NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 196. Stock Up WRs for the 2024 NFL Draft

Episode Date: September 28, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers bring you 10 WRs from the 2024 class who are on the rise, including Keon Coleman, Rome Odunze, Xavier Legette and more

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

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, it is a stock watch episode, but focusing on the wide receiver class. There's so many wide receivers that we have watched over the last couple of weeks, and even going back to the summer, that we wanted to give you

a little update on those guys. Some names that you have heard before they were on our rankings other guys we were bringing to the show for the very first time it's a lot of fun 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 Sikama. That is Connor Rogers. Joining you for a Stock Watch midweek episode of the podcast, which today we are focusing on wide receivers. We know y'all got takes. We see the takes.

Everybody watches college football and they see the guys on the end of those pretty throws and they go, man, who is that guy? I need to learn more about him. Or maybe you already know about him and you just want to see him in the NFL already. So we're going to talk about a lot of those players. I got five wide receivers I'm bringing to the table. Connor is bringing five wide receivers to the table as well. So we're going to give you 10 jam-packed players with tons of information.

Could be guys we've already mentioned. Could be some new guys, some new names that you'll be hearing on Stock Exchange for the first time. Connor, how you feeling, my friend? Good, man. Fun show. Obviously, today, it was good to get back

and do kind of like a catch-me-up session of tape. I got to watch a ton of wide receivers that I didn't watch over the summer, but are really having themselves a nice first month of the college football season. And I say this all the time, I are really having themselves a nice first month of the college football season. And I say this all the time, I feel like on this show around this time of year,

but it's my favorite part of this process. Finding new players that they're just, they pop so much in the data and tape that they deserve some love. And shout out to the comment section. Some of the guys I'm going to, at least one of the guys I'm going to talk about today. I've seen his name in our comment section multiple times. It's just great that we have this community of people that are just as into scouting as us and bring new names to the table. And I do have a, I have a name or two that are familiar names,

but there's definitely a discussion to be had. So this is everybody loves the wide receivers, man, whether it's dynasty reasons, whether it's just your team needs playmaking help this is i feel like the group that everybody loves to get involved in the scouting action and so do we yeah so there's there's one player to you know just to talk about the um the guys who are bringing to the table for the first time there's one player that's on this list that is an fcs dude that i did not know at all before i had an article that was coming up this week that's actually out now over pff.com and it was ranking five fcs risers or guys that

you should at least know for the 2024 nfo draft class and i'm like damn i really haven't looked into fcs guys at all so it kind of forced me to go over the fcs tab and notice some players who are standing out some guys guys who could have NFL futures. And there's one player that we will bring to this list who is even an FCS guy that I definitely wanted to shout out. So I will let you take the floor. I will let you set the tone with whoever you want to bring up. It can be a name that we've already talked about, or it can be a new name.

I'll let you start this one out. Who you got? It is not a name we've talked about. And if you did bring him up, I i don't think we have and i think a lot of the a lot of the general whether you're a college football fan whether you're into the draft whatever it may be are now aware of this guy because everybody's watching colorado every single weekend for good reason. Oh, and this guy caught my attention playing against Colorado.

And that's Torrey Horton from Colorado state. And honestly, Trevor, here's one that I'm admittedly a little ashamed of. Torrey Horton in 2022 had 71 catches for over 1100 yards and eight touchdowns. He's a preseason blicking off watch list player. I didn't get to him this summer. It just,

I mean, and listen, man, we purposely made our wide receiver show ridiculously long. I ranked 20 wide receivers this summer, ranked 20. I know you, you,

I talked to you off the show a couple of days ago and you're like, dude, I'm like 35 right now. And I threw of days ago, and you're like, dude, I'm at like 35 right now. I'm up to 36, dude. And I threw another name at you, and you're like, I haven't watched him yet. Why are you doing this? That's going to be the worst part of this show,

is if you bring somebody that I don't have on my list, I'm going to roll my eyes and be like, I got to watch this other guy. It's going to happen to me quite clearly. Torrey Horton has really good tape from 2022. And then you watch him in 2023, and there's just a confidence this guy plays with that stands out to me. I mean, so he's got 35 catches already for over 300 yards and three touchdowns.

You know, against Colorado, he caught 16 passes for 133 yards. He was a volume machine in that game. By the way, he has these 35 catches and over 300 yards and three touchdowns in just three games this year. 10 catches against Middle Tennessee, 16 against Colorado, nine against Washington State. Horton's a dude that, and keep in mind the volatility that Colorado state has dealt with at quarterback. I watch him play and I'm like,

this kind of feels like my, this year's Cedric Tillman, right? And not that high. I had Tillman as a top five wide receiver last year. I think the star talent and depth of this class, it's going to be really hard for a guy to just jump into the top five. I'm not ruling it out, but when you look at all the talent at the top of this class, it's just going to be really, really tough, but it still means something with how he's playing the strong hands, the body control. He's a physical player. He's a confident player. He understands spacing i just watch him play and i see somebody that's really really reliable he's a senior so i would imagine he's going to be a frontline senior bowl guy he deserves to be i gotta think so right six foot two looks like he

can play at 200 pounds i know they list them 187 i think think he can add more weight. He's got length. I honestly think he has some of the strongest hands in the entire country. I really, really do. When you look at some of the grabs he's made, when he has catch and run opportunities, he's like, I'm just going to run through you. And sure, you love these guys that are elusive and playmakers and fast, but there is also something to a wide receiver that's like, cool, I'm going to stiff arm you and pick up five more yards by just getting upfield.

