NFL Draft Profile: WR Drake London

Breaking down USC WR Drake London

Drake London is one of the more intriguing prospects in this draft class. The USC wide receiver stands at 6-foot-4, 219 pounds, which means he provides a big weapon for any quarterback throwing him the ball. The Washington Commanders could well be looking to bolster their receiver group in the draft and London could be of interest to them. So what would he bring to the Commanders? Let’s take a closer look.

When watching London, obviously his size stands out, but a lot of receivers his size will fall into the habit of using their body to catch the ball as they shield the ball from defenders. London doesn’t fall into that trap, except when the play requires it. He’s a hands catcher, meaning he will catch the ball away from his body with arms extended, rather than position himself to trap the ball between his arms and his body like other bigger receivers do. 

The best examples of his hands can be seen on some RPOs that USC like to run. They often like to pair a run play with London running a quick out route on the back side, giving the quarterback the option to hand the ball off or pull the ball and throw the quick out. Just for the record, this is a concept Carson Wentz has run both in Philadelphia and in Indianapolis. 

Here are three different examples of that RPO concept. On the first play, the throw from the quarterback is high and London has to reach his hands up to make the grab. On the second play, the ball is at his hip level and much easier for London to catch. In the third example, the ball is low and outside, but London is able to make the adjustment, get down low and still bring in the catch. Not only that, but he is able to then dodge a tackle and create additional yards after the catch,

In those three examples, you can see London running the same route but adjusting his hands to make catches to different placements of throws. He’s able to go high or low and still secure the catch. With his ability to catch the ball away from his body, along with his frame, he offers a large catch radius, which gives quarterbacks a significant margin for error on their throws. That will make him a very quarterback friendly target. 

To go along with his great size and terrific hands, London is an exception jump ball winner. He has excellent ball skills that allow him to track the ball in the air and then use his size to leap above defenders and snatch the ball out of the air. 

On this play, London aligns to the left of the formation and runs a go route down the sideline. The defender stays relatively close to him the entire way down the field, but his presence is almost irrelevant. The throw is placed in such a way that allows London to go up at full extension and make the catch over the top of the defender. He snags the ball above where the defender can’t reach it and manages to hold on despite the defender trying his best to force it out as they fall to the ground. 

London’s ability to win jump balls is a significant asset, especially to a quarterback like Wentz that likes to give his receivers opportunities to go and make plays on the ball down the field. USC were smart in using London’s strengths, moving him all over the formation to get him matchups where he could win jump balls.

The NFL has started trending towards a big slot receiver instead of the typical small, shifty slot receivers that we’ve seen the likes of the Patriots use with Edelman and Amendola. London isn’t necessarily a full time slot receiver, he works on the outside just as well, but his flexibility to move inside is certainly an asset. Especially when it can create matchups like this. On this play, the defense plays Tampa-2 coverage, which requires a linebacker to play in the hole and split the safeties. With London in the slot, that linebacker is tasked with running up the seam and staying with London, which is a great matchup for the offense. The linebacker actually does a great job gaining depth to stay on top of London, but because his focus is on depth, he doesn’t look for the ball. The quarterback puts the ball up for grabs and London goes up to make the catch over the top of the defender. His momentum then helps him fall forward into the end zone for a touchdown.

This ability to win jump balls makes London a terrific weapon in the red zone. I could show you some examples of him winning in the red zone, but instead I’ll show you just how much defenses respect his ability.

On this play, USC align London out to the left with a slot receiver inside of him. The defense responds with a corner playing London with outside leverage while a safety sits inside, though perhaps he could be covering the slot. However, the slot receiver then goes in motion and the safety holds his spot, indicating to the offense that they are dedicating two defenders to cover London and are not letting him win in the red zone. As the ball is snapped, it’s clear both defenders' focus goes to London, with the corner playing outside to defend the fade while the safety plays inside to defend the slant. The pair combine to take him out of the play, but that opens up space on the other side of the field and USC makes use of that additional space, scoring a touchdown. 

That type of respect shown to London should indicate just how much of a threat he is in the red zone because of his leaping ability. His skill set enables him to stretch the field and win jump balls, but I’m sure Washington fans are getting flashbacks to a former first-round receiver with a similar play style in Josh Doctson. Like Doctson, London separates vertically, rather than with his route running prowess. As a route runner, London still has plenty of room for improvement. He can be a little one-paced with his routes and his moves rarely cause defenders to panic.

Here, London runs a double move against Notre Dame. He comes off the line and uses a stutter to try and fake running a quick hitch before working down the sideline. The defender allows him a free release off the line, but isn’t at all fooled by the double move. He stays in position, extending an arm out to keep control of the route while sinking back to stay on top of it. London breaks off his route near the first down marker, but the corner is right there in position to contest any throw.

