FanPost

Will this virtual unknown become the best WR in the draft?

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Masked Red Raider

There's an adage that I often repeat. When it comes to the NFL draft, none of us are experts.

Let's set aside the bizarre antics and circus drama created by Antonio Brown both on and off the field during his NFL career and just limited ourselves to his draft scouting reports and things that happened before he appeared in a single NFL game. Then, don't tell me anything about his actual NFL production. Without the benefit of hindsight, would I have drafted Brown in the 1st round? Would I have drafted him in the 7th round? No and no. Absolutely not, I wouldn't have touched the guy with a 10 foot pole.

Antonio Brown didn't play in his first game with the Steelers, because he missed a team meeting. Bruce Arians (the Steelers OC at the time) reportedly wanted to waive Brown and try to slip him onto the practice squad, because he only saw AB as a PS player at that time.

Scouting reports said that Brown had a prima donna attitude, was high maintenance, had a poor work ethic and had concentration lapses. He was too slow (4.57 sec in the 40), too weak, struggled to separate against man coverage, didn't run routes well, wasn't a good blocker, and was a body catcher.

Why would you want a player like that on your team? A "head case" who isn't even that talented, is raw and has a bad work ethic? Sounds to me like an UDFA who isn't going to last long in the NFL.

The Rams recently signed Allen Robinson to a contract worth over $15 million per year. Even though it wasn't long ago, we still tend to forget about some of the highly regarded WR prospects in that draft class. In 2014, Nolan Nawrocki graded Donte Moncrief higher than Robinson. On Matt Miller's final draft board, he had Cody Latimer ranked higher than Davante Adams. In the actual draft, Davante Adams (53rd overall) and Latimer (56th) were drafted at nearly identical slots. Latimer had 4 unproductive seasons with the Broncos. Even with Peyton Manning at QB, Latimer wasn't able to establish himself. He struggled with learning the playbook and later had off field problems. Donte Moncrief showed some potential in his 2nd NFL season with the Colts, but after some injuries he became a journeyman reclamation project, bouncing around on half a dozen other teams but never performing up to his projected potential. I thought Moncrief was a good prospect and I was surprised he wasn't taken earlier (he was a late 3rd rd pick).

The WR that is the subject of this fanpost is ranked by Ian Cummings as the 35th best prospect in this draft. IC ranks him as the 6th best WR, slotted between Chris Olave and Treylon Burks (both of whom in many mocks are 1st round draft picks). At first I wondered if this was just a prank or a typo, because the same WR on ESPN's board is ranked as the 231st overall prospect and the 32nd best WR. On PFF's board, he's ranked 317th overall and the 37th best WR. How can the same player be a potential 1st round selection per one draft expert and an UDFA according to others?

I don't know if any of these projections are inherently "right" or "wrong". Was it wrong to rank Cody Latimer as a borderline 1st round prospect back in 2014? Was it wrong to grade Antonio Brown as a 6th to 7th round prospect? Latimer had great size and athleticism, he could have become another DK Metcalf. AB had bust written all over him, he could have been just a special teams player or ended up playing in Canada in the CFL.

Matt Miller had Aaron Murray ranked as the 64th best prospect (late 2nd rd), just ahead of Jimmy Garoppolo. Brian Baldinger predicted that Murray would be the best QB from that draft (the Bortles, Carr, Bridgewater, Manziel class). Tony Dungy said that Murray would be like Russell Wilson. Perhaps unconventional, but were any of those takes about Murray unreasonable at the time? A couple of years before that draft, Dungy said that he saw Murray as a number one overall selection QB.

Maybe it sounds like a cop out, but I don't have any problem with Cummings liking this WR so much or other experts being very low on him. Best case scenario, this WR could be another Antonio Brown and the biggest steal in the entire draft. Far more likely, he's a "poor man's" Donte Moncrief (who is Lance Zierlein's NFL comp for him) and will never anything more than a deep backup, at best a 5th WR type player. The reality is that it can be very difficult to differentiate between an early round prospect and a late round to UDFA prospect. A very high percentage of the things we currently believe and think we "know" about the 2022 draft, years from now will be proven to be incorrect.