I don't always need to make someone miss. And also, this is a side note, just because it's fun. That passing touchdown he had against Colorado is one of the prettiest skill player throws I've seen in like a really long time. I mean, it's better than any throw I've gotten to watch on Sundays at my other job this year in the Jets offense. So damn, Torrey Horton, man, I'm a big fan of just this dude's play style. And I'm not saying he's a number one or a number two at the next level,

but he's the type of cat that like like we're seeing what Puka Naku is doing with the Rams this year, right? Sometimes you forget the dudes that are just smart, tough, and catch everything last on NFL rosters because coaches and quarterbacks love those guys. And that's Torrey Horton's game. I mean, he could be a two at the next level, man. I watched him too. I've watched him over the last week and a half.

And I agree with a lot of what you're bringing to the table, man. He's a little bit of a high-waisted tall skinnier runner and when that's the case like sometimes when you get these guys who are leggy as they'll say they just got a lot of legs to them it's tougher to sit down and sink those hips and really be able to chop the feet in the hands and turn on a dime but horton does it pretty well man and like you mentioned he's got a really nice catch radius. He's strong at the catch point. He's a former three, three, three sport athlete played three sports in high school, played football,

played basketball and he played baseball. So I think the dude's just a natural athlete. Yeah. He's at one 90. So he's a little bit slender. I wonder if you can get him towards more of like a 200 playing weight at the NFL level. But even if he can't, man, I think that we're seeing some smaller, skinnier receivers in the league be able to thrive, especially when they're not asked to be number ones. Right. And I think that's an important part of the conversation, too, is we've had some smaller receivers come out over the last couple of years. And they're still really productive pros because a lot of times they're not asked to stand on the line of scrimmage.

Like a lot of them are able to be Z receivers or slot receivers, and they don't have to go up against press. And when you can do that, you can kind of manipulate, um, some of these smaller guys and get them to put them in really advantageous situations. I think that Horton's got a, got a really nice skillset and I'm, uh, I'm glad that you shouted him out. Somebody else who's been balling over the last couple of weeks why I simply had to watch over the last week

is South Carolina wide receiver Xavier Leguette. Yeah. Did not know anything about Xavier Leguette going into the season. Really didn't. Sporadically used in South Carolina's offense. I'm looking at his receiving grades now. From 2020 to 2022, so over a three-year span, he did not have a receiving grade for a whole season above 60.

He'd just never been a super standout player. Last year, they kind of used him as a TD guy, so he at least had a career high in touchdowns. He got threeout player last year they kind of used him as a td guy so he at least had a career high in touchdowns he got three touchdowns last year this year it is so night and day right now he leads the country in receiving yards he's got 568 receiving yards and that leads the country he's got an 84.0 receiving grade 215 of these yards are coming after the catch and when juice wells went i don't want to say went down because he's still kind of like in and out of the lineup but like juice wells had a foot injury that he suffered in camp and he's not been right

since he played in the first half against unc but he really didn't do much and then they had to take him out of the second half same thing against georgia he tried to play in the first half against UNC, but he really didn't do much. And then they had to take him out of the second half. Same thing against Georgia. He tried to play in the Georgia game, and then they ended up having to take him out after he scores his touchdown. And so I'm like, man, who are they going to lean on? Who do they have? And Xavier Leguette has absolutely shown up.

Six foot three, 227 pounds. This dude is a supersized wide receiver who is not only a monster at contested catch situations, he's hauled in six of his eight contested catches this year, and they are impressive six catches that he has brought in in those situations. If you watch the Mississippi State game this past week, his first big play, they hit him on an in-breaking route over the middle.

They get him. Spencer Rattler hits him right on the money in stride, and he destroys the angles of everybody who's going after him. And I read that he was clocked almost at 23 miles an hour on that run. We're talking about a guy who's 6'3", 227, getting clocked near 23 miles an hour on that run we're talking about a guy who's 6'3 227 getting clocked near 23 miles an hour that's miami dolphins players categories of speed which is nuts so laguette it's it's almost like what do you do with this guy because he has more receiving yards in these three games that he has played than he had his entire career up to this point he's got more production at the beginning part of this season than he ever has

combined up to this point college football now you go is this going to be a fluke it might be but i will say this just watching the broadcast of South Carolina and Mississippi State, because I was watching that game on Saturday too. The play-by-play guy, I think it was Tom Hart who was on that game from SEC Network. He talked about how they spoke with South Carolina coaches who said, I've never seen a player improve as much as Xavier Leguette has this past offseason. Like work ethic wise, production wise, what he did in the spring, what he did in the summer during camp, like they were blown away.

And so people on the coaching staff, not exactly surprised that he's going off, but I think people around the country, certainly I was very surprised to hear this name in the way that I am right now. And I'm going to be honest, man, like this dude, you could put him in the top 10 of this loaded wide receiver class right now from what we've seen already this season. You really can't. Now, you'd like to see some longevity with it, but like, damn, the strength, the size, the speed, he is showing that it's all there. So I kind of don't give a damn that we didn't see it before because we're seeing it now. So this is a dude who has a ton of athletic potential, can play a lot of different spots for you. And man, the rest of the season,

if he stays healthy, we could be talking about this guy as a top 50 pick in this loaded wide receiver class. I mean, I'm glad you brought him up. Just freak show. When you look at the physical ability this guy has at that size, and I was reading about him, you know, just the fact that he played quarterback his senior year of high school, and he was like in a run-heavy offense. He's just an athlete. Right. And maybe because I feel like Trevor, whenever we find guys like this, you're always looking for the why.

