NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 165. Final WR Rankings For The 2023 NFL Draft

Episode Date: April 7, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers go through their final Top 20 WRs for the 2023 NFL Draft with discussions on the strength of the class, as a whole, and which traits to covet

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we're getting to our final wide receiver rankings for the 2023 NFL Draft. We're not just starting in the top five like we usually do. Talk about those guys and a couple of guys outside of it. We're going top 20. We're expanding it all the way to our top 20,

giving you our thoughts and our tears for each prospect that we have within those rankings, a lot of different shapes and sizes, a lot of different ways these guys can win and a lot of different schemes and projections for all of them. So it's a ton of conversations. Hopefully you guys enjoy it. I'm Trevor Sycamore with me as always is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers. Joining you guys at the end of the week, and you guys know what that means. It is a rankings day,

final rankings day. And today we're getting to one of everybody's favorite positions and a position that everybody has opinions on. So we know this one is going to be a fun one. It's wide receivers. We actually started this show, Connor, when we launched our YouTube channel,

we wanted to specifically leave wide receivers for this YouTube channel. So here we are again, revisiting the position about a month and a half later, we've got the combine under our belts. We've got pro days. We've got, you know, different things that we've heard about these players. And honestly, we've had a lot more time to watch a lot of tape on these players. So it's not just the top fives. Like you guys are used to, we're going top 20. We'll go get, we'll give you guys the top, our top 20 20 wide receivers each we'll do it in increments of five plus we might even talk about some players that are just outside of the top 22 because there's a lot of wide receivers before we dig into it though connor my friend how you doing buddy how was your trip to florida the good people haven't seen you in a

week that's true i forgot about that they're worried sick and they should be saint pete's a dangerous place to have too much fun. Oh man. It was awesome. I love it down there. And I'm not the like biggest run to Florida whenever I can guy, but I loved St. Pete. It was awesome, man. Fun nightlife. Beautiful. We had a great house. It was my buddy's bachelor party and I really want to give a big thank you to Danny and Ben for jumping on and doing the mock draft.

That was awesome to continue that series. I know everybody loved the little throwback of locked on NFL draft with you guys, which was freaking awesome to see. So it's been great, man, but I'm excited now. It's kind of like full throttle. You and I were joking off the air. This is that time of year where you don't even really

blanket your top 10 anymore, or even maybe as much your top 15. When you get outside that top 15 you start to truly really mess around back and forth with a guy a spot here a spot there because full transparency it's flavors it's are you gonna bet on someone with traits that wasn't productive are you gonna bet on somebody that doesn't have traits that was productive it's just a matter of really making your bets throwing your darts so there's not intense arguing i'm sure over the internet there always is but intense arguing

over the outside the top 15 right it's fun to discuss these guys and who can kind of shake free and hang on to an nfl roster and continue to develop shoot man i'd even say going all the way into the top 10 a little bit you start getting into the flavor right because oh yeah yeah yeah i don't want to say that it's a bad wide receiver class but it's definitely not the classes that we've seen before where it's like wait we got studs for the first eight picks like it's guys that you know for sure are going to produce the nfl level doesn't matter what team doesn't matter what scheme this year is a little bit different and this is honestly a really fun way to do it when you have this outlook some people look at

that and say like oh man that made that means it's not as exciting as of a class and for people that really follow the NFL draft specifically I know I know you feel this way I feel this way this makes it more fun because this allows you to really identify where guys succeed and we'll say hey i like this guy better than other people do yeah because of this reason and then when it comes to after the draft when connor and i will recap a lot of where these guys ended up going those are some great conversations of man i see this skill set shining with this team or man i wonder how they're going to fit it into their previous schemes and how they deployed certain players on offense and defense so um yeah i i think that it makes for a really exciting group so what we'll do is like we said

we're going to expand it a little bit here we're not just giving you our top fives and then talk about the guys on the outside of the top five with this being a final ranking show, so I bet you change, we'll go top 20 because we want to talk about a lot of the depth players too. So Connor, we'll go in increments of five. So I'll have you list off who are your wide receivers ranked 20 through 16, and then I'll give you a chance to talk about those guys. And I do want to give a special shout out.

Today is a very special day for the podcast because it is the Colts sent everybody to see Will Levis day. So I just wanted to get that in there. And I mean, everybody, I mean, I need to look up one more time who it was. And I know Albert Breer was all over it. The Colts are having a private workout of Will Levis. Chris Ballard is there shane steichen is there jim bob cooter their offensive coordinator is there their quarterbacks coach cam turner is there ed dodds is there uh their assistant gm their college director of scouting matt turpening is there i i mean hey there's you're telling me there's a chance man are you telling me

oh there's more than a chance there's more than a chance there's more than a chance because people have been listening to this podcast for a while. They already know that Will Levis is a Colt. If that truly happens, if he gets drafted by the Indianapolis Colts, I'm going to need Ryan, our incredible producer, to find what will be an eight-minute montage of just us clipping every single time we have said the phrase, we'll let us, you are in Indianapolis. Cole.

I will have a, a couple of drinks on the show when we celebrate, we'll let this being a call. If it happens, that's how monumental of a moment it would be for the podcast. And when you spent that much time into it, it really gave me life. I have to say like,

I woke up today. I don't know why it's, it's going to be like almost 80 degrees in the northeast in April, which means that allergies just come out in full force. Like, I got the puffy eyes, the dry throat. I'm like, damn. I was like, Trevor and I got like 20 wide receivers today. And when I saw that tweet, I made myself some ice cream tea.

I saw that tweet. There it is. I felt back to 120%. No symptoms, no nothing. We're just ready to roll. So I just want to give a shout out to the Colts for syncing their will levis day with our wide receiver rankings day and hey buddy let's jump right into it right because i think 20 to 16 will be pretty fun because we probably never talked about a lot of these guys on the podcast at least not in depth no for me 20 was k sean

butte uh which is a fall from grace for a guy that was in the top five from our summer show. A fall from grace for Kayshaun Boutte. Number 19 was Charlie Jones. Number 18 was Jaden Reed, who we got to see at the Senior Bowl out of Michigan State. Him and Charlie Jones, both interesting return return men as well which definitely played a part into me getting them into the top 20 here i believe both are nfl caliber return men uh parker washington was next up at 17 the burley slot receiver from penn state my man and number 16 was bryce ford wheaton the size speed from west virginia 6'4", 221, ran sub 4'4".

I guess I'll start with him. I mean, what a contested catch monster. I think he hauled in 18 of 34 chances this year. Not a lot of guys get over 30 chances. I don't even know if anyone else in this wide receiver class had that many chances this year, but he catches them. So this was an interesting group to really go through. And there was a couple guys that I left out. I look at somebody like Matt Landers from Arkansas. He was somebody that was in play for me in that bottom five, just because he also fits that size speed mold.

So I did want to shout him out here. He's 6'4", 200 pounds. He ran a 4.37. He's got some vertical ability to his game. He's a transfer from Georgia. But he ultimately would probably be about 21. So then you look at the other guys. Ford Wheaton, if you're looking for his trajectory,

I think you're hoping that he can kind of be this Donovan Peoples-Jones-esque kind of wide receiver. I saw that as his ceiling there. Washington goes back to my earlier part of the show and a little bit of this with Charlie Jones as well. They don't really have elite traits, but they catch the ball. They eat up zone. They don't care about going over the middle. They can be productive. They can be reliable. Jaden Reed was somebody that truthfully, I could have had higher. I thought he plays the wide receiver position very effectively. I thought he, you know, really

was effective against higher level competition at times. Once again, I loved his return ability. I thought he looked really good at the senior bowl. He's kind of the guy in this group where I look back on and, and, and could be could be like wow i liked the player a lot why didn't i have him ranked higher i just didn't really see a calling card outside of the return it felt like he was okay at everything right and he's not the biggest guy he's 5 11 187. he's not the fastest guy he's definitely not slow four four five 40 yard dash one five seven ten yard uh not a great vertical at 33 and a-a-half. He's just solid. He just feels like he'll be like a number five wide receiver

that plays special teams for a decent amount of time. And then once again, I guess I'll round this out with my last guy at 20, Keishon Butte. I don't know, man. I don't know what happened with this guy. The testing, you know, he comes in under 200 pounds, which isn't shocking. He's got shorter arms, but a four or five 40 and a one five, eight, 10 yard and a 29

inch vertical, which is a two percent, a second percentile metric. Like this dude's calling card is supposed to be shot out of a cannon and electric and things did not really go right at LSU. He wasn't consistent. The testing, I don't ever accuse anyone of this, but what I've seen on him at his best moments of film, I'm like, did you even really train for the testing? Because you're a better athlete than this. So I had him at 20 because he's going to be a Darth Roe.