I'm not going to presume or pretend to be able to predict the future. All I can do is try to describe this particular draft prospect for you to the best of my ability. The most succinct way I can think of to do that is as follows:

Erik Ezukanma is a WR ninja.

Background

Name: Erik Ezukanma. He pronounces his name "ez-zoo-comma"

School: Texas Tech

Position: WR

22 years old. Sports management major. Redshirt junior. One of 13 team captains in 2021.

6'1 7/8'' tall, 209 pounds, 33.5'' arms, 9 3/8'' hands, 78 1/4'' wingspan

In terms of size, he's like Sammy Watkins with a bit more length. College listed him at 6'3'' 220 pounds, but the very first time I saw him I thought "there's no way that guy's 6'3'' tall".

4.53 sec (40 time) at Pro Day, 10 bench reps, 36.5'' vert at both PD and Combine, 10'6'' broad, 4.38 sec (shuttle) at Combine, 7.18 sec (3 cone) at PD.

His 40 time is either good or disappointing depending on how you look at it, because in the glowing profile that Ian Cummings did early in the 2021 season, he said that Ezukanma had 4.62 second speed and a 31'' vertical jump, so he actually tested faster than IC projected, but of course 4.5 isn't overly fast for a WR, it is Robert Woods type speed. I think his shuttle and 3 cone times were relatively disappointing.

4 star recruit. Redshirted in 2018. Increased weight from 180 to 210 pounds during redshirt season. Led team in receiving yards for 3 straight seasons 2019 through 2021.

48-706-4 in 2021(11 games) and 10 caries for 138 yards and 2 TDs; 42-748-6 in 2020

In spring practice 2021, he suffered what was described as a gruesome and severely broken arm (right arm) while falling to the ground and had surgery the day after the injury.

After a game in 2020 in which he only had 2 catches, talking to the press he openly criticized the game plan and his coaches, frustrated about how he was being used.

Tech's head coach was fired in the middle of the 2021 season.

Held back by QB problems. Both of the top 2 QBs in 2020 dealt with injuries during the season and the initial starter was benched in the middle of the year. In 2021, the initial starter broke his collarbone in the team's 4th game, then the backup QB also got injured later in the season, so they were playing their 3rd string QB. In the games I watched the quality of the QB play was poor.

Ian Cummings 35th overall (early 2nd rd) (between Chris Olave and Treylon Burks)

Oliver Hodgkinson 80th overall (3rd rd) (just behind Wan'Dale Robinson)

Tony Pauline 97th overall (late 3rd rd) (just behind Jalen Tolbert)

Shane Hallam 161st overall (5th rd)

Drafttek 165th overall (5th rd)

Lance Zierlein 173rd overall (late 5th rd) 5.97 draft grade (backup and ST), compared to Donte Moncrief (3rd rd 2014).

Brian Bosarge 230 (7th rd)

ESPN 231st overall (7th rd)

PFF 317th overall (UDFA) 76.5 PFF grade in 2021 ranked 126th out of 1,006 WRs.

There seems to be some "group think" at play. IC, OH and TP are all with PFN, so maybe that's why those 3 boards are all higher on this player compared to the other boards.

Zierlein says that he has burst to pass and stack the CB, protects the catch point and finishes contested catches, strong hands, high points the ball with full extension, foot quickness on slants and hitches, lacks polish on routes and has focus drops.

Ian Cummings in September of 2021 said that he was a potential 1st round prospect and a draft sleeper. Elite size, length and athleticism. Three level threat in the NFL. Superb explosiveness, YAC threat. Elite contact balance, great body control and focus. Naturally tracks ball, rarely has focus drops, glimpses of exceptional suddenness out of breaks. Can use eyes to manipulate leverage, uses physicality to separate. Limited route tree, lacks diverse releases, doesn't always create own separation, not an overwhelming run blocker.