Which maybe that's, you know, sounds wrong to some people. But this is a fifth year player who, as you said, with the grades and the overall production. Hasn't really done much right for the program and you look at him physically and you're like okay i mean when they list them 6-3-2-27 and you google them or you see them take the iso shot while watching the games i mean it's not dk metcalf but it's like it's pretty scary i'm i i'm i didn't want to say i did not want it I didn't want to say that name on purpose. But a lot of what he does now is similar to the Metcalf. I should say like the Metcalf plan.

Okay. Everything's on a vertical stem. It's a nine ball. I don't miss. It's a post. It's a comeback. Or maybe it's a slam. But that's about it.

Like you're not getting super creative with him with these double moves or asking him to really sink his hips or whatever. You're asking him to be big, tall, strong, fast. And he goes, okay. And that's what we've seen this past year. Exactly. And that's enough sometimes. I mean, even if this dude doesn't figure it out at wide receiver,

and this year he has, he's going to be a big time time wide receiver prospect this is also like a dream special teams player and he's played a lot of special teams for South Carolina where you're big and fast and you can handle multiple roles on return teams and I just that speed I was blown away when I saw that play because it's like this dude is this the green light is starting to come on for this dude and it's late and to go back to the why everybody's got a different road I mean if you weren't always a wide receiver or maybe it just took you a little longer when that physical ability is like this he's somebody that I mean we're watching really really closely right now because it's the type of player that like when you watch that one highlight and then catch up on him for the rest of the season. I remember this conversation around DK.

And it's not that we're comparing him to DK. But it's a similar trajectory in terms of a lot of people will be like, well, can you really just do that in the NFL? Be a three-route guy. When you're 6'3", 230, and you could run in the four threes, the answer is yes. The answer is absolutely yes so xavier laguette man it's i'm really glad you brought him up he's maybe one of becoming quickly one of the more fun unique stories of this draft class now all right so who you got next all right so next i'm going to go with somebody this is the player that i said i've seen in the

comment section and i finally got to watch his entire season. And that's Jamari thrash for Louisville. Thrash. I'm glad that you're bringing him up. We've gotten a lot of comments on Jamari. Yeah. And they're right.

Credit to them. They really are. I mean, the, this dude could play. He obviously, he transferred from Georgia state this year. He's coming off a really big season for Georgia state.

He, um, from Georgia State this year. He's coming off a really big season for Georgia State. He led the Sun Belt in receiving yards with over 1,100 last year. He caught 61 passes. He had seven touchdowns. He broke Georgia State's single game record for receiving yards with 213 against Charlotte last year. He just had a monster year at Georgia State. And then he transfers to Louisville in the classic case of, you know, can this dude do this now at a bigger program? And the answer is definitively yes. I mean, the and it's also amazing what he's done with the lack of volume, right? He's played in their four games and he only has 19 catches. But on those. So he's averaging less than five catches per game. There's math for you today. How do you like that?

But. They told me there would be no math. They said there'd be no math. Well, here you are. I mean, Trevor, he's got 400 yards. He's averaging over 21 yards a catch. And when you watch the tape, it's. I mean, here it is with Jamari Thrash.

Double moves king. The double moves are crisp. And he'll kill you. He'll kill you. He will basically have you flinch. And he's not, this isn't Tutu Atwell, by the way, in Louisville's office. Shout out to Tutu Atwell,

who is having a great breakout season for the Rams. I'm happy for the guy, man. Of course, yeah. There's nothing else other than to be happy for him. It's just, it's funny, the journey that we've been on with Tutu2-0. I mean, what is... Worst draft pick of all time. And now, like, what are we, two, three years in?

We're like, what? It is also funny. It's like, this is pretty late. Usually by now, you're like, it's just not going to happen. And all of a sudden, it's happening. Anyways, Thrash is listed 6'1", 185. He is a lighter guy. He looks like he's playing in, know high 170s in my opinion he can

absolutely fly he can absolutely fly he's lethal with the ball in his hands the feet are so so quick it is so hard to get a hand on him he is incredibly elusive he tracks the deep ball and he has been feasting on corners with a double move. And Louisville likes to run with him where they kind of send a running back in like a sprint out of the flat. And Thrash will be running some kind of vertical concept on the same side. So if the defender is caught in between of picking up the running back or Thrash, or they just get caught peeking, he's gone. He's absolutely gone.

And once again, like it's not a gimmick. It's just that he's that fast. They can do that with him. So if you're looking for a vertical deep threat, a guy that can make plays with the ball in his hands off of really any kind of concept, and has NFL feet, like this is NFL footwork and quickness from Jamari Thrash.

I mean, people are really, really going to like him. As you see what NFL offenses are doing, shout out Tank Dell. Tank Dell just had a really, really big weekend for the Texans. You see how the Ravens use a flowers. You see how Mike McDaniel uses all of his skill players in Miami. Thrash fits this era of skill player that can be slender but when you know how to utilize him and keep hands off him in motion or you play him out of the slot and you give him free releases that kind of speed and that kind of footwork on the deep routes and that kind of ability with the ball in his hands where you don't want to just surrender those free touches to him because he can make you look foolish in space i mean it's going to play at the nfl level yeah he is he's somebody who um i watched over the last week as

well because a lot of people in the comments were like hey you got to get eyes on this person you're like hey morons it's week four and you still haven't watched jamari thrash and i'm like he is man he's good he's he's a really nice athlete and again you know you get a guy like tutu awo who gets drafted as high as he does you know people are always going to covet speed and so i think that um i'm gonna have him in my top 100 uh when the next one comes out um and so he he's definitely gonna be in there and i'm glad that people had us watch him it's funny because there was another player somebody um gave me a tip on a wide receiver who is now at georgia state and had watched Jamari and I was like, Oh, okay. So he was at Georgia state before broke some records.