Somebody will draft him on day three and hope they get what was supposed to be a really good college football player out of him, Trevor. But you know what they say, it doesn't get any easier in the pros. And he's the guy I'm the most disappointed in. Yeah, I'll touch on a couple of those guys, and obviously we can have some conversation

because a couple of them are in my first group as well. But I'll start with Kayshaun. I didn't even have Kayshaun in my top 20. And I don't blame you. I don't blame you at all. If I was an NFL team, by the way, I would not draft him. I'll just say that. Right.

It's, you know, going back to summer, and I don't say this to like say it is like and i told you so but you remember when we were going through summer scouting like i was skeptical about k shan like i went back and i watched k shan's games i'm like man a lot of his production is after the catch stuff but it was more like okay contested catch defender falls down now i'm running for an extra 40 yards or something like that or blown coverage like he's just wide open catching the ball there's nobody even close to him and he's just running for miles he had that stretch of five games where i feel like he had over a thousand yards in just those five games i think

it was in his freshman season going into his sophomore season but man when you when I watched him this past summer I didn't think I saw the athlete that everybody else did I was really skeptical about him actually being a difference maker as an athlete and now that I see his combine performances and I see his combine numbers you go back and I watched the tape again, obviously over the last couple of weeks to rank him. And I'm like, I don't, I don't see a good athlete. I just see somebody who had insane production over a five game stretch. And that's it now. Like it was, it was literally just that window in time. And he really has not been a big difference maker outside of that so even even with like what happened the fact that he went back to lsu and

now then he was in the draft and everything that happened with that and then obviously there's the testing that was middling like i didn't have him in my top 20 and i agree this is not a this is not a player that that i would draft and and if he proves me wrong, and I sure hope he does, then great. It's just, well, then I'll be wrong. It wasn't very hard. Right. So I had him just on the outside of the top 20, but I did not have him in the top 20. My 20 guys, I had Charlie Jones at number 20 as well, which I was really shocked with.

I thought I was going to have Charlie Jones higher because i i like charlie jones film i think what what really worries me with him is i just don't know if he can really be a vertical threat and i don't think you can at all and and that's the thing is like if you want him to be this everything underneath hate to say it but like hunter renfro type of player scotty miller but but scotty scotty's vertical that's right you know what i'm saying so right yeah that's that's kind of not even on the i was thinking that i was gonna see more of what like scotty can do plus a little bit of a lot of elite route running because i've said before i think this is top five route runner in this class you make a case of of what he is able to do off line of scrimmage with the quick footwork and how he

understands leverages and attacking blind spots and getting corners turned around all of that stuff it makes me feel like he's a fantastic wide receiver I just don't think he's an athlete enough for it to matter a lot in the NFL now he could stick on as a special teamer and maybe you're you know your wide receiver, wide receiver five. And at the best case scenario, you're getting a Hunter Renfro type of a player. But that's best case scenario. Much more of the regular scenario

is he's probably just a special teamer for you. So I got him at 20. I mean, shoot, he was a walk-on at Buffalo. Actually, was he a walk-on at Buffalo? I know he was at Iowa at some point before Purdue. When did he start at Buffalo? I think he, yes. I think he got a scholarship at some point before Purdue. When did he start at Buffalo? I think he, yes. I think he got a scholarship at Buffalo, was there for two years,

didn't play much outside of special teams, went to Iowa, walked on at Iowa because he always wanted to play at Iowa, got on the team, played special teams for two years, and then his fifth year he goes to Purdue and he has these monster numbers. So I like him as a receiver, but just the ceiling, I don't know if it's there for him. I got Andre Yosefus at 19. okay um really nice athlete of a player worried about the competition level jump i really am i thought he was good at the scene i thought he was fine at the senior bowl i thought he was too but i didn't i didn't see a major standout player i'm curious whether you have him a little bit

higher a little bit lower i haven't met 15. okay so you are a little bit higher on him than I am. I'm just worried about it. I think he's probably just a special teamer at the NFL level, so I got him a little bit higher. I wrote down if everything goes perfect on his trajectory, you hope that he could be this DJ Chark light of a player. That's like if he keeps developing. But he's obviously, I don't think, going to play on an NFL roster

in any capacity as a rookie. That's how far away. I've got Rakeem Jarrett at 18. Okay. And I loved him over the summer. Loved him. I still am, like, holding out hope for him. I honestly feel like I should have him over Boutte,

but, like, it was just, like, flip a coin. And Matt Lander, so I probably liked his raw ability a bit more than both. Did you have... So as it stands right now, Landers would be 21, and then Rakim Jarrett would be 22. Okay. I just thought Rakim was just like athleeting out there with literally nothing else.

Like does not play the position. And I agree wholeheartedly but you bet on that which i respect like it's not even a bet like you haven't met like 18 right i got him a wide receiver 18 but here's the thing i like the way he is an athlete on tape oh yeah and that he didn't test well which is bizarre because you're i thought he looked so athletic on tape it's why i loved him over summer. I was like, big jump. Former five-star wide receiver. You know, like, I just, I was really confused by the testing numbers. And combine testing isn't everything in the world.

So it doesn't mean more than the tape. And I think that's ultimately why he's in my top 20. But he's sitting there at 18 because it's still a projection with him. And I wish it wasn't as much. I got Jonathan Mingo at 17. Okay. I like Mingo a decent amount. I think his tape is good.

I think he is a really good all around receiver. Like I think he's got all around size. I think he's got good strength. I think he's got good after the catch ability. I think he's a pretty good, a pretty fluid athlete for a player that he's of his size i like everything there he's got drop issues like he he has had drop issues over the past couple of years and that's something where it's like we will get into that conversation with a couple more players a little higher on this list

where it's like there's a lot of what i like about you as an athlete. Like, I think the route running is pretty developed for Jonathan Mingo as well. There's so much to like about him. But at the end of the day, the job description is you have to be able to catch the ball reliably. And I think you just had too many drops. I'll look it up in a second. I don't have it right in front of me. I thought he got better this year. Like, I saw it in 2021 2021 and then i thought this year was

a notable jump for him that's why i was i was a little higher on him than you yeah i think i think a lot of people are going to be which is i i understand because like i like i said there is a lot to like about his his tape i thought he was four Four drops this year on 87 targets, which is like middle of the pack. He had four drops. I think the contested catch numbers were also not... 7-17. I wanted

to see more from a bigger player. He's around 6'1", 215 pounds. I want to see a little bit more reliability from you. You know a weird number with him? When targeted this year, the ball was intercepted five times that's a weird number like that's a that's a i don't want to say concerning because those could be very different when you watch them but it's just it's something i was like oh it's weird i haven't looked at those so i don't want to you know i don't want to um comment on it totally but yeah and you look at

you look at some of the past numbers because i got them all up right here four drops this year four drops last year three drops the year before two drops the year before that contested catch numbers have never been fantastic um below 40 this year and his catchable passes numbers he was at 91.7 this year which is good i do think that he got better which i'm glad that you noted but the two years before that he was at 91.7 this year which is good i do think that he got better which i'm glad that you noted but the two years before that he was at 82.8 and 80 of these are catchable passes he's reeling in you know one of five of those is a drop and that's that that's that's not great or at least he's just not coming down with them so that wasn't a good percentage i didn't love that so i just didn't love the contested catch percentages didn't love the drop percentages

mingo but i do understand the athletic ability i got jayden reed at 16 i like him and he's a good athlete i i think that you summed up what he does well i just felt like his best moments were very schemed up you know like it was it was screen stuff um it was routes that were clearly just getting him open in space which is fine i'm not really blaming him for it. Yeah, a lot of guys benefit from that, but I agree. I didn't see him as a creator as much. I'll tell you what. I saw him as a creator the most in Mobile at the Senior Bowl.

