Why I think Drake London has the biggest bust potential of the top 5 receivers in the NFL Draft

[Paradis]

On 4/13/2022 at 1:40 PM, DoomProphet said:

London isn't near the route runner that Wilson, Williams, & Olave are. He's better than Burks but he doesn't have game speed or the game breaking ability that Burks has. Plus he's the slowest receiver out of the top 5. He's my WR5. Maybe that's a hot take but he scares me and I don't want the Jets to go near him.

hold, Olave is a refined route runner? 

This thread opened with a "Q" tag, and now quickly trending to "D" 

Out of the top names floating around, Olave is one of the least proficient route runners. Feet? good. Routes? meh. He gets worked on the outside at times. 

[Fantasy Island]

On 4/13/2022 at 3:57 PM, GangGreen Machine said:

Jets biggest flaw in the WR room last year seemed to be getting separation outside of Moore in a few games and Berrios at the end of the season.

London is a throwback bully ball WR. Rules have changed for the better for wide outs so no priority need for elite physicality.

Id like some more speed and agility in the next high pick WR to become a jet. Maybe someone with traits similar to Mr. Hill but without the baggage. 

And muddy mudskippers throwing 

[T0mShane]

3 minutes ago, Paradis said:

hold, Olave is a refined route runner? 

This thread opened with a "Q" tag, and now quickly trending to "D" 

Out of the top names floating around, Olave is one of the least proficient route runners. Feet? good. Routes? meh. He gets worked on the outside at times. 

Greg Cosell had an amazing stat about Olave—he was only targeted 17 times on third down all year. For a guy who all the draftniks want to compare to Marvin Harrison, that’s nuts.

[slimjasi]

5 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Greg Cosell had an amazing stat about Olave—he was only targeted 17 times on third down all year. For a guy who all the draftniks want to compare to Marvin Harrison, that’s nuts.

This is the problem sometimes with drafting guys from stacked teams - had to split targets with Wilson, but could def be a concern.

At least with London, he was THE guy with a bad QB throwing him the ball - so he got force fed the ball and used to being the man. 

[Paradis]

18 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Greg Cosell had an amazing stat about Olave—he was only targeted 17 times on third down all year. For a guy who all the draftniks want to compare to Marvin Harrison, that’s nuts.

The Penn state game was RIP for me. 

[DoomProphet]

25 minutes ago, slimjasi said:

This is the problem sometimes with drafting guys from stacked teams - had to split targets with Wilson, but could def be a concern.

At least with London, he was THE guy with a bad QB throwing him the ball - so he got force fed the ball and used to being the man. 

Okay, but what about his ankle?

[slimjasi]

2 minutes ago, DoomProphet said:

Okay, but what about his ankle?

Totally forgot about it lol 

[DoomProphet]

Just now, slimjasi said:

Totally forgot about it lol 

it's a BIG problem considering he keeps pushing back his draft day workout.

[Dunnie]

Drake London could be Brandon Marshall or Keyshaw Johnson... that is all.

Then again maybe not.

It's a tough decision.

[ryu79]

9 minutes ago, DoomProphet said:

it's a BIG problem considering he keeps pushing back his draft day workout.

It's tmrw. He pushed it out once because of a hammy not the ankle. Apparently he is running tmrw...

Read today that he has been visiting teams in the interim. 

Wonder if we've have him in to Florham Park yet...

[DoomProphet]

6 minutes ago, Dunnie said:

Drake London could be Brandon Marshall or Keyshaw Johnson... that is all.

Then again maybe not.

It's a tough decision.

Not for me, too slow, not enough separation, his ankle, I think he has the highest chance of getting hurt repeatedly by getting blasted by safeties.

[Hael]

I'm not thrilled with any of the WRs in the top part of the draft.  Likely there will be one of the lot that turns into an all star, but it will be completely random from an eval pov.  Instead they look like a lot of good WR2s (theres like ten of them), which to me is like 2nd - 3rd round stuff.

