Wide Receivers in the Draft

[darb72]

Cedric Tillman. 6'3, 215. 4.54 forty.

Let's get this out of the way first. I love speed, and 4.54 forty doesn't suggest blazing fast. Thing is, Hyatt, Tillman's teammate at Tennessee, ran away from everybody this season and managed a 4.41 forty. Tillman does not get caught from behind. He's also recovering from ankle surgery. The dude is plenty fast.

He's another consistent receiver.
2021: 64 catches, 1,081 yards, 12 TDs, long of 70
2022: (6 games) 37 catches, 417 yards, 3 TDs, long of 61

The elephant in the room is the high ankle sprain that required season-ending surgery. This is what teams have medical guys for. He did it against Akron, and still managed to put up 7-68 against Georgia. I can only judge based on film, and Tillman shows up extremely well.

The good is that Tillman is a tall, thick-bodied receiver with some of the strongest hands in this class. The TD catch against Arkansas at the 1 minute mark is a great example. He's a bully on the field, often stiff-arming defenders, or just running them over. He does an adequate job of tracking the ball over his shoulder. Pressing him in man isn't the best option since he is so strong. It's fun to watch when a defender tries to knock the ball loose and bounces off the guy. We know he's tough because he played through the high-ankle sprain.

Negatives. I'm going to be a little hypocritical here and say that Tillman had quite a few contested catches. I'm also not real sure about his route running. Thing is, both of those are likely a result of Tennessee's scheme which is throw the ball really far down field and hope for the best. Extremely simple route tree in college. He does tend to round off the underneath routes I've seen. A dedicated offseason should fix that problem, but we won't know for sure until it happens.

Without the injury, I believe Tillman is the first receiver off the board. Two thousand yard seasons against the SEC? While playing bully-ball? Yeah, he'd go pretty high. I think Perry will be the better pro, however. Tillman tops out as a great number two receiver. Big, strong CBs are going to stymie him.

Still, I like Tillman for the Ravens. We don't have a strong receiver, typically using our TEs to inflict pain on defenders. Unfortunately for that plan, they're generally covered by LBs and safeties who hit back. Tillman gives us a size/toughness at the receiver position we haven't had since Boldin. I'm aware that Steve Smith and Duvs are both tough guys; they're just not big.

I sincerely doubt we have a shot at him without trading into the second. Again, I think Perry will be the better pro. Tillman is a better fit for us right now.

This film is from 2021, but is a bit longer due to the aforementioned injury.

[LittleG]

I can see EDC trading out of the first and is picking early in the second round.

I don’t like that idea, as the better CB are more obvious and need taking around our current pick. There isn’t much to like in the fourth for CBs.

[darb72]

I can see EDC trading out of the first and is picking early in the second round.

I don’t like that idea, as the better CB are more obvious and need taking around our current pick. There isn’t much to like in the fourth for CBs.

I think we stay put to grab a CB in the first. There are five with first round grades, and each would upgrade us tremendously.

[darb72]

I'm going to do a quick post on the four "first round" receivers. I don't like any of them that early, but teams panic or fall in love with workouts. No videos, just my impressions.

Quentin Johnston: 6'3, 208. Probably 4.45 to 4.5. Plenty fast enough for a big guy.
If we're judging on highlight film, this guy is awesome. We're not. Simply put, he can't catch. Last year Johnston caught 61.9% of passes thrown to him, with an 11% drop rate. For his career he caught 57.8% of passes. All that, plus Ringo completely eradicated him in the championship game. He's a waste of a draft pick for us.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 6'1, 196.
Great hands, and Jaxon is plenty tough. He just doesn't separate. Making that even worse is that most of his film comes from 2021 when teams had to worry about Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave. That means he was going against a college team's third best DB. He might make it the pros, but I kind of doubt it. The fact he's being spoken of in the first round tells us how bad this class is for receivers.

Jordan Addison: 5'10, 175, 4.49 forty.
Don't let the combine numbers fool you, Addison is an electric playmaker. Is he the best in the class? Probably, considering how weak it is. What impressed me most though was Addison's drop rate. At Pittsburgh, he dropped at least 10 passes each year, for an 11% drop rate. That number fell to 3.7% at USC. He's probably long gone before we draft.

