or Riley Ridley as they're all talented kids with a lot to like about their games but I decided to give the final spot to Harmon.
Harmon almost broke Torry Holt's single game record against syracuse where he caught 11 passes for 247 yards. Holt's record was 255 yards and syracuse had no answer for Harmon, a big portion of this video is him just torching them.
0:09 - horrible decision / throw by the QB here but Harmon forces the defender to commit PI to try and break this up.
1:20 - Good back shoulder adjustment.
3:02 - Bout to see 2 nice back shoulder catches for TD's.
Welp, that's my top 10. Like I said in the beginning I love this class, it'd be awesome if the Vikings came away with any of these guys. It feels bad leaving some of the names I had to leave off my top 10 but someone had to miss out. I really do like Brown, Hurd, and Ridley, they easily make the list in last years class but this one is just so strong and deep some guys just weren't going to make it. Hopefully all of these videos work!
#1 Hakeem Butler - Like Hopkins, Butler looks like a man playing against boys at times. I didn't care that Hopkins wasn't the biggest or fastest WR, just watching him man handle DB's sold me. Butler is 6'6 and 225 pounds while Hopkins is 6'1, 215. Butler ran a 4.48 40 while Hopkins ran 4.57. Butler is a big dude but he moves like a little guy and while 4.48 isn't super fast it's the combination of his agility, first step quickness, and acceleration that I'm so impressed by. Butler played all 3 WR positions in college
So far, Butler just sounds better than Hopkins right? But I told you I had to pump the breaks a little bit and here's why. Butler has good but not great hands while Hopkins has maybe the best hands in the league. Hopkins' hand strength and ability to vacuum up anything within a yard of him and win through contact and hand fighting is the difference. Butler catches well with perfect technique when he's in the open but if the DB can disrupt his hands or crowd him he struggles and had more drops than you would like. Hopkins is also a better route runner and a better technician.
Still, Butler impresses the hell out of me as is and if he improves at all he'll be ridiculous.
0:32 - Ball way overthrown but Butler picks it out of the air, drags defenders for a couple extra yards.
0:46 - Butler torches this DB but the ball is so under thrown he has to wait on it. He stacks the defender (think shielding him from the ball, the defender has to commit PI if he's going to get the ball) looks a lot like Moss on this catch.
1:09 - Another horribly thrown ball but Butler bails his QB out then makes the DB look like a little kid.
1:36 - Here you can see Butler's speed / acceleration and power. Again looks like a man against boys.
1:54 - Great back shoulder adjustment from Butler here and has the balance to not go down from the contact.
2:09 - Butler gets great separation here and look how he catches with his hands, that's what I want to see from him all the time but he's a little bit inconsistent.
2:21 - This isn't against NFL caliber talent but you can see his speed here as he puts a lot of distance between him and the DB quickly after the catch.
2:47 - Just catch like this all the time!
3:30 - This is what I mean by he moves like a little guy, with one quick step off the line he's immediately behind the defender.
4:09 - He's in the slot here and it's a little bit off camera but he gets so wide open here it's almost unbelievable how quickly he gets out of his breaks.
4:19 - Here he gets open with his strength as he contacts the DB and the DB just bounces 2 yards off of him.
#2 Miles Boykin - Here's another big, strong, fast WR. It's this kind of prospect that we just didn't have in last years draft. When it comes to Boykin, let's compare him to D.K. Metcalfe, the guy who's getting all the attention for being a super freakish athlete. Boykin ran 4.42 40, 4.07 20-shuttle, 6.77 3-cone, with a 43.5 inch vertical. Metcalf ran a 4.3 40, 4.5 20shuttle, 7.38 3-cone with a 40.5 inch vertical.
As you can see Metcalf ran the 40 faster but Boykin crushed him in the 20 yard shuttle, 3 cone drill, and out leaped him by 3 inches. Now I'm not trying to knock Metcalf, all I'm saying is that Boykin is also a freak. I'm a big fan of the 20 shuttle and the 3 cone drill because it shows you agility and quickness which is far more important than straight line speed.
With that out of the way, Boykin played all 3 positions in college like Butler. He has good hands and uses proper technique regularly. His first step quickness helps him defeat man coverage at the snap and he has the strength and body size to shield defenders from the ball. He attacks the ball and snatches it before defenders have a chance to knock it away, you will see all of this a lot in the highlights.