There goes a Louisville. We're seeing him not play really well against this other competition. And then not too long after that, I go, wait a second. I'm watching another Georgia state wide receiver in Robert Lewis, who is the guy who is now playing the Jamari thrash role for them, if you will. So Robert Lewis, he's having a really nice year, 81.3 receiving grade. He's got six explosive plays of 20 yards or more this year, five foot 11. They got him listed 185 pounds.

I wonder if he's 185 pounds. He might be a little bit smaller than that, but 25% of his targets this year have gone for more than 20 yards. And so this is the big play guy in Georgia State's offense. Now, the difference between him and Thrash is, Thrash, you're not worried about the long speed. You know he has that long speed to him. When it comes to judging Robert Lewis versus an NFL caliber scale.

I wonder if he's like the burner that you would want him to be because he's super subtle. The footwork is great. The body control is great. I think that he can stop on a dime. He's a really nice route runner. He's got a ton of shiftiness to him, but then some of his best plays are when he's able to burn his guy off the line scrimmage. Cause he can handle press in that way. You know, he'll hand fight you. He'll chop the feet. He'll get right by it. He'll create that even or separation right at the line of scrimmage.

And then you're just seeing him get vertical. He's been able to capitalize a ton against the teams that Georgia State has played. But can he do that at an NFL level? They played UConn and he did the same things against UConn. So that gives me some hope here but that's really my one question with him because if not man you've got a really nice guy who could be I think a back of the depth chart player for you a special teams player for you a specialized deep threat like whatever it is I think um this guy can be one of those labels. And so this isn't somebody who is probably going to end up in my top 100,

but it is a day three guy that as you are, as you guys are going through your mock draft simulators, and as we start to unlock more rounds of the mock draft simulator, where you're doing your day three stuff as well, we know everybody loves to pick up wide receivers late, you know, even if they're just simply specialized guys. And Robert Lewis feels like a potential deep threat guy, even if the long speed, I'm still questioning a little bit.

He knows how to get open deep. And so I think that's a skill set that really impressed me with him. I love it. I love it. That's somebody that I got to get eyes on for sure. I've seen him pop, obviously, in our system of wide receiver grades, but also just numbers, right?

Like he's one of those dudes comes up, pops up in big numbers. And it is interesting. I didn't even when I saw him pop up, I didn't even think when I was going to talk Jamari Thrash today that who's the new Jamari Thrash of that Georgia State offense is doing something right with this. Yeah, yeah, it's no, it's true. It's always good to keep an eye on the pipelines of college football all right my third guy and this is yet this is my last player that i i haven't talked about on the show hadn't watched for the show

and it's just i mean it's insane what this guy is doing in terms of highlights chris lewis he is a wide receiver for troy oh you son of a gun i haven't watched him a transfer from kentucky what are you doing to me connor now trev he's only a redshirt sophomore so maybe i'm jumping the gun all right i'm not watching his ass but but you should if you like to be entertained you should because it's like this kid just grew up and after watching the odell catch in MetLife Stadium, went in the backyard and is like, how can I replicate? What he does every day of my life, every every single time the ball comes my way. It is he's wide open and he's purposely like stopping two yards short just so he could go up with one hand there is one funny catch that he's open and he does he does look like he's about to do the leap thing and then he

realizes like the corner's not near him and he could just catch both two hands yeah i noticed it it's like an eight yard curl route and he's just open between the zone but he stops and just puts one it'd be so great this dude you know why I wanted to talk about him today? I'm so interested in him because when you look at a wide receiver from Troy that's making some of the freakiest catches in the nation, you're like, okay, how did this happen, folks? Well, let's get to the bottom of this.

Chris Lewis transferred from Kentucky and he was a big time recruit out of Alabama in the 2021 class. He was one of Alabama's top 10 players in the state that year. He was one of Alabama's top 10 players in the state that year. He was a four star recruit. He was second team all state in high school in Alabama for basketball. This guy was like a legit high school basketball player out of the state of Alabama and Pleasant Grove, Alabama. And he was also obviously just an amazing high school wide receiver as well.

So he ends up opting to play football at college instead of basketball. He chose Kentucky, said he felt at home there, you know, yada, yada, on and on. And it didn't it didn't ultimately work out because it feels like his redshirt freshman year, he had an ankle injury. He missed the second half of the season, and it kind of just killed his momentum there, which is a shame. But the good news for him is that he's found new life at Troy, and it did not take very long for this guy to get going.

And week one, nothing going week one for him against Stephen F. Austin. Then he gets on the radar because they play Kansas State week two, and he hasn't popped with stats like in those in the last three games. He has 12 catches, 245 yards and two touchdowns. But when you look at the catches, the sky is making. I'm telling you, Trevor, they are the craziest catches in the country on a week by week basis. Like it's not like he did it once or did it twice. He's literally making the craziest one-handed catches every week in the country right now

that don't even make sense. And I'm evaluating the traits too. He's 6'4", he's 2'04". He's got this like Gumby stretchy build. It feels like he's got arms that could just touch whatever ceiling of the room he walks in. He could jump through the ceiling.

Like, I don't know if this dude is just gonna blow up so much at's walks in. He could jump through the ceiling. Like, I don't know if this dude is just going to blow up so much at Troy this year that he opts for the NFL. He might be a year or two away to have this process, or maybe even transfers back up. Who knows, but just looking at the athlete he is and the ball skills he has, it is absolutely ridiculous.

