NFL Draft: Top Five Wide Receiver.

Someone Nudge Me On The Shoulder If I Missed It, I Don't See What's Absent In This Wide Receiver Class. The 2023 NFL Comes Breaking Stride The Set S Few Years Ago. Chalk Full With Products That Aren’t On The Level Of What We'Vs Gotten In Recent Years. I Think A Superstar Remains Hidden Beneath The Rubble Of "Opinion" And Over Examination. 

Sure, No One Will Compare Say Zay Flowers To Jamar Chase, Two Year Ago Jamar Chase Didn't Look Like "Jamar Chase." Last Year's Group Of Receivers Didn't Clear The Bar Set By The Previous Two Years. Still, The Strata oF The Group, The All-Big Ten Corp Of Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, And Jahan Dotson, Made Their Marks On The League. Chris Olave Moved Ground Over The Middle, Garret Wilson's Slant Route Almost Cut Opponents To Ribbon, and Almost Pushed The New York Jets Into The Playoffs. The Washington Commanders Got The Most Touchdown Productive Rookie In Jahan Dotson, Who Looked Near Ready To Score A Touchdown Every Time He Ran A Route In Scott Turners's Offense. The Board Says Wide Receivers Are Going To Go Higher Than Expected Because The "boom Or Bust" Meter Tells Decision Makers That The Only Cap Flexible Situation That Trumps Having A Talent At The Level Of Justin Jefferson On A Rookie Contract, Having A Quarterback At The Level Of Justin Fields(I Like Fields More Than Lawrence) On A Rookie. Which Means If You're A Team Already Paying Your Quarterback $40-47 Million( The Going Rate For Any Quarterback Worth $ 40 Million Or Worth Playing), The Best Bet For Building Your Team Around That Albatross Of A Contract Comes In The Form Of Cheap Receiver Contracts. I Think The Biggest deterrent For This Class Of Receivers Compared To Years Pass is that None Of The Options Listed To Draft Are Complete Weapons. They All Have Glaring Faults To Their Game That, As Of Today, And Not Say September Have No Clear Solution. Some Lack Separation, Some Lack Burn, Some Are Absent Of Size Some Too Much "Size." Some Teams Are Going To Find Their Number One Guy Through One Or Two Of These Guys. Surprises like George Pickens Are Bond To Pop Out As The Season Starts. On Top Of The Five Guys, I've Chosen I Like Marco Wilson From Stanford. Boston College Receiver Zay Flowers Has Great Gadget Potential At His Feline Quickness And "Larger Than Size" Play Style, But Gadget Players Have Their Limits, Just As The Giants Learn With Kadavius Tooney From Last Year. 

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ohio State University.

His Movement Skills Are Elite. He’ll Get Open In A Phone Booth, Even If Phone Booths And Tight Quarters Will Serve As New Experience For Him In The NFL.

Jordan Addison, USC.

Award Winning Route Runner. His Route Running Skills Come With A "Clearance Level Access." He’s Weapon On Any Concept You Put Him On, And He May Emerge As The Best In This Class. He Compliments The Routes More Than The Routes Compliment Him.

Quentin Johnston, TCU.

Size Matters When You Know How To Use It, No Seriously. This Kid Knows How To Get Open And Over Coverage. He's Not A Box Out On The Goal Post Type, But Like Any Other Big Kid, He Knows How To Take Advantage Of His Ability.

Jaykin Hyatt, Tennessee.

Complete Receivers Are Without Questionable, A Better Draft Value Than Speed Guys but A Speed With A Little Range To Grow Into The Mold Of A Complete Weapon; that’s Where This Vol Has Space In This Draft.

Josh Down, UNC

He with A Clear Niche A Superb Control Over His Size On The Football Field. Call Him Small But Not “Undersized” or “Slot Only” Receiver. He’s The Receiver Type Teams Recognise Can Unlock The Scheme Fir They Needed Only Once They Have Them On The Roster.

Number 1:

Jaxson Smith Njigba Posted All Time Change Of Direction Numbers. Those Numbers 6.57 And 3.93 In Then Three Cone And The 20 Yard Shuffle Will Define The Best Wide Inn Draft Class. Not His Catches, Yards, Touchdowns, Or Something Arcane Like 40 Time. Ohio State Standout Jaxon Smith-Nigba Can Move, Get Free And Get "Jiggy" All Around The Field. On Tape, His Tough On Double and Limited Space Become A Vacuum When He Gets The Right Angle. He's Strong Base In His Leg. He Can Plant And Move almost In One Motion. THe Kinetic Energy Working Through His Body Seems To Work Seamlessly. If He'd Played Basketball, Defenses Would Find It Impossible To Defend. His Swerevs and Changes Of Gear Can Derail Multiple Defenders In Different Positions and Angles Simultaneously. His Play Skills Leave No Room To Debate Whether He's A First Round Talent. But He's Not A Complete Prospect; Questions About the JSN Game Still Linger Beyond The Obvious Lack of Speed, Which WE Know He LAcks. 