Me too. I agree. And if what we saw at the Senior Bowl is what we're going to get at the NFL level, he'll probably outproduce some of these guys that have a little bit higher than that. But had Jaden Reed at 16, and then I had, oh, wait, wait, we're not doing 15 yet. That's fine. That's fine.

All right. So yeah, there we go. That's my five to start with. Okay, so 15 for me was Andre Yosefus. I think you did a really good job. We kind of went into him already. Developmental athlete, crazy track background. Number 14 for me was rashid rice

and if you asked me about rashid rice like in november i would have been like oh he should be a top 10 receiver in this class yeah did not end that way um 13 for me at perry 12 was michael wilson from stanford And 11 is Jonathan Mingo. So I guess we'll start with Mingo and work our way down. I thought the hands got better. I thought that he's a unique player in this class because of his size. He lined up all over the place. He can kind of be this smaller Alan Lazard.

I've seen some people throw around Quincy Anunua as a comp for him because he's so thick at 6'2", 220. Massive, massive hands. Good speed at 4'4", 6". Good vertical, 39.5". I wrote down he made some spectacular catches this year. Only one productive season in college from a receiving standpoint. He played 35% of his snaps in the slot this year. Only one productive season in college from a receiving standpoint. He played 35% of his snaps in the slot this year. They really just try to get him quick catch and

run targets because he's kind of that big train rolling down the tracks when they can get him in that way across the formation. I read that he doesn't play fast, but his footwork is polished and near pro ready. He's not going to run away from NFL DBs, but he can win with nuance and utilizing his frame more. So I thought Mingo was pretty effective. I did end up liking him. And then you go down to Michael Wilson. And as everybody knows, listening to this,

I factor in injury history a lot into my evaluations. It's basically like why I was out on Caleb Farley. It's, it could, it's why I didn't have Stingley as the top corner last year. It just is a big part of evaluation process for me. I loved watching Michael Wilson. I loved watching him play.

I thought he's ultra competitive. He's one of the best run blocking wide receivers in this draft. He doesn't have long arms, but he maximizes his catch radius. He runs pretty efficient routes. He can go up and win the football. He was great at the senior bowl. The bottom line is since 2020, so three seasons in a row, he has not really been able to play a whole lot. And when he plays, he's really good. And he's somebody that I would want on my team. I just don't know the world that a guy that has not really been able to play a full season for three years in a row or really been close to that.

It gets better at the next level. And I hope it does. And I hope he's a top five receiver from this class, because if he was healthy in college or missed one year, like he just missed one season, he's a top five wide receiver in this class so having him at 12 kind of sucked because i loved watching the player and i hope things start to go his direction at perry i feel like i'm kind of low man on him in this draft where do you have him what number i have him 13th why do you laugh you do too no okay so but he's close okay here's the thing with perry yeah i don't think he plays to a 4-4-7 he's got a big catch radius he's gonna be able to be a possession receiver at the next

level big bodied long arms his routes are delayed lumbering acceleration the 1-5-9-10 yard split tells you that it's a 33rd percentile he's got build up long speed but the short area is not quick he can run through arm tackles off screens i thought he dropped a lot of passes that were just concentration drops i did not see him separate consistently he has no feel for the field like he doesn't even know he's drifting out of bounds sometimes so he reminded me of devin funchess honestly i was watching him and i'm like this is really this is like devin funchess all over again so the funchize the funch crunch um that's what he called himself at the rookie

yeah yeah yeah he called himself the funch crunch at the when i was at bleacher report uh they used to i they never sent me he said uh they used to send people out to the rookie premiere, and one year they did WWE promos, and he crunched something and called himself the Funch Crunch. It was really good. So Perry, I mean, he'll hang around the NFL. I just don't know what the ceiling is there. Let's get into Rasheed Rice.

Rasheed Rice is the classic case of a guy, if you take his best performances, he's a top five wide receiver in this class. Yeah. And Trevor, we have talked about this in depth. Yeah. I have no idea where this guy's focus goes. Sometimes the Cincinnati game is just like lighted on fire. One of the lighted on fire, buried the football. You'll watch. It's one of the words you said it. He had nine drops this year and three fumbles like there's just times where it's just he's not there and it's frustrating because there's also times where he'll kill someone in the run game he'll hang in the air forever and and snatch the ball out of the air 41 inch vertical um i didn't see play speed that

really stressed dbs no but he does position himself well to win the football. So Rice is Rice is like an enigma. And I'll say this about the numbers. Like, yes, he had a big game against Maryland. He overall had 96 catches on 156 targets for over 1300 yards and 10 touchdowns. He like really piled it on against like the Lamars of the you know what I mean? Some schools that it's like, OK, but I just would have liked to see him really step it up against like the Lamars of the, you know what I mean? Some schools that it's like, okay, but I just would have liked to see him really step it up against the Cincinnati's of the world.

And there's still a world where rice is a, is an NFL caliber wide receiver, especially with that hang time ability. But he, some coach has to dial it in with him. Like he's, if he dials it in, he could be a good player.

It just comes and goes like a roller coaster where I'm like, I can't have him in the top 10. His best moments, easily top 10, maybe top five. But it's about consistency, and he just didn't have it. So 15 through 11, love Michael Wilson. Really like Jonathan Mingo. I'm lower on Perry Rice. And then Yosef is just this developmental athlete.

I'm fascinated to see where you're going with 15 to 11, by the way, with all the smiling going on. So you had Perry at 13? Mm-hmm. I had A.T. Perry as my number one wide receiver going into this year. Yeah. Do you walk him off the plank? You are higher on him than I am.

That's wild. What a world we've come to, folks. What a world we live in. do you walk him off the plank you are you are you are higher on him than i am that's why what a world we've what a world we live in okay so i don't even think i watched him that much over the summer i didn't like think he was this big prospect 15 to 11 i got parker washington my boy okay yep well we talk a little bit about parker washington yeah you know i wanted to be higher on parker washington you know i wanted to have him higher than wide receiver 15. And I watched the tape, man. I watched it. And I wanted to be higher on him.

Our husky slot receiver. But I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. And I'll get into it a little bit. At 14, I have A.T. Perry. Okay. So we see him eye to eye. At 13, I have Xavier Hutchinson from Iowa State. Yeah, he have A.T. Perry. Okay. So we see him eye to eye. At 13, I have Xavier Hutchinson from Iowa State.

Yeah, he's solid. I didn't have him in the top 20, but he is solid. I just think his play speed concerned me. And that's the thing. I think Xavier Hutchinson's ceiling, very limited in the NFL. Yeah. Floor, pretty damn high. He knows exactly what he's doing.

