*Walt taking 2014 and 2018 |
Charlie Campbell, Senior Draft Analyst |
2021 Could be Another Strong Wide Receiver Draft
Updated June 26, 2020By Charlie Campbell. Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell.
One of the strongest positions for the 2020 NFL Draft was wide receiver, as the plethora of good talent stretched through all three days. The advance NFL scouts who put together teams’ preseason watch list see the possibility of another strong wide receiver draft, as they rate a shocking total of almost 60 college receivers who have the potential to be graded out as worthy of a draft pick or being a high-priority undrafted free agent. Obviously not all of those players will get drafted, but the watch list has a tremendous amount of receiver prospects for scouts to watch this fall. As a point of reference, the watch list for the 2019 college football season and 2020 NFL Draft had an exact total of 40 receivers on it.
On top of there being a lot of receiver prospects, there is the potential for some to grade out as elite. Every year, there are some players who jump out to scouts even though they aren’t draft-eligible. Those players are so talented they are impossible to ignore even though scouts are concentrating on watching the draft-eligible prospects for that coming April. WalterFootball.com reached out to team sources to see which players jumped out to them and a lot of names came back with a total that was more than normal. Thus, that points to 2021 having the potential to be another great year for wide receivers. Here is a list of wide receivers who have created a buzz with scouts heading into preseason practices.
- LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase
- Alabama’s DeVonta Smith
- Alabama’s Jaylen Waddle
- Ohio State’s Chris Olave
- Texas Tech’s T.J. Vasher
- Houston’s Marquez Stevenson
- Florida State’s Tamorrion Terry
- Florida’s Kadarius Toney
Again, a lot can and will change during the course of the 2020 season and in the leadup to the 2021 NFL Draft. As it stands right now, scouts anticipate a giant amount of wide receiver prospects to watch for the next spring, which could translate to another banner year at the position.