I'm much more enamored with guys like Watson.

 

[DoomProphet]

1 hour ago, Paradis said:

hold, Olave is a refined route runner? 

This thread opened with a "Q" tag, and now quickly trending to "D" 

Out of the top names floating around, Olave is one of the least proficient route runners. Feet? good. Routes? meh. He gets worked on the outside at times. 

Not true. He's probably the best route runner in this draft. I call him "Silk" because every route is so smooth yet so fast. If you don't think Olave is an elite route runner, you are watching the wrong film.

 

[Paradis]

39 minutes ago, DoomProphet said:

Not true. He's probably the best route runner in this draft. I call him "Silk" because every route is so smooth yet so fast. If you don't think Olave is an elite route runner, you are watching the wrong film.

 

The wrong film? Lolol you mean the stuff that doesn’t support your inflated notion. 

watch pen state. Come at me after. 

[maury77]

This is going to be one of those rare instances where I disagree with @Paradis re a prospect because I think Olave runs some really nice routes. 

My issue with London's routes is that everything is the same speed. You never see him really explose out of cuts and gain separation. He has some good short area quickness which is why he is good at releases and he also has an uncanny ability to slam on the brakes on sideline routes, but most of the other routes he runs you see mediocre CBs close the distance on him in an instant. 

[Paradis]

10 minutes ago, maury77 said:

This is going to be one of those rare instances where I disagree with @Paradis re a prospect because I think Olave runs some really nice routes. 

My issue with London's routes is that everything is the same speed. You never see him really explose out of cuts and gain separation. He has some good short area quickness which is why he is good at releases and he also has an uncanny ability to slam on the brakes on sideline routes, but most of the other routes he runs you see mediocre CBs close the distance on him in an instant. 

None of these guys look next level - but yes Olave looks good running against free release inside. But tight man outside. He has a propensity to get capped. 
 

 

[DoomProphet]

17 minutes ago, Paradis said:

None of these guys look next level - but yes Olave looks good running against free release inside. But tight man outside. He has a propensity to get capped. 
 

 

I will say that Olave needs to bulk a bit in order to handle press coverage.

[Morrissey]

Reports are he's not running a 40 at his pro day

[DoomProphet]

1 minute ago, Morrissey said:

Reports are he's not running a 40 at his pro day

You're right, which worries me even more. I hope to the heavens that JD goes nowhere near him.

[mrcoops]

2 minutes ago, DoomProphet said:

You're right, which worries me even more. I hope to the heavens that JD goes nowhere near him.

Without a 40 time, he's just an expensive Patrick Turner. 

Size and can jump but, if he doesn't have the requisite speed, that's not going to get him very far against NFL competition.

[bitonti]

We just saw a super bowl where tee Higgins (a drake comp) pulled down Jalen Ramsey by his face mask and it wasn't called.

Bully ball is alive and well, Jets fans just do not remember how refs call it in the playoffs 

[DoomProphet]

1 minute ago, mrcoops said:

Without a 40 time, he's just an expensive Patrick Turner. 

Size and can jump but, if he doesn't have the requisite speed, that's not going to get him very far against NFL competition.

Yes! Also, the fact he is coming off a broken ankle (which might be worse than an ACL tear these days) and now a hammy, plus the way he plays going after 50/50s unless he puts on 20 lbs of muscle he's going to get killed by safeties. Could have a very injury prone career.

[HawkeyeJet]

Gotta love the Drake.

[DoomProphet]

Just now, HawkeyeJet said:

Gotta love the Drake.

Not when he won't run his 40, gives me the indication that he is still hurt. VERY big risk IMO.

[T0mShane]

Drake London v. Stopwatches

[DoomProphet]

Just now, T0mShane said:

Drake London v. Stopwatches

[ryu79]

26 minutes ago, Morrissey said:

Reports are he's not running a 40 at his pro day

Really disappointed to hear that. Makes him a total mystery box pick. 