He knows how to win in the receiver position. And you know what? Maybe that'll wash out. Like maybe that will wash out. But of the guys I have a little bit further down on this list, there are either athletic traits or measurable traits or just, just play style things within their tape that I could see as complete deal breakers. I don't really see a deal breaker in Hutchinson's tape other than the fact that he's not super fast. Like he's just not super athletic, but I mean,

he was, he was a Bolinikoff finalist for a reason, man. I super, super productive. I think he's a natural. I think he really is. He just, he's just not a great athlete. 12. I have Marvin Mims from Oklahoma. And then 11, I have Rishi Rice. So what's I'll do the, I'll do the AT Perry conversation and then we'll dig have Rishi Rice. So I'll do the A.T. Perry conversation, and then we'll dig into Rishi Rice. A.T. Perry, I thought you set it up very well. He doesn't make sense. Like, you see his measurables, and you go,

oh, okay, this is a big body possession receiver and then you look at his numbers over the last two seasons he's had eight drops nine drops contested catch percentage for him has never been above 37 it's been 37% or below. And his catchable pass percentage was 84.7 this past year, which is just okay. I want my wide receivers that have catchable passes come to them. I want that number to start with a nine. Start with a nine. Be reliable. Your job is to catch the football. His career best was an 84.7 this past year last year was a 78.5 the year before it was a 76.2 he he drops the football man he there are some times when he will extend his catch radius to be crazy long and he can reel in the football or at least like make it look like he almost had

a chance to reel it in you go this is the dude right look at the? Look at the height. Look at the length. Look at the catch radius. Look at everything. And then there are times when it's just like, he just drops the football. Yeah. Easily. It's concentration. And sometimes it's not even contested catches,

which I don't think he's super reliable at contested catches either, which is, look, the reason why I think I was fooled with at perry is because one there were a lot of deep passes that he was able to catch because he was able to get behind defenses but i was kind of somebody pointed this out to me and you can't unsee it after you do he pushes off a lot to create separation he's it's not his speed he can't run away from anyone right he can't run away from anyone. Right. He can't run away from guys. He's pushing off on a lot of his defenders that have anywhere near the same speed he does. And then I watched some of his contested catches over the summer and I was like, whoa, look at how good this guy can catch in contested situations. And then you watch all of them this

past year and you watch some of the drops and you go, okay, actually, the positive isn't happening nearly as much as it feels like the negative is with that. So there are nuances to his game that I like. Like sometimes he'll run a route and he'll get right behind the linebacker level and he'll like dip his shoulder around a nickel corner and he'll get right in between where the safety and the second level is and he'll sit

and you go, man, what a great ref from him. And then there will be other times where, like you mentioned, he doesn't have a feel for the field. No feel. And so he is so hot and cold as a player that I would just let somebody else draft him. I think that that's the reason why he's 14 for me because his highs, his best could probably end up as wide receiver eight wide receiver seven in this class. But his worst. I mean, like Hakeem Butler might be out of the league, right? Like that's that's kind of like the trajectory of how we saw Hakeem Butler's production when he was coming out of Iowa state and he wasn't as strong to the catch point. He was this big body wide receiver who you went, wow, look at what he could do as a deep

threat. But then when it came to almost like the nitty gritty, the details of playing the position, like he couldn't do it very well. And I unfortunately feel like that's what AT Perry is ultimately for me. And I got burned by Hakeem Butler. I had Hakeem Butler as wide receiver one or wide receiver two in that class. And I learned my lesson. And I just, I see that lesson again here. And maybe Perry is different. But from what I've seen so far, I just don't want to bet on it. Maybe I'm a little gun shy because of Hakeem Butler,

but I don't want to bet on it this year. I don't think it's gun shy. I think you're just learning from mistakes. I've learned from mistakes all the time like that with the draft. And I think with Hakeem Butler, it's not that I didn't see these things. It's that I didn't take them as seriously, right? We talk about scouting and a lot of people talk about scouting and they will tell you that a scout's job is to identify what a player can do, right? Tell me what he can do. What are the strengths? We'll get those out of them.

And many years ago, when Butler was coming through the draft, that was a big focus of mine. I was big on the, just what can he do? What can he do? I didn't take seriously enough the deficiencies of what you need to do to get on the field, to stay on the field, to play complimentary football,

to help out your team and do the little things, not just the big things. Because I think if Keem Butler did the big things really well and he just didn't do the little things really well. And I feel like there's too much of that in Perry's tape for me to be all in on him like I was at the beginning of the summer. Last one that I'll talk about here in this list is Rasheed Rice. Rasheed almost needs a complete reset to me rishi is a six foot

200 pound receiver who plays like he's 6'4 220 you know like remember when you and i went to the senior bowl we were standing on the sideline and we were like does rashid rice look small to you and i think everybody at the event was like rashid rice is standing next to these other receivers and like he's he's he's smaller because smu had him listed at like 6-2-2-0-5 he he gets to the combine and sure enough he's six feet tall and right around 200 pounds. So he's a little bit lighter and he's a lot smaller. When you watch this guy's tape, you mentioned some of the best moments of Rasheed Rice on tape are of him mossing dudes. Coming off the line of scrimmage, getting into guys' bodies, there's a jump ball,

he goes up and gets it. That's why his tape against lower competition looks so much better than it does the other teams because his style right now is he's trying to play like he's six foot four and he's six feet tall and in reality and we in reality what rashid rice actually brings to the table is speed explosiveness playmaking so when I watch him try to eat up press coverage or try to get off the line of scrimmage, he's doing it physically first. That's not his game. That's not his strength.

No, you're right. You could do that at SMU. You probably can't do that in the NFL. Right. So the reason why I still have him a little bit higher than you do is because I still think there's a good athlete in there. Like, I still think he made some really nice catches through contact. I still think he's got really nice explosive skills off the line of scrimmage.

But when you start recognizing little details about his game, then you go, oh, wow, SMU had him off the line of scrimmage a lot. Now you see why. Because he's not 6'4 because he's six feet so they they had him off the line of scrimmage so he didn't have to deal with press coverage and when it came to him getting vertically up the field you could physically see him instead of trying to blow past somebody or use his speed to stop and start or really put his foot in the ground and change direction he's trying to box out and body these guys as if he's six foot three, six foot four.

So I still like Rasheed Rice. I just think he has to be almost a totally different receiver than what we saw at SMU. And that is a dangerous game to play, to go into the NFL and ask somebody to hit ground zero and become a different type of wide receiver so the reason why I have him at 11 is because I can see a world where he's still a good receiver but it's not gonna look like the world that we saw with him wearing an SMU jersey

so that was my thoughts on Rasheed Rice and I'm with you all over there it's a it's a big transition for a guy that was so productive at the college level and i think it'll be interesting to see how people stack them up because if people believes he can still play that way and make that transition people will have him as a top 10 receiver i think you and i are a little you know cooler on that side of it where he didn't stack up that way for us so okay 10 to 6 here and this is where you get a lot of the household names that you guys have heard us talk about before but it's good to get our finalized rankings of course on the podcast so 10 for me uh favorite of the pod tank dell

the cleveland browns okay the tank tell comes in. Cleveland Brown tank tail. Cleveland Brown tank tail. Number nine for me, Tyler Scott from Cincinnati. Okay. Number eight for me, Marvin Mims, maybe the most underappreciated receiver in the draft. Yeah.

Number seven for me, Josh Downs, the steady Eddie of the draft. I mean, I, you know, damn well what you're getting. If you draft Josh Downs, it's just a the draft. I mean, I, you know, damn well what you're getting. If you draft Josh Downs,

it's just a matter of where you're comfortable taking him. And then number six, maybe the biggest surprise on my list. Cause he was hired in my top five, but some things have changed. Number six is Jalen Hyatt. He did not make my top five and is clearly not even the highest strength wide receiver on his team in this draft class. Oh, you didn't say Cedric Tillman's name yet. I did not say Cedric Tillman's name.

You know how much I liked him when we did the last wide receivers episode. So for me, there wasn't a guy on this group that I didn't like. It's more about trying to figure out limitations, right? So Tank is an outlier on size he's light he's small um the houston offense did a great job putting him in motion and getting all these manufactured touches but i'll say this with tank he also won on his own down the field head and shoulder fakes tracking the ball i mean i would not bet against catches too yeah like he's a really good player.

Yeah. Yeah. I do wonder how that for like, there's just not guys that are top three receivers in the NFL that are 165 pounds. There's not. Yeah. He will,

he will be a groundbreaking prospect if he hits for me. That's why I had him at 10. Cause I'm a little like, okay, I love the player, but this usually just doesn't work the way people hope. But I think Tank Dell has a chance to break that mold because he does have polish in his game.

He's not just this little athlete out there. So Tyler Scott, I thought could have been more productive if some of the throws were better. Yes, it's disappointing he didn't run in the four threes but and yes he really he really he reportedly did the pro day okay pro day pro day he also was reportedly tested at four two nine before the season so well right but i so i was also extremely shocked and we'll get to tyler scott in my rankings but like i was also super shocked about the'll get to Tyler Scott in my rankings, but like, I was also super shocked about the 40. Cause it really was surprised me.

