Wide Receiver Train Full Speed Ahead- CHOO CHOO!

[LEBills]

My Personal 2025 WR Rankings:

 

#13 Dont’e Thornton WR Tennessee (RD 2-3)

- Oregon transfer

- Helped take care of 4 younger siblings while his father was in prison

- 2 time SEC academic honor roll

 

What does he do on film?

 

You have to have Safety help over the top

- 1:43 RPO draws safety toward the LOS and Thornton fills the vacated space for another easy touchdown

- 6:34 copy and paste

- 6:48 ditto

 

Deep ball tracking

- 1:33 Thornton is excellent at tracking the ball in the air

- 3:46 late hands and cradles the ball as he runs full speed while being dragged down from behind

 

Weaknesses:

- Is not going to shake a tackler but will politely fall forward

- College offense schemed open looks rather than Thornton creating separation via route running

 

Conclusion:

Being 6’5’’ and running a 4.3 is a superpower. One that forces teams to account for you each snap you are on the field. He also is a pretty good run blocker which will be important for him to stay on the field in 2 WR sets. But Thornton comes with many questions that can’t be answered by his measurements. Despite his size, he was never used much as an end zone target and his contested catch rate varied wildly from year to year. He also was only used on a few routes, and not having a more varied route tree will make covering him easier than it should be in the pros. Thornton is a package player with a very important role in an Offense (Tennessee used him as such as he wound up with the 4th most WR snaps on the team). I think a Christian Watson role may be where he carves out his niche.

[LEBills]

My personal 2025 WR rankings

 

#12A Jaylin Noel WR ISU (RD 2)

- Best WR combine performance

- Improved each year in college

- Offers punt return value

 

What does he do on film?

 

Speed:

- :20 just runs around the linebacker and then the safety

- 1:00 Easily beats the press and stacks the DB

- 1:29 angle route, just spins momentum in other direction for big yac

- 2:02 just too fast up the seam for coverage to rotate quick enough. TD.

- 3:17 man coverage without safety help is a bad proposition

- 4:36 sheds the jam by the linebacker, hits the out and up

 

Weaknesses:

- Can masquerade outside every so often, but is a speed slot player

- More fast than elusive with only a handful of forced missed tackles

 

Conclusion:

Noel was asked to take the top off the defense and he did that consistently, his speed is truly dangerous. Most of his routes are deep down the field but has shown good out routes and other shallow routes but value is in stretching the defense vertically. Noel’s physicality against presses and jams should guarantee immediate success in the NFL. His slot alignment and being pigeonholed into this role is what ranks him this low compared to other receivers who have shown a bit more alignment versatility. 

[LEBills]

My personal 2025 WR rankings:

 

#12B Elijah Badger WR Florida (RD 5-6)

- Transfer from ASU

- returned kicks for ASU and averaged 28.9 yards per return

- Second is SEC for YPC this year

 

What does he do on film?

 

- 5:22 jet sweep, multiple missed tackles forced

- 6:18 awareness against the zone defense to keep moving to the open zone

- 7:20 finished with the easy touchdown vs cover 0

- 12:10 keeps working to QB throwing lane as pocket collapses, rewarded with big catch and run

- 29:30 quick break behind the zone defender, crosses to the other side of the field for crucial first down catch

 

 

- :26 looks familiar right? Jet sweep forcing several missed tackles

- 1:10 beats the CB good position with awesome hands catch for the first down

- 1:21 finds the hole in coverage down field for 4th down conversion. Notice his awareness of the defenders around him to pick up extra yardage when surrounded by USC defenders

- 3:29 first off Skattebo is so fun. Badger is so elusive for his size.

 

Weaknesses:

- Production throughout his career was mid

- Will be 24 this summer

 

Conclusion:

A former 4-star recruit, he caught passes from Jaden Daniels in 2022 which may have been his best year. What I like about Badger is he can play anyway you need him. Last year he had a 7.3 aDOT, this year his aDOT was 17.3. If you need him to make a play on a jet sweep he can do that, if you need him to make a short catch and make a couple defenders miss he can do that, and if you need him to just win downfield he can do that too. This year when he was used on many more deep routes he had 0 drops, a near 70% contested catch success rate, and the fifth best YPRR in the class. If there is to be a Khalil Shakir day 3 surprise breakout WR, I would put my chips on Badger pre-draft

Edited 14 hours ago by LEBills

[Mat68]

On 4/2/2025 at 2:07 AM, LEBills said:

My Personal 2025 WR Rankings:

 

#13 Dont’e Thornton WR Tennessee (RD 2-3)

- Oregon transfer

- Helped take care of 4 younger siblings while his father was in prison

- 2 time SEC academic honor roll

 

What does he do on film?

 

You have to have Safety help over the top

- 1:43 RPO draws safety toward the LOS and Thornton fills the vacated space for another easy touchdown

- 6:34 copy and paste

- 6:48 ditto

 

Deep ball tracking

- 1:33 Thornton is excellent at tracking the ball in the air

- 3:46 late hands and cradles the ball as he runs full speed while being dragged down from behind

 

Weaknesses:

- Is not going to shake a tackler but will politely fall forward

- College offense schemed open looks rather than Thornton creating separation via route running

 

Conclusion:

Being 6’5’’ and running a 4.3 is a superpower. One that forces teams to account for you each snap you are on the field. He also is a pretty good run blocker which will be important for him to stay on the field in 2 WR sets. But Thornton comes with many questions that can’t be answered by his measurements. Despite his size, he was never used much as an end zone target and his contested catch rate varied wildly from year to year. He also was only used on a few routes, and not having a more varied route tree will make covering him easier than it should be in the pros. Thornton is a package player with a very important role in an Offense (Tennessee used him as such as he wound up with the 4th most WR snaps on the team). I think a Christian Watson role may be where he carves out his niche.