 How Will He Perform with Less Gravity Around Him? The College Hash Mark Creates Extra Room To The Boundary For Receivers To Work More Of The Field "The wide side of the field is extensive," Njigba's Sophomore Numbers And His Ridiculous 346 Yard Performance Against Utah Aren't So Surprising Or Jarring When You Consider That Ohio State Usually Pitted Njigba In Slot Against Defenses Forced To Declare Their Intentions Pre Snap. "Everything Is Declared" In College Football Gives Offenses The Advance To "Twist" And "Turn" And Set The Right Combination. Wide Receiver Who Win In The Open Field Are Products Of The Added Degree Of Space. JSN Doesn't Clog Up With His Wheels. Instead, His Extraordinary Movement Skill Only Again A Field Boost Because of How much Grass The College Width Allowed Ohio States Offense To Use. If A Team Selects Smith-Njigba, The Team Has To Have A Receiving Core In Place. Njigba Work Best From The Slot With Ohio State By Coach Ryan Day Using The Gravity Of The Teams. Other Playmakers Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr., Julian Fleming, and Mitch Rossi, All Of Whom Are NFL Level, Pass Catchers. College Defenses Had Nowhere To Cheat No Assignments To Leave UnGUARDED. Against Defensive Could Only Use Several Defensive Scheme Because You Cant Box Anyone Receiver In. A Team With A Clear Cut X Receiver Has To Draft A Guy Like Njigba. With Everything Said About Jaxon, He Can Still Give You All You Need In A Complete Wide Receiver. Do You Wish He Could Separate Better At The Top Of Routes? Yes. Even With His Speed Challenge Game, Smith-Njigba Has An Argument For The Title Of Best Receiver In This Year's Draft. He Can Catch The Ball, and Speed Doesn't Trump's Skill In The NFL. The Premier Critic For JSN is That He's A Slot Machine Only Might Get Challenged In The Pros. Justin Jefferson Caught The Same Critic Coming Of LSU. The 2020 LSU Had A Blow The Roof Off The Top Wide Receiver Corp. Once Jefferson Entered His Very Own Domain, The Pros, He Emerges As The Games Best Receiver. JSN May Never Maybe Should Never Run Route Exclusively As Your "Best" Number One Receiver; He Doesn't Have The Turbines For Top Target Duty. 

Number 2, Jordan Addison:

Jordan Addison—Pro Comparison: Stefon Digg. 

When Jordan Addison made a move, he made a lot of activities to transfer from the University Of Pittsburgh Panthers To The USC Trojans; the movement had a shiny ring for the many waiting to watch how Addison moved. Leaving Pitt, Where Addison Won The Bilenikoff Award For Best Receiver Made All The Football. His Award Winning Season Of 1593, 17 Touchdowns, Probably Made Both His Career and The Career Of Kenny Pickett Left His Quarterback Who Got Taken First Round In The 2022 NFL Draft. With No More Pickett, Addison Made The Leap For Greener Terrain, and No Team Had More Appeal Than USC Trojan Once The Transfer Window Opened Up. The Added Forces Of Addison's Talent And The Lincoln Riley Offense That Sent Marquise Brown And CeeDee Lamb To The League Made For Sure Fire Hit. Riley took with Him Former Fiver Star Recruit Caleb Williams, A number One Quarterback In The 2024 Draft. Southern California Provided Addison A Scenic High Profile Venue, A Wide Offense, And A Live Arm Quarterback. Addison Numbers Drop Overall, USC's Offense Had Other Members Of The Offense To Feature, Unlike Pitt. Outside Of The Screen, The Trojan Sure Didn't Use Addison In The Same Capacity As The Pitt Panthers. 

In The Blue and Yellow Of Pitt, Addison Had Green Light To Go, And He Hit The Next Level Every Opportunity To Take Off. He Certainly Had Of An Easy Go Flying Past ACC competition More Than PAC-12. Either Way, He's Got Three Years Of Stellar Production For Scouts, Fans, And Analyst To Fawn Over. Pittsburgh Definitely Used Him More In The Slot Receiver Role, Where His Frame Gave Him The Opening for Easier Releases. 

He Average Around 15 Yards Per Catch Down Field And 17 Touchdowns, Most Of Which Came In The End zone. From The Film I Couldn't Tell Which Routes He Excelled At The Most, He Bucketed Them All. 

