‘Tis better to receive … The wide receiver position has been one of the positions of choice at recent drafts. Indeed, two receivers were taken among the first 7 picks in each of the past couple of drafts, including former Alabama star Amari Cooper and West Virginia’s Kevin White who were the 4th and 7th picks respectively by Oakland and Chicago at the 2015 draft. At the same time, a total of 11 WRs were taken in the opening round of the past two drafts combined, the most of any position.
And there likely won’t be a huge drop-off in the talent level at the position at the upcoming draft, although time will tell whether the WRs come off the board quite as quickly this spring as in the past couple of years. Juniors Tyler Boyd of Pittsburgh and Mississippi’s Laquon Treadwell, for example, both have top 10 ability, but both have issues which could impact their ultimate draft fate. In particular, Boyd, who doubles as one of the top returners in the country, will not play in the Panthers’ season opener next month after he was charged with DUI back in June. Meanwhile, Treadwell is coming off a gruesome leg injury late last season in which he suffered a broken leg and dislocated an ankle. However, if they get cleared both are very talented receivers. Boyd, in particular, is a big-play threat who put together back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons in his first two years at Pitt. Boyd isn’t the most physical receiver, but he has good speed, along with better quickness while he also has great hands and the ability to get open. For his part, Treadwell is a potential mismatch problem on every snap with his combination of size and athleticism along with elite body control and the ability to track and go up and get the ball.
In fact, underclassmen are going to pretty much determine the strength of the 2016 wide receiver class. In addition to Boyd and Treadwell, fellow junior receivers Michael Thomas of Ohio State, Mike Williams of Clemson and Florida’s Demarcus Robinson each has later first round potential, while there is another small army of junior receivers that should get some second-day consideration if they opt to enter this year’s draft including Rashard Higgins of Colorado State, Travin Dural of LSU, Mississippi State’s De’Runnya Wilson, Pharoah Cooper of South Carolina, Tennessee’s Marquez North, Stacy Coley of Miami, 6-5 Corey Robinson of Notre Dame, Josh Reynolds of Texas A&M, Corey Coleman of Baylor and Cayleb jones of Arizona.
At the same time, Duke Williams of Auburn, arguably the top senior receiving prospect this year, also has mid-to-late first round potential, but he comes with a boatload of character concerns that may scare away more than one team next spring. Josh Doctson of TCU, another big-play type could also conceivably get some late opening round consideration, although he’s had some injury issues in the past. Meanwhile, other senior WRs with top 100 credentials include Leonte Carroo of Rutgers, Colorado’s Nelson Spruce, Devon Cajuste of Stanford and Sterling Shepherd of Oklahoma.
There are also a number of possible wild cards at the position starting with former Ohio State QB Braxton Miller who will be catching passes this fall rather than throwing them. Miller still claims to be a QB and is playing WR this year primarily because his surgically repaired throwing shoulder still isn’t 100%, but most NFL scouts will tell you they are secretly thrilled that Miller will be working at receiver this year because he just doesn’t have an NFL arm. Meanwhile, other veteran wild card receivers worth multiple looks this year include D.J. Foster of Arizona State, who ran for over 1,000 yards as a RB last fall, but like Miller moves to receiver this fall. Same for Oregon speedster Byron Marshall. Meanwhile, anyone looking for a break out star at the position this year may not need to look much farther than TCU’s Kolby Listenbee, an emerging big-play threat with track speed.