London’s route running will definitely need to improve at the NFL level, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still be successful with his current play style. Separating vertically is still a valuable asset and can work just fine with the correct style of quarterback. For Josh Doctson, he was drafted by a team with Kirk Cousins as his quarterback. Cousins, at least at the time, was a pretty risk-averse quarterback that liked to see receivers breaking open to throw them the ball, rather than throwing the ball up and trusting his receiver to go and make a play. Now, Washington has a quarterback in Wentz that has no issues throwing the ball up to big receivers and letting them have an opportunity to go get it. 

On top of that, London has other ways to make up for his lack of separation from route running. 

On this play, London runs a quick hitch against a defender playing off-coverage. He doesn’t fully sell the threat of him running vertically, instead tipping off his intentions to break off the route quickly to the defender. The defender gets a clear read and breaks on the route quickly, closing the gap between the two. As the ball arrives, the defender is right there, but London is able to use his frame to shield the ball from the defender, enabling him to secure the pass and prevent the defender from making a play on the ball. From there, he then shrugs off the defender and turns down the sideline to maximize his gain on the play. 

A receiver doesn’t necessarily need yards of separation via their route running to be thrown the ball. With London having such a big frame, as long as he’s willing to use that size and be physical, he can shield the ball from defenders and make contested catches. 

This clips shows two examples of London making contested catches on slant routes. The first play is in the red zone while the second play is in a short-yardage situation, but they’re essentially the same play otherwise. He runs a slant on both plays and doesn’t exactly create a great deal of separation from his defender on either example. There’s also a second defender in the area on both plays, with a safety working across to land a hit at the catch point. But the key takeaway from these plays is how London shows a willingness to go make the catch despite the threat of potentially big hits arriving shortly after. If he’s not able to separate consistently with route running, he’ll need to be willing to play through contact, which he shows he certainly is willing to do on these two plays. He makes the catch on both plays and picks up the necessary yards despite the threat of being hit by the safety on both occasions.

London’s willingness to be physical helps make up for a lack of separation, as long as a quarterback is willing to throw the ball into tight windows. Add that to his frame, ball skills and ability to separate vertically and London should be able to be an effective target at the NFL level even without improving his current level of route running. Another string to his bow is his ability to generate yards after the catch.

We’ve already seen London create some yards after the catch in the previous clips, but this clip has two examples of him working after the catch to maximize his gains. The first play of the clip sees London align in the slot to the left before motioning even tighter to the formation. He then works out to the flat on what is essentially a bubble screen. The throw from the quarterback is late as he hesitates under pressure, and once it arrives it’s poorly placed. But London makes the adjustment to reach out and grab the pass. However, because of the timing of the throw, a Notre Dame defender is able to close quickly on London in the flat. Shortly after securing the pass, the defender makes contact, but London manages to brush him off and get vertical, bursting down the sideline and running through another arm tackle before being brought down.

On the second play of the clip, London aligns outside and runs a tunnel screen. USC liked to throw him a couple of screen passes a game because of his ability after the catch, which is pretty rare for a guy his size. The inside receiver blocks his defender well on the screen, but the middle receiver misses his block entirely. London is once again faced with a defender right in front of him as soon as he secures the catch, but he doesn’t panic. He jukes the defender to make him miss and then works around the block from the inside receiver to get back to the sideline. He then initiates contact on the safety by sticking out his arm and extending it to prevent the safety from being able to reach him. London drags the safety down the sideline for extra yards before eventually being forced out of bounds for a solid gain.

Overall, London offers a strong package of skills to any team that would look to draft him. His size and ball skills make him a solid deep threat and an excellent red zone target. He can make up for his lack of separation from route running by using his size to play physically and separating vertically with his catch radius and leaping ability. He’s also a threat after the catch with the ability to make defenders miss in the open field. For him to be successful in the NFL, he will need a quarterback that isn’t afraid of a lack of separation, trusting that he will win contested catches at the catch point. The quarterback will need to understand that they can adjust the placement of their throws to make use of his catch radius and throw him away from coverage to protect the ball and London from the defender. 

For Washington, Wentz has shown the ability to do that in the past. Certainly last year with the Colts, he was more than willing to give Michael Pittman Jr. - another tall USC receiver - the opportunity to win jump balls and contested catches. Pittman is a better route runner than London, but there are similarities there. London would certainly add some much needed size to the Commanders group of receivers, but perhaps the team could see similarities in play styles with Cam Sims and prefer a different style of receiver, like Chris Olave or Garrett Wilson.