The reports were like high four twos, low four threes for, for Tyler Scott when he ran it since he's pro day. Well, here's the good news who gives a shit because he plays fast on the field all the time. I'm going to buy people. I'm just going to clip what you just said right there. Keep it, keep that voice memo on my phone and just reuse it throughout life. Well, here's the good news. Who gives a shit?

Hold it up, hold it up to, hold it up to your fiance and see how that goes. That was not what I was going to do. Yeah, no, don't do that. Don't do that. Do it to your friends or, you know, or whoever just pisses you off. So listen, Tyler Scott plays fast. He he's. He's so interesting, right? It's go route or manufactured touch. I didn't see anything in between. Like I'm not saying he never catches a an out or dig. Like I'm not saying that I'm saying where he is right now in terms of like his route work it's not there in the nfl and if he establishes himself as this deep target with a great quarterback teams will play off him so much that if he works on the intermediate route

and short route game that can open up and there's a lot of value in being an excellent deep threat or a guy that let's just get the ball in his hands and you can run and he could do those two things but everything else in between doesn't exist right now for me so mims at seven i i am a little perplexed why he really got no love uh he's caught 20 touchdowns in three seasons. I think he just turned 21 years old. He's a 4'3 speed guy. He can make the contested catch. He didn't just live in the slot, but I think he'll do well inside outside. I like Marvin Mims a lot. Here's my thing with Marvin Mims, and I guess this is a little foolish to say because I don't have him ranked ahead of Josh Downs and Zay Flowers,

but he's bigger and faster. He's bigger and faster than Josh Downs and Zay Flowers, and he was incredibly productive across three seasons. So I like Mims a lot. And Downs is the guy that, I mean, he's a slot receiver that caught everything this year, that constantly separates in the zero to 12-yard range that a quarterback can just lean on. He can work over the middle. I love that he had a drops problem in 21, and this year he caught everything. So his hands were much better. He can return a little bit.

Josh Downs is, if you're a team that deploys a smaller slot and you run the quick game, like he's going to be a second round pick for a team because of that. So then Jalen Hyatt, I love Hyatt speed. I love his tracking. I think he's a lot better of a player than the one trick pony he gets credit for. I I'm a little terrified of the weight.

There's just not a lot of weight is made in different ways he is upright 173 like he runs with the ball and it's it's like a string bean in the air and i'm worried that one big shot to his lower or even upper body and he's going to be hurting and then if he's playing with an injury does that take away his calling card which is the vertical speed of course yeah sure so i love jalen hyatt for the fact that day one he could stretch the field and he catches the ball like this guy this guy's a receiver he's not just a fast track athlete out there but i do have a little bit of concerns about the weight um and when you package 21 and 22 together i mean obviously there's just reasons I like his teammate better that I'll get to,

but I like this group from 10 to six, Trevor. I really do. I think they're all day two wide receivers. I think it's just a matter of what kind of offense you're running and what you need. Yeah, I also have all my 10 through six as day two wide receiver, some of them a little bit higher.

10 for me, well, I do want to touch on Mims because I had Mims just outside of my top 10. I like Marvin Mims. I agree. I think that he's not getting talked about enough. I think he is a really nice vertical wide receiver right now. Whether it's go routes, whether it's posts, whether it's deep dig routes, like, or like whatever it is, he is, I think that he's really confident when he's getting vertical.

I don't see that same confident player when he's doing anything in the intermediate or even like underneath. Like I just didn't see that same type of explosiveness when he was getting off the line of scrimmage and he knew he was getting vertical. You would see the best of marvin mims but i didn't see that best version that wide receiver and everything else if we can get that i think we're talking about a top 10 wide receiver in this class yeah right now i i feel like he's too one trick pony ish for me to have him above some of the other guys in this list but i did want to say i do agree with you i like him i think he's underrated that's just the way that i viewed him is right now i think

you've got an excellent well maybe not excellent but a really good vertical threat wide receiver who could be more and maybe that's enough in this class for you to draft him a little bit higher with that kind of a promise but that's the way that i saw him number 10 i got your boy cedric tillman uh from tennessee nine i have his teammate jalen hyatt eight i have nathaniel tank dell uh seven i have my boy michael wilson and then six i have tyler scott so a lot of the same names that you just mentioned just in a different order um i can leave the cedric tillman talk until we kind of get to the top yeah you're gonna pay for that we can we can we can do that that's fine i will the the cool part about it is i like tillman i just think he's a little bit

limited and i would love to hear just how you see him and and the way that you project him as one of the top five artists in this class which i i love that you have him there. And I'm interested to hear just your overall takes on him. I think this is your Michael Wilson time to shine. Probably. So Michael Wilson, I have at seven and where did you end up having him? Where'd you have him ranked? Let's take one more gander here. I had Michael Wilson at 12. So Michael Wilson being number seven goes back to what we talked about at the beginning of this episode. I don't want to necessarily say that it's a bad class,

but it is not a surefire class. These top five players that we're going to get to, in my opinion, are clearly top five players. And the rest of this group, the rest of what five through or six through 36, or however many wide receivers are going to get drafted in this year's class. They are clearly not in the same projection tier as the guys that are in the top five. So I have guys like Tyler Scott, Michael Wilson, and Tank Dell as six, seven, and eight on my list because they maybe might give me something that these other wide receivers can't. Wilson's injury history is bad. He has missed time in each

of the last three seasons. I think the last two seasons have both been season ending injuries for them they've been lower body injuries not good when he's on the field he's awesome he just is and i i definitely hear you with the medical red flag and i think a lot of teams are going to take them off the board because of that but in a wide receiver class that is not as strong as it has been in years past this guy understands how to win at the position. He gets it. He understands releases. Footwork can be fantastic. Contested catches is great. This guy is a limited athlete and he still gets behind defenders because he sets them up so well, because he understands how to get them to flip the hips the wrong direction for him to then swim straight over them. And now he's got a little bit of vertical separation. I see this guy separating better than athletes that are way more fast than he is.

Yep. And it's just because he understands the position so well. So I feel like if this dude's healthy, he can be a regular contributor at the NFL level. You mentioned how he is as a blocker as well. Oh, dog. Absolute dog. He's an impact player. He's one of the strongest wide receivers in this class. I mean, shoot the bench

press, not that that's the be all end all. Uh, but that is something that showcased that you did 23 reps, which is like in the 90th percentile for wide receivers. So like he's a big, strong, thick, wide possession, wide receiver. And if you need a, if you want a possession type of wide receiver is your wide receiver three, maybe even wide receiver two. you need a if you want a possession type of wide receiver is your wide receiver three maybe even wide receiver two this is the guy to take a bet on so i i like michael wilson a lot and even with i acknowledge the injury history and if you want to sit here and say i'd never draft him because that injury history i don't have anything to say to you other than it's not like this wide receiver class is embarrassed with riches to where you can afford to throw a guy as productive as Michael Wilson just out the door willy nilly and not think about it.

So I think it's well said. I really do. I think that you make your bets, right? Like every draft, you make your bets and you're betting on a good football player. Like there's no denying that he's, and he's good in a lot of ways that quite frankly, a lot of guys in this class aren't, and I'm going to get there with Cedric Tillman.

It's, I think my argument for Tillman is identical to your Michael Wilson argument. Like I find myself in this class with small wide receiver fatigue. And what I mean by that is great way to put like every like it's cool that they separate it's great that they're quick it's great that they're not always in the slot but realistically they're playing a lot of slot at the nfl level it's frustrating when there's no catch radius no contested catch ability and guess what at the nfl level when everybody or every good team for the most

part is using their wide receivers effectively to block in the run game, they can't be on the field for those things. It's a big man's game. It's a physical sport. And I'm not betting against Zay Flowers or Josh Downs or Tank Dell or Marvin Mims. But when I'm watching film and going through all these guys, I found myself going, Michael Wilson went healthy. Cedric Tillman went healthy. Like these are what NFL wide receivers look like and what they do and what translates. Yeah. So I respect the bet. So that's my thoughts on Michael Wilson. I have Tyler Scott at six.