The talent packed into this guy. Well, while you were talking, I just saw the Kansas State catch and it is indeed bonkers. So now I have to what now I got to watch his tape. Now I got to do it. But you'll enjoy it so much. And it's so quick because he just he hasn't played a lot. It's a quick watch.

But it's it's truly like I've had some guys in the league because you always think like uh we do things differently than them they're probably so like i've had guys in the league that like they'll watch five plays of a guy and they like freak out they're just like us don't make a mistake they are just like us chris lewis is the everybody is just like us guy like you just watch him you're like this guy fucking rules i don't know when he's gonna be a prospect but i will always root for him no matter what, because he is a trick shot artist that, um, that is just making some insane plays just from the Kansas state catch alone. Now I'm, I'm going to have to watch. Yeah, it's nuts. Um, before we get to my next guy, got to shout out our friends over fabric, you know, fall is the time for getting back into routines, whether it's a back to school routine, um, if your parents,

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not available in certain States prices subject to underwriting. All right. The next guy that I want to bring up. Three more, right? Yeah. It's number three for me. Michigan wide receiver,

Roman Wilson. I don't know if you've watched any of him lately. I watch them every week so on broadcast the answer is yes sure and and he's just like he's having a fantastic year now i'm i'm still debating like what kind of an nfl prospect he is because he's five foot ten and a half buck nine and that size unfortunately shows up in different strength parts of his game. He tries to block his ass off whenever he is asked to do so. But you'll see he's like, all right, he's just a smaller dude.

And he will go up for some contested catches. And sometimes he comes down on them, sometimes he doesn't. You just see the lack of overall weight and strength and height kind of go into it. But, man, this is a really good football player. I mean, there are so many times where J.J. McCarthy, you'll feel a little bit of pressure. The play's kind of breaking down. And you can tell he immediately looks Roman Wilson's way

because he knows that Roman Wilson is going to do what he needs to do to get open. He's going to be able to shimmy and shake the defenders. He's going to be able to find that soft spot where McCarthy can find him. And I just feel as though the smaller size certainly lends itself to being a really nice separator in the slot. And I think that you see that from him.

He's got some decent deep speed to him, but he's had that shiftiness. That's what his bread and butter is going to be. But for somebody who is just really standing out, I can't remember if I mentioned this 85.0 receiving grade so far this year. That's a really nice number. That's consistent play every single game that he's been out there for michigan some strength deficiencies to him but like man he's just such a productive dude i don't know if it's the puka nakua trend where it's like man if you just find players who

are smart at this he broke our brains trevor who get the position who know where to be in order to help out the offense, that has value. And so while people look at Roman Wilson and say, all right, he doesn't really measure up to what an NFL type of wide receiver usually is, I feel like he's going to have a place at the next level because, again, he is doing all of the little things right. Now, how effective those are when the competition gets bigger, faster, stronger, okay, maybe that part's a debate. But at the very least, kind of like what we talked about with Leggett, Roman Wilson's going to be somebody who's going to give you his all

every single play. And I think that that could be a back end of the depth chart guy for you. Maybe it's an early practice squad kind of a situation for him. But I think that this dude can have some sort of of an NFL future especially from the production that we're seeing from him this season yeah I I noticed it on broadcast and I admittedly haven't just done a study of him on tape but I noticed it as well that reliability the I think the thing I'm not struggling with the most but looking for more than ever i just did a my big 10 tape breakdown i do every every week for nbc sports i did a mecca bucca this week and and it's just

i'm looking for guys that understand like their spatial awareness and tempo and coverages and how to help a quarterback. And I, it's just, it's really a nuanced part of scouting this position because it's, you turned as a football fan. First you turn on the tape and like Xavier Leggett, right? You're like big, fast,

like awesome. Like all that stuff will always matter at the absolute most, but you do go through this NFL process where you're watching another sector of wide receivers that are having success. That could have been super average athletes or super average size or whatever it is. And there is this total other aspect of the game that is all kind of in between the ears for the most part. I agree. I think that stuff matters. And here's the thing.

Unfortunately, for those types of players, there do seem to be a lot of those. And the guys that we actually end up talking about that are of that skill set and of that mold, it kind of needs to be a little bit of right place, right time. You're 100% right. The wide receiver room probably can't be too solidified. You've got to be able to show out in training camp.

You got to have a coach that really believes in you, no question about it. But when those opportunities do present themselves for as all around of a player as Roman Wilson is and the effort, especially that he gives to the position, that could be for him. So I think he's a day three dude, could be a practice squad guy, but somebody who's having a really nice year, needed a really nice year to stand out in a stacked wide receiver class. And I wanted to give him a nod there. All right. So my next guy, I didn't have him on my preseason top 50. You did. He's had some of the biggest flashes in the country. I still see some inconsistencies in his game, but I mean, just off of, once again,

physical ability and the flashes he's already had. Like, I absolutely see why you had him as a top 50 player now, and I'm caught up on Keon Coleman from Florida State. Yeah. I mean, right? You just look, and honestly, even some of the games that he's underwhelmed,

I also think that offense has had its moments where I'm like they're better than this whether it's been some problems at quarterback you know there's just a few different things there with Coleman man he's already got six touchdowns this year he is just the classic at 6-4-2-15 we talked about him before another guy with a basketball background he's just an another classic case of somebody that can play above the rim and can make a play for your quarterback and can make the spectacular play for your quarterback. And I think another thing with him,

in a very busy Florida State offense of pass catchers and running back talent and tight end talent, I don't know if Keon Coleman needs a thousand yards this year for me to say that he's going to be a top 50 player. Like, it's all there on tape in terms of what he can do with body control in the air, winning when covered. There are nuances of his game that I would like to see improve. But man, he's just a talent, right?