Boykin will need to learn how to drop his weight better and trust his body more. He sometimes doesn't get the proper route depth and he can come out of his breaks a little flat at times but it's not significant enough for me to dock him much.
0:02 - High points the ball well, the DB's have no chance to break this up.
0:11 - This one is pretty subtle, watch the bottom of the screen, Boykin takes one step outside and the DB is so convinced and scared of the fade route he bites hard, leaving Boykin to cut inside. I'm impressed how fluid he is for a big WR.
0:23 - Just a perfect over the shoulder catch. Tracks the ball all the way in and makes it look easy.
0:33 - Because he's so aggressive snagging the ball he can turn his eyes up field, set his feet, and juke this DB. It doesn't look like much but this is really impressive to me.
1:03 - Immediately defeats the press man coverage against him, then squares up to catch the ball and rolls toward the sideline. This shields the ball from the defenders which didn't matter so much here but is good form for the NFL.
1:26 - good little shimmy move off the line defeats the press coverage and I love the way he snatches the ball out of the air and once again protects it well.
1:50 - Boykin doesn't get any separation here but he's so big and good at shielding defenders the back shoulder fade is pretty much always open for him.
2:02 - This is a hard catch for a tall WR but he digs it out nicely.
#3 A.J. Brown - My first smaller receiver at only 6 feet, Brown still weighs 226 and is super jacked. If you haven't seen the ridiculous picture of him and D.K. Metcalf in the gym google it quick. Brown is probably ideal for the slot but I think he has the skills and acumen to play outside as well.
Brown is technically sound, consistent, and reliable. He is easily the most polished WR of the bunch so far as of RIGHT NOW and if avoiding a bust is your goal he's the ideal pick. When I put on the tape for ole Miss it was often Brown having the better game compared to D.K. Metcalf. It wasn't uncommon for Brown to have 5-8 catches to Metcalfs 1-4 so their QB clearly trusted Brown with more work. Not only that but when they needed a key 3rd down it was often Browns # being called.
I see some Anquan Boldin in his game but Brown is more physically gifted than Boldin. Boldin was just so technically sound and reliable that he'd always be a factor each and every game. It's the same thing with Brown. You could argue he should be #1 on my list but I think Butler and Boykin have ceilings I can't ignore.
0:46 - Mostly admiring his concentration on this one, defender clearly interferes with him and he still comes down with it.
1:06 - Decent route here and then you see his ability as a runner with the ball in his hands.
1:19 - Good catch with contact, then good strength / balance to stay on his feet.
2:01 - This is called a whip route that most receivers simply don't have the footwork for but watch closely how smooth green is with this difficult route. It might not look like much but I can't tell you how impressive that is. More Nifty Yac moves.
2:19 - TD on Alabama.
2:39 - You can't quite see it but this is that whip route again, he's the only college receiver I studied that routinely gets a ton of separation with it.
2:48 - These aren't NFL defenders by any means but I love how quickly Brown goes from catcher to accelerating past everyone in one fluid motion.
3:07 - Just a quiet little slant that goes for a TD no big deal.
3:46 - Brown runs a double move here and is just so smooth and fluid the DB bites and it's over, some of it happens off camera but you can see the result. Look closely at 3:47 to 3:48 and look how many turf pellets get kicked up from this action
4:33 - Really impressive side line catch here.
#4 D.K. Metcalf - Metcalf had a horrible 20 yard shuttle and 3 cone drill. Like bottom 10 percentile bad. What's funny is Calvin Johnson didn't run those exercises and likely had someone advising him against it. The reason being big a$$ wide receivers like that simply aren't going to test well in those events so while a lot of people are knocking Metcalf for it, I'm simply saying it's not his game. Yes this limits him some but the 4 routes he's good at megatron made a killing on in the NFL and plenty of guys have succeeded with a limited route tree.
Metcalf has violent and heavy hands, in a good way. He uses them well against press coverage to land blows and create separation. Metcalf will likely be a big time deep threat due to his great speed and defenders unwillingness to take him on in fear of getting knocked down, run over, or left in the dust and once they fear his deep game that should open things up for shallower passes.
