Draft Profiles: Day 2 Wide Receiver Prospects
Taking a look at a few WR prospects that could be on the board for the Commanders in the second round.
The wide receiver position isn’t one that many would consider an immediate need for the Washington Commanders. While the team did lose Curtis Samuel in free agency, Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson both remain under contract for the next few years. However, just about every other receiver on the roster is due to be a free agent after this season and while the Commanders brought back Jamison Crowder and signed Olemide Zaccheaus in free agency, neither are considered to be a direct replacement for Curtis Samuel.
That could lead to the Commanders looking to add a receiver or two in the draft next week. With McLaurin and Dotson on the roster, they don’t need to force a pick or trade up into the first round for someone, but given the apparent depth of this receiving class, there will likely be good value available to Washington at the receiver position in the second and third rounds of the draft, if not even later too. So who are some receivers that the Commanders could target?
Well the question becomes what profile of receiver they might want. As things stand, McLaurin is currently the Commanders X receiver and Dotson plays the Z. But both are versatile enough that McLaurin could move to the Z and Dotson could move to the slot if the Commanders did want to add another receiver or two. So that flexibility means the Commanders can go with the best talent and fit the group around that rather than search specifically for an X or a slot receiver.
With so many talented receivers in this draft class, it was hard to narrow down on a few to write about. So I’ve decided for this post, I’ll focus on a few receivers with bigger frames that could appeal to Washington to round out the receiving group nicely, and then on Wednesday I’ll look at some receivers with smaller frames but could still be good fits. So let’s get into a few receivers with bigger frames.
Xavier Legette, South Carolina. 6-foot-1, 221 pounds.
Legette is one of the receivers I’ve seen most commonly mocked to Washington in the second round and if you mess around with any mock draft simulators, he’s the guy that’s almost always the top ranked receiver available at 36 and 40. While he’s not overly tall at 6-foot-1, that is taller than both McLaurin and Dotson. But it’s not just about the height, it’s the overall frame that is important. He’s 221 pounds, meaning he has quite a bulky frame for a receiver. He uses that frame to his advantage as smaller defensive backs find it hard to bring him down.
Here we see Legette running a basic shallow cross from the slot to the right. There’s nothing particularly special about the route and the defense just drops into zone coverage, allowing him to run underneath freely. The quarterback dumps the ball off to him and a safety reads the play from deep. The safety attempts to drive down and make the tackle just after the ball arrives, but Legette is too big for him to bring down. The defender looks to wrap up but goes just a bit too high, allowing Legette to ride the initial contact and stay on his feet. He shrugs off the tackle attempt and then is able to burst up the sideline for a first down and more additional yards before being forced out of bounds.
That frame is an asset after the catch as it’s hard for smaller defensive backs to bring him down, but it’s also an asset at the catch point. Despite having a bigger frame, Legette possesses great body control, which enables him to go up and make catches that other receivers just can’t.
On this play, Legette lines up to the left of the formation and runs a bench route. The route isn’t necessarily the sharpest and doesn’t create a ton of separation but it doesn’t really matter. The quarterback throws the ball high and to the sideline, knowing Legette can go make a play on the ball. Legette does exactly that, going up to snag a ball thrown very high and showing terrific body control in the process. He does almost a complete 180 in the air to go up and get the ball, but has the presence of mind to stick out his foot as he comes down to make sure he taps a foot down in bounds before he falls out of bounds. That whole process allows him to complete the catch for a first down, when many other receivers wouldn’t have been able to.
We saw there the leaping ability that Legette has to go up and make plays on jump balls. That skill translated to the combine where he measured in with an explosive 40-inch vertical jump. Legette was one of the best receivers at the combine with his testing numbers. Outside of that vertical jump, he ran a 4.39 40-yard dash. That speed suggests he can be a deep threat at the next level, but in the NFL speed is only part of the equation. Having speed is great, yes, but being able to track the ball and adjust your speed and path to the flight of the ball is more important than pure speed. Fortunately, Legette shows great deep ball tracking ability.
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