I toyed with Tyler Scott scott at five i really did um and which is going to be an interesting conversation with the guy who i have at five who i think i'm lower on than a lot of other people because i had him a lot higher on this wide receiver list even just a couple of months ago i like tyler scott's vertical ability a lot um i think he's a really explosive athlete i think the 40-yard dash you could throw it out the window he just shows on tape he's a lot faster than that the area that worried me the most with tyler scott is i i feel like he's a little stiff and so i'd hit i wonder if that will go into whether or not he can actually become that receiver that you were

talking about can you diversify the route tree in the intermediate and in the short area because winning in the short area can be more on like footwork and releases than it and then it has to be necessarily about like how tight you are on your hips or how fast you can flip the hips and turn when you're getting deep of course like it's just deep speed it's setting guys up it's, like it's just deep speed. It's setting guys up. It's getting deep. It's separating for intermediate routes. It's basically all how quickly you can flip your hips and how sharp of an angle you can take by putting your foot in the ground and changing direction, whether it's a full one 80, whether it's a 45 degree comeback,

whether it's, you know, a 90 degree in route or out route, whatever it is. And I am a little concerned that Tyra Scott doesn't have that. But again, in this class, he's got a lot of explosiveness. I like him a lot as an athlete and he stood out as an athlete for me. Tank Dell was eight. Tank's freaking awesome, man. Like I, I, I, I, I don't, I don't know what else to say. Like he's, he's just, he's the man.

He's just super small. Yep. So I don't know. I don't know where you draft him, but again, he, he is such a natural playmaker. He makes contested catches that guys way bigger than him. Like haven't made guys further down on this list. AT Perry, Jonathan Mingo, like these guys that I talked about not having great hands or not reliable

hat. Kayshaun Boutte, right? All these guys that I talked about not having great hands are not reliable half Keishon Butte right all these guys Tank Dell makes contested catches at 5 foot 860 pounds better than those guys do and I think that that certainly means something so that's why I still had him in my top eight at number eight Jalen Hyatt's at nine I'm just I'm just not the biggest fan of Hyatt he I I don't know how much more is in the tank for him to be a more well-rounded wide receiver, whether that comes to strength of contested catches or whether it comes to the flexibility of him being able to really sink his hips,

change direction, put his foot in the ground. A lot of the same arguments that I have for Tyler Scott or a lot of the same doubts that I have about Tyler Scott, or a lot of the same like doubts that I have about Tyler Scott, I have for Jalen Hyatt. I just think that Tyler Scott's more compact and can figure it out a little bit better than Jalen Hyatt might be able to. So I respect the deep speed with Hyatt. I think he has to be a top 10 wide receiver in this class simply for the

deep speed and the deep production alone, because it's so valuable, but I just don't know how much of a full well-rounded wide receiver is there man i've never really been convinced of that and then i got cedric tillman at 10 i like cedric tillman a decent amount i just don't think he's a great athlete like i like i i thought the athletic concerns that i had about him showed up on tape in similar ways that I love that you put him and Michael Wilson in the same bucket. And you know what? Wilson's at seven for me. Cedric Tillman's at 10. Maybe they should be a little bit closer. Maybe Cedric Tillman deserves to be a little bit higher because I do see them in similar light, but I think that Wilson wins

more at the receiver position than Cedric Tillman does and that's why I had him a little bit lower but that brings us into our top fives which I know is where Cedric Tillman is for you so I will let you kind of talk about your top fives and then talk about him okay so number five for me is Zay Flowers um there's a lot to like would say that we'll get into four was where Tillman is three is Quentin Johnston number two is Jordan Addison and then number one who I think is far away the best wide receiver in this draft is Jackson Smith and Jake but and I I have never wavered from that since our first wide receiver wide receiver show from last summer um so number five Zay Flowers I'll be a little brief on him because I know you're gonna you're

gonna mention him too trevor he's such an interesting player because with zay i'm looking for him right now i don't know why my notes just bugged out on me come on there he is boston college i'll give you a start i organize for all-star guys like i go top underclassmen in my doc senior bowl shrine nflpa and like zay should be with the top wide receivers but i also have them color-coded for shrine so it's like it's bottom line is i'm still floored that is a flowers points trying game but good for them so yeah exactly so it's a five, nine and a quarter, 182 undersized wide receiver, 29 and a quarter arms. Very, very, very short arms.

He's also going to be 23 the first week of the season, which is fine. These aren't like concerns overall, but just putting everything into context. 4'4", 240, 35 and a half inch vert. I just think he's lightning quick. He's very, very hard for DBs to mirror. Yes. Like, his movements are very different. He's not even, like, this perfect route runner.

He's just so unique in the way he moves that he gets open. So I don't care how you do it. Just get to the end point as long as it's efficient. I thought he drops more passes than he should like it's weird to me there's times where i'm like damn like you're zay flowers like you have better you should have better hands than this and it just kept popping up uh he had nine drops this year on 124 targets which isn't like it's a 9.9 drop rate it's it's not average it's a little worse than average, but it's also not like, whoa, this is an issue.

And I'll get to one of those in a second. So I like say flowers. I just honestly, Trevor, I don't typically fall for little wide receivers in round one anymore. Like I just I just don't. If I got to say flowers at the top around two, I'm like sick. Right. Sure.

I don't think that's happening. I think he's going in the first round now. So that's where I'm like, I like him, but I've come to realize I don't love him like everyone else does. I don't think he's ever going to be a number one wide receiver. When you're looking at a guy this size and play style,

if you're maxing him out, you're like, okay, can he be Brandon Cooks? I don't really think so, but maybe some do that's fine. Um, so say flowers at five, he's a solid player for his Tillman. So I guess I'll run off the rails here with Tillman. I mean, to be fair, like in a really strong wide receiver class, this wouldn't be the case, but this is not. Tillman's 2021 tape is phenomenal. He's a big bodied player. He's 6'3", 213. He's got long arms, almost 33 inch arms. He's got massive hands. He's got 10 inch hands. The 10 yard split 153 for all wide receivers is 68th percentile. But when you dive into his relative athletic score, which factors in his size, he's over nine. He's at 9.22. So for his size, I really like the athleticism. His jumps were

really good. The vertical 37 inches is pretty good. Broad jump 128. That's really, really good. He's got hang time. I love the way he plays. Like he plays like a junkyard dog like back alley like i'm scrapping uh i'm here you know i need to scratch and claw for literally everything he's tough he's got a little nasty in him i believe he has nfl bloodlines too i need to double check this one more time i thought he has family that played i need need to double check that one. But with Tillman, he's done it against the best competition. I've seen him do it in the SEC. I've seen him do it against Alabama. I've seen him do it against Georgia. I think he was really, really hurt this year and came back when he shouldn't have. And I look at the style of play, like I could put him

on the outside and he, my favorite aspect of his game is the timing of his routes into shielding DBs. He's got this big, big, broad upper body that it's hard for a DB to get the arm under or, or cut in front of them, or he's got the basketball body of, okay,

I'm bigger than you. And I'm going to use that to my advantage. And really you're probably going to have to try to interfere, and I'm going to use that to my advantage, and really, you're probably going to have to try to interfere if you're going to stop me. Big catch radius. With the ball in his hands, he's got a nice blend of,

I can make you miss, but I'm also going to drop my shoulder through your face mask. And this is NFL football. You're on the outside. You're smaller than me because you're a cornerback. He's 6'3", 213.

I think he plays bigger than that, honestly. Like full health, full training. I think this is a guy that's going to hover around 217, 218. I just, I see a physical football player that plays above the rim, that has enough athleticism and has phenomenal hands. He plucks everything everything like the ball just sticks to his hands there's a lot of this in this class or just me or the body too much body catch

in this class across the board that's not him everything is just clean i he i'm with you trevor like he's not gonna run by a ton of people he's not this like he's not very shifty he's more shifty with the ball in his hands, but not pre catch. But I saw him as a number two on the outside. And I can't say that about a lot of guys in this draft. Yeah, I really can't. But the caveat is. The ankle this year was bad, and if he can't stay healthy, it's going to be an issue.