He's Got The Skills That Ripple Through The Conscious When You See Him Play Football; Route Running. 

A Little Lower On The Size Scale, Addison Comes In 5'11, and The Speed Doesn't Turn Heads, Only A 4.49(Impressive-Ish). Still, He's got The Master In Route Running That Can Turn Defensive Backs Into "Cripples" (I Hope That's Not Offensive). Addison Plays A lot Faster Off The Line But Doesn't Have an Alot Of Top End Burst To Stack Or Box Out A Defensive Back From Interfering With As When The Balls And His Down Field. Even When Cloak By A Defender, If The Ball Enter His Range With Good Placement, He'll Come Down With Another Number Added To Star Line. 

He Got Away From A Few College Level Defenders But The Better Held Addison In Check. A Smaller Leaner Receiver, Doesn't Stand Out As Someone Who Will Stand On The Boundary. Not Especially Twitched Up Either; He's Angular and Refine. If He Has Breaks In His Route Running, He Doesn't Show Them Regularly. He Transitions Smoothly From One To Another Like A PAC Man Around The Maze Of What Ever "PAC Men" Are Trapped In. If You Don't Like Addison As Your Number 1 Guy, Pros Like Devonta Smith And Jaylen Waddle To That effect Prove That Having A Sure Fire Number Matters Just As Much as Your Top Guy. 

Number 3, Quentin Johnson: 

Quentin Johnson, TCU:

If Size Matters, Quentin Johnston Has The Numbers You're Looking For In A Wide Receiver. Judging Tall Limber Receivers Presents A Few Challenges. Johnston Steps Into The Wide Open Field For The Top Receiver Standing 6'4, 215 lbs. Naturally, You'd have A High Volume Of Jump Ball Over The Top Of Rim Catches. Johnston Excelled In TCU Offense, A prototypical Down Hill; in His Three Season With The Horn Frogs, He Never Average Less Than 18 Per Catch peaking At 22 Plus as A Freshman. If You Lee Team In The Wide Receiver Market, You're Looking To Keep Johnston In That Vertical Volume Role. As Route Runner Johnston Looks Raw Or Maybe Untested. Johnston Doesn't Have The Twitchiness To Go With His Frame. He Doesn't Change Directions Particularly Well(Or Often) Unless Acted On By Another Force(A Defender).

 He Uses Most Of His Explosiveness To Get Up Fields And Beyond His Opposition In A Hurry.

He didn't Run A Forty Or Take Part In Change Of Direction Drills, And Why Would He? His strength Are Clear. Any Team Already Knows What They're Signing On For The Next 4-5 Years, and So On. He's Not Going To Separate At The Top Of The Route, So The Ball Has To Have Some Touch On It For Him. 

His Three Main Counters To His Breakaway Ability Are Comeback Routes, screens, The Shallowest Of Routes(Like Hairline Off Line Shallow), And Deep Post Routes And Screen Routes. Almost 33% Of His Catches as A Senior Came On Screens. 

Surprisingly Or To My Surprise, Despite His Go-Go Gadget Like Frame, He Sells His Route With a Relative Degree Of Finesse. Defensive Back Fear Him Over The Top, With One Shoulder Shimmy Johnston Steal The Inside Of A Corners. That Doesn't Mean He's A Salesman On All Of His Routes; he Doesn't Expect Whip Or Double Moves From Him Too Often. Johnston Does What He Does Well, Asking More Or Alternatively Means Essentially Abusing His "Standout" Skillset. 

He got Plenty Of YAC On Those Screen And Really, Any Of His Catches, Johnston Gave Plenty Of College Corners Freddy Krueger Level Nightmares Trying To Bring Him Down In The Open Field. 

At The Combine, Johnston Went Full Ja Maront Up On The Athletic Testing, 40.5 Inch Vertical, 11'2 Broad Jump. He Has Gifted Hands; You Follow The Ball As It Rests Into His Arms With No Protest Whatsoever. His Hands Are Magnetic. Johnston Weight In A Light 208 Lbs At The Combine, And That Lightness Showed On Film. As I Alluded To Early, Smaller Defensive Backs Pushed Him Off Course Quite Frequently. 

Number 4, Jaylin Hyatt:

Jaylin Hyatt— Tennessee 

Jaylin Hyatt Gets Clothes In This Reputation As A One Trick Pony Because of The Offense He Came Out Of In Knoxville And The Explosive Traits He Posses That Inspired The Offense. Nevertheless, On Tape, He's Much More Than A Slim Go Ball Specialist. The Deep Mades A Grand Impression. Hyatt Bounced Up From A 226 Yard Season As A Sophomore To A 1267 Yards And 15 Touchdowns As A Junior. He Had Four Total Touchdowns And 502 Yards in His First Two Years. 