Marvin Mims Jr.: 5'11, 183, 4.38 forty.
There's a lot to like about Mims. He's tough, quick, agile in the open field. I do not like his catch rate. Drop rate was actually okay, at around 8%. His catch rate went from 72% his first two years to 59%. I think Duvs is a better version of Mims on offense, and we could draft Derious Davis for return duties.

[LittleG]

I think we stay put to grab a CB in the first. There are five with first round grades, and each would upgrade us tremendously.

I even like most of the 5…. It’s a good draft to need a CB with a later first round pick.

Who do you like at edge in the third, that means we might miss on your 2 preferred WRs?

Personally I would prefer we look at the WR position in the third and fourth rounds and not chase an edge player this year. Let last years second round pick show his worth.

[HbgPARavenfan]

Cedric Tillman. 6'3, 215. 4.54 forty.

Let's get this out of the way first. I love speed, and 4.54 forty doesn't suggest blazing fast. Thing is, Hyatt, Tillman's teammate at Tennessee, ran away from everybody this season and managed a 4.41 forty. Tillman does not get caught from behind. He's also recovering from ankle surgery. The dude is plenty fast.

He's another consistent receiver.
2021: 64 catches, 1,081 yards, 12 TDs, long of 70
2022: (6 games) 37 catches, 417 yards, 3 TDs, long of 61

The elephant in the room is the high ankle sprain that required season-ending surgery. This is what teams have medical guys for. He did it against Akron, and still managed to put up 7-68 against Georgia. I can only judge based on film, and Tillman shows up extremely well.

The good is that Tillman is a tall, thick-bodied receiver with some of the strongest hands in this class. The TD catch against Arkansas at the 1 minute mark is a great example. He's a bully on the field, often stiff-arming defenders, or just running them over. He does an adequate job of tracking the ball over his shoulder. Pressing him in man isn't the best option since he is so strong. It's fun to watch when a defender tries to knock the ball loose and bounces off the guy. We know he's tough because he played through the high-ankle sprain.

Negatives. I'm going to be a little hypocritical here and say that Tillman had quite a few contested catches. I'm also not real sure about his route running. Thing is, both of those are likely a result of Tennessee's scheme which is throw the ball really far down field and hope for the best. Extremely simple route tree in college. He does tend to round off the underneath routes I've seen. A dedicated offseason should fix that problem, but we won't know for sure until it happens.

Without the injury, I believe Tillman is the first receiver off the board. Two thousand yard seasons against the SEC? While playing bully-ball? Yeah, he'd go pretty high. I think Perry will be the better pro, however. Tillman tops out as a great number two receiver. Big, strong CBs are going to stymie him.

Still, I like Tillman for the Ravens. We don't have a strong receiver, typically using our TEs to inflict pain on defenders. Unfortunately for that plan, they're generally covered by LBs and safeties who hit back. Tillman gives us a size/toughness at the receiver position we haven't had since Boldin. I'm aware that Steve Smith and Duvs are both tough guys; they're just not big.

I sincerely doubt we have a shot at him without trading into the second. Again, I think Perry will be the better pro. Tillman is a better fit for us right now.

This film is from 2021, but is a bit longer due to the aforementioned injury.

There needs to be a tiny bit of caution on the tenn wrs. Their offense was somewhat unique and definitely vastly different than the rest of the sec. It could have potentially inflated a lot of numbers, there are plenty of times where defenders simply let wrs run uncontested right by them

[darb72]

I even like most of the 5…. It’s a good draft to need a CB with a later first round pick.

Who do you like at edge in the third, that means we might miss on your 2 preferred WRs?

Personally I would prefer we look at the WR position in the third and fourth rounds and not chase an edge player this year. Let last years second round pick show his worth.

I'm going to do another thread on edge players, but the guy I like for us is Andre Carter out of Army. The thing about this year's WR class it that it's so bad that it maybe a better use of resources to pick up an edge guy. There are FA WRs out there.

[LittleG]

I'm going to do another thread on edge players, but the guy I like for us is Andre Carter out of Army. The thing about this year's WR class it that it's so bad that it maybe a better use of resources to pick up an edge guy. There are FA WRs out there.

I don’t think we have the cap space for a FA WR or space to trade one in….

The draft is the only place for WR and sadly, it is the worst WR class in a while. Sometimes you just have to draft multiple WR in the strong draft years.