But one more cut, 13 of 18 contested catches in 2021. I need to watch more of his 2021 stuff it's honestly if you want to because i think you're like i might be low on him just look at that i i think this year is kind of throw it in the trash like the ankle was really bad that's fair that's i think that's completely fair i i i remember watching some of his 2021 stuff in the middle of the season because I had heard people give some buzz to Cedric Tillman. I watched some of his 2021 stuff in October, November,

but honestly, for his film evaluation over the last couple of months, I've only watched his past years. So I will go back because you're right. If he was playing hurt, that would explain, that would definitely explain the gap that you and I have and how we see this player, because I watched this past season and I watch a guy that really struggled to turn,

to move, to plant, to explode. Yeah. And I did. I just, I just saw a guy who was like, okay,

this is a, this is almost like a it's like a kelvin harman type of player who i i liked me too i fell for harman you know but harman it's not that again right like falling to the wayside and so if he was playing hurt and he's actually not that kind of guy that we saw over this past year then maybe there is there is more in the tank there for uh for him so all right so that's yeah i won't go long on the other three like quentin johnson jordan addison jackson smith jim would talk about them a million times i will say it's interesting to me quentin johnson is six two and three quarters 208 tillman is six three two fifteen

two thirteen like we we get this, like Quentin Johnson's massive, like he's huge. And it's like, Cedric Tillman's bigger. I just want that to be known. All right. Okay. And I Johnson ahead of him.

Cause I'm a coward. Um, was that it? Was that all you want to say about that? Yeah. I mean, a couple of comps, uh,

Tillman, Cortland Sutton, which can I ask, can I ask you about Addison? Yeah, please. Because I had Addison as my wide receiver one a couple months ago when we were doing this. And now I have him five.

I am five now. I'm terrified about the strength, the play strength, man. I mean, he's tiny. I just am. I mean, since we did our wide receiver rankings in the early parts of February, came out to the combine and Addison, make sure I get this right. Addison's measurables were 5'11 and 1'8. Okay.

26 percentile. 173. I did not think that 26th percentile, 173. I did not think that he was going to be 173, third percentile. And ran 4'4, 9", which, okay, it's not that bad of a time, but if you're 173, you've got to be flying. Yeah. So I look at Jordan Addison, who I have at five, and I also had, hold on, I got a million tabs up right now. It's tab mania this time of year.

So he only had two drops this past season. Ten the year before. He had 11 the year before and 10 the year before that. His contested catch percentage this year was 20%. He only caught two of 10 contested catch opportunities. Last year, he caught 16 of 30, which is actually super impressive. And the year before, he was 7 of 16, which is, again, decently impressive. But this is one of the best route runners in this class.

I had him as my wide receiver one because I thought that Jordan Addison was probably going to show up somewhere between 180, 185 and was going to run like high four threes, four, four flats, something like that. He is smaller and he is slower than I thought that he was. And all of a sudden you take that into account. You look at it and you go, wow, okay.

You were a phenomenal route runner. This guy can separate really, really well. But Addison is basically putting himself in the same conversation that, like, Tank Dell is, that Jaden Reed is, that Parker, well, not Parker Washington because he's completely a receiver, but, like, Tyler Scott, right? Like, I can't put Jordan Addison that much higher than these dudes because they're all going to fail at play strength, I think he's not going to be able to get off press coverage. If people are

able to bully him, if he's on the line of scrimmage, he's not going to be able to really physically box players out. If there's ever a catch point vertically, the way that he's going to thrive at the NFL level is he's going to create consistent separation because of just how quick twitch he is and how great of a route runner he is and again and maybe i am not taking that as seriously as i need to but he's just he's small it's a big people's game and when i looked at the other wide receivers that I have ahead of them, that's a lot of what I looked at. I've got Josh Downs at four. And the reason why I have Josh Downs at four is because not only is he a great router, I know not, not only is he super shifty, his body type is, is, is a, is a thick one. He's built well for a slot wide receiver. And this dude's a good contested catch player, right? If Jordan Addison's not going to have

the strength, the size, or the length to play on the outside, guess what he's going to play, Connor? He's going to play in the slot. And if you're going to play in the slot, a lot of times you're going to have to deal with contested catches. You're either going to have safety corners or you're going in traffic or things like that. Now, it's not all the time, but if that's the case,

if I'm putting Josh Downs and Jordan Addison in the same situation, give me downs. He's a better contest to catch wide receiver. He's a better catchable pass wide receiver. He just doesn't drop things. He's where he needs to be. That's the better slot receiver in my opinion. So if these guys are destined for the same position at the NFL level, give me the guy who's stronger. Give me the guy who's going to be more reliable. So I got Josh Downs at number four. I have Zay Flowers at number three. I've got Quinn Johnson at two, and I've got Jack Smith and Jibba at number one. Zay Flowers, I think, moves differently than these other wide receivers. You mentioned having small wide receiver fatigue. I think there's a ton of small wide receivers in this class, but I really do think Zay Flowers moves differently.

I feel like Zay moves like Antonio Brown did. Now, Antonio Brown obviously was a phenomenal route runner. Like he developed into a crazy good route runner, but in terms of like the movement skills and how these guys are changing direction, yet accelerating at the same time like that was always such an incredible thing about ab to me is his ability to not only change direction but change direction and yet continue to accelerate in in crazy ways

when the angles were very different and i feel like zay flowers has that same kind of build that same kind of athletic ability. He just, if he, if he obviously continues to become a great route runner, I really do think that he he's going to be a major difference maker in the NFL. I think he's got great yards after catch ability. I think he's electric once the ball gets in his hands. And so I think that all of that is there for him. And I think he can be a good deep threat as well,

because I think he's got the speed to threaten vertically. Did you know that Antonio brown bombed the combine yeah i never knew this yeah i never knew it was like zero percentile broad jump yeah was it is like 105 inches right that's what it is yep i looked it up not too long ago wait because why is the combine because when i thought of the when i thought that zay flowers moved in similar ways antonio brown was like i wonder what antonio brown tested like dog shit like like it's amazing he got into a camp it's amazing connor not only did he get into a into a camp he was the best wide receiver in the nfl for four straight years no question he was the best wide receiver in the nfl no question unbelievable mr big chest geez man yeah sorry folks you didn't even hear that anyways uh

he sucks you're a person terrible person correct uh anyways queen johnson i have him at number two i don't know if i'm gonna end up up having Quinn Johnson at number one by the time this is up. It's, it's so hard to differentiate in my opinion, between Quinn Johnson and Jack Smith the Jigba because they're completely different wide receivers. Oh, it's, it's not even like the same position. Right. They're completely different players.

I, I, I do. I said, I said this back when we were doing the early wide receiver rankings, I think Quentin Johnson's best production days are still ahead of him. I think he's a beast after the catch. He's got great athleticism after the catch. I think he's got really good contest to catch above the rim ability. He just didn't, didn't get the chance to show it off very often. I thought the quarterback play over the last couple of years really held him back from showcasing what is a really really good athlete um and somebody who i think could play all three positions at wide receiver both as a or as a

online scrimmage x as a flanker as a slot player i think he could play all those man i think he's got fantastic potential in that regard smith and jigbo the reason why i ended up having him at number one is just the floor is so high he's an an NFL wide receiver. You go back and you watch that sophomore tape of his and the floor is just so high. And I still do have concerns about the overall athleticism. I do. I don't think he's this all-world athlete, but when you are as savvy, when you have as high of a football IQ, the spatial awareness that he showed as a sophomore remember this is just as a sophomore this guy again understands the position so so well and if there if it was a more stacked wide receiver class maybe i'd have jack smith the jig

but at two or three or maybe even four but it's just not he's the guy that i think you'd want to and i honestly connor i think that's why a lot of people myself included have tried to over the course of the last i'll say eight months move smith and jig but down be wide receiver to be wide receiver three be wide receiver four is because we want to find more athletic higher ceiling just overall more talented wide receivers and i just outside of quinn johnson i don't think they exist in this class and so whether jsn ends up number one for me or number two his floor and his projection in the nfl is just way too easy amongst a group that there's a lot of what if for them to become good NFL players, I think. And that is, I think, a really good way to encapsulate this wide receiver class.