Strengths

Dynamic, fluid and balanced athlete. Snaps off routes with lightning quick turns as if on a swivel chair, sharp turn radius, fast feet. Dynamite short area burst to get through opening on WR screen. Created separation on curl route with lightning quick turn. Sharp turn on 3 step slant. The way he moves on the field makes me think of a ninja from a martial arts movie or a video game. Which Street Fighter character would have been the best football player?

Subtle head and shoulder hesitation at top of route gets the CB to open hips to outside and the WR crosses his face and breaks inside.

Combative, "alpha dog" personality on field.

Changes up tempo and footwork on releases. Can explode off LOS.

Wins 50/50 jump balls. Pulls ball in from sea of hands. Spatial awareness of boundary, drags foot in bounds to make catch near SL.

Tracks ball well and comfortably over the shoulder. Demonstrated it both in games and at Combine.

Adjusts well to off target passes that are behind him, low or high. Nearly made acrobatic sliding catch.

Doesn't go down easily after the catch, fights for extra yardage, can power through tackles.

Survived multiple hits on WR screen, stayed upright and kept running.

Doesn't have elite speed to get over the top of CBs quickly, but he's dangerous on backshoulder passes near SL.

If he had played with Mahomes at Tech, he presumably would have put up huge stats. Possibly flying under the radar as a prospect due to team circumstances.

Weaknesses

Played in gimmicky college spread offense. Much of his college game tape is almost useless in trying to evaluate him. Ran limited route tree filled with basic hitches, screen passes, slants and straight go routes. Could take some time to learn NFL playbook and understand nuances of adjustments and options built into NFL route running.

Got pushed backwards on block. Average effort level on blocks.

Hands and feet are active on releases, but he's not creative or polished in crafting releases. Has unnecessary body movements in the release, not efficient.

Doesn't have long speed, one speed runner. After the initial burst, once he gets into open field, lacks additional gear to accelerate more.

Not detailed and consistent in route running. Runs some mediocre routes. Ran straight into the back of CB on fade. Doesn't set up the CB in the middle of the route particularly well, too easy to read. Runs upright, presenting target to be jammed or jostled.

Against cover 3 zone, I thought he should have broken off route and sat down in open area, but instead he just kept running into coverage.

Physical downfield and sometimes gets called for offensive PI, other times he gets away with it but dances on the border.

Focus got distracted by oncoming defender and he takes his eyes off the ball early, not able to hang on. Another play he took eyes off ball too soon and double catches the ball.

Signs point to potentially having a diva attitude.

I don't know if he's a slot WR or outside WR. Not tall or fast enough to project as a good outside WR, but not quick and shifty enough to be an ideal slot. In between positions.

Doesn't project to have elite special teams value.

Previous arm injury requires medical evaluation.

Pro Comparison and Grade

Laviska Shenault (2nd round 2020 Jaguars, Colorado), 3rd round grade.

Shenault ran 4.58 sec in the 40 at the Combine. He had 63 catches for 619 yards last season with the Jags and Trevor Lawrence. If they were in the same draft, I'd probably draft Ezukanma over Shenault.

Leonte Carroo was a WR from Rutgers who was popular on TST and a 3rd round pick in 2016. I don't exactly remember, but I might have had him graded in that general area. I see Ezukanma as a better prospect than Carroo.

Just store in the back of your mind Ezukanma's name, because we're talking about a player who on most draft boards is only a 5th to UDFA prospect, but who potentially should be ranked several rounds earlier than that. Even if you think WR is one of the lowest draft needs for the Rams this year, is there some point where BPA should take over? Why draft a 6th round graded offensive guard or center over a 3rd round graded WR? Of course, if you think that Ezukanma won't be any better than Moncrief or Carroo, it doesn't make any difference. Many actual 3rd round NFL picks aren't much better than actual 6th round picks. Still, I think that Ian Cummings might be on to something. Ezukanma is an underrated WR prospect.

If his name is too difficult to remember, just think of him as "the ninja WR".