My 10 Receivers to Watch at the Combine

Steve Smith gave his top 10 receivers to watch during the combine now I’ll share mine.

There is some overlap between his list and mine but I wanted to touch upon 10 receivers we should pay attention to in the combine. (This is not a ranking in any form.)

1.J.J. Arcega Whiteside

This guy is a touchdown machine and is the definition of a red zone receiver. He can run routes pretty well and has developed so much throughout his college career. What I want to see in the combine is mainly how he does in the measurables so his 40 time and his vertical jump. I also want to see how he looks going through route trees, mainly his hip movements.

2.A.J. Brown

For much of this season and before it A.J. was the consensus one but a dominant combine could go a long way for this receiver. He’s a talented player who just set a school receiving yard record at Ole Miss but at the combine he needs to show his strength in the bench, his speed in the 40, agility in the 3 cone drill, and hip fluidity when running routes in the drills.

3.Hakeem Butler

Butler is a physical receiver and a big red zone threat, but has a bit of a drop issue. He needs to score well in his measurable tests and catching drills like the gauntlet. I’m excited to watch him because I think he has a lot of potential and many analysts regard him highly.

4.Kelvin Harmon

NC State’s Kelvin Harmon isn’t as big as Whiteside or Butler but is a well-sized player who can exceed his college production at the next level so be a better pro than college player. This is saying a lot since he has been a pretty solid college player. The combine will test how he compares to his peers and if he out performs some of his peers ahead of him in projections. Seeing how he interviews with interested NFL teams is extremely important as well. This guy could easily propel himself into the first round since he’s already considered a round 2 talent.

5.Anthony Johnson

Here’s the last of the players I share with Smith and it’s Anthony Johnson from Buffalo. He’s a small school player but dominated in 2017 and still performed really well in 2018. He is related to NFL defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney of the Houston Texans, they are cousins but he didn’t have as easy a path. He wasn’t a top recruit out of high school and had to start at the junior college level and had to transfer each year to a higher level until his junior year where he landed in Buffalo and played his last two seasons there. He is a mid round prospect but has shown a high ceiling and a elite combine performance could turn heads and cause a meteoric rise in his draft stock.

6.Andy Isabella

This kid is going to tear up the agility drills like the 5-10-5 and the 3 cone, and he is the favorite to have the fastest 40 among the wide receivers and maybe the the whole combine. He struggled in Senior Bowl week practice but dominated in the actual game. So how will he treat the combine? Will he treat it as a no pad skills practice/ measurable test where he just wants to pass or will he go in with the attitude he has in games and go all out and try to “win” the combine? I’m excited to find out.

7.David Sills

This kid was a touchdown factory in his last two seasons at West Virginia with 33. He’s definitely talented but he is very raw. In the combine how he looks running routes will be important but I’m more interested in what his measurements will be. Specific measurements I mean are hand size, arm length, and weight he looks 6’4″ like he’s listed but he’s lanky and looks under his listed weight. I think he could shock people in the 40 with a better than expected time.

8.Terry McLaurin

Terry McLaurin is a huge unknown most of his college career. He was a depth piece or backup until his senior year where he started but was still in the shadow of star Ohio State receiver Parris Campbell. Campbell is a great athlete but in my opinion McLaurin has the better potential has a wide receiver. The combine won’t shoot him up to the early rounds but it will help fill the gaps missing from film since there’s only so much on him. He’s a sleeper to pay attention to in this combine.

9.Keelan Doss

Doss is a FCS player so plays lesser competition but still shows to be a impressive prospect. This is a guy, I had to say that this is a guy at least once sorry, who gets a lot of praise for his intelligence, elite ball skills, and impressive route running. There isn’t anything specific I want to see I just want to see how he does overall and I’m very interested about how scouts and NFL personnel view his performance and interviews at the combine.

10.Riley Ridley

He didn’t have a ton of college production being in a very heavy run offense at Georgia but many analysts and draft websites have him in their top 5. I still need to dive into film with him but I’m a little hesitant to see top 5 potential here. The combine is a great chance to get to know guys with little film, college production, or little buzz and start to see why scouts, coaches and analysts like certain guys. Hopefully Ridley performs well and shows that he is a top receiver in this class because he was a solid college player despite the lack of production and I’m a fan of his brother Calvin Ridley who just had his rookie season in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons.

(sources I used hyperlinked here)