I totally agree. I just look at JSN and go like, why can't he be Cooper Cup? Right. And I think the idea of Cooper Cup is different than, you know, when you hear Cooper Cup, you think of 2021 where he had almost 2000 yards and he was just out of this world. But like for the most part, Cooper Cup 2017 is rookie year 869. He's hurt in 2018, 566, over 1100 in 2019, 974 in 2020, monster year in 2021 like cups a really really really good player that thrives from the slot and does not have long speed but he's a technician and he's got lateral quickness and that's what jackson smith at jigba is and in a draft that i am not really betting the house on a lot of these wide receivers, I'm going to bet on that guy

because I want the guy that's really good right away and incredibly smart, incredibly tough, catches everything, is definitely a good enough athlete and has the frame to survive in the middle of the field. It just goes back to this, Trevor. Like we talked, we opened this part with say Flowers, not with would say flowers jordan addison on the same day at the combine i'd sit downs with darnell washington and then michael mayer and then jordan addison and like listen michael mayer it's michael mayer arms darnell washington arms crossed

yeah just look like an absolute hoss at all times seriously though i i feel like is that the only way he look at this the arms across your cross literally a picture of us dude he understands you stick the thumbs you stick the thumbs underneath the biceps and you just pump that you you pump the biceps up he knows what to to grasp that those two humans are on the same field as addison i know man was wild and i have him as wide receiver too because i think he's so good at everything he is he's such a good wide receiver it's's Devontae Smith-ish where you're like, I have to just get over it and talk myself into this one.

No, Smith's better, though. I mean, Smith is better. No, Smith is better. I thought about that. Devontae was just better. No, they're not the same player, but you need to get over the hurdles the same way. Yeah.

And I don't know. Smith doesn't run by everybody, and he's slight. I mean, he's the slim reaper. But yeah, I know, I know, i know i i obviously hope addison's great there's so many things that i love about his tape maybe it's just the point in time of where we are but like i'm i'm i'm just spooked i'm spooked to take him over zay flowers josh downs jack smith jigba and and um and quentin johnston i obviously have a number five it's not like i think he's gonna i, I think he's going to,

I don't think he's going to be a bus. I don't think he's going to bomb, but that's why I had him at five is because I just don't know how much I want to bet. Cause I got him at five. I got, I got Tyler Scott at six and I got tank Dell at eight. You know, all those guys was like good, small, wide receivers. I have in that area of my rankings. I just couldn't get him any higher because it's a it's a big people's game. Let's just say it's a good thing.

This wasn't last year's draft mixed with it. Like full transparency outside of JSN. No wide receiver in my top five this year would be in the conversation with the top six last year yeah because the top six last year were gary wilson yeah jameson williams drake london trailing burks uh chris alabe jahan dotson so i know people really liked christian watson and i did too but i couldn't even get him in that top group. So yeah, here we go. So in order, Drake London, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jameson Williams, Jahan Dotson. Would you have Jackson Smith and Jigba in that group? Yeah, I would have Jackson Smith and Jigba. Above Dotson?

So my top three were Garrett Wilson, Jameson Williams, Traylon Burks, Drake London. I'd have Jackson Smith and Jigba behind Garrett Wilson and Jamison Williams. So he'd be wide receiver three if you mix the classes together. Okay, I think... But then after that, forget it. Like, it's off a cliff. JSN, for me, would have been five

behind London, Wilson, Olave, and Williams. And I think I would have had him at five five i wasn't a big fan of burks so okay i probably would have had quentin johnston then right after jsn okay and then it would have been something oh oh shoot george pickens is in this class too i forgot so i would have so so i would have had five wide receivers ahead of jack smith and jigba because i would have had george pickens is in this class too i forgot so i would have so so i would have had five wide receivers ahead of jack smith and jigba because i would have had george pickens in my top five obviously because i had him i had him like wide receiver three yeah it speaks volumes yeah i mean i'm trying to think of your original question like where would you put addison in this class

i mean because you're throwing london wilson olave jameson christian watson george pickens i'd have jsn i'd have quentin johnston then i'd probably have trailing burks i mean jordan addison might not have even been in the top 10 wide receivers for me last year. Yeah, he, in last year, not factoring in JSN, just last year's class with him. Yeah. He'd probably be somewhere around the Dotson,

Christian Watson era. Yes, I agree. I agree. I wouldn't have been my top five of Garrett Wilson Jamis Williams Traylen Burke Drake London Chris Lobby and I had first round grades on all five of those players I feel like I would have had uh Addison similarly to where I had Sky Moore okay you're a little lower on him than me clearly yeah yeah but but the point stands so last year's wide receiver class dynamite build different build different build different we know that you guys have takes on wide receivers

uh we would love to hear them uh we would love to hear what your takes are on our takes as well as what you guys think of this wide receiver class give us your scouting report on some of these guys i'd love to see the comment section flooded with your top fives, your top threes. You don't have to go top 20, although if you want to give us your top 20, feel free to fire it off in the YouTube comments. That's the best way to get in on the conversation. It is a free country.

YouTube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange. We've had some phenomenal conversations with you guys over the last couple of weeks when we've started to do these final rankings as well, the mock draft episodes. So let us know what you think of these wide receivers. I think that this group is going to be very polarizing. I think a lot of you guys might be like, Hey, you guys are crazy. Charlie Jones is a top 10 wide receiver.

Like when it comes to his production floor, he's going to be fantastic. Some people, like you said, might look at Rasheed Rice and say, you guys are wild. He's a top 10 wide receiver. Like when it comes to his production floor, he's going to be fantastic. Some people, like you said, might look at Rasheed Rice and say, you guys are wild. He's a top five wide receiver. Yep. You may think that I'm crazy for thinking that Addison's the fifth best wide receiver in this class.

You might have somebody like Cedric Tillman in your top five, whatever it is, we want to hear from you guys. Let us know in the YouTube comment section. If you guys aren't big on YouTube, you can hit us up at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers on both Twitter and Instagram. It's a good way to get on the conversation as well it's a fun time of year to uh read you guys responses and uh and get the fire ours back at you as well next time

you hear from us will be sunday night tradition now 10 p.m eastern on sundays when we're releasing the mock draft episodes you guys have asked for it and we are here to deliver the tailgate boys are going to be back that's right mike renner and austin gale are joining us for the next edition of the collab mock draft series it's going to be similar to what we did with the bootleg football guys where it'll be two on two mike and and Austin will collaborate together and they will go through either the odds or the evens of a full first round mock draft. And then Connor and I will take the opposite. So it'll be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to getting the four of us together.

Obviously a little bit different because Mike works for PFF. Austin works for the Ringer. Normally it's people who are under the same roof, but obviously you guys are big fans of theirs. The tailgate audience was so ingrained into the PFF audience and the YouTube audience. So shoot, as uh the tailgate audience was so ingrained into the pff audience and the youtube audience so shoot as a former tailgate listener connor i'm looking forward to just getting austin and mike back together to hear their thoughts on the nfl draft but it's

gonna be a lot of fun man i'm looking forward to it and to see if they still work together well there might be some rust it's true i mean they don't get to talk they don't get to work hand in hand every day anymore so they might have some big time disagreements like with brett and ej it's like they do this all the time they made a doc for our show okay which was amazing danny and solak obviously are under the same roof like you said trevor uh we don't we don't know this is like old-timers day for the pod we're gonna see how this thing goes we did do a collaborative i believe it was a mock draft last year with those guys and it was a ton of fun but um i'm excited to uh to get to talk with them again to to allow you guys to hear

their draft expertise as well it's gonna be a good time until then i'm trevor sycamore that is connor j rogers thank you guys so much for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. See you then. Bye.