By Steve Lansdale
The 2020 NFL Draft will be unlike any other. Originally scheduled for a mass gathering in Las Vegas, the new home of the Raiders, the league’s annual player selection meeting will be held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic, with teams calling in their selections (and trades) from their home facilities, and no players in attendance anywhere to shake the hand of Commissioner Roger Goodell after getting selected.
The NFL Draft is the most popular non-competition event in sports television. Millions gather around their TVs and laptops to play momentary GM, pondering how players will or will not help their teams, lamenting the players who went a pick or two too early, and decrying the trades that “everyone knows” made no sense.
This time of year also means mock drafts are out in huge number. When they first appeared a couple of decades ago, mock drafts were relatively rare and revered as some sort of blueprint for what really would take place when the event got underway.
In the time leading up to the draft each year, members of the media found a second purpose, beyond [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]predicting which teams would select which players. As football grew into a year-round industry, the weeks before the draft gave rise to a new breed of evaluator, who not only offered a critique of players’ strengths and weaknesses, and therefore where they might be selected, but also an analysis of an entire draft class. Suddenly, a draft was not just about what player a specific team might add, but it also was about the available depth available at a position. The 1983 draft, for example, produced all-time NFL greats like Eric Dickerson, Bruce Matthews and Darrell Green, but forever will be known as the Year of the Quarterback because of passers like John Elway, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason.
Along those lines, just about every analyst working today has identified this year’s draft, which will be held April 23-25, as one that is loaded with capable wide receivers. Published reports quoted Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta saying “there’s probably 25 draftable wideouts in this draft.”
If he’s right, that’s great news for teams hoping to add a receiver or two in this year’s draft. For college receivers — like, say, Texas wideouts Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson — it would be preferable if there were just a handful of draftable receivers, a void of talent that would goad teams into trading up to get players like them before the good ones get away.
Most experts seem to think both Duvernay and Johnson, both of whom went to the NFL Combine, will get drafted, even in this year of plentiful receivers. But what does each offer as a pro prospect?
Devin Duvernay
Duvernay measured 5-feet-10-inches tall and weighed in at an even 200 pounds at the Combine. Not surprisingly, where he turned heads was against the stopwatch — his 4.39 in the 40-yard dash tied Antonio Gibson of Memphis for fifth-fastest among receivers. He ran a 4.20 in the 20-yard shuttle to finish third at his position, and his 7.13 in the three-cone shuttle tied Kendrick Rogers of Texas A&M for 12th among receivers. His hands — a statistic that actually matters for receivers (compared to, say, punters getting tested in the bench press) — measured 9-1/2 inches, while his arm measured 30-5/8 inches.
UT’s top receiver in 2019 was Sam Ehlinger’s favorite deep threat, hauling in 106 passes in 13 games for 1,386 yards (106.6 yards per game), with nine receiving touchdowns and a season-long of 75 yards — all team highs — en route to earning first-team All-Big 12 honors.
When Duvernay and his brother Donovan signed with Texas after initially committing to Baylor, their arrival was met with excitement. Some wanted to see proof of his hands and route-running, but the speed of the 2015 Texas state champion in the 100-meter dash was tantalizing. As it turns out, the optimism was justified, as he emerged into the Longhorns’ most dangerous receiver.
A cousin of Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, Duvernay could be used in a number of ways at the professional level. Many receivers his size operate out of the slot, but his top-end speed also presents a legitimate deep threat, much like the way the Baltimore Ravens use Marquise Brown, a smaller receiver who sometimes lines up in the slot but has the jets to get behind just about any defender. Duvernay’s value at the next level will be increased by his ability to play special teams, including but not only as a kick returner.
Collin Johnson
Johnson is almost the anti-Duvernay. While scouts and couches salivate at Duvernay’s speed, Johnson was hoping to get into the 4.5-4.6 range, but sat out the running drills at the Combine after straining a hip flexor while training for the league’s annual meat market. On the other hand, Johnson looks more like a small forward than a wide receiver; he carried 222 pounds on his 6-6 frame at the Combine, making him the tallest receiver there and one of the heaviest.
His arms are slightly longer than Duvernay, at 31-3/4, but interestingly his 9-inch hands are smaller than those of his former teammate. The only test in which he competed at the Combine was the bench press; his 17 reps at the NFL-standard 225 pounds tied for seventh-best among wide outs.
Depending on what scouts and coaches are consulted, Johnson’s future, like Duvernay’s, could entail playing multiple roles for his next team. As a receiver, he is inarguably an outside target who can use his otherworldly size to go over and sometimes through defensive backs to make receptions, and he should be an ideal target in the red zone. But there has been talk in some NFL circles that depending on what team takes Johnson, he could get some time as an H-back who can find seams in the defense and pile up yards after catches. If he does, though that will be a secondary role. The majority of his playing time will be outside on offense, and like Duvernay, he likely will have a role on special teams.
Before injuring his hip flexor while training for the Combine, Johnson lumbered through 2019, starting just seven games because of a hamstring injury. He caught 38 passes last season for 559 yards (14.7 yards per catch) and pulled in three touchdowns.
Most mock drafts have both Duvernay and Johnson being selected anywhere between the third and fifth rounds of the draft.
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