DeAndre Smelter as a Great 4th Round Value

[The Wizard of OZ]

0ap3000000437750.jpg

6’2 226 lbs
11 inch Hands


I want to talk about what I like about DeAndre Smelter and why he has excellent mid round value.

Before I move into talking about Smelter it is important to mention that he is a guy coming of a torn ACL injury. So it’s going to take him some time to get back. He was close to 1,000 yards in an offense that does not really feature receivers and may would have reached that mark had he not gotten injured. I looked at his timetable for return and it looks like he’ll be ready for training camp. So teams will need to do some homework on before the draft knowing that he's not even ready to run just yet. Now let’s look at what there is to like about DeAndre Smelter.

I looked at all of his games over on draftbreakdown(vs VA Tech; Clemson; UVA; Wooford; GA Southern) and decided to work through what I like and where I think he needs some refinement.


The first thing that stood out to me about Smelter is he's a very physical receiver that plays according to his frame.


http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...cademicDorking

Here in the clip above, as he makes his cut inside on the route, he gets physical with the CB on the cut and losing him, getting open for the catch. While this is good, as I will state later, I think his reliance on being physical does cost him at times.

Not only does Smelter get physical with CB's in his routes, but he also is very physical with defensive backs after the catch.


http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...yLiquidBettong

As seen here, he has a very strong stiff arm, which makes him a tough tackle for most defensive backs. And when not relying on his stiff arm, his build, much like a HB requires defensive backs to play big boy football.

http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...Japanesebeetle

Here he's just able to run through the attempted wrap tackle by Wooford's Corner. So initially the thing that stood out to me in all of these videos is he's a very physical guy in his routes, he has a strong stiff arm, and his frame just makes him a problem, particularly for smaller corners.

But for a guy his size he also is quite nimble and can make defenders miss in space.


http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...geOddballEider

As seen here Smelter can make defenders miss in space, which is pretty amazing for a guy with his build and size. This is where that comparison to a HB comes into play. Smelter is akin to Ty Montgomery but with much better hands and movement. He has another play like this on the UVA tape at 3:03-3:15

When it comes to playing WR in college and the NFL one question that we often ask is can a guy go up/high point passes?


http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...dAmericanrobin


http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...tableArrowworm

In this clip Smelter gets up to get a high pass. I really wish there were some examples of him and the defensive back running together and him get up over the defensive back, but I did not find that. I will look back through. Another example of him going up for high passes can be found at 1:32-1:36 vs GA Southern.

Another thing to like about Smelter is that he is a WR that doesn’t mind blocking. Now before I post the clip I do want to say that not all of his blocks end up this way. This just happened to be a crack block.



http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...eJaggedKinglet

But, he does seem to try to throw these types of blocks a great deal when he's working from the perimeter inward. For more check out the following spots and games:00:05; 00:23;3:06 vs Georgia Southern; 00:39-00:44 vs UVA

The final thing I want to point out is Smelter, for a guy his size, has plenty of foot speed to get behind defenses.



http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...ScornfulJaguar

As you can see here, he sold the stop and go and just outran the secondary to the football.

Now for all of those great things there are a few things that I did not like. I'm not going to post video for all of them. The post is long enough at this point. Sometimes Smelter allows the football to "come to him" rather than attacking it and snatching it out of the air. And I do think he needs to do a better job of selling routes. I will post what I mean hear because it is related to the concern I mentioned earlier, namely, him relying on his physicality too much.



http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-em...nedUnknownEsok

Notice here he doesn't do a good job of selling this route and tries to get physical with the defensive back to create space. This tipped the defensive back off and allowed him to be in great position to make a play on the football if it were thrown on the money. You can see more of this vs UVA and VA Tech. He relies on his physicality rather than selling those comebacks and curl routes.

These weaknesses can be cleaned up with good coaching. Overall I think Smelter is a prospect that has major upside and a tremendous value in the 4th round.

[wickedsolo]

Good write up.

I would love to see Smelter on the Ravens squad next year. Love physical receivers.


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[Bigfish]

He has the profile of an Ozzie value pick. 11" hands? That's the size of a baseball mitt. Nice write up.

[The Wizard of OZ]

He has the profile of an Ozzie value pick. 11" hands? That's the size of a baseball mitt. Nice write up.

He played baseball too, but his throwing shoulder got messed up so he moved over to football.

[Bigfish]

He played baseball too, but his throwing shoulder got messed up so he moved over to football.

Your write up compelled me to measure my hand and it's maybe 8.25". I'm 6'1" and can palm a basketball. 11" is sasquatch sized. His hand eye coordination has to be good with a baseball background.

[The Wizard of OZ]

Your write up compelled me to measure my hand and it's maybe 8.25". I'm 6'1" and can palm a basketball. 11" is sasquatch sized. His hand eye coordination has to be good with a baseball background.

Yes, that was one thing I failed to mention that Daniel Jeremiah actually mentioned about him. His hand/eye coordination is phenomenal. In either case I'm hoping his recover is going great. Last I read, he was about three months from being full speed and that was back on March 12.

[JoeCool5]

Thanks for writing this. Smelter is one of those under-the-radar guys that I like the more I keep reading about him.

[darb72]

Your write up compelled me to measure my hand and it's maybe 8.25". I'm 6'1" and can palm a basketball. 11" is sasquatch sized. His hand eye coordination has to be good with a baseball background.

I'm 6'2 and my hands are 10 inches. Another inch would be freakishly big.

Then I measured my against other things to understand why my wife loves me. Yes, my hands are big enough to sign over my paycheck.

[JMUpurkfool]

Smelter isn't even under the radar. Literally everyone talks about him as a 4th round sleeper which means you probably won't even be able to get him there. The kid is probably a high 2nd round pick without the injury. I'd love to have him but so would the other 31 teams. He will probably get snatched up before we can take him.

[Ravenous1]

Smelter isn't even under the radar. Literally everyone talks about him as a 4th round sleeper which means you probably won't even be able to get him there. The kid is probably a high 2nd round pick without the injury. I'd love to have him but so would the other 31 teams. He will probably get snatched up before we can take him.

It only takes one team to love a guy

I got a feeling a team will like him enough to pull the trigger on him sometime before the end of the 3rd.

[The Wizard of OZ]

It only takes one team to love a guy

I got a feeling a team will like him enough to pull the trigger on him sometime before the end of the 3rd.

My initial thread was going to read 3rd round. I see him being taken by someone in the third to be honest. I just put 4th round to be conservative.

[wickedsolo]