As you might expect Metcalf is great at coming down with jump balls and the fade route is one of his best. He'll need to land on a team with a QB willing to trust him to win contested battles and someone who can get him the ball deep with an offensive coordinator who understands how to play to his strengths, rather than his weaknesses. Part of the reason Brown had so many more catches than Metcalf is that the coaches at Ole Miss didn't seem to understand how to use Metcalf as they had him running the entire route tree even though his limitations in agility / stop start are inadequate for those routes.
0:16 - Right off the bat you get a 1 on 1 jump ball, Metcalf wins these a lot. The throw is pretty bad but DK don't care.
0:29 - DK's catch radius is crazy, this ball looks a half yard over thrown for just about any other receiver. At 0:41 they show you a better view off the line, this is what I mean by heavy and violent hands
0:51 - Again with the catch radius.
1:03 - good luck tackling this guy 1 on 1.
1:17 - Horribly thrown ball but Metcalf goes through the DB and holds on.
2:01 - So remember Brown running that whip route which I said is really impressive and one of the hardest routes in football? Here's DK doing it not quite as good but it still works LOL!
2:12 - Have I mentioned he's good at contested jump balls yet?
3:20 - Remember when I said defenders would play off Metcalf in fear of getting knocked down, ran over, or left in the dust? Yeah... this is why.
3:38 - In the first half, DK is thrown the same pass in the endzone and he uses poor technique and the DB breaks it up and he drops it. Fast forward to 10 seconds left in the 4th and he redeems himself with perfect technique. I love that on so many levels. A lot of guys would crumble after that but DK comes right back with the game winning TD and this catch was harder than the one he dropped in the first half.
#5 Deebo Samuel - It's kind of fitting that after DK we go to Deebo who wins in pretty much the opposite way that DK does. Samuel is super quick, agile, and wins with finesse rather than power though his power for a smaller WR is pretty good. Deebo returned kicks in college and had a number of electric TD returns but that's just a bonus for this WR. Deebo is super quick off the snap and has a variety of footwork patterns he uses, often beating press coverage with pure agility and quickness but when that isn't the case Deebo can also defeat the hands of the defender and get off clean. Another thing that impressed me about Deebo is his catch radius. We just watched DK and Deebo isn't that long but he pulls in some balls that he looks like he has no business catching.
The highlight videos for Deebo are all pretty terrible quality or editing or both, sorry!
0:47 - Here's that surprising catch radius I was talking about.
0:52 - And here it is again.
0:55 - And again...
1:14 - And again...
1:35 - Okay finally get to see him run a route, super smooth and fast.
2:32 - You can see his agility / quickness / footwork on this route.
3:31 - Really impressive concentration since this DB is all over him with plenty of contact.
3:37 - lol nice throw QB, but it's okay DEEBO got it.
#6 N'Keal Harry - It was tough to decide between Harry and Deebo or Deebo and Harry but ultimately decided to go this way. Deebo has more versatility and play making ability while Harry some teams will question if he is a perimeter player or big slot receiver which means he may get drafted later if teams cross him out of one or the other but it wouldn't surprise me if he becomes the steal of the draft when it's all said and done.
Harry is just a beast when it comes to making catches with guys draped all over him. I've never seen a WR with such good concentration and ability to stay on his line while getting bumped and at the last second adjusting to the ball.
1:13 - Exhibit A. DB is draped all over him but it doesn't phase Harry.
2:09 - Such great concentration and hand eye coordination to tip it to himself and come down with the catch.
2:41 - Balls severely under thrown so Harry has to make a contested catch. Switches ball to his outside hand and carries nice and tight, good ball security / awareness.
3:38 - Exhibit B. If Harry had better QB play he wouldn't need to make these super contested catches but in some way it kind of shows off his talent more.
4:15 - Always nice to have the option of throwing the ball.
4:50 - Here you can see why he's so lethal on these, hands on the DB until the very last second then he snatches the ball, I can't stress how valuable that is, lot of guys telegraph their catches and the DB knows to shoot hands in to break it up.
5:00 - Quick slant and a pretty tough run.
#7 Preston Williams - Williams is so similar to AJ Green it's a good starting point to see what we're dealing with here. They're both 6'4 and 211 pounds. Green ran a 4.48 forty and Williams ran 4.55. Green had a 3 cone of 6.91 and Williams 7.06. Green's vertical 34.5, Williams 31.5. 20 yard shuttle Green 4.21 and Williams 4.36. While they're the exact same size, green tested slightly better all around and obviously there is a reason Williams is all the way down here at #7.