Understandable that he not run if he feels that he would put a non representative time down as he is just recovering. (I can't remember if it's DeAndre Hopkins or Mike Evans but one of them ran with a tight hamstring and their 40 still gets quoted a lot). 

But for us or a team picking in top ten it makes him vs. Wilson a total gamble. 

I think he is going to be a solid player in the league with a high floor, but hard not knowing the speed potential here when you are considering WR so early. 

[ryu79]

11 minutes ago, DoomProphet said:

Not when he won't run his 40, gives me the indication that he is still hurt. VERY big risk IMO.

He doesn't look hurt in the videos from the pro day that are emerging (if his ankle were hurt he wouldn't be cutting as he is on the routes getting filmed), but he may not think he would put down a time that reflects what he is capable of. 

[ryu79]

18 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Drake London v. Stopwatches

Conversely...

Here are some observations on his routes today:

https://twitter.com/kaelenjones/status/1515005601012539392?t=bwSOAYgfgZb5uQdP-E1WHw&s=19

 

 

[LAD_Brooklyn]

20 hours ago, DoomProphet said:

Not for me, too slow, not enough separation, his ankle, I think he has the highest chance of getting hurt repeatedly by getting blasted by safeties.

London does a great job of creating separation in the short pass game. But like many tall WR don't fair as good in the deep and to a lesser extent intermediate passing game. Other guys who suck at separation are Allen Robinson, Golladay and Parker during the 2020 season. Despite this stat they all finsished the 2020 season with over 1,000+ yards. They also lead the league on contested catches that season. 

In 2019 Julio Jones was the worse WR in the NFL in separating and still finished off an elite season of 1,400 yards and 6 TD. 

So not being able to separate shouldn't be a big knock. As long as you can do it enough to come down with an completion? I know this is an entirely different position but Antonio Gates was a bad separator as well. So are you really being picky about how a guy makes his catches? 

 

[KRL]

No 40, no "drafty"

[Beerfish]

So the guy wouldn't do the combine, wont do the usc pro day, pushes back his own personal pro day and then refuses to run the 40.

I wouldn't touch this guy with a 10 foot pole.

"Oh but his ankle is hurt!!!!"

Fine at the combine you simply state i am not healthy enough to do the combine or a pro day, look at my tape.

[ryu79]

1 hour ago, Beerfish said:

So the guy wouldn't do the combine, wont do the usc pro day, pushes back his own personal pro day and then refuses to run the 40.

I wouldn't touch this guy with a 10 foot pole.

"Oh but his ankle is hurt!!!!"

Fine at the combine you simply state i am not healthy enough to do the combine or a pro day, look at my tape.

It stinks. In fairness, he apparently tweaked his hamstring (after the combine and USC pro day) and decided not to run because the hamstring (and prep that injury prevented him from doing towards his speed drills) meant he didn't think he'd run an indicative 40 today - but he should have said that the minute he pulled the hamstring a few weeks ago. 

I was really looking forward to the guy showing up today and putting something up on the board to answer his haters. 

[Augustiniak]

2 minutes ago, ryu79 said:

It stinks. In fairness, he apparently tweaked his hamstring (after the combine and USC pro day) and decided not to run because the hamstring (and prep that injury prevented him from doing towards his speed drills) meant he didn't think he'd run an indicative 40 today - but he should have said that the minute he pulled the hamstring a few weeks ago. 

I was really looking forward to the guy showing up today and putting something up on the board to answer his haters. 

For a guy who already had speed concerns he also has considerable injury concerns.  You just can’t take him early.

[T0mShane]

16 minutes ago, Augustiniak said:

For a guy who already had speed concerns he also has considerable injury concerns.  You just can’t take him early.

+1. He’s either really slow or he’s just the slowest healer in the world. Especially considering he’s a lanky guy whom you’re asking to catch passes in the middle of the field, it’s probably not worth the risk. You can get fast TEs all over the draft.