The Tennessee Product Drives a Hard Bargain A Hard Speed Out On The Outside. He Finished His Three Years At Tennessee With One Season Of Really Stellar Production. His Quarterback, Hendon Hooker, Had His Best Pro year, Both Helping Tennessee to Top Four Ranking Before The Injury To Hooker Scrap Their Season. The Hendon To Hyatt Missile Test Site Open From The Start Of The Season In Tennessee Went All Ranges. Hooker Didn't Always Have The Arm For Hyatt, Who Posed A For Getting Behind Any Coverage At Full Speed. His Award Winning Stat Line Should've Rounded A Lot More Gaudier. He Out Runs By Alabama's Secondary For Five Touchdowns, Torching A Couple Of Pros. Once Tennessee's Offense Design The Plays And Scheme To Keep Hyatt In Off Coverage, The Game All Came Down To If The Defender Could Out Run Hyatt, Ans In Most Cases, The Opposition Couldn't. He's Not Your Prototypical X. When He's Faced With Serious "Off" Where The Defense Sells Out To Bail Back To Stop A "Deep" Push Hyatts Two Counters A Slants Or Skinny Post Which He Can Convert To Big Up Field And Stop Routes, Comeback.

Hyatt Can(Or At Least Has Done; I Don't Think Tennessee Fully Explored All Of His Upside) Perform Just Enough In a Role Quick Game To Avoid The Narrative That He's a "One Trick Pony." He's Built So Much Of Reputation, Speed Outs, and The Title Of one Play ago. Slot Guy won't Avoid Him Heading The Draft. He's Perfect For Pre Motion, Stacked Receiver 2x2 Formation. Speaking Of Opposition, Of The Two Award winning Wide Receivers In This Draft (Jordan Addison), Hyatt Has The Higher Ladder To Climb Into The First, Considering His Board Jump Scored In the 98th Percentile And A Vertical Not Too Far Off, Seems Like A Small Feat. 

Most Award-Winning Devonta Smith Dismissed A Notion That "Rail Thin" Can't Compete In The League. Smith And Hyatt, Only Somewhere Between 170-180 Lbs, Aren't Outliers Just Brand Specific. Hyatt Has A Very Interesting Build That InCan Only be Distribe As a limited Torso and A Lot of legs And Arms Bending Around. im A Physiologist, But He Won't Put on Weight Easily. If You're Drafting Him, You Love What They Achieve In Getting Open Over The Top and Are Willing To Roll On Your Concerns With His Durability. Other Speedsters Who Compared Favorably To Hyatt, Like Will Fuller IV, Have Struggled To Stay Healthy. 

From The Film I Watched—Keep In Mind I don't have Access To All His Game Tape—He Didn't Face Too Many Contested Catch Situations. According To PFF, He Notched Three Contested Catches Which Honestly Felt Generous When The "Film" I Watched. Tennessee Obviously Had Another Guy Who Filled In That Contested Catch Role For Them In Cedric Wilson. Those three Meager Catches Aren't a Condemnation Of His Ability To Win Those Balls. As A Product Of Tennessee PassEr Exclusively Targeting Hyatt On Open Deep Route: the Offense Gives And Takes Away. (Almost)

No Football Evaluator Worth His Salt Would Suggest That Speed Alone Makes A Receiver An Amplifier For A Modern. receivers Are Made Of More Qualities Than Just Forty Just Like Movies Are Made Of More Parts Than Just Stars. 

Number 5, Josh Downs:

Josh Downs, North Carolina

"Great receivers come in all shapes and sizes." that's How I Understand Football. If I Had To Describe Josh Downs's Game Given One NFL Player As Comparison—actually, That's What I'm Doing— He's A More Compact Hunter Renfrow. 

He's a Pocket Rocket Receiver But Jolted All Throughout UNC's Offense. Downs Won On All Of The Single And Double Routes From The Slot, But He Hit All The Bases At UNC in A Three Year College Career Catching Pass From Two Pro Quarterbacks, Sam Howell(Of The Commanders) And Drake May(Potential First Round Pick Next year). Downs Caught 202 Passes For 2500 Yards And 22 In His Time In Carolina Blue. His forty Of 4.48 Put Downs In The Fast Enough Range—Any 4.4 Usually Marks A Mover—I Still Found Myself Wanting More. 

Most Panelists Are Tying Downs Down By Negative Wind Caught On To The Receivers Size. He's About The Height Of One Kyler Murray And Giving At Least 35 Lbs. Still, His Dimension Are Critical When You're Asking Downs To Succeed At Blocking and Play Outside Or To The Boundary. If Your That Team That Drafts Him, You Understand That's Not Where You Want To Use This Skillset.