[darb72]

There needs to be a tiny bit of caution on the tenn wrs. Their offense was somewhat unique and definitely vastly different than the rest of the sec. It could have potentially inflated a lot of numbers, there are plenty of times where defenders simply let wrs run uncontested right by them

Most assuredly. I try to take into account the team's passing scheme, QB talent, etc... That's why I like Nacua so much. He gets yards in a variety of ways showing the kind of athlete he is.

There's also games against common opponents. Both Hyatt and Tillman had 60+ yards receiving against Georgia. Johnston had 3.

[darb72]

One last guy we should look at. And he fits right in with my theme of different types of receivers.

Elijah Higgins: Stanford. 6'3, 235, 4.54.

Okay, I value consistency on the football field. And Higgins is consistent, just not at putting up huge numbers. Stanford has a weird offense that featured a *possible* first round QB who they didn't ask to throw a whole lot. From what I saw from a few game films and his highlight tape, it's possible I have a higher opinion of Higgins than a lot of scouts. He is big, strong, and reasonably fast. Didn't see him get caught from behind. Had a catch rate of 86%.

The negatives are that he is a big receiver so isn't going to run crisp routes. Will be much better than TEs though, so that's a plus. Could stand to run through the jam rather than trying to get cute and dance around. Go through 'em. While he won't be caught from behind, most assuredly is not going to keep defensive backs up worrying about his speed.

Where does he fit with us? Gee, a 6'3, 235 pound wide receiver with outstanding blocking acumen on a team with the best running QB in the history of football? Wonder what we could ever do with that guy. I have him going somewhere between the fourth and sixth rounds.

[edromeo]

Cedric Tillman. 6'3, 215. 4.54 forty.

The good is that Tillman is a tall, thick-bodied receiver with some of the strongest hands in this class. The TD catch against Arkansas at the 1 minute mark is a great example. He's a bully on the field, often stiff-arming defenders, or just running them over. He does an adequate job of tracking the ball over his shoulder. Pressing him in man isn't the best option since he is so strong. It's fun to watch when a defender tries to knock the ball loose and bounces off the guy. We know he's tough because he played through the high-ankle sprain...

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to darb72 again.

Kudos to you bro, i haven't been commenting but have been reading...your posts have been a nice break from all lamar drama all the time.

I think you nailed this one.
In a draft filled with smaller WRs that played mainly in the slot or off the los as a Z, Tillman profiles as an X.
I've been watching some QB game cut-ups lately (are you gonna do a QB thread? i think we should have one)...anyhow been going through some HH games lately.
According to draft media Hyatt will probably be drafted higher then CT but when #11 and #4 were on the field together whether its running mirrored concepts or same side concepts or one of them is on the backside, HH was looking for Cedric....even to a fault at times.
The WR that the QB trust says something.

Not worried about the combine 40 time, he's coming off an injury and even if that is his true 40 time when healthy i'm not worried about it. The number is the number but the film is the film and i'm not sure if recall many..heck any CB try to press or play up on him. Georgia CB Kendric tried w/ Safety help over top and Kendric basically grabbed and held CT the for ~15 yards then CT throws him to the ground and wins a PI call.
To be the a WR in that spread-briles-air-raid you gotta be able to win vertically and get downfield and whatever the combination of speed, size and releases Tillman can do that all day long....in the SEC against Bama, Georgia etc.

Confident physical X that has plus run after the catch ability.
Can win at the los, track the vertical ball
Routes: Slants, Posts, Vertical, "Read" Go-Routes and Stop Routes, Hitches, Fades
He's not a quick, darting, deep threat but a sturdy frame intermediate bully that can get vertical.

[ShadeRaven]

NCAA Career Contested Target Rate
Drafted Rounds 1-4, Since 2017, Power 5-only

1. JJ Arcega-Whiteside, 37.3%
2. Nico Collins, 32.0%
3. Josh Palmer, 31.1%
4. Denzel Mims, 28.9%
5. Hakeem Butler, 28.8%
6. QUENTIN JOHNSTON, 27.1%*
7. Tylan Wallace, 27.0%
8. Terrace Marshall, 26.5%…

https://twitter.com/ScottBarrettDFB/...14351934173184


Zay Flowers going to the draft so he is being told he's 1st round