Watson was in a more run first offense that explained his production.  Only thing that has slowed him in the NFL have been injuries.  Tenn and Oregon are both passing offenses.  Seems more like Justin Shorter.  Blue chip high school recruit, good off the field, that was unable to be productive.  Late day 3 imo. Watson was an early second rd pick and way more productive. 

[Mat68]

11 hours ago, LEBills said:

My personal 2025 WR rankings

 

#12A Jaylin Noel WR ISU (RD 2)

- Best WR combine performance

- Improved each year in college

- Offers punt return value

 

What does he do on film?

 

Speed:

- :20 just runs around the linebacker and then the safety

- 1:00 Easily beats the press and stacks the DB

- 1:29 angle route, just spins momentum in other direction for big yac

- 2:02 just too fast up the seam for coverage to rotate quick enough. TD.

- 3:17 man coverage without safety help is a bad proposition

- 4:36 sheds the jam by the linebacker, hits the out and up

 

Weaknesses:

- Can masquerade outside every so often, but is a speed slot player

- More fast than elusive with only a handful of forced missed tackles

 

Conclusion:

Noel was asked to take the top off the defense and he did that consistently, his speed is truly dangerous. Most of his routes are deep down the field but has shown good out routes and other shallow routes but value is in stretching the defense vertically. Noel’s physicality against presses and jams should guarantee immediate success in the NFL. His slot alignment and being pigeonholed into this role is what ranks him this low compared to other receivers who have shown a bit more alignment versatility. 

That tells a different story than your conclusion.  What is your concern with him playing outside?  What makes you feel he cant succeed outside in the NFL? 

[LEBills]

27 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

Watson was in a more run first offense that explained his production.  Only thing that has slowed him in the NFL have been injuries.  Tenn and Oregon are both passing offenses.  Seems more like Justin Shorter.  Blue chip high school recruit, good off the field, that was unable to be productive.  Late day 3 imo. Watson was an early second rd pick and way more productive. 

He had a couple different head coaches and coordinators as an underclassmen at Oregon. His junior year at Tennessee he only played 6 games. This year the Vols ran for more yards than they passed, Thornton led the team. 
 

Watson was the more well rounded athlete coming out of college. But I was referring more to how he is handled at Green Bay. There are some weeks where he plays a lot, but most weeks he hovers in the 50 to 70% of offensive snaps. I don’t think Thornton is a full time player - Tennessee didn’t use him that way - so playing him during specific formations would be his best bet in the NFL. 

 

16 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

That tells a different story than your conclusion.  What is your concern with him playing outside?  What makes you feel he cant succeed outside in the NFL? 

I don’t know if concern is the right word. He played over 70% of his snaps from the slot and the “out wide” snaps included a lot of late shifts where he wound up as the outside guy…so there projection…and his short arms are a disadvantage against longer defenders.
 

But I think if you try to make him an outside receiver you are neutering what makes him a really good player. He is at his best stretching the field and I think having him inside against more nickels, safeties and linebackers where he can just kind of weave around them and outrun them is his best way to get vertical. It also gives him more space to get to the flat. I thought the dynamic they had at ISU with him and Higgins was a really nice 1-2 punch where their skills were very different but very complimentary.

[Mat68]

17 minutes ago, LEBills said:

He had a couple different head coaches and coordinators as an underclassmen at Oregon. His junior year at Tennessee he only played 6 games. This year the Vols ran for more yards than they passed, Thornton led the team. 
 

Watson was the more well rounded athlete coming out of college. But I was referring more to how he is handled at Green Bay. There are some weeks where he plays a lot, but most weeks he hovers in the 50 to 70% of offensive snaps. I don’t think Thornton is a full time player - Tennessee didn’t use him that way - so playing him during specific formations would be his best bet in the NFL. 

 

I don’t know if concern is the right word. He played over 70% of his snaps from the slot and the “out wide” snaps included a lot of late shifts where he wound up as the outside guy…so there projection…and his short arms are a disadvantage against longer defenders.
 

But I think if you try to make him an outside receiver you are neutering what makes him a really good player. He is at his best stretching the field and I think having him inside against more nickels, safeties and linebackers where he can just kind of weave around them and outrun them is his best way to get vertical. It also gives him more space to get to the flat. I thought the dynamic they had at ISU with him and Higgins was a really nice 1-2 punch where their skills were very different but very complimentary.

On tape he has had no issue with press.  What he lacks in length, he makes up for in stature.  He is not an X but Z and Slot in the NFL are not that different.  Every play has either a shift or motion element.  Bills need a deep threat he is that.  Imo he is the most well rounded wr that offers that dimension in the draft. Fast in game and timed.  Produced in college.  Is versatile to play multiple spots.

[LEBills]

2 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

On tape he has had no issue with press.  What he lacks in length, he makes up for in stature.  He is not an X but Z and Slot in the NFL are not that different.  Every play has either a shift or motion element.  Bills need a deep threat he is that.  Imo he is the most well rounded wr that offers that dimension in the draft. Fast in game and timed.  Produced in college.  Is versatile to play multiple spots.

If you have him rated higher than me I can respect that. 1 thru 12 on this list were very hard for me to rank. In the end I do think he is a bit more typecast than other players. For him to be rated higher by me, I wanted to see a bit more playmaking after the catch  on shorter routes.
 

I think he will be a good player and probably better than several I have ranked above him, but in the range of outcomes I think his ceiling is a bit less than other players ceilings.