I get it that JSN had quite a bit of success in college. Good receiver. Maybe even by college standards a great receiver. BUT…athletically/physically he reminds me a lot of Golden Tate. Now maybe if he turns out to be a Golden Tate level WR in the NFL, he will have a nice career. But I’m not taking Golden Tate at #6 OA in the NFL Draft, and I don’t think Brad Holmes will either.
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I thought Tate was much squatter, more of a RB build for the WR position. JSN is sleeker. Build-wise he reminds me a lot of former Jags receiver Jimmy Smith. They’re basically the same height and weight and their testing numbers are similar too, outside of the agility numbers (JSN’s are all-time). JSN doesn’t give you the bulldozer YAC Tate did, but he’s far more refined as a WR and will get open against pretty much any coverage.
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All the physiological/athletic likenesses aside, do you really think JSN would be a better choice at 6 than Tyree Wilson, Gonzo, Spoon, Carter, Anderson or Skoronski? I certainly don’t; especially considering we used a lot of capital last year to get Jamo and we have a similar slot guy in ARSB. If it were Marvin Harrison Jr., then yes. I would take him up there. But JSN is not in the same stratosphere athletically. In all his film I don’t see him threatening defenses deep. 97% of his stuff is underneath. Again, he’s not chopped liver but he is not worth 6 OA.
I would rather have Carter and Anderson for sure but I’d take JSN over the others. I talked a lot about the reasons in that thread about him I started (The case for Jaxon Smith-Njigba at #6), but in particular something I posted later I find eye-opening and a reason I think he’s totally worth it:
More fascinating stuff from Bruce Feldman:
I’ll be stunned if Jaxon Smith-Njigba doesn’t have a bunch of 100-catch seasons in the NFL, and I think he’ll go higher than I’ve seen him on some early mock drafts. Of all the wonderful Ohio State receivers that have come out of Brian Hartline’s room in the past few years, rival coaches I spoke to thought he was the best prospect to this point. (Marvin Harrison Jr. will surpass them all next year, but he’s not draft eligible yet.)
At 6-1, 196, Smith-Njigba is the closest thing to a sure thing in this year’s receiver crop. Last year, the Buckeyes produced two first-round wideouts in Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, and both were 1,000-plus-yard receivers as NFL rookies. According to the coaches we’ve spoken to who faced all three of them, Smith-Njigba is much more physical and has better change of direction than Wilson and Olave.
There has been some skepticism about Smith-Njigba’s speed, but his quickness is elite, and he displayed that in Indy. His 20-yard shuttle time of 3.93 seconds was the fastest by a receiver at the combine since 2013, and his 3-cone drill time of 6.57 seconds was better than anyone at this year’s combine.
Hartline, a former NFL receiver himself, wasn’t surprised at all. “Jax has a great feel of the game within the game, start there,” Hartline told The Athletic on Monday. “He knows how to use his body and how to win at the end of the play with whatever the job description is. There’s kind of a knack for that. Some guys just get it. As coaches we can try to enhance that, but from Day One, he always had that knack. There’s just something a little different for what Jax does.
“His change of direction is definitely the best that I’ve had. Garrett was pretty explosive. They all have their own niches, but when he changes direction out of a break, he doesn’t slow down. This game is really all about change of direction, and his is different, and I think it’ll be really hard for anybody to keep up with him when he changes direction because he is that elite at it, and that literally is the common denominator for creating separation in football.
“He’s kind of unguardable. He’ll be über-productive in the NFL. I think he will be a guy that leads the league in receptions and receiving yards. No one’s gonna be shocked. That’s just who he is, and he’s only gotten better, Like C.J. (Stroud) said, he’s the quarterback’s best friend.”
I think he’s a superstar waiting to happen.
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