I like to think of it like Stefon Diggs vs Odel Beckham Jr. Just because Diggs isn't quite as gifted as OBJ doesn't mean he isn't a good receiver in his own right. I think Williams will be successful, even if he isn't quite as gifted as AJ Green.
0:37 - The catch is nice but I like the YAC afterwards, you can see that AJ Green like strength to fight for extra yards.
1:08 - Good technique on the back shoulder catch.
1:28 - Db can't stop this, high points the ball and uses that size / length.
2:10 - Red zone weapon... Check.
2:55 - He's very good about going up and getting the ball rather than letting it come to him.
4:17 - Like how hard he hits this route, shot out of a cannon. Like just look at his pace compared to the other WR's or other players on the field lol.
#8 Parris Campbell - First thing I think of when I'm watching Campbell is Percy Harvin. Urban Myer was the coach at Florida when Harvin was there and he's the coach at Ohio State now. Ohio state didn't really have Campbell running a full route tree so he's a bit of a project in that he has some learning to do. However, when I study Campbell, he's super polished at the things he CAN do and I believe that shows a willingness to work and hone his craft. In a year or two I think he'll be better than Harvin.
There's a lot of dink and dunk I won't really comment on in the highlight video but I'll point out what I find interesting.
0:16 - Haskins throws behind Campbell but he makes a nice adjustment and a good catch here that's harder than it looks.
1:37 - This is a solid route by Campbell, the DB is trying to knock him off line but Campbell sticks to it pretty well, Haskins throws behind again and Campbell adjusts well.
1:54 - The DB is so scared of Campbells speed he's playing 7 yards off and still gets beat easily. Really nice hand technique on the catch as well.
2:30 - Campbell runs this route really well, my only criticism is that he body catches it when he should be reaching out and nabbing it.
7:13 - Defender has inside leverage and Campbell and Haskins know this will come open.
7:50 - This is what I want to see all the time, the way he snatches this ball with his hands and not trapping it against his body.
8:00 - The DB goes to knock him off his route and he runs through it easily.
#9 Stanley Morgan Jr - You don't see a lot of people talking about this guy but I like him quite a bit. He excelled in the 2 drills I put the most stock in for WR's, the 3 cone which he had the 2nd best time and the 20 yard shuttle where he had the 4th best time. He's' the only WR in Nebraska's entire history to go for over 1,000 yards which might be another reason no one knows about him, who looks at Nebraska for WR talent?
0:16 - Stacks the defender well and makes a nice catch.
0:42 - Gets a good inside release but the defender recovers nicely. Luckily the throw leads Morgan and he's able to reach out and snatch it.
1:03 - Sells the outside release and gets a lot of separation on this come back
1:14 - Looks faster than his 4.53 40 would suggest.
1:42 - Nice piece of running here.
2:44 - Another nice grab with the defender interfering.
4:09 - Balls thrown well behind Morgan but he's able to bat it forward towards himself and make the catch.
5:47 - The DB he beats for the TD here is Denzel Ward who went 4th overall to CLE last year
#10 - Kelvin Harmon - Filling this last spot was really challenging, it could have easily gone to Marquise Brown, Jalen Hurd, or Riley Ridley as they're all talented kids with a lot to like about their games but I decided to give the final spot to Harmon.
Harmon almost broke Torry Holt's single game record against syracuse where he caught 11 passes for 247 yards. Holt's record was 255 yards and syracuse had no answer for Harmon, a big portion of this video is him just torching them.
0:09 - horrible decision / throw by the QB here but Harmon forces the defender to commit PI to try and break this up.
1:20 - Good back shoulder adjustment.
3:02 - Bout to see 2 nice back shoulder catches for TD's.
Welp, that's my top 10. Like I said in the beginning I love this class, it'd be awesome if the Vikings came away with any of these guys. It feels bad leaving some of the names I had to leave off my top 10 but someone had to miss out. I really do like Brown, Hurd, and Ridley, they easily make the list in last years class but this one is just so strong and deep some guys just weren't going to make it. Hopefully all of these videos work!
... and neither is this Chris guy.