Trevor, I think that's what we look at. He's just a talent. I know you really liked him when we built our big boards and now you see the transfer at Florida State kind of paying instant dividends and I totally get it. Yeah, he's an NFL player playing college football. Right, exactly. That's kind of the reason why he was as high as he was

on my initial top 50 is because you don't get to say that about a lot of players, right? I mean, we can sit here and we do, and we have a good time doing it, saying like, man, this is who this player is in college. How do they translate? Will this still be a strength of their game? Is their weakness going to be too glaring for them?

Like we have a lot of those conversations with players there it's not very often you get to go yeah it's an nfl player right there yep and and to me that's keon coleman and and i agree with you it it has not looked perfect this year but the big moments and the takeover moments and certainly the strength moments of his scouting report we have already seen at the highest level in some big games already this year when his team has needed him. So that to me, I echo that for you. I'll give another name that we've already talked about on the show who I'm bringing up in my rankings, Romo Dunze.

And this is somebody who when we went into our wide receiver rankings, when we watched these guys from the summer, you and I kind of had the conversation of and i think i admitted this at the time i liked odunze i didn't love him and and i tried to tell myself like man is it just because he's gotten so much publicity like am i being too hard on this guy? Because I've heard so much about him and he wasn't like Megatron out there. But I still stand on what I saw last year from him and really wanting him to be stronger at the catch point. Like his whole thing is Odunze is a rare combination and he is of size, speed and strength.

But I felt like I did not see the strength portion of it enough whether that came to him being an imposing blocker him boxing guys out at the catch point and him coming down with contested catches like I just did not see that enough from him last year I saw some of the speed portions of it but I don't think he's a crazy burner you know I saw some really nice wiggle and body control for a player who is of his size but the thing that was going to round it all out was being able to say those two things but also go and he's one hell of a dude at the catch point this year he is and contested catches they're not always a stable metric i'm not going to sit here and say like

it's biblical it's it's the be all end all even for guys who don't separate super well well you'd like to see it you know you you would like to see it in those opportunities especially when you go back and you watch the moments on tape you'd like to see him be able to come down with some of these catches and he just he is at so much higher of a level this year washington's offense is going to the moon and every week it just feels like michael pennix is throwing for another 400 yards but He is at so much higher of a level this year. Washington's offense is going to the moon. And every week it just feels like Michael Penix is throwing for another 400 yards. But Odunze is a massive reason why.

It's because Penix has somebody like this to throw to. And so now I really am seeing, I feel like, the best version of Odunze. And the strength part of it to me is really important because this game gets really difficult with some of the best and strongest athletes in the world when you make that jump to the NFL. And if I feel like you're not dominating with strength in a way that I would like to see you do consistently at the college level, Sometimes I have a little bit of reservation because guys have gotten, there have been some really talented players that just get washed out. You know, the one that, you know, the two that, that go, I go back to that were big scouting misses for me were JJ Ortega, Whiteside and Kelvin Harmon. Kelvin Harmon's a little bit different because Harmon did win a lot with

strength at the college level. He just couldn't win with with strength at the college level. He just couldn't win with enough else at the NFL level. But Arthaga Whiteside, I didn't pay enough attention, I think, to just how strong he was because going back to it, it felt like he was just winning with size at the college level. And when guys got way stronger in the nfl it overwhelmed him and so that kind of that that part of it worries me i did not take seriously enough how strong these grown-ass men are at the pro level a couple of years ago when

i was evaluating those dudes so odunze all that to say i'm seeing a lot more of it from him this year i absolutely love it and when you plug that into his scouting profile, the rest of the things that he does at what, you know, six foot three, 215 pounds, whatever he's listed at, um, you gotta love what you're watching. So he is somebody who has been a lot of fun to watch this year. Cause I feel like we're seeing the best version of him. I'm with you all the way. He finished his wide receiver five for me over the summer. I mean, he's probably in the conversation right now for at least wide receiver four or three. So he's only gone up. I've seen him improve. I'm with you all the way. I had some concerns with him out of the summer, but saw the size speed that just that that profile is always

going to combo. Yeah, it's going to get you somewhere. And now it's I mean, he's he's been he's just been better. He's been better. The ball skills have been better. So I don't want to see her five behind him is my last guy wide receiver six is the first player I'm bringing up today that I have talked about on this show. But I kind of wanted to do a refresher on Troy Franklin, who is wide receiver six for me out of the summer. Another one of those guys, like you said, Trevor Long Leggy, he's six threes, 187. He's a very slender kind of guy and with Franklin you know what I liked so much about him out of the summer last year to have him as high as I did was the fact

that he was really quick off the line of scrimmage I thought he was explosive I thought he played with really really good leverage especially in the red zone. He had good hands. He has good hands and he can build up speed with these long legged strides, but he also has some short area quicks. But what I've seen from him this year is now he is understanding how to change tempo in his routes where you're like he's a talent right in 2022 he had 61 catches 891 yards and nine touchdowns and this was all playing on the outside he is not somebody that they have to throw in the slot and get all like these funky manufactured touches to him he doesn't have to do that this guy could be a true x-wide receiver and now with that reputation coming into this year

what i've noticed with him there was one play colorado they play right up against him because you think slender guy we got to get hands on him we got to disrupt the route yeah perfect shoulder dip release off the line of scrimmage we're knowing just that short area quick quick step i'm going to dip my shoulder sometimes having a smaller frame can have its benefits. I mean, he's really hard to, it's a smaller strike zone. And I'm noticing corners having a tough time actually hitting that strike zone because he's using his quicks off the line. He beat that corner for a deep touchdown. And when you're looking at Franklin now, because of that respect with that release

package, when corners play off of him, he's understanding how to change his speed because he has a lot of speed for a big receiver. He has long strides. He can get vertical. He can just hit that easy gas and get over the top, but changing his speeds is allowing him to beat zone. And he's playing with a quarterback, shout out to Bo Nix, that has been around a long time and can play like a pro. He can anticipate, he can find the soft spot of zones he can do the pro quarterbacking things that aren't always flashy but can eat up defenses like kind of paper cutting them to death so I just wanted to shout out Franklin because for me over summer and

