Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice: Roman Wilson, Devontez Walker, Luke McCaffrey, Xavier Legette

Welcome to the WR Primer, which covers every wide receiver prospect that will be at this year’s Senior Bowl. Dynasty Rookie Draft season is here. Let’s dive into these prospects.

• 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Draft Kit
• 2024 NFL Draft Guide
• NFL Draft Scouting Reports

2024 NFL Draft Senior Bowl Primer: Wide Receivers

Xavier Legette (South Carolina)

Stats:

• 2023 (minimum 50 targets)
  • Yards per route run: 11th
  • PFF receiving grade: 18th
  • YAC per reception: 68th

• Career
  • 73.6% of his snaps as a boundary receiver

Scouting report:

• Legette is a long striding boundary receiver. He plays bigger than his listed size suggests. He has superb back shoulder ball skills and body control in the air. Legette has a big catch radius as he high points the ball well with a pair of strong hands.
• He is a developmental wide receiver that needs to improve on the little things of the position. Legette has good deceleration at the top of his stem for his size, but it can be inconsistent. He’ll have a few routes where he sharply drops his hips and decelerates leaving corners searching and then he’ll be lax and get clunky with his footwork at the top of his stem.
• Legette needs to sell his vertical push more consistently. Many routes look strong, but then he’ll sneak in some reps where he’s telegraphing his intentions. The need for consistency bleeds over into other areas of his game. He lacks consistent spacial awareness against zone drifting on some routes where he should put the brakes on in space.
• His releases need work. Legette opts for speed releases on many routes, but he needs to continue to hone his footwork and add more release tactics to the tool bag. His footwork has to continue to improve if he hopes to gain separation off the line in the NFL especially on short area and intermediate routes. He plays bigger than his size would indicate which is a plus in some areas, but it’s not here as he runs and has the footwork speed of a bigger bodied wide receiver.

Player Comp: Mack Hollins

Luke McCaffrey (Rice)

Stats:

• 2023 (minimum 50 targets)
  • Yards per route run: 95th
  • PFF receiving grade: 26th
  • YAC per reception: 84th
• 2022 (minimum 50 targets)
  • Yards per route run: 77th
  • PFF receiving grade: 58th
  • YAC per reception: 179th

Scouting report:

• A savvy player who could carve out a long career in the NFL, McCaffrey’s background as a quarterback serves him well as a receiver. He has good situational awareness in the red zone, making catches near the boundary and finding soft spots in zone coverage.
• McCaffrey has a slender build with easy speed and a fluid change of direction. He will be a quarterback’s best friend in the NFL with his strong hands. He had only a 4.1% drop rate last year and came down with plenty of tough catches in traffic while taking huge hits. He has a nice catch radius with the ability to adjust to targets over his head, as well as ankle biters in the red zone.
• McCaffrey isn’t a burner, but he can be utilized downfield. He has strong ball tracking and displays late hands consistently.

Player Comp: Jakobi Meyers

Devontez Walker (North Carolina)

Stats:

• 2023 (minimum 50 targets)
  • Yards per route run: 71st
  • PFF receiving grade: 177th
  • YAC per reception: 271st

Scouting report:

• Field stretcher. Walker finished his collegiate career with 16.8 ypr and a 17.1 aDOT. He was a limited route tree player with the majority of his opportunities coming on stop routes and go balls with some screens and posts tossed in. I would have loved to have seen Walker utilized on slants more where he could take advantage of his size and strong hands in traffic.
• Walker must continue to add to his bag of tricks as a receiver. He will round off his routes and routinely leaves corners unstacked on nine routes which lead to issues at the catch point. Walker’s strong mitts and solid ball placement by Drake Maye helped to mitigate corners at the catch point, but this will be an issue for him in the NFL. He does have some good reps exhibiting good body control and the ability to play above the rim.
• Walker needs to continue to improve his gear down and sinking his hips on comebacks and curls. He’s a long strider with build up speed that plays better with downfield assignments. Walker likely slots in as a situational deep threat in the NFL unless he can continue to improve in these other areas.

Player Comp: Bryan Edwards

Roman Wilson (Michigan)

Stats:

• 2023 (minimum 50 targets)
  • Yards per route run: 29th
  • PFF receiving grade: 22nd
  • YAC per reception: 178th

• Career
  • In four years at Michigan, he didn’t earn more than 39 targets or finish with higher than 2.3 YPRR until 2023.
  • 59.9% collegiate slot rate

Scouting report:

• Solid but unspectacular prospect. Wilson should evolve into a steady pro. Wilson has a quick first step and fluid hips which allows him to gain separation on shallow crossers and stop routes. Wilson has decent speed, but he gets caught from behind in the open field. He doesn’t have a trump card after the catch to create YAC as he has average play strength and isn’t a monstrous tackle breaker. Wilson had only two missed tackles forced and 4.6 yards after the catch per reception (178th).
• Wilson needs to continue to hone his releases. Wilson can beat zone coverage but the instances that he has faced press coverage have given him fits. He hasn’t exhibited the necessary release package, burst, or upper body strength to beat press coverage. Once a corner gets their hands on him it is game over. Wilson struggles to play through contact during his routes. He should continue to operate as a slot receiver in the NFL.

Player Comp: Alex Erickson