As the NFL Draft approaches, everyone who is someone is posting rankings pretending they know something about football. I am no different. But these rankings, strictly for wide receivers, have a bit of a twist to them. The receivers are ranked based on how cool their highlights look on YouTube. The players are ranked 1-10, with 1 being the highest and 10 being the lowest. Obviously the top-tier guys are so good they are probably going to be near the top because they have produced so many highlights. Remember, these rankings are based on YouTube highlights not stupid analysis like their 3 cone drill or the twitch in their route running. You know who else was twitchy? Twitch, from Holes. He stole fucking cars and dug 5 foot holes. So, without further ado, here are the top 10 draft prospects not based on skill, but how cool their YouTube highlights look:
1) CeeDee Lamb – Lamb has underrated strength much like Alvin Kamara where he seemingly bounces off defenders. His explosiveness makes this dude is a home run hitter. He turns 5 yard plays into 25 yard plays, and 25 yards into 50. Routinely. My favorite picture of the entire college football season is a screenshot of Lamb surrounded by Texas defenders at the 30 yard line. He scored a touchdown on the play. Every week, there is a new clip like that. Lamb may not be the first receiver off the board but he will be close, and his tape is the most electrifying.
2) Denzel Mims – Watching him tape at Baylor is football in its most fun, pure form. He is bigger, stronger and more athletic than every person who tries to cover him. The Baylor coaching staff clearly told their quarterback to throw it to Mims every time he had a 1 one 1 match-up. Denzel Mims is going to be Dez Bryant. It is the only thing I’m sure of in this draft aside from the Browns fucking it up.
3) Jerry Jeudy – I know I made fun of analysts talking about twitchy routes to start, but Jeudy’s route running ability is a thing of beauty. People are comparing it to Amari Cooper already. He just made most SEC corners look foolish when matched up with him. He will be the first receiver off the board (probably) but his Youtube highlights aren’t tops, mostly because he had to share targets with three other receivers who have first round NFL Draft grades.
4) KJ Hamler – Scouts want him to go after the ball more instead of letting the pass come into his chest. It led to some drops, but once he has it, LOOKOUT. His breakaway speed is second to none. Hamler just seems like a guy who’s gonna fall to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers at 30 and torment the league with home runs for years to come.
5) Lavishka Shenault – Greg Cosell says he has Terrell Owens level tendencies. One NFL scout said he was a combination of Julio Jones and Christian McCaffery (one hell of a comparison). But, when you watch Shenault’s highlight tape, these takes aren’t as crazy as they sound. This kid plays a violent brand of football, he runs through things once he gets the ball in his hands. It’s part of the reason why Colorado also uses him as a Wildcat quarterback. He is one of those guys who may be listed as a wide receiver but you just get him the ball in any form or fashion. His medical report is the elephant in the room for NFL GM’s but that doesn’t stop his highlights when healthy from looking cool.
6) Jalen Reagor – Reagor gets penalized because he was accompanied by some of the worst quarterback play in the entire country. Many draft analysts have pointed out that if you watch his gametape, not highlights, he still gets open on every single even though the ran a JV high school offense. Even hindered by his anemic offense, his highlight tape is still explosive. Anytime he touched the ball, including punt returns, something special happened. He was the lone bright spot in an otherwise bland offense.
7) Brandon Aiyuk – This is another guy much like Shenault who’s draft value comes down to medical records. But also like Shenault, that doesn’t stop his YouTube highlights from being unreal. One scout said to Adam Caplan that one of Aiyuk’s problem’s is he would’ve scored more touchdowns, but he was so damn fast he had to wait for the ball to come down. He will fall into the 20’s, get a legit NFL quarterback launching it to him, and never have to worry about his waiting problem ever again.
8) Henry Ruggs – He will be one of the top three receivers drafted but much like Jeudy, he had to share targets with one of the most talented receiver corps of all time. So, he got less touches than some of these other guys who were their teams only option. Still, 25% of Ruggs catches went for touchdowns so there’s a ton of highlights to choose from. Honestly we should just roll his high school basketball clips of him windmill dunking.
9) Justin Jefferson – Every “source” and their mother is locking this kid in to the Eagles at pick 21 in Round 1. I’m not sure sure but his highlights this past season make him an intirguig prospect if they do go that route. I mean, LSU looked like they played the whole season on Varsity on NCAA 14. Jefferson was open all the time, and Burrow found him all the time.
10) Devin Duvernay – In his senior year, Texas moved into the slot. The result was a +65 jump in receptions. In an offense that was bleak and anemic at times, Duvernay was the only reliable shining light. He had the longest 100+ yard receiving game streak in school history since Roy Williams in 2002. His damn near 1,400 receiving yards was the second most in school history. Duvernay is the reliable third down receiver and also the deep threat. He was, well, pretty much Texas’ whole offense.