I liked him a lot as wide receiver six and I just didn't see the same kind of love for him everywhere else he felt like this guy that people were like, okay, he's long, he's fast, he's playing in the pack, he went over the top, but he's really skinny, he's going to get pressed. And I literally wrote in my negative notes, still learning how to find the soft area of zone and not run into coverage. The number one thing I've seen from him this year is changing tempo in his routes to avoid that.

So this is a guy that clearly takes the coaching, clearly took to a critique, because I'm sure if I see it, the same guys at Oregon saw it, got in his ear. He's been phenomenal this season. He already has 25 catches over 400 yards, five touchdowns, almost 17 yards per catch. Oregon with Bucky Irving, Troy Franklin, and Bo Nix. That program is absolutely cooking right now. What a time for the Pac-12 with some of these offenses man but what what a curtain call for the pac-12 i mean what the hell it's the golden era of the pac-12 i saw i think i saw the pac-12 conference like tweet out oh no like never tweet it was like a it was like a list of like all of the top offenses or like how many teams were ranked or like the quarterbacks that they have in the conference.

And it's like, why are you the way that you are? You know? And it's just, how, how is this happening that, that next year we're not getting the PAC 12 coming off of what is one of their best years,

maybe over the last two decades. So PAC 12 good at some point of the 2024 NFL season, have four rookie starting quarterbacks, right? I mean, that'd be... I'm not saying week one. Right. Like, there is a time in the 2024 NFL season where Caleb, that's going to be week one, most likely. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be week one,

most likely. Yeah. I mean, right. Panics and Shador are all starting for an NFL team. That's insane. Yeah. You're not wrong.

It's insane. And it's crazy that that conference couldn't figure it out. And now they're, and now they're expanding. Wow. Okay. So before I get to, well, well oh i wanted to say about troy franklin i agree with you 100 i feel like he's much more well-rounded uh this year last year i felt like he was just like a vertical dude like all he thought about no doubt i gotta get deep like that's how i'm gonna win i gotta get deep and i think that you're right it was i don't know if i mean, I wouldn't say that I noticed it,

but now that you say it, it does kind of make sense. Just there wasn't tempo and there wasn't this, hey, okay, yeah, I'm running a nine route, but that doesn't necessarily mean because of the coverage I'm going up against, I need to be just going as fast as I possibly can. Maybe it's a little bit more of timing. Maybe we're hitting the honey hole in between cover two, whatever it is. I think that he has a little bit more of timing you know maybe we're hitting the honeyhole in between cover two you know like whatever it is i think that he has a little bit better of an understanding and i have seen some nice reps with him against press i um i might like tory

gordon better than tory franklin even i mean i i called him my cedric tillman of this year so i can't sit here and clap back. Just saying. I don't know. They're both pros. I think similar types of players, but I don't know, man. I think Torrey has more sandpaper to him, is how I would put it. All right. What do you mean?

It's like there's a little extra grit and grind in his game. And I don't say it sarcastically. OK, I don't say it sarcastically. There's just a little more. Traffic like I'm going to go in traffic. I got stronger hands. I'm going to stiff arm. Troy Franklin is more.

I'm going to get Troy Franklin's an air yards guy. I think that's also what i'm looking for too yeah not chris alava i don't mean i think but i think alava was a yards guy like that's why i might like horton a little bit more just because i see them both kind of the same but maybe i might i might give that edge to horton when it's all said and done which is gonna be fun a little back i will wait to decide after the new year all right uh i got one more guy and it's the fcs guy that i mentioned but before we get there we're back with another week of football this week and draft king sportsbook is keeping us in on all the nfl action with great offers every single game day new customers can

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Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance eligibility deposit restrictions do apply all right so the last guy that i want to bring to the table see that fcs wide receiver hayden hatton of the idaho vandals all right red shirt senior former tight end okay he came to school as a tight end uh i think he weighed like he's like six foot two and he weighed like 215 220 transitioned over from tight end to wide receiver very early on i think that it was his freshman year for idaho and he's really been standing out he was one of the best wide receivers in the fcs certainly in our grading system that we had last year he was absolutely setting that offense on fire and then this year a little bit lower of a grade i mean he's got 79.5 receiving

grade but this dude's film is fun man he just he's not gonna totally out athlete you but you watch his film and you go man you're nuanced already he's a redshirt senior so you kind of want to see that but especially from the slot man if you give him these two-way goes he will he will slightly be like let's say he's in the slot left side of the line of scrimmage he's got some he's got a dude in off coverage in front of him he will sprint and eat up that space immediately so he knows to do that he'll veer a little bit to the right and he'll threaten like he's going up the scene vertically. And the second that defender flips their hips to go even with him, boom, he will, he will put one hand on him. He will swim, move over him and he will hit an out route to the,

to the sideline. He'll be wide open. Like it's that kind of nuance in his game and his route running that I really, really appreciate. He's also got some fantastic contested catch opportunities. I don't think he's going to be much of a burner because he's not much of a burner at the FCS level so when he goes to the NFL I don't think that's going to change there but this is somebody who we we have seen FCS receivers get drafted throughout day three I think over the last couple of drafts you know Andre Josevis is

one of the dudes that stands out obviously from Princeton last year. But I think that this guy has a chance to really make a name for himself throughout the rest of the season and be one of those day three players. Anybody out there, watch Idaho's offense. I got the film cranking right now, by the way. Just go watch Hayden Haddon if you can. Search for his name on Twitter or on YouTube. Go just watch how successful this guy is. And when you're running your mock draft simulations and you get into that day

three area rounds, five, six, seven, whatever it is, if you need this big body type of wide receiver that you want to give a chance to, Haddon could be your guy. He is, he's a lot of fun, man. I really enjoyed watching him and kind of looking up his background a little bit and seeing how savvy he already is for the position dude he made a gnarly catch against nevada yes gnarly catch he i like him man i really do yeah he is he is somebody who he might get lost in the shuffle but i think the thing that is going for him will be instead of playing at a lower

level FBS school and not really being able to stand out, he can really carry that title of this was the best receiver in the FCS. And I think that's something that might help his draft stock, help his ability to get on a team when it comes to a draft weekend and then obviously the ensuing training camp. So I like it, man. If you haven't gotten eyes on him yet, I know you say you're watching him a little bit there. I'd love I love for you to watch him and get your thoughts, too. I certainly will. And I know he's on that senior bowl radar as well.

Jim Nagy tweeted. This is Jim Nagy's one tweet about him from this month, about a week ago. All right. Hayden Haddon can catch the crap out of it there it is that's a good compliment for hayden said it better myself jim hopefully we'll see him in mobile at the senior bowl i love when the small school guys get a shot up there especially when they're just carving it up at that level and it looks like he is man it's um god it's it's overwhelming because we just did a show right we just did a wide receiver

show for the 2024 NFL draft and we didn't talk about Marvin Harrison Jr. Emeka Ibuka Malik neighbors I mean we like millions of names and we talked about 10 damn good wide receiver prospects yeah you know it's that kind of year it it is and it's that kind of year and it is that kind of year. And honestly, this is a good transition into the little teaser for what's coming up next here on this podcast. But we're going to have a mock draft episode for you guys next week. We're debating on whether it's going to be on Monday or on Wednesday. I guess us saying it here at the end of the show, you guys can vote and voice your opinion because obviously like if it happens if we do it on monday we probably won't do what matters most on a wednesday unless you guys really want that if you want the mock on wednesday and then if you want us

to do what matters most or yeah yeah if you want the mock on monday and then you want what matters most including the monday night football games i guess we could do that on Wednesday if you want, but all that to say, we'll talk about the big name wide receivers when we go through those major exercises, our top fives, our mock drafts, all those things. But this day for this episode, we wanted to give you some sleepers. Yeah, this is the nuts and bolts of the show, right? I mean, this is what this this show this is what this land was built upon talking about fcs wide receivers this is the rebar and concrete brother this is the foundation that is exactly right and that is what keeps the nfl stock exchange alive well we finally watched you marie thrash so everybody out there who commented on it make sure you you better like

and subscribe if you shout this doesn't do it for this because we listen to you but uh let us know what you guys thought on uh all the wide receivers that we brought up if you've got takes on them if you've seen them if you liked them if you didn't like them we would love to hear from you and with this being a wide receiver centric episode throw the names out there we'd love to hear them i've watched a shit ton of these guys already but i'm gonna be watching so many more as the season goes on. Cause there's no doubt about it. It's an absolutely loaded class. Hit us up in the YouTube comments.

It's the best way to do that. YouTube.com backslash at NFL stock exchange. If your audio only at Tampa Bay, Trey at Connor J Rogers on both Instagram and Twitter, best way to do that. We already teased that the mock draft is coming up next week. You guys can determine in the comments and hitting us up on social whether you want it on Monday or Wednesday.

It'll be the same times. You know, it'll be like the 9.30 release on Monday or the 9.30 release on Wednesday. But let us know if you want it on Monday. We'll do it on Monday. And then maybe we'll do what's matters most a little bit later in the week. Connor, anything else before we get out of here? do i have one shout out let's go and i'm disappointed i didn't get to say it on what matters most but i think i think the good fans of the

chargers deserve it a quick shout out to tully to a pillow too oh yeah who had a monster, monster game. And, you know, we like to track the rookies on this show. And I didn't want to lose sight of that one as this week starts to already come to a close, which is just an insane thing to say. Do you have his data up right now? What is his? I know. I think he had 11 pressures. What?

I want to make sure that I had that right i do have okay now i'm now i'm i mean we almost have to do this right nine pressures oh wait i gotta hold on hold on hold on hold on i gotta set the filters correct i can't be lying to the good people all right nine pressures us nine pressures in a sack? Yeah, I mean, he just went banana land. Lord. Pressure production, 23.7%. He's killing it. He's killing it.

They got an absolute steal. I want to give some love to Tully. The Chargers need that help on defense, and at least they got one there for sure yeah he was great shout out love it love that you're getting close with that makes makes uh thanks for a good note to uh to get into the weekend hope you guys enjoy the weekend whether it's college football or nfl enjoy it we're going to be back with you on monday maybe for the bot draft or maybe for what matters most maybe we'll just do a show on hayden hatton

who the hell knows you decide in the comments below naggy on it would just be an hour what matters most 60 minutes on hayden hatton the choice is yours i'm trevor sikama that's connor rogers thank you guys so much for listening to the nfl saga shades podcast